Chapter 44 – Diego's conquest
"So," Victoria asked young Leonor who had followed her big brother to her counter, "how are you getting along with Don Diego now? Are you finally pleased with him, Señorita?"
"Hmmm..." she answered, earnestly thinking hard, "hmm... yes," she finally decided, speaking a bit shyly. "He knows a lot of things, and he draws really well!"
"My, my... thank you," Diego told her with an amused smile. "I'm glad I have your approval, fair damsel."
She giggled at the unusual and humorous endearment, and Victoria couldn't suppress a little smile. Indeed, after a rather awkward and almost rough first contact, he was now being really charming with his baby sister. In fact, he appeared to be rather good with children!
Awkward, bookish, solitary Diego de la Vega was good with children, after all. On paper, it wouldn't have been the obvious thing, but to someone who knew how kind and gentle he could be... who saw him interact with young Felipe when the latter was still a frightened little boy or later a teenager... yes, in fact it made sense, on second thought.
"So," Victoria said again, "you finally like him? You don't find him too tall, after all?"
"Si," the child replied immediately, "but it is not his fault, you know."
Diego smiled, unbeknownst to her.
"Mamá says it is wrong to criticise people about their physical appearance," Leonor went on, obviously repeating a well-learned lesson. "She says that it is just chance, nothing else, and that people shouldn't judge other people according to how they look. She says that it is not important, and that sometimes we can be misled by that and make mistakes because of that," the girl finally added, ending her almost pedantic recitation.
"A wise woman, it seems..." Diego murmured, thoughtful.
"Hum... yes, indeed," Victoria added in turn.
"What is important," Leonor went on, happy to find in Victoria an attentive ear, "is that he is kind. And he knows a lot of things about sketching. And chess, too. And also Indian plants: he can make magic potions, you know... he is like a sorcerer!" she exclaimed, sounding very pleased with this idea.
Diego had a gentle laugh:
"Oh, no mi querida," he then told her, "it's not magic, it's science: there is always a logical explanation behind any of these things. I'll show you and explain you if you want."
"Oh yes, please!" she said eagerly, clapping her hands enthusiastically. "You'll show me your tricks, right?"
Again, he chuckled.
"These are not tricks, Leonor, just natural phenomena... But yes, I'll show a few things."
"Great! Thank you Diego!" the girl said happily.
"Well, I am glad that you're very pleased with Don Diego, then," Victoria told her with a nice smile.
"Oh, yes, he is wonderful. And it's funny that he looks a bit like me. And even though he is beautiful and Mamá says it's not important, I like him like that. And he can do lots and lots of things, knows lots and lots of things too, and when I'm older, I want to marry him!"
Diego choked as though something had gone down the wrong way, and after a second of stunned silence Victoria burst out laughing.
"What?" Leonor asked, a bit hurt at their reactions, "It's not his fault that he is beautiful! And he is clever too, so that makes up for it."
Victoria regained some seriousness to try to knock some sense into the child.
"But you can't marry him, young Señorita, he'll be far too old for that!"
"Well, thank you Victoria," Diego said dryly in mock hurt, raising a hand to his heart in an offended gesture.
Victoria tilted her head to the side, in a 'well, you know what I mean' attitude.
"He's not old, Señora," Leonor denied, "he must be your age..."
A bright smile adorned Señorita Escalante's face at the girl's indirect compliment, and Diego smiled again in a very self-conceited way: 'ah, you see?' he seemed to be telling Victoria.
"Thank you very much young Señorita" she told the girl, "but in fact he is a few years older than I am," she added, flashing a 'so much for that' sort of little smirk at him.
He smirked back at her.
"Whatever," Diego then told his little sister, "Victoria's point is that by the time you're a fine and charming young lady old enough to get married, she and I will be gray-haired and wrinkled, while you'll be a pretty young woman!"
He winked at Victoria. Tit for tat, mi amor.
"Well, yes," Leonor replied matter-of-factly and not unsettled in the least, "it will be just like Papá and Mamá, then!"
Oh. Well, of course, from her point of view... Yes, considering Leonor's parentage, in her eyes age gap didn't seem to be an obstacle or even a hindrance, and certainly not an impediment.
"But what's more," Diego pointed out, "I'm your brother!"
"Hmm...?" Leonor mumbled.
"One just doesn't marry one's own sibling, Leonor, that's simply not the done thing!"
"Ah...? Uh... well, of course, normally, I know!" the child said. "But... even when they didn't know each other before...?"
Victoria smiled.
"Yes, Leonor," Diego patiently answered, "even in that case. That's forbidden, that's all. It would be like marrying one's own mother or father."
Diego paused as Leonor made a face at the thought of this highly disturbing idea.
"That's strictly prohibited," he added as a conclusion.
Leonor seemed to ponder that, and then she declared:
"Oh well, too bad. You will have to find someone else to marry, then," she said earnestly.
Diego tried hard to hide his chuckle, as well as Victoria.
"Well, I will try to get over it," he told her.
He and Victoria exchanged an amused look.
But Leonor didn't see it. She had already turned to Victoria:
"And I will find someone else to marry, too. Or maybe not, never mind: perhaps I'll just don't marry, like Mamá. Doesn't matter," she stated very matter-of-factly.
"What?" Victoria asked her, surprised. "Don't you dream of getting married?"
Leonor seemed to ponder this.
"Hum... I don't know..." she answered. "No, I don't remember... Not particularly, I guess."
"Don't you want to?" she insisted.
"Perhaps, I don't know. It depends," the child answered.
"Depends?! Depends on what?" Victoria asked, puzzled.
Leonor was the first little girl she ever met who didn't already dream of her wedding day. The first woman she ever met who wasn't expecting marriage someday. Who considered the possibility of never getting married without it seeming to bother her. Bah, Victoria thought, probably still too young for that yet, she simply reflected.
"Depends on the man I could marry of course!"
Very wise girl, Diego thought.
Yes, makes sense after all, Victoria reflected.
"And since I can't have Diego..." Leonor went on. "Perhaps there will be no one else I want! Simply that! ...We'll see, but for now I know I am still a child," she added, pouting.
"Time will tell?" Diego provided.
"Yes," his sister replied, "but it's really not fun to be a child..." she sighed, pouting even more.
He smiled and Victoria saw him look at his sister a bit... protectively. And she suddenly took pity in advance on the still unknown and yet very hypothetic poor young boy who, in a dozen years, would have to gather his courage to court Doña Leonor de la Vega y Ximénez: the boy would have to not only face her father's stern and overprotective watchful eyes – 'glare'? – but also her brother's! This young man would better be on his best behaviour... But perhaps the hardest person to convince might very well be Leonor herself: it would be rather hard to compete with Don Diego... at least in Leonor's current opinion. Charming, educated, kind, good-looking, rich, knowledgeable Diego de la Vega... And after all, perhaps in some other women's eyes too it might be hard to compete with him, Victoria realised.
The thought made her throw a discreet sideways glance at the girl's mother on the other side of the room. Who had apparently been looking at them from her seat. At him, probably.
Really, couldn't the woman give up on this idea and forget about him? She'd already had the father, and now she set her sights on the son! Honestly! Couldn't she see that just because of Leonor's existence, Don Diego was off limits to her?
He wasn't for her, full stop.
And more than ever, more than earlier in the day, she resolved to take him apart before he leaves the tavern and to talk to him. He would probably be shocked to no end, but she had to. He was a very suitable possibility for the deal she wanted to clinch... clinch being the word, really!
Today, she wouldn't let him leave before she had this talk with him. The night before, she had wanted to take the time to think it over, since the idea had just sprouted in her mind on the way back home. But now... now, yes. She had made up her mind.
And she'd better act before Señora Valdès made her move on him – if she hadn't already. She seemed a bit out, this afternoon. And he too looked a bit tired, even though indolence was more or less his usual state. So... did they both miss siesta? Or did they indeed spend siesta time in bed, but... not sleeping?
Ow, Victoria hoped it wasn't the case. Don Diego was probably such an easy prey, almost a sitting duck for a more... seasoned woman! Poor Diego! Victoria told herself that she really had to come to his rescue.
She was interrupted in her thoughts by Don Alejandro coming to her counter to pay his bill before leaving. When he held out his left arm over the wooden surface to hand her the coins, the sleeve of his jacket was slightly drawn back, pulling his shirt's sleeve an inch back too. Victoria then noticed a blue ribbon wrapped around his left wrist in three coils before ending up with its two ends tied together.
Oh? She wondered what this could be doing there, she had never noticed it before.
Diego's eyes too stopped on the satin sky-blue ribbon. He then remembered that Leonor's cut mop of hair had been tied up with a blue ribbon when her abductors had sent it to their father as a strong incentive to pay the ransom. So, he was now wearing it as a keepsake of his daughter, some sort of token of his affection for her? It was... sweet, indeed, but Diego couldn't help a slight pang of jealousy at Don Alejandro's obvious adoration for Leonor. After all, had his father ever worn or carried with him anything that was Diego's in the past?
He humphed inwardly.
Then another confused thought troubled his mind a bit: hadn't Leonor's ribbon rather been made of velvet and not of satin?
Bah, Diego told himself inwardly, brushing this thought aside, apparently not. Never mind, his memory of the details of this disturbing scene was probably hazy, with everything else that happened since then...
