Chapter 21. The other wedding
The afternoon before the wedding, doña Carmen went to the hacienda with Victoria. She felt a little sad, because she would no longer have an excuse to spend so much time there, but she did not want to be noticed so as not to tarnish their happiness. She thought of them as the family she could never have.
Victoria wanted to be alone with Diego and doña Carmen made fun of her. "Leave something for tomorrow, girl, you've exhausted him." She smiled, but didn't change her mind.
Don Alejandro approached her. "Well, they've left us alone again. They seem to trust us."
Doña Carmen smiled, but it really made her sad. Her life would have been so different if she had known someone like him when she was young.
"With all the mess of wedding preparations I haven't formally asked you, but I hope you can be my companion tomorrow." said don Alejandro.
"I don't think it's appropriate."
"Of course, you're a respectable widow. I don't see what the problem is."
"All right, I'll go with you if that's what you want."
"I would love it if after the wedding you would still visit us at the hacienda."
"Now I'm no longer needed as a chaperone."
"But I want to keep talking to you. It brings a touch of sanity to my life." She laughed and he continued to talk. "I mean it. My world is upside down. I thought my son was a serious and prudent man, with no interest in women, and suddenly I find him putting on a mask, fighting duels, catching bandits, climbing walls, hanging from lamps, and falling in love with the most temperamental woman I know. It's very disconcerting. How did we get here?"
"Maybe there's an explanation. Did you read Don Quixote to him when he was a child?"
"So you think it's my fault."
"I already told you. He's just like you."
zzZzz
"Victoria. Why are you still picking up? You should be upstairs by now, today you have to rest, tomorrow is a big day," said Pilar smiling.
"There's not much left," protested Victoria.
Doña Carmen took the broom out of her hands. "We will do this. Go and rest."
"You're the one who should go home, Carmen," she said.
At that moment, two women came through the door.
"Sorry, it's closed," said Pilar.
"We've come to talk to her," said Doña Maria, pointing to Victoria.
Doña Julia looked at her with a small smile. "I've already told doña María that we didn't have to come, but she insisted and I preferred that she didn't come alone."
Victoria was beginning to suspect the worst. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Your wedding night, my dear." said Doña Maria in a low voice, so Pilar wouldn't hear.
Victoria looked at doña Carmen, and looking back at doña Maria she said in a somewhat tense voice. "I don't think it's necessary."
"Of course, if your mother were here to accompany you, she'd tell you what you need, but in her absence, we married women in the village must support you."
Doña Carmen made an effort not to laugh. "Perhaps you'd like a drink while we talk."
Victoria turned to her in anger. "I don't think it's a good idea. I was just going to sleep."
Doña María took her by the hand and guided her to one of the tables in the corner. "We'd better sit down. Victoria, child, tomorrow will be an important day, and what happens when you are alone with your husband may determine how he treats you in the future. If he were a more experienced man I wouldn't worry, but when it comes to Don Diego..."
Doña Julia nodded and said. "She´s right about that. We know he is an educated man, but there are things in life that cannot be learned from books." At that moment Carmen made a strange sound, like a cough, and Victoria knew that if she looked at her, she would not be able to avoid a fit of laughter.
zzZzz
The wedding day was a bit overcast. Victoria got dressed in her room at the tavern, which she occupied for the last time. She was a little nervous. Doña Carmen was helping her.
"Is something bothering you, Victoria?"
"It's just that these days have been crazy. Being with Diego finally, and now I'll be by his side every day... and every night."
"You'll be very happy, I'm sure."
"But I don't know if it's right that I want to be with him all the time."
"You have just got married, it's normal, you'll calm down a bit in time."
"But I enjoy it so much. I've heard the priests say that a married woman must keep her composure."
"And what do they know about it? Don't listen to those old fogies." Victoria seemed worried and doña Carmen continued talking. "I'll tell you another story. Well, more like two. Over the years I have met several priests who have given me many sermons about the intimacy between man and woman. It is a subject that worries them a lot. I'll tell you the two most extreme cases."
"In the house of doña Imelda, the woman who picked me up when I escaped from the convent, I met a priest who proclaimed chastity, saying that women incited men to sin and that a woman who enjoyed the flesh was condemned to hell. Meanwhile, he had a girl exclusively, or so he thought, but that's another story."
"During my life as Don Hilario's mistress I had a lot of free time. Many times he traveled on business, and even if he was in town, he could not come to see me every day. In any case, in the mornings I was always alone. One day I met the priest of the nearest parish in the street. He greeted me kindly and I thought he didn't know who I was, but it turned out that he did. On another occasion he accompanied me while I did some shopping. He very kindly encouraged me to change my life, of course without convincing me. He told me that he already knew he would not succeed, but that it was his job to try. I decided to go to his church, and his sermons were different from what I had ever heard. Eventually I began to collaborate with him and he wanted to introduce me to some nuns."
"My experience with nuns had been so bad that I refused. However, he convinced me to give them a chance. They were working with wayward women who wanted to change their lives. They taught them a trade and gave them a fresh start, especially those who became pregnant and wanted to keep their children. He even gave them a false marriage certificate and signed baptismal certificates, hiding the fact that the children had no recognized father so they could pass for widows."
"It's amazing what they did."
"Yes, it is. He said that lying is a sin, but those children were innocent and deserved a chance. Some of the women got a new life. Others weren't so lucky. But I'm getting sidetracked by what I wanted to tell you. Talking to him in confession, I told him that I was a sinner and he of course agreed, but he said it was because my union was not blessed by marriage. He believed that love between spouses was a proof of God's love for all of us, and that pleasure between husband and wife was a gift offered to them. He saw nothing wrong with both men and women enjoying their marriage".
She looked at Victoria with a smile. "Now tell me. Which one of these two priests do you think could have been right? Which one do you think was closer to God?"
Victoria hugged doña Carmen. "Thank you again. For everything."
Don Alejandro was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. "Diego is already in the church," he said cheerfully. "Let's not keep him waiting, he's very impatient."
A smile lit up her face. Don Alejandro said, "You look radiant, even more so than usual."
Doña Carmen hurried into the church before Victoria and Don Alejandro reached the door.
When they entered the church everyone stood up, but Victoria could only look at Diego, who was wearing a blue suit at this wedding, not black clothes.
The priest put their hands together again and repeated the ceremony as if it were the first time. Victoria found it strange that a man as honest as the padre could pretend so naturally. He was much better at pretending than Don Alejandro.
As they left the church they met the alcalde. He seemed upset about something.
"Zorro seems not to have come to claim you," he said, addressing Victoria. He had surrounded the church with soldiers waiting for him to show up and disrupt the wedding, of course he'd been disappointed.
She looked at him disdainfully: "Zorro has no business being here. We broke up and I'm Diego's wife."
"Yes, it seems he's definitely tired of you."
Don Alejandro couldn't help but confront him. "You are lucky, señor, that I do not carry my sword, or you would regret those words."
Diego, tenderly letting go of Victoria's hand, stepped forward. "Father, it will not be necessary to resort to the sword, because this man attacks us with no other weapons than words, and I, although I am not a swordsman, can defend myself in that area."
He looked directly at the alcalde, asserting his greater height. "Señor, I don't even consider it necessary to defend my wife's honor. She is so far above you that she is in no danger of you reaching it. With your filthy lies you can only try to introduce doubt into my heart, but that will not succeed either. I may not be the first man she has loved, but she has given me her word to honor and respect me, and for me her word is law," his tone of voice was filled with emotion as he said, "This wonderful woman has given me the opportunity to show day by day, by my words and my actions, how much I love her, and I am sure the time will come when she will feel for me as I feel for her." Again his tone of voice hardened. "If you´re not able to share our joy, you'd better leave."
Some of the guests also approached him, looking at him seriously. The alcalde just added before he got going. "You are free to deceive yourself as much as you wish."
Don Alejandro addressed Diego. "Son, when I thought I couldn't be more proud of you, you still surprise me."
Victoria approached Diego and without caring who was around them, she kissed him passionately. There were some nervous clearings before they parted. Diego managed to look bewildered by such an outpouring of affection. "Wow," he said in a very low voice. "Now they're really going to have something to talk about."
They went to the tavern for the reception.
Diego sat at one of the tables while Victoria danced with Sergeant Mendoza. He smiled at his efforts to keep up with her without stepping on her toes. She looked around the room and saw his father looking a little serious. He approached him.
"Are you all right, father?"
"Of course, I'm just a little tired from all the hustle and bustle. I'm no longer a young man who can dance all afternoon."
"Where is doña Carmen?"
"I think she's gone out for some air. She's actually trying to avoid me. She thinks she doesn't deserve my attention."
"And you would want her to be pleased."
"I think I have feelings for her."
"It seems to me that you're sure of that."
"Would that be wrong?"
"I'm an outlaw, and I'm married to a tavern owner of dubious reputation, so who am I to put up a fight? If she can make you happy I wouldn't mind you marrying her. Because you talk about marrying her. Don't you?"
"Of course." Something in his eyes made him suspect he knew more about life than he would have thought possible. "I've been a soldier, and I've done some things I'm not proud of, but I'd like to have a partner to share my remaining years with."
"Well, don't take five years to tell her like I did."
Victoria thought she had already danced with all the gentlemen present, but she hardly felt the fatigue. Diego then called her for another dance and when they were together, he said. "The next time we pass by the door, we could sneak out."
"Impossible, you said yourself you don't sneak out."
"It's a special day. I can make an exception."
They left the tavern amidst the cheers and laughter of the guests.
When they arrived at the hacienda, Adela, which, although invited to the wedding had returned earlier, was waiting for them at the door.
"Welcome. How nice to have a señora in the house!"
"Thank you, Adela." Victoria replied.
They went to Diego's bedroom and when they entered they realized that there was a much bigger bed. Adela told them from the corridor, "It's a gift from don Alejandro," and closed the door behind them.
"It's huge," said Victoria with laughter.
"Much better than the cot in the cave," said Diego also, laughing as he approached.
She gave him a slight push on the chest, making him fall on the bed. "Yesterday, two married women from the village came to talk to me about the wedding night. I had to pretend a little, but after they drank a bottle of wine offered by Carmen, one of them told me something that I found interesting. Perhaps you've read it in one of your books and can inform me."
