Chapter 29: Made in Hast
The time that pasted between the meeting with the Stewart and returning to their lodgings was spent on the land of Angela's childhood and early adulthood. It hadn't been as long as she really believed, but it felt like a life time had passed since she had been in the house and among the grounds of her family estate. While her father and mother were alive she had a very easy and happy childhood. The house was filled with love and laughter and the old woman did not come near them. She had been forbidden by the Angela's father who knew her secrets and who protected the two women in his life. Angela could feel her father's strength and power as she watched and listened to the people who had once worked for him. He was a good man, but now he was gone and so was nearly everything that could stand for the great man that he was. While the light was still with them, Joaquin and Angela continued to peruse the destruction of the Fathers land. Angela for the memories and Joaquin for the strength and knowledge of a man he had never known but could feel in the presence of the house and the woman he loved.
In the space that surrounded the estate land; all of which was left to Angela, she found the remains of a happy childhood. Much of the woods and the gardens had not been touched by the wicked old woman and her pirates but they had been left unattended and in much need of tender love of someone that knew what the gardens and the trees needed. So Angela took to the old familiar paths and walk ways to try and make sense of everything that had happened in the past few days.
Everything was happening so quickly and yet the events that were to take place had been unknowingly put into action by the old woman herself. It seemed, to Angela, that even though she had tried so hard to resist the efforts of the old woman, everything had fallen into place as her father had planned and yet there was still something very sinister waiting for her in France. The warning and the tails were alive again in Angela's mind as she had found them in the writings of her father's journal. There, among the pages of his happiness, she found the answers too many of her own questions and now, with the understanding of his secrets, she could make more sense of the things he had written. The journal was a list of instructions and dreams he had carried through his life for her and one of the very clear dreams was her happiness. She hoped she would find it and hoped that everything her father had done for her would soon lead to an end that would allow her to be happy. The journal had become a cherished piece of her life that she never knew she would have.
Joaquin had left the young woman to her own thoughts as they returned from the old Steward's home; on Angela's estate and returned to the distractions of the destroyed manner house. His mind was in a million places. As Angela disappeared into the greenery of the gardens Joaquin ventured inside once again to access the damage of the house. All at once the grandeur of the promise he had made to Angela came in around him as he walked through the old scorched mansion. It was once a beautiful home, he could tell by the regal nature of the stone walls and the blackened marble floors. It was a grand home and could be grand once again but it would take a lot of work to bring it back into its glory, which in turn would mean much more time spent in Spain then Joaquin anticipated.
He was in love with Angela and he wanted to marry her but he was not sure if this was the life he wanted. He worried that there would be too much for him to deal with in Spain and soon in France to allow him to ever return to his family and friends in California. Would he ever see his home land again or was this it for him. The more time Angela spent in Spain the more she seemed to be comfortable with it and so Joaquin had to come to terms with what may become of his and his father's legacy. Would Zorro die away in California because his father no longer had his son to take over when the time came that he could no longer proceed through with his obligations or was there still time for Alejandro to find someone to take on as a protégé? He wondered what would happen to him in this new roll as gentleman and land owner. Would he just live out his life as a lazy young man and never put to use the training and the teachings of his father? These realizations and question plagued Joaquin as he continued through the old house.
What Joaquin did not know was that Angela was pondering the same questions and what such a secret as Joaquin's and the De La Vega family would mean for her future. She was a strong woman, trained in combat and ready to stand by Joaquin through whatever may come to them in the old world but would she be able to see a life of the secret world? There had been so many secrets in her life and she had made for herself her own persona. Her father had put in many hours toward her own training and she was not a woman like many others. She knew how to fight like a man, she was agile and swift and was longing for the action and adventure that she once dreamed about; but here she was on the verge of marriage and her obligations as a wife. Would she ever be the woman that she knew she was, or would she have to be the lady that her grand mother had forced her to be? She worried that what Joaquin wanted and what she really was, was not going to fall into her idea of what life, and freedom, were meant to be for her.
Joaquin and Angela had made a promise to each other, in great hast, but was it really what either of them wanted? Did they know enough about each other, outside of the secrets that they now shared to be happy and prosperous together? Was the adventure of their life time, the excitement of their youth and their training gone forever or was this to become the beginning of the greatest adventure that either one of them could imagine? Danger lurked around every corner but how to deal with it was yet to be discovered.
