Chapter 9
The three people around the table fell silent as they took stock of what they knew.
Estrella sighed. "Alright we know that my sister and her family were on their way to Guadalajara at the time of the rebellion, the same time that Felipe and his family were there."
Diego nodded slowly. "Is it a coincidence? I think we both need more evidence than this."
Estrella nodded. "We need something in common between them."
Victoria spoke up. "What if we look at this in a different way." she paused as she tried to put her thoughts into words. "What if it had been you who had arrived at Guadalajara when the fighting broke out. What would you do with a young family in that situation?" she asked them.
Diego leant back into his chair and steepled his fingers as he reflected on Victoria's question. "Well the first thing I would do is to protect my family and that would mean leaving the immediate area and getting to safety."
"Si, but you would have to leave everything behind, you could only take what you could carry." Estrella added.
"Perhaps a cart." Victoria said.
Both Diego and Senora glanced at Victoria in surprise as she continued with a small shrug. "A small cart that can hold your most precious possessions."
Estrella nodded thoughtfully. "You wouldn't be able to take large items just the essentials."
Victoria leant forward. "I would take clothes, food, what money I had. Estrella, you said that Herberto was a carpenter so he would have taken some, if not all of his tools. After all he still had to provide for his family once they got to safety."
"Si, you're right Victoria, he would have taken his tools, they were his livelihood." Estrella replied.
"Children." Diego said softly. "A cart would be the best place to put your children, you would be able to move faster if you weren't carrying them as well as the bundles of clothes and food."
The two women nodded in agreement.
Suddenly Diego straightened in his chair as a memory of...something that he couldn't quite grasp at, something that was just out of reach and he knew it would be a very large clue to Felipe's identity.
"Diego, what is it?" Victoria asked concernedly.
He shook his head and frowned slightly. "There's something...its so long ago...so much has happened. What were we talking about?" he asked distractedly.
Estrella and Victoria exchanged a glance. "We were talking about what we would take with us if we had to leave suddenly." Victoria answered.
Diego didn't respond back but stared at Estrella as he remembered something small and shiny but he couldn't quite picture it.
Estrella squirmed somewhat under his intense stare. "You're remembering something aren't you?"
"What...what else would you pack? What would you ensure that you took with you." his voice hoarse with his confusion, if only he could remember it.
Estrella realised that this was very important to the young man, she had a feeling that it would prove one way or another that Felipe and Pablo were the same person. She frowned as she tried to think what her sister would have taken with her, what's the one thing that she was never without?
All of a sudden Estrella gasped aloud, which caused Diego to re-focus his attention to her. "Estrella...?"
"Madre de Dios." Estrella whispered. "There is one thing that Renata would never leave behind. In fact she had wrote that she had passed it to Pablo when he turned one."
Diego leant forward. "What is it?"
"It was this." she replied as she reached around her neck and pulled out a silver chain from under her blouse. From the chain dangled a small silver medallion. "It's a Saint Nicholas of Myra medallion." she confirmed.
"Who was, amongst other things, the Patron Saint of Children." Diego whispered. "May I?" he held out his hand.
Estrella nodded. "Of course." she replied as she unclasped the chain and handed it over to him.
Diego's hand shook slightly as took the medallion and slowly turned it over in his fingers.
"My grandmother gave each of my three sisters and myself a medallion when we turned a year old." Estrella advised as she watched him intently.
"There is a pink stone in the middle of yours." Diego noted carefully, he now recalled what he was trying to remember but it was up to Estrella to prove it to him.
Estrella nodded. "Si that's right, we each had a different colour stone. Oh my god, you've seen this before haven't you?" her voice shook, was it really true, that her nephew was Felipe?
"What other colours?" Diego asked in return as he held her gaze.
"Constanza had yellow, Evita had white and...and Renata had a blue stone..." She gazed almost pleadingly into his eyes. "Diego?"
Diego cleared his throat. "I found a Saint Nicholas medallion around his neck."
Estrella and Victoria stared open mouthed at this news.
"He still has it and it has a blue stone in it." he voice broke once more as he handed back the medallion to Estrella.
"Madre de Dios." Estrella whispered as she clasped the chain tight in her hand.
"Is it possible Diego?" Victoria asked dumbfounded, was Estrella really Felipe's aunt?
Diego couldn't believe it, she MUST be Felipe's aunt but he needed to be entirely sure, it was too important not to be. "We must make absolutely certain Estrella. What else?" he asked almost desperately.
Estrella stood up on trembling legs, never in a thousand years did she actually believe that her search would come true. She knew that Felipe and Pablo were the same person but she understood why he needed more evidence, just as she did. She paced around for several moments as she thought hard, what could she tell him that would prove it beyond doubt? What could she use?
Suddenly she stopped pacing and turned back to Diego and Victoria. "Please excuse me for a moment, there's something I need to get." with that she turned and left the garden.
Victoria felt overwhelmed by what was happening, she simply couldn't imagine what Diego was going through. She reached out and touched his arm and was surprised by his tremors. "I believe her Diego." she said softly.
He nodded as he laid his hand over hers. "So do I Victoria, so do I." he replied. He didn't know what to think or even what to do. He believed that Felipe would be thrilled to know he had blood family but he didn't know if he himself was happy with the knowledge. He knew he should be but at the moment he couldn't take it all in.
Estrella returned with a small leather bound case and as she sat down, she carefully untied the ribbon that kept it together and to the surprise of Diego and Victoria, they saw many letters inside the case and Diego's heart went out to her as he realised what it was.
As if reading his thoughts Estrella spoke softly almost reverently. "These are Renata's letters to me, I kept them all." she replied as she carefully went through them until she found the one she wanted. She carefully removed the letter from the envelope and then looked up at Diego. "Please read this part."
Diego was humbled by her generosity as he took the letter from her trembling fingers, his eyes picked up the passage she wanted him to read.
"Oh my dear sister, I have a son, a beautiful little boy, so perfect in every way that my heart melted completely. He even has an adorable little birthmark on his left buttock, it's almost in the shape of a love-heart and I'm tempted to call him my little corazón but Herberto won't hear of it, so we've named him Pablo after Herberto's father. Herberto is so proud and he can't stop himself from looking at him, from holding him. Oh sister, I wish you to know this joy of having a child..."
Diego stopped reading, knowing that the rest of the letter was a personal exchange between sisters but he re-read the part of the birth-mark and he had no more doubts. Felipe was Pablo Rodriguez. He finally looked up at Estrella to find her waiting impatiently for an answer but he found that he couldn't speak as his throat had been constricted but instead he reached out and took her trembling hand in his.
"Ay dios mio." she whispered. "It's really him isn't it? It's really Pablo?" she could no longer hold back her tears of joy.
Diego nodded. "Si it is. Felipe is Pablo." he confirmed as tears burned his eyes.
Victoria had no trouble holding back her own tears, although she didn't know what the letter said, it was obvious that Diego completely accepted it. "Oh Diego." she gripped his arm in support.
He turned his stunned gaze to her and gave her hand a tight squeeze in return.
His movement made Estrella come out of her shock and she stood up, her chair scraping on the cobbled stones and she staggered to the fence in an effort to control her emotions. She couldn't believe it, he was alive, he had survived. She never ever expected this as tears flowed down her face.
Diego also stood and quickly crossed over to Estrella and gently placed his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. She gratefully took the comfort he was so willing to give her and turned into his embrace and gave into her shock and grief.
Victoria watched in wonderment as her closest friend gave unconditional comfort to the older lady. She had always known that he was a compassionate man, it was one of the things she loved about him. She frowned at that thought as she realised that she did love him, he was her dearest and closest friend and he was only second to Zorro in terms of her love. She wondered if Zorro was as kind and generous as Diego, that underneath that black mask, he was a true compassionate man, a man like Diego, who would make a wonderful father and husband. She frowned again, she never thought of Diego as husband material before but over the last couple of days she had seen a much different side of him, a side that she rarely saw.
Estrella pulled away from Diego's comforting embrace. "Forgive me." she whispered hoarsely.
Diego smiled softly. "There's nothing to forgive Estrella." his voice reflected his own powerful emotions.
"I never really expected to find them alive but now..." She stopped as the tears threatened to breakout again.
They moved back to the table where Victoria gave the older lady a comforting hug. "I can't even begin to imagine what you are feeling." she said softly.
Estrella hugged her back. "Gracias Victoria. It is hard to describe, I'm so happy but so sad at the same time." she replied as she pulled back with a small sad smile.
Victoria nodded in understanding as they sat down once more.
Estrella reached out and touched Diego's arm. "Do you think Pablo...I mean Felipe would like to meet me?" she asked somewhat eagerly.
Diego smiled warmly. "Of that I have no doubts. One of his deepest wish is to know where he came from, who he is."
Estrella nodded. "I would too if I was in his place. Tell me what is he like? What are his interests? Does he have many friends?"
Diego chuckled at the number of questions Estrella was asking and so both Victoria and himself spent the next several hours answering any and all questions about Felipe, while Estrella talked about her family.
As Diego suspected, Estella had came from a well-to-do family in Cadiz but because Renata had married against her father's wishes, she had been disowned and any children that she had would not be acknowledged but Renata didn't care for she loved Herberto. Once their elopement was discovered, their father had forbidden his wife and three remaining daughters to ever mention her name again but that didn't stop Estrella and Renata from writing to each other with the help of an understanding aunt, who allowed their letters to be delivered to her home instead of their father's home. For the sisters knew that their letters would have been intercepted by their father before Estrella had a chance to read it.
