Chapter Twelve
Felipe rushed towards Diego and fell down on his knees right beside him. He turned the unconscious man on his back but before he even got a chance to try and wake him, Diego stirred and blinked his eyes open. Felipe heaved a sigh of relieve and rolled his eyes while he helped Diego to sit.
"Felipe," Diego couldn't hide both his surprise and his delight when he caught sight of his adoptive son. "I'm so glad to see you." He rubbed his temples with his fingertips, trying to clear away some of the fog in his head that his fall had left him with. He grabbed the armrest of Ana's armchair and tried to lift himself up, but failed miserably. "I'm afraid I'm going to need your help, Felipe."
The younger man nodded and helped Diego first into a standing position before he carefully helped him to sit down. He noticed Diego's face twitch with pain with every movement it took them to get him into the safety of the comfortable chair.
"Thank you," Diego pressed the words of gratitude through clenched teeth as he leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed taking in deep breaths while he was waiting for the pain in his back to subside. Eventually his breathing steadied. He opened his eyes and looked at Felipe affectionately. "I'm glad you came," he smiled and patted the younger man's hand.
'Me too,' Felipe signed and looked at Diego reproachfully. 'I thought some woman was taking care of you. And now I find you unconscious on the floor.' Felipe was agitated.
"Calm down, Felipe," Diego still smiled at him and motioned for him to sit down in the second armchair standing in front of the fireplace. "Ana is gone for the day. She had some business to attend to. And this little accident was my own fault, I'm afraid."
'Why?' Felipe still wasn't convinced. He considered it quite irresponsible of that woman to leave Diego alone in his condition. 'How did you get here anyway? You led me to believe that you can't use your legs.'
"Quite right you are, Felipe. However, there's been a change to my condition since I've sent you the letter." Diego smiled at his son. "After all the paralysis appears to be only temporary. The feeling has returned to my legs the day after Ana has sent Toronado with my letter."
'That's wonderful!' Felipe signed and couldn't suppress another relieved sigh. 'So you'll be coming home soon? I don't know how much longer your father is going to accept your absence. Yesterday he wrote a letter to Rafael, demanding that you return immediately. He told me to mail it, but I forgot,' Felipe continued and looked rather remorseful when he mentioned his deceit on Don Alejandro.
"Slow down, Felipe. Why does my father think that I'm with Rafael?" Diego looked confused.
'I forged a letter in your handwriting,' Felipe admitted and his face blushed several shades of red while he told Diego about the rest of his completely fabricated alibi to explain Diego's absence.
"I must apologize, Felipe." Now it was Diego's turn to look remorseful. "I knew that I could count on you to come up with some kind of explanation. But you shouldn't be forced to lie to such a degree on my behalf."
'You know that I would do anything for you,' Felipe signed and gave Diego a weak smile. 'I'm just glad that you'll be coming home with me.'
"I'm afraid that I cannot return home just yet," Diego sighed and felt terrible when he saw Felipe's shocked look. "I have not yet regained the use of my legs. You see, even though I was advised to stay in bed and to not rush my recovery, I did just that. I managed to get out of bed on my own and to make two or three steps into the living room. Well, you saw how well that has worked out for me. Ana is going to have my head for disobeying her orders," Diego smirked.
'She's giving you orders?' Felipe found it hard to believe that his father would allow anyone to order him around like some common peasant.
"She's different from anybody I've met before. She's quite special really," Diego mused and suddenly seemed to be lost in thought. Felipe watched him as his mind began wandering somewhere, he couldn't follow. After a while Felipe put his hand on Diego's knee to get his attention. "I'm sorry, Felipe. I was just wondering…"
'About what?'
"Never mind. It wasn't important. I have a favor to ask. Would you kindly fetch me a glass of water, please. My throat feels quite dry," Diego asked. "I'm afraid I don't know where Ana keeps her crockery. I've never been to this room before."
Felipe nodded and went to the small kitchen area. The woman, who was taking care of Diego, was obviously quite neat. There was a pitcher filled with water standing on the counter, however he didn't see any cups. So he searched behind the colorful curtains that were hiding the kitchen counters' contents from plain view. When he couldn't find any glasses, he began searching the two cabinets hanging on the wall. The first one contained the usual supplies, such as candles, lamp oil and other necessities of everyday life. Felipe sighed in frustration and threw the door shut a little too vigorously. One of the jars, that had been placed on the top of the cabinets came tumbling down and hit the floor with a loud clash. Coffee beans were rolling all over the floor and Felipe gave a surprised silent yelp as the jar nearly hit his head but quickly regained his composure and knelt down to pick it up.
"Felipe," Diego exclaimed worriedly and turned slightly so that he could see his son. "Are you alright?"
Felipe nodded and Diego watched him as he cleaned up the mess he'd made. But suddenly Felipe stopped and a look of surprise washed over his face when he found something else among the coffee beans. For a moment he hesitated before he picked up a small golden locket that had obviously been hidden in the jar on purpose. He held it up to take a better look at it and then turned towards Diego who had and equal expression of surprise on his face. Felipe got up from his knees, went over to Diego and handed him the small piece of jewelry.
Instantly intrigued by the piece's fine craftsmanship Diego took it from Felipe's hands and inspected it more closely. The locket was beautiful and looked quite old. He hesitated to open it. Surely Ana had a good reason to hide such a precious piece of jewelry and he felt like he was betraying her trust, if he were to open it. On the other hand he wanted and needed to find out more about her, since he knew that she was still hiding many things from him. Maybe the locket would contain some kind of clue to who she really was. Diego's subconscious freed him of the decision he had to make, when his thumb ever so lightly brushed the small button. The locket instantly sprung open and revealed two portraits. He would have expected to find the portraits of Pablo and Miguel; however one of the small paintings showed a woman. It wasn't Ana, even though there was a certain resemblance.
'Who do you think they are?' Felipe signed his question and looked expectantly at Diego.
"I don't know," Diego answered somewhat lost in thought. "Maybe they are her parents?" he offered for an explanation, but couldn't be quite certain. "You should put it back, Felipe. I don't think Ana would appreciate us uncovering her secrets."
Felipe nodded and took the locket from Diego and quickly went to gather the spilt coffee beans and along with the locket he put them back into the jar. After he had returned it to its original place he continued his search for a glass and found one in the second cabinet. He poured Diego and himself a glass of water and returned to his seat.
Diego eagerly drank his water and then began to tell Felipe everything that had happened.
It was already dark outside and it had started to rain heavily when Diego finished. Felipe had been listing intently to the entire story and when Diego stopped, he silently gave a prayer of thanks that his father had been saved by that strange woman. A few moments of silenced passed before Diego spoke again.
"She should have been back by now," he sighed and let his eyes wander to the dark window next to the front door. Raindrops were running down the windowpane and bore evidence to the severity of the storm.
'Maybe she changed her mind and stayed wherever it is, she was going,' Felipe suggested.
"I hope so. But I doubt it. She couldn't have known that you would come here today and she is way too conscientious than to leave me here all by myself," Diego stated.
'I brought a few things with me,' Felipe tried to take Diego's mind off his worries and he quickly ran outside only to return a few seconds later with his saddlebags. He kneeled on the floor in front of Diego and brought forth a couple of books, a fresh set of Zorro's clothing as well as some caballero's clothes.
"That was very thoughtful of you, Felipe," Diego smiled and took the books from his son. There was a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets as well as a selection of some of his favorite poetry. "I see you know me well," he smiled gratefully.
'You look hungry,' Felipe signed and without awaiting Diego's response he went back to the kitchen and began to prepare a simple mean for both of them. Fortunately there was some leftover stew, that Ana had cooked the day before and so they both enjoyed a tasteful however simple meal a short time later.
They ate in silence and when they had finished their meal Felipe took care of the dishes. Diego sat in the old armchair and watched the flames engulfing the wooden logs with their hungry tongues of fire. He was tired, but his worry for Ana kept him awake and alert. It was past midnight when Felipe sat down next to him and there was still no sign of Ana. They were both too tired to talk and so they both just sat there, watching the fire in front of them, dwelling on their own thoughts. After a while Felipe's breathing became heavier and when Diego turned to him, he saw that his son had fallen asleep. With a smile on his face he reached over to the younger man and gently stroked his arm. With the intention of only closing his eyes for a few moments, he slightly shifted in his chair to get more comfortable and finally gave in to his own bodies need for sleep.
Diego felt like he'd only slept for a few seconds when he woke with a start to the sound of the front door being opened. Apart from the fire in the fireplace it was dark in the room and his instincts told him to get up and make some light, but shot of pain through his lower back kept him seated in his chair. Cursing under his breath, he tried to ignore the pain, but it was too consuming.
"I told you to stay in bed, Diego," Ana's angry voice cut the silence of the room and woke Felipe. "Why can't you just listen to someone for once?" She stepped further into the room and threw the front door shut. Quickly she lit one of the wall lamps and it was then that Diego discovered that she was soaking wet and trembling violently. "When did Felipe arrive?" she queried as she proceeded to light the next lamp.
"At noon," Diego replied dumbfounded and watched the wet trail she left behind on the floor. "Where were you? I was worried about you."
"I was delayed," she answered avoiding his eyes. "I just wanted to check on you. I still need to comb down Águila. When I come back, we'll get you back to bed."
"Don't you think you should put on some dry clothes first?" Diego exclaimed before she could slip out of the front door.
"Don't you think that you should have listened to me? I take it that it wasn't Felipe who helped you out of bed!" Ana yelled and shot him an angry look.
"Well, no. He didn't. But nothing happened. I'm alright," Diego tried to calm her, but she wasn't listening. He had expected her to yell some more at him, but she just stared at him in disbelief for a while, then turned on her heels to run back out into the pouring rain.
AN: So there's some progress in this chapter. We're getting there. ;-)
Thanks to everyone for their reviews. You guys make my day.
jblevins0927: I'm glad that you enjoy this story so much. Your review made me blush. Thank you so very much.
jkl88: 25 seems rather young to me, too. LOL Thank you for your review.
katie1999: More questions for you in this chapter. But there'll be some answer in the near future. I promise. This story is - believe it or not - coming to its end. At least in my mind. ;-)
