Chapter 14 - Preparations
In the late afternoon the wind had ceased enough to make it possible for him to leave before the people in the pueblo got out of their houses again. Fully dressed except for his mask he was ready to depart standing in her bedroom with Victoria who was reluctant to let him go.
"Maybe you should stay in bed and tell your helpers you are ill."
"Why should I do that?"
"You are so radiant and you look so beautiful. Nobody will believe you are mourning for Zorro."
He combed with his hands through her hair and kissed her.
"Then I have you back only to face the same problems with the alcalde again? Will it be just the same as before? Waiting for for you and not knowing when it will end?"
"No, Querida. It will be different now. I wouldn't have spent the night with you if I had wanted us to continue like before. But there are two more things I must ask you."
"What things?"
Without giving an answer he opened a window a reached out with his hand to the climbing rose that grew outside. A moment later he knelt before her with a rose in his hand.
"Victoria, will you marry me now that you know?"
"Yes. I love you, Diego."
Taking the rose from his hand she kissed him after he got up again.
"And what was the other thing you wanted to ask me?" She became alarmed when she looked in his serious face.
"Victoria, I want us to marry in two weeks, but to make it possible I have to persuade the alcalde that I'm not Zorro and to do that I need your help."
"In two weeks?" She was surprised. "What do you want me to do?"
"First of all you need to keep up the impression that you believe in Zorro's death and are still mourning for him, just as if this wonderful last night hadn't happened."
Victoria reminded herself of the day Alejandro had told her that Diego had probably died and the tears returned to her eyes.
"How do you do that?"
Diego looked surprised at her tear stricken face.
"The last weeks were so horrible and they are hard to forget. Is that convincing enough?"
"More than convincing," he kissed her tears away. "I can't see you cry."
"What else is there to do?" she inquired.
"I need to give the alcalde an explanation where I have been the last weeks and I have to persuade him that I'm not Zorro. For that I need you to play along with my story and pretend that that I'm just plain Diego who is only your friend."
"I can do that easily. What will you tell the alcalde?"
"If I don't tell you, it will be easier for you to act surprised and we really need to be convincing. There is only this one chance and if the alcalde is not persuaded he will hang me as Zorro."
She shuddered at the imagination of losing him again and buried her face at his chest.
"I couldn't bear that."
"It will be alright, Victoria. Just trust me."
"I trust you, but the alcalde must not be underestimated. I'm afraid."
"It will work, Victoria, if we both do our best."
He kissed her again and when he wanted to leave she wouldn't let him go, the fear of losing him was all too prominent in her eyes.
"I have to go." Turning around, he quietly slipped out of the window after he had put on his mask again and was gone.
She looked at the rose she was still holding and thought of the promise it stood for. Crying she threw herself on the bed and let her face sink into the pillow. She didn't know how to cope with these ups and downs. After the weeks she had thought him dead, she was so happy to have him back and now she was on the brink of losing him again. When would it be over?