Chapter 4

"Diego, where have you been? I have been looking for you everywhere. Esperanza was in her stable, so I thought you'd be hiding somewhere on the hacienda. Then I went back to the pueblo to look for you in your office. Have you heard about Victoria? Where's she? The maid told me that you made her leave Victoria's room and later her room was empty. She shouldn't be alone now. I have been searching for both of you the whole time. How could you leave like that and humiliate Maria by leaving her at the altar!" Alejandro attacked him when he spotted Diego in the library.

"Don't try to put the blame on me, Father! It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't tried to force me into a marriage that I don't want and that you didn't even talk about with me!" Diego's good mood from his time with Victoria had vanished and he couldn't hide his anger. "How could you put me into that situation? I told you often enough that my marriage is not your business. Keep out of it once and for all!"

"I want the best for you and our family. You have to get married. You and Maria had a lot to talk about when you met her at parties of the local caballeros. You will get along well with her."

"Just because I had a short talk with her on Don Fernando's birthday party, you can't assume I'm interested in marrying her. I don't love her and there's no way you can make me marry her."

"You're wrong, Diego. I think I can. I knew you'd refuse if there wasn't any pressure. Here, look at the contracts." Alejandro put several folded leaves of paper on the table. "Read this. I gave Don Fernando my word that you would marry Maria Marquez and that our haciendas would be joined. It will be very fortunate if we get access to the water holes on his land and his cattle can use some of the lower pastries we don't need. If you continue to be so stubborn, we will lose everything. Are you still opposing this favorite marriage? Just because you don't love her? Love will come later when you get to know each other."

Diego took the papers and started to read. When he was finished, he stared at his father in shock. "How could you do this? I can't believe you promised our hacienda to Don Fernando. We will lose everything!"

"Can you see now there's no way out? I expect you to marry Maria Marquez." Confident of his victory, Alejandro looked at his son.

"I'm sorry, Father, but I can't marry her even if it means losing everything," Diego shook his head.

"Why not, Diego? I don't see a reason. You're healthy, unmarried man and it's past the time for you to get married," Alejandro shouted.

Diego shook his head. "I'm sorry, Father, but you're wrong. If you had at least discussed this with me, I would have told you that I'm already married. That's what I told the padre today too. Marrying Maria would be bigamy and the marriage would be invalid."

"You are married? What are you talking about? This is not the time for jokes, Diego. This is serious."

"Believe me, Father, I have never been so serious before. It's not a joke."

"That can't be! You never showed interest in any woman in the area." Now it was Alejandro's turn to be shocked. "Why didn't you tell me? Since when? Who is she?"

"I married Victoria two months ago in Santa Paula when we went there to meet the emissary in your stead."

"Victoria?" Alejandro asked, surprised. "You married Victoria? By why didn't you tell me, Diego? You know that Victoria is the daughter I wished for. Did you have doubts I wouldn't welcome her in the family?" Confused and hurt, Alejandro questioned him. "How could you keep your marriage a secret from me when all I wanted was to see you married?"

"Just think about it a bit, father!" Diego was still angry. "What do you think will happen if Victoria announced she married me? What will the alcalde think? After all the years she was pining for Zorro, she suddenly married the studious Diego de la Vega? Who would believe she abandoned Zorro for me? Would you believe it? Will the alcalde believe it or will he take a closer look?"

"What do you mean by that?" Alejandro was still confused.

"If the alcalde believes that Victoria won't marry anyone except Zorro what do you think he will do?"

"He will accuse her husband of being Zorro! But that.. that would be you!" Alejandro stared at his son who was standing in front of him. "Can it be true? Are you Zorro and I haven't seen it?"

"Yes, I am. Can you see now what you have done? I can't marry Maria, and if I have to reveal why, I will hang as Zorro together with Victoria. Your gambling has cost us our hacienda and maybe our lives too!" Diego shouted.

"How could I have known that you were already married? Why didn't you tell me you are Zorro? Why could you tell Victoria and not me? You had no right to keep these secrets from me. You could have died as Zorro and I had found out at your grave that it was you! Do you think that is fair?" Alejandro yelled at him.

"Do you think that was easy for me all these years? To postpone my life for the sake of the pueblo? I had to keep you and Victoria safe at all costs. And I didn't tell Victoria either. She found it out by herself!"

"Can you stop this shouting please?" Victoria walked into the library after it had taken her a little longer to get dressed. "I'm getting a headache. This yelling won't help any of us. We should rather think about what to do now."

"Diego, please, I didn't know. Please, forgive me!" Alejandro begged him, shocked.

"I'm sorry too, Father. I realized now that it was wrong to keep this from you," Diego apologized.

Victoria breathed out a sigh of relief when the two men stopped shouting and apologized to each other though they were both still angry. Diego calmed down first, getting his feelings under control.

"Let me check these papers again. I really hope there is a way out of this alive!" Diego took the contract and set down on the couch, pulling Victoria with him.

"Are you two really married?" Alejandro began to grasp the fact when he saw them sitting so close together. "Is that the reason you were so desperate today, Victoria?"

Victoria nodded. "I thought it was the only way to set him free again," she whispered.

Diego put his arm around her and drew her closer. "There will never be anyone else for me, Victoria. I only love you and I will never let you leave me. I promise that I will keep you safe from the alcalde."

Turning to his father, he explained. "The alcalde isn't convinced yet that Victoria and Zorro have split up and he may try to use Victoria as bait for Zorro again."

"I want to welcome you in the family, Victoria," Alejandro said.

"Thank you, Don Alejandro," Victoria smiled.

"You should stay here at the hacienda, Victoria," Alejandro suggested. "We can protect you here."

"Victoria and I will go to Santa Paula tomorrow," Diego declared. "I will need to talk to our lawyer and see if there's a way out of this contract without losing the hacienda and it will give us time to think of a solution to explain our marriage. In the meantime you can tell your friend Don Fernando that I refuse to marry Maria."

"What do you want me to tell Fernando?" Alejandro said. "I can't tell him the truth and I don't know any plausible reason that he'd believe why you don't want to marry and rather lose the hacienda."

"I don't know. You brought us into this situation and now it's your turn to get out of this," Diego said, showing his temper again. "If there's no other way, we may have to go back to Spain. I still own the estates I inherited from my mother after her death."

"Go back to Spain?" Victoria and Alejandro simultaneously said, shocked.

"California is our home. I never thought you'd want to leave." Victoria said.

"Diego, you can't think of leaving California," his father said, concerned.

"I don't want to go to Spain," Diego stated, "but maybe we will have to if we lose everything here. Nobody will connect me to Zorro there and I won't be an outlaw any longer."

"That would be a relief," Victoria agreed. "I wouldn't have to fear for your life anymore."

"I will tell Fernando that you need more time to think about it," Alejandro said. "There must be something else we can do than going back to Spain. It will buy us some time to find a solution while you're in Santa Paula. How long do you plan to stay?"

"I don't know yet. I'd like to stay as long as time allows," Diego said. "Hopefully, the lawyer will find a solution out of this while Victoria and I will have some time on our own. The alcalde will have to think of other ways to capture Zorro than using Victoria when he finds out that she isn't in Los Angeles."