Chapter 11
A/N: At first I wanted to use all episodes from season 3, but it doesn't work. It will get too long and some episodes don't fit into the kind of the story I want to tell. So I'll stick to a few selected ones and pretend the others don't happen, until I finish where I planned it. So Diego can be happy again sooner.
Parts from the episode The old flame will be included.
Diego sat down in the first row of seats, as the tavern had been rearranged for the evening show of the circus that was passing through Los Angeles. Mendoza next to him had his arm in a sling, a result from his encounter with members of revolution who had blown up an ammunition transport last night. Now the soldiers were on alert searching for Joaquin Correna, the leader. As Zorro, Diego had been able to take care Mendoza's injury and that of his men. Now he was tired from his nightly activities and watched the show. There had been a clown and after that an artist named Alevar who tried to show his talent on a trampoline, but had been unable to perform his part, because of his drinking as the other members of the show explained.
For the next part a woman named Zafira was announced and she was welcomed with applause. When the woman stepped on the stage and started with her tricks, he stopped clapping. She hadn't changed much, so he recognized her instantly. Zafira! It was her. He hadn't expected to ever see her again. He remembered the time they had spent together in Madrid and the day he had seen her the last time.
He had been so in love with her that he had asked her to marry him. She had run into his arms and told him that she wanted to marry him the same day. Then he had waited at the small chapel, but she hadn't come. Now she was here in Los Angeles after all these years.
Loud applauding brought Diego back to the present. He watched as Zafira lighted a bowl on fire then carried it so the audience could see. She waved it up and down a couple of times and the fire extinguished, turning into paper flowers. The clown helped Zafira down off the stage and she walked up to Mendoza, intending to give him the bowl of flowers. She put her hand up to his ear and pulled out a bouquet of flowers. Then she noticed Diego sitting beside him and held the flowers out to him.
"Hello again, Diego." Zafira said.
Victoria was surprised and jealous when she realized that the beautiful woman from the circus knew each other.
After the show was over she could help herself but to eye Diego and Zafira curiously as they sat together in the tavern, facing each other over a table.
"So as we agreed, I made the arrangements with the priest in Colmenar. He was kind, very understanding. He counseled patience." Diego said to Zafira. "I guess he could see my growing anxiety. And so I waited, thinking only of you, making plans for our future, planning our family. I was so eager to share my dreams, my very life with you. And so I sat and waited for you, Zafira, I felt. . . confused. Going over your every word in my mind. I knew that we shared a promise, a devotion. Then I realized you weren't going to come at all. I was utterly heartbroken."
Zafira reached out across the table and took Diego's hand. "Diego, I was on my way to meet you at the church, I swear."
"Then what stopped you?"
"My brother. He had joined the rebellion, you knew that." Diego nodded. "That very afternoon I was told he'd been wounded. He was dying. He and his group were hiding out at a monastery in Segovia. I left a message for you at your quarters."
"I never got it."
"I looked after Ricardo for two weeks. But he died."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Victoria sauntered over to their table, standing there for a moment listening in. She couldn't believe it, Diego had wanted to marry that woman. So he had been interested in getting married during his time in Madrid. What kind of man had he been to charm such a beautiful woman?
"Segovia fell under siege. I couldn't get back to you."
Victoria picked up the empty glasses on their table, as Diego looked at her.
Zafira hadn't noticed Victoria and continued with her story. "By the time I returned to Madrid, you had left before you had even graduated."
Having no more pretense to stay at their table, Victoria turned from them and walked away, but tried to stay in hearing distance without the two being aware of it.
"I though you had changed your mind, Diego."
"No. My father had written to me, asking me to return to California at once."
"Sometimes fate plays tricks."
"Yes."
The clown, with his makeup half off, rushed over to their table.
Clown addressed Zafira. "It's Alevar. You'd better come."
"Perhaps Doctor Hernandez should take a look at him."
Zafira got to her feet. "No, I can take care of this. I'm used to it. Buenos noches, Diego."
Zafira and the clown hurried away. Victoria watched them go before bringing a glass of juice and setting it in front of Diego.
Victoria smiled a bit smugly. "So Don Diego de la Vega has a past after all, hmm?" Her expression changed when he didn't answer her. She realized that this was serious. He was back in his past remembering his old love. Or did he still love her? Was Zafira the reason Diego never married?
Z Z Z
Alejandro was still in Santa Barbara with his old friends giving his testimony for the trial of Cordoba, the man who had shot his uncle and he didn't expected him to return for several days. So he was surprised to hear a knocking on the door.
"Zafira!" He hadn't expected her.
Zafira came through the door, followed by the man Diego knew as Alevar and the clown, now dressed in normal clothes. The clown partially carried the obviously ill Alevar into the room. Diego reached out to help hold him up.
Zafira addressed him. "Diego, this is Joaquin Correna. My husband.
Diego looked shocked at Zafira's announcement. It didn't fit to what she told him earlier. Nonetheless he wouldn't deny her his help or Correna who needed his medical knowledge. With Zafira's help he took care of the wound and listened to her explanations.
"I met Joaquin while I was trapped in Segovia."
"You were looking after your brother?"
"Yes, he was commander of the rebel battalion. We spend four months together while the city was under siege. I grew to love him and what he stood for."
Correna interrupted her. "She's lying. She didn't come back to you because I wouldn't let her. She was too valuable to the revolution."
There was loud knocking on the front door and he heard Victoria's voice.
"Don Diego?"
Diego calmed the others. "It's all right." Felipe went to let Victoria in. "Felipe, be careful."
Correna took the word again. "You see, Señor, she married me because she was in love with the cause. But I've always known that her heart belonged to someone else."
Victoria ran into the room, following Felipe.
"Don Diego, Mendoza knows Correna's here and he's on his way with half the garrison."
"We have to get out of here now!" The clown said.
"Help us, Diego, please, or they'll hang Joaquin." Zafira pleaded him.
"You can tell them I forced you to join us. Stay with Señor de la Vega. I know that you still love him." Correna said to Zafira.
Diego turned away from attending Correna's wound to look at Zafira.
"I do still love you." She confessed.
Diego looked away from her intense gaze and over at Victoria for a moment, then back to Zafira. For a moment he didn't know what to say, but he realized that it was a moment of truth. "Zafira, I'm no longer the man you once knew in Madrid. I know what true love is now, and it's not what I felt for you. And even if I still felt something for, it would be too late. I don't believe in love anymore. There's no more place for it in my life."
Zafira and Victoria looked at him, shocked by his words. Zafira lowered her head, a hurt expression in her eyes.
"Mendoza's here." Victoria warned them.
"There's a deserted farmhouse about a mile down the road. You can hide there until morning." Diego addressed the group, helping Correna to his feet together with the clown as Victoria lead the way out of the room.
"Quickly, out through the kitchen. Victoria, show them the way."
"But what about you, Diego?" Victoria asked.
"I'll delay the sergeant."
"Come out, Correna." Mendoza was heard from the outside.
"Hurry!"
"I thank you, Señor. You would make a fine addition to our ranks." Correna said.
"Like yourself, Señor Correna, I believe there are causes worth dying for. I've yet to find one worth killing for. Go!"
Correna, the clown, and Victoria left the room. Zafira stayed behind and Diego turned to look at her.
"Goodbye, Zafira."
She hung her head down as she walked around him, but looked up at him before she spoke.
"Goodbye, Diego." They both knew that it was a farewell forever. Whatever her hopes had been, there was no turning back and there was nothing left of their former love.
Felipe walked up behind Diego, who was pensive for moment before he realized Felipe was there.
"Quickly, Felipe, find some muskets. Let's see how good a shot you are."
Felipe rushed off, leaving Diego with his thoughts again.
Z Z Z
While Victoria let the group away to their hideout, Zorro kept the soldiers at. With the help of Felipe he tricked Mendoza and his men into believing that they were surrounded by Correna's men. He kept them long enough that Victoria could help the group to the hideout.
Z Z Z
Diego entered the tavern the next day, followed by Mendoza.
"Buenas dias, Victoria," Diego greeted Victoria.
"And to you, Don Diego. Any news of Correna, Sergeant?"
"Oh, I'm afraid not. He's probably far away by now," Mendoza answered.
"Oh, he'll be back to plague you. You can be sure of that," Victoria said, cutting something up into little pieces.
"It's about time for our lunch, Don Diego," Mendoza reminded him.
"I'll meet you at the table."
Mendoza went off to their table while Diego turned his attention to Victoria.
Diego asked a bit worriedly, "They got away safely?"
Victoria nodded. "Mendoza told me that Zorro tied you and Felipe up."
Diego looked at her seriously. "Zorro made a good alibi."
"I see. I knew it didn't sound like Zorro." She looked down at the plate with the food she was preparing then back up at Diego. "So, who is she?"
"I beg your pardon?" Diego asked.
"I couldn't forget what you said yesterday. Who has hurt you so that you have given up love? If it wasn't Zafira who was it?"
Diego stared at her for a minute, before he answered rather coldly. "That's not a topic I want to discuss with you, Señora."
There it was again. He had addressed her formally with señora instead of Victoria as he used to, creating a distance between them that she wasn't able to cross. She watched him sitting down at the sergeant's table turning his back to her. Victoria had tears in her eyes, weeping silently not only for their friendship but also for her friend who had become so bitter. She was grateful that Diego didn't see them.
Z Z Z
The next days Diego didn't get out of Victoria's mind. She couldn't stop thinking about him and how he was hurting so much. Who was the woman who hurt him so much? She couldn't imagine him being so deeply in love when she had never seen him together with a woman. And it must have been recently too, because the change that she perceived in him was recent too.
She realized that the distance he showed towards others was probably a result of him hurting inside. So she didn't mind him being distant to her anymore when he was actually in need of a friend. She decided she would try to be there for him.
There was also something else she wanted to do that might be the right step to get everything back as it used to be. After the evening mass she would talk to the padre who had always an open ear for her problems.
A/N: Next will be Mendoza the Malevolent
