Chapter 4
After lunch time Diego picked up Victoria and drove with her to the old hacienda. The house was nearly as large as the de la Vega hacienda and mostly in a good condition. The former owners left part of the furniture behind that only needed to be dusted off. But what was easy made habitable again in Diego's eyes didn't withstand her critical examination.
With the trained eyes of a woman, who had been in charge of her own tavern for years, she instantly spotted many things she wanted to change. Diego smiled about her excitement as she went through the rooms making plans how to equip them.
"I see that you like it," Diego laughed.
"Yes, it's a beautiful old building, once everything is cleaned up again." Victoria smiled, but then she became serious again. "But what about the money? How will we pay for everything?"
"Don't worry, Victoria, even though my father has disowned me, I have inherited enough money from my mother to maintain us for some years. And it won't take that long until we get the first harvest of grapes from the plants I'm going to import from France. I'm not the richest bachelor anymore, but we'll be far from poor."
"And after you're no longer the richest, you won't be the second for much longer either," Victoria smiled.
"The second what?" Diego didn't know what she was referring to.
"A bachelor, you won't be a bachelor anymore soon." Victoria couldn't hide her happiness. "You have talked to Padre Benitez, haven't you?" Victoria inquired.
"I used the lunch time to talk to him. Of course, he wasn't very pleased with me and I had to listen to a lecture, but he will post the banns tomorrow. We can marry in two weeks, a day before my father and Felipe return."
"You don't want to wait until they have returned?"
Diego shook his head determinedly. "It will only result in a fight and spoil our wedding day. I want this to be a happy day for the two of us. At least as much as it can be under these circumstances."
Victoria realized that Diego could be as stubborn as his father and she'd rather marry without her father-in-law than have a fight on their wedding day.
"It will be a small wedding then, since my brothers won't be able to attend either on such short notice." Victoria stated, disappointed.
"I'm sorry, Victoria, everything got so messed up. I always hoped I would be free one day and we could have the big wedding you dreamed of with all our family and friends." Victoria realized that he was as unhappy about the way it had turned out as she.
"It will be alright, Diego," she tried to make the best out of it. "We will be together and that is all that counts. No longer wasting our time waiting for the day Zorro will no longer be needed. I love you, Diego."
"I love you too, Querida. And you are right, Victoria. It may not be as we planned it, but having you as my wife is all that I ever wanted." Diego kissed her tenderly, smiling again.
When they were through with the house, Diego wanted to show her the outside. From the balcony on the first floor they had a beautiful view over the ocean and they could hear the breaking of the waves from the beach.
"It's beautiful, Diego, look at the ocean," Victoria exclaimed. "I could sit here for hours just watching the waves."
"And I will sit here watching you, the most lovely woman in the territory." Taking her hand he placed a kiss on it as he done so many times before, except that he didn't need to wear a mask now. Victoria had accepted him as himself and that nearly made him forget the hurt inside.
Leaning against the balustrade with an arm around her waist, Diego showed her with his outstretched arm the borders of the land that belonged to the hacienda. It wasn't much compared to his father's lands, but growing vine didn't require as much ground as raising cattle. He explained her where he wanted to start the vineyard and the area he wanted to set apart for horse breeding using Toronado as a stud horse.
"And now I need to show you the hidden entrance to the tunnel." Diego excitedly led her back to the ground floor.
"At my father's hacienda it is hidden behind the fireplace in the library and that's why I thought it would be the same here. The plans weren't very specific. I searched for hours to find the right spot without success. But then I thought of the fireplace in the parlor."
Leading her to the room he pushed the right spot and with some grinding sound the secret door swung open. Bending down a little he took her hand and pulled her behind him. "Keep your head down. It's a little narrower than the other one. Be careful, there will be probably lots of cobwebs and dust there. I haven't been here for months. Zorro has kept me busy recently."
After short, dark and narrow tunnel, they came out in a cave that was considerable smaller than the other one at the de la Vega hacienda that she remembered from the one time she had been there.
"You were right, it is smaller and very dirty," Victoria stated, dusting off her clothes, annoyed by the cobwebs who had found their way into her hair. "Now I'll have to bathe and wash my hair tonight."
Diego didn't seem to mind and carefully removed the webs out her hair. "Hold still and I'll get it out for you," he ordered her.
"Can we go back then? I don't like it here so much, it's dark and a little confining."
"It will be much better, once I have everything set up," Diego smiled enthusiastically. "Toronado's new stall will be here and Zorro's equipment can be in the corner over there," he explained. "I won't need the laboratory in here. There is enough space in the hacienda for an extra room for my laboratory with better light for my experiments. Only the things that are directly connect to Zorro like the time-delayed bombs will have to be hidden here."
While he led her back to the parlor, he told her of the day he had gotten the idea for Zorro when Felipe showed him the fox in the cave behind the library and he had also discovered that Felipe could hear.
"Felipe can hear?" Victoria exclaimed. "And you kept that a secret all these years?"
Thinking about Felipe brought back the hurt and he tried to put his mind to other things. Looking at himself when he came out the tunnel, he knew Victoria was right. They both needed a bath to get rid of the dirt from the tunnel.
"We both look like a mess, Victoria. What do you think about a bath?" Diego grinned mischievously.
"A bath, Diego? Here in this house? By the time we have cleaned that old bathtub, we will be dirtier than we are now. And I haven't seen anything to heat up the water either. All the pots are gone. What do you have in mind, Diego?" she eyed him suspiciously.
"Just wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes," he ordered her still grinning.
She didn't have to wait long for him to return with some blankets he had gotten from the cart they came with.
"Come, I'll show you." Taking her hand, he led her through the house again to the backyard. Starting behind some bushes, stairs were cut into the rock, descending to the beach. Carefully going ahead and warning her of some slippery steps, Diego went down the stairs that became broader further down, allowing them to walk side by side. The beach was enclosed by rocks on all sides, sheltering it from cold winds. Only a light breeze came from the sea on this warm and sunny afternoon.
"You want us to go swimming in the sea?" Victoria asked a little embarrassed when Diego started to lay the blankets on the warm sand. "I haven't got any bathing dress with me and it wouldn't be proper."
"There's no one here except us. The beach can't be seen from above. And if you want to bathe alone, I promise I won't look." Diego assured her. "Or you can wait until I have taken you back home."
The need to get clean again overcame her initial shyness to undress in the open. It was a big difference to be naked in her own bedroom than outside at the beach. Turning her back to Diego she quickly removed her clothes and wrapped herself in one of the blankets. Only when she reached the water, she dropped the blanket and plunged into the sea.
Soon she enjoyed the warm water and feeling safely hidden in the water, she called out to Diego to join her. He needed no further invitation to strip his clothes and swim out to her. Kissing, splashing and playing they spent some time in the water until they got cold. At a small stream that ended nearby in the ocean they washed the salt out of their hair before they wrapped themselves into the blankets to dry up and get warm again.
"It was a wonderful idea to go swimming, Diego. I can't remember when I had so much fun the last time."
"We can repeat that any time when we live here, Victoria."
She shook her head. "It will be different from now. There will be servants at the house and we won't be alone here anymore."
"We'll keep the beach for ourselves. Nobody will disturb us here, Querida."
"I would like that, but now I'm cold." Victoria snuggled herself into Diego's arms and started to kiss him, knowing exactly how she wanted to get warm again. "You smell and taste like the sea," Diego smiled when he returned her kiss.
Z Z Z
They woke up by the rising tide, the water wetting their feet and soaking the blankets. "I have to take you back, Querida. We have already been gone the whole afternoon."
"Do you think, it will matter anymore, after we tell them about our wedding plans?" Victoria asked.
"At least we should behave properly in public until we're married. Telling of my scandalous behavior yesterday is enough. We need not feed the local gossip more than necessary."
Z Z Z
It was close to dusk when Diego dropped off Victoria at the tavern before returning to the de la Vega hacienda again. It was the last time anyone would think nothing about the two of them spending time together.
Z Z Z
Victoria was happy and relaxed when she returned to the tavern for dinner time and Pilar remarked upon it.
"It looks like you had a good day with Don Diego. He is always the right one to cheer you up."
Victoria smiled, but then she became serious again. "This time it was Diego who needed some cheering up."
"Why? What happened?" Pilar wasn't known for her secretiveness and Victoria knew she was the right one to spread the news.
"Diego was disowned by his father yesterday, before Don Alejandro left for Monterey," Victoria explained.
"You can't be serious," Pilar exclaimed. "What will he do now?"
"Don Diego asked me to marry him and live with him at the old Martinez hacienda. I said yes."
"You and Don Diego? But what about Zorro?" Pilar couldn't believe the news.
"Diego came to me after his fight with his father and told me that he has always loved me. And I realized that I love him too. There can't be a future for me and Zorro anymore."
It took Pilar a moment to grasp the implications of what Victoria told her. "Oh, I see." That was all she said when she finally understood.
"Did he force you?" Pilar asked concerned.
"Of course not. He'd never do that." Victoria defended him and her smile convinced Pilar.
"I'd never have thought that of Don Diego, he always behaved as a gentleman. No wonder you were so distracted this morning." Pilar was shocked nonetheless.
It didn't take long afterwards for the gossip to make the rounds.
Z Z Z
The announcement of their wedding plans created quite a scandal and Diego had to endure some sharp remarks about his behavior. Especially since he had robbed Zorro, the local hero, of the love of his life. Zorro wasn't seen during all the time and the citizens blamed it on Diego that he was probably somewhere heartbroken.
