Victoria worked in the tavern three more months until her pregnancy was too advanced for her to risk the daily trips between the hacienda and the town. Since she was stubborn about her work, Don Alejandro assigned two of his men to escort her to and from the tavern whenever he was unable to, and only allowed for the trip to be made by carriage. During this time, whenever she wasn't busy with the clients during the day, she would take out one of Diego's journals, which she started carrying around with her, sat at a corner table, and just read it.

"What is it that you are reading, Senorita?" Mendoza asked nearing her table, one day, after having watched her immerse in her account for over a week at that point.

Victoria looked at him smiling. "It's one of Diego's journals, Sergeant." She told him. "I am learning a lot about him by reading them."

"One of Don Diego's…does it say anything about him being Zorro?" He asked as he sat down in front of her.

"Hmh!" She replied with a grin. "In fact, I was just reading how he saved you when De Soto burned down your house."

"The Alcalde burned down my house? And Don Diego knew that?"

"Apparently, De Soto was trying to cheat you out of your lottery winnings. Diego found out what he was doing and confronted him as Zorro but the Alcalde decided that the best solution was for him to burn the house, thus erasing any trace of the evidence."

"And almost kill me in the process? The Alcalde did that?"

"He did, Sergeant! I even remember that Diego came here that morning looking for you. When I told him you went to see your house he stormed away without so much as a goodbye, but he got there in time to rescue you."

"Why didn't he come forward? Why did he never say it was the Alcalde who planned it all?"

"How could he? It was Zorro who saved you; Zorro who saw the Alcalde there. Coming forward would have meant confessing to him being an outlaw and his word would have carried no weight The Alcalde would have suffered no consequences and Diego would have hanged."

The Sergeant became pensive. "Wh…What else does he say in that journal, Senorita?"

Victoria eyed him wickedly.

"Do you want to know how he made it out of the pueblo during the siege?"

"How?"

"He crawled through the aqueduct and got out in the hills just seconds before you blew up the obstruction."

"Madre de Dios! He could have died!"

"It is Zorro we are talking about here, Sergeant. There were many times he almost died to save us. When Colonel Palomarez came the second time, for example, he was poisoned. He was dying and he still managed to save Los Angeles and get that tyrant to lead him to the cure."

"What was that, Senorita? What tyrant are you talking about?" Don Francisco asked.

"Colonel Palomarez" the Sergeant answered. "The Senorita was telling me how Don Diego managed to trick him and save Los Angeles when he came here the second time."

"I remember you were judging the authenticity of the land grant and Diego proved it to be false. I always wondered how he knew about that." The Alcalde asked.

"He had stolen it to take a better look the night before the trial." Victoria answered. "Palomarez poisoned him when he was putting it back. That is why he seemed ill that morning. He had Felipe shoot a small quill sharpened into a dart at the Colonel to trick him, making him think that he had also been poisoned, and then followed him to the antidote."

"Remarkable! And Felipe knew Diego was Zorro?" Don Francisco inquired.

"He always did. Felipe always helped him. When he fell down the ravine, it was Felipe who took care of him and every time he was injured, he sutured the wound and kept vigil on Diego." Victoria answered.

"I always wondered if somebody was helping him. A deaf and mute boy was not who I'd expected." Don Emilio stated as he approached the table, after having also overheard part of the conversation.

"Felipe was not deaf, as he made us think. He was Zorro's spy. That's how he always knew everything!" She told them.

"Felipe can hear?" Mendoza asked.

"Felipe was able to hear since he was twelve, Sergeant, and on their way to Mexico, he also recovered the ability to speak, so he is neither deaf, not mute anymore." Victoria informed her perplexed audience.

Soon enough, more curious people added to the group, until the entire tavern transformed in an auditorium.

For the next few weeks, Victoria recounted Diego's adventures as Zorro for the people who began coming to the tavern just to listen to her talk about him. She refused to read the journals out loud since they included personal thoughts, which she didn't feel appropriate to share. On the other hand, Victoria did spend much time reading and re-reading those passages, despite how painful she found them to be. From those journals, she learned how much he had loved her and how she had hurt him, not just after that ill-fated marriage, but even before, whenever she felt like pointing out the difference between Diego and Zorro, mocking the former by comparing him to the latter, never realizing they were both masks worn by the same man.

Don Alejandro had been less than excited when he found out she was telling everyone about his son's adventures but, listening to her and seeing the people so fascinated with the tales, he realized they were reminding them of a time when there was hope, despite the oppression and the lawlessness. Even more important, by remembering the one man who had always been there for them, finding out more about all the risks he had taken to protect them, the people of Los Angeles were inspired to follow his example and become better. With everyone so grateful to his son and ashamed by the way they had behaved towards him, not a day passed by without someone approaching Don Alejandro to tell him how much they missed Diego and how proud he should feel to have him as a son.

Amazingly enough, everybody had even accepted that Victoria was carrying Diego's child although he was married to someone else, and never questioned his actions nor ever said a bad word about either of them.

ZZZ

Some weeks after Victoria had started recounting Diego's adventures in the tavern, some men tried to rob the place. They entered waving their guns in the air and pointed then towards the people inside. However, without a warning, reacting completely out of character, eight of the patrons intervened at the same time and the three thugs never stood a chance, unable to even realize when and how they had been unarmed and overpowered.

A week later, when a farmhouse was engulfed in a fire, Mendoza ran inside and saved a toddler, risking his own life to get him out. Through some miracle, he wasn't hurt and the child was safely returned to its grateful parents, the Sergeant receiving a commendation, and a raise in pay for his bravery.

When a haciendado who had inherited his ranch from his uncle decided to evict his tenants, in spite of his dead relative's expressed wishes for them to receive ownership of their land, the entire town opposed him. A six-months pregnant Victoria forbade him to enter her tavern, instead offering free accommodation for all those evicted; the merchants refused to sell to him and his men; the tailor and the blacksmith refused him services; and he and his wife were treated as social pariahs, until, forced by circumstances, he sold the estate for a quarter of its worth. Don Alejandro bought it and fulfilled the last wishes of its previous owner. What remained of it, he sold to the new Alcalde, Don Emilio, who decided to institute a retirement plan for his lancers, dividing the land among those who were ending their military career, and the families of those who had lost their lives in the line of duty.

While crime continued to rise in California, by using some of Zorro's strategies, as mentioned in Diego's journals, Los Angeles became safer and better guarded, with the dons actively contributing their men to keeping it that way.

Victoria's one and greatest preoccupation, though, was Anita, her helper who had been condemned to a life of misery with an abusive man. Wondering what Diego would do in her situation, she realized he would never allow that young woman to suffer, as she obviously was. Thus, gathering her courage while she was still able to drive a wagon, despite her pregnancy, she asked for Don Alejandro's support to go look for her. The old caballero eventually agreed, although he was skeptical about their chances of helping a woman who was married, thus at the mercy of her husband. He also didn't like Victoria to assume any risk when it came to his grandson, but the woman was stubborn, so he eventually had to give in. Thus, taking some of his vaqueros with them, they one day headed to San Bernardino.

They didn't have to look too long for Anita's husband since he was in prison for committing a similar deed as the one who sentenced the young woman to be his wife, already due to hang just hours after their arrival. Anita's whereabouts, however, were unknown, since she hadn't been seen for days before his arrest and nobody knew of her fate. Victoria, however, was not about to give up. Convincing Don Alejandro and the vaqueros to search the territory for her, she found Anita herself, just as she was about to end her own life by throwing herself off a cliff.

"Anita!" She shouted when she saw her, climbing down from the wagon and heading towards her friend. The young woman turned towards her, showing a terrible spectacle. Her face and arms were full of bruises, one of her eyes was swollen and her clothes half-torn.

"Victoria?!" The young woman exclaimed.

"It's me, Anita! I came with Don Alejandro and his men looking for you!" She stated. "I'd like for you to come back to Los Angeles with me."

"I can't go back." She replied. "You should leave before he finds you! He will harm you too, Victoria!"

"He will never harm anyone ever again!" She stated. "That low-life was hanged a few hours ago, Anita. You are a widow now, free to do whatever you want. Please, come with me and I promise to take care of you!"

"Is that true? He will no longer hurt me?"

"He will never again touch you."

"What about my parents? What if they want me to marry someone else just like him? I can't go on like this anymore!"

"Your parents will have no more say over you and if they try anything, they will have to deal with me!"

"You promise?"

"You will be safe with me at the De la Vega hacienda! I promise, Anita!"

The young woman looked one more time towards the precipice below her and then towards Victoria and fell on her knees sobbing, covering her face with her hands. Her former employer came to her and hugged her just as Don Alejandro, who had been looking for her a little downhill, was coming to check if Victoria had found her.

"How is she?" He asked, dismounting, as he saw the two women.

Victoria raised her head and Anita looked at him expectantly.

"Dios!" He exclaimed. "What has that monster done to you, child?"

"I told her she can come with us to the hacienda. I will take care of her."

"Of course. I will send for Doctor Hernandez to come check on you as soon as we get home and you'll be better in no time. You'll see." He told Anita, outraged at seeing her in that state, yet grateful to be able to help her.

After returning to Los Angeles, Anita refused to see her parents but did once try to see the young man she was still in love with. He, however, had moved on and was now courting the daughter of a farmer, looking to the woman he had once professed to love with an air of superiority, as one would look at a woman of low morals. She felt more pain at seeing his reaction than she had felt when her husband had tortured her, and spent days crying in her bed, with only Victoria and Maria, the De la Vega cook, to console her. That time, however, also served for her relation to Victoria to cement as the younger woman now saw the taverness as her guardian angel. They bonded over their broken hearts, just as Diego and Isabel had once bonded over theirs, and it was Anita who took care of Victoria when, while out on a walk, her water broke. They were picking wildflowers in the hills behind the hacienda when it happened and, unable to return the long way round, Victoria had to show Anita the entrance through Zorro's cave. They barely got to the main room when she could no longer walk and her friend had to deliver the baby right there, on the small cot Diego once used when he was wounded.

By the time Don Alejandro returned to the hacienda that evening, his heart almost stopped again at hearing a baby screaming from Diego's room. He ran towards it and his eyes remained fixed on the small black-haired, blue-eyed bundle in Victoria's arms. The two women smiled at him and his eyes filled with tears when he took the baby into his arms, placing a kiss on its forehead.

"You will be the most spoiled and beloved child in California!" He promised as he admired every feature of that baby which was the future of the De la Vega family. "You were right, Victoria!" He told the baby's mother. "This is a gift from God, no matter the circumstances that led it to us! And I finally have my grandbaby!"

ZZZ

"We need to tell him!" Victoria stated, a few days later, as she was trying to convince her child to sleep.

"He is happily married, my dear! What good would that do?" Don Alejandro answered. "You have your child, I have my grandbaby and Diego has a family to take care of. If he finds out, he will have some hard choices to make and, no matter what he chooses, he will end up suffering. Because, let's face it: his life is in Mexico City and ours is here. If you and your child were to move there to be with him, you would be without friends, living as a man's former lover, mother to his bastard child, and totally dependent on him. That is not you, Victoria and you will end up resenting him! If he was to move here, with Isabel and their child, he would be miserable and his family unhappy. No…no good can come out of telling him."

"I think he would want to know." She tried again.

Don Alejandro looked at her sadly and shook his head.

"It's not fair to keep this from him!" She stated. "He would want to know, Don Alejandro."

"He mustn't! If we love him, we must stop interfering with his life, my dear."

"So my baby is never to know its father?" She asked.

"I don't know, Victoria. All I know is that we need to give him the chance to be happy. And just be grateful to him and to God for this little miracle."

Victoria nodded silently and placed the baby in its cradle, sitting next to it to watch it sleep, smiling at seeing Diego's reflection on the face of that small child.

Since they had left Mexico City, they had only received news of him once, about three months after Don Alejandro wrote to tell him they had arrived safely and to inform him about what had happened in Los Angeles during their absence. Victoria didn't know that Don Alejandro had also made sure to inform Diego that she was getting married. He had done this in order to assure his son the young taverness will no longer stand in the way of his happiness and didn't even remember to tell him that the wedding had not taken place in the letters he sent afterward. In fact, all he decided to mention in his letters were mundane facts about political changes, cattle auctions, the affairs of the hacienda, and other trivial issues, always finishing by assuring his son that everyone was fine and sent their best to him.

Diego, who had written them a letter after their departure, informing them that he had not married Isabel and wondering if Victoria might still consider marrying him, took the news of her impending wedding to Don Pablo Pepito Punzon as a new rejection, which left no more room for doubt. Of course, he didn't know that the letter, which he had sent by military currier, courtesy of Miguel Azuela, and which had arrived several weeks before his father and Victoria, had been burnt in the fire which had devastated the hacienda, never to be read by the people for who it was intended. So, after receiving the news of Victoria's marriage, Diego canceled his plans to return home and remained in Mexico City, sharing his time among classes, son and friends, chasing bandits with Miguel and his men, and trying to be as useful as possible to others. He thus returned to most of his routines, still teaching; still spending a lot of time with the Fuentes, who were competing among themselves for the position of Diego's best friend, unaware that it was already held by Miguel; still training Felipe; still winning all the horseraces; still volunteering at the orphanage. In his correspondence with his father, he tried to inform him about Felipe and himself, but would also mention his friends, including how both Isabels were pregnant and enthusiastic to become mothers at the same time.

ZZZ

Isabel Fuentes de la Ronda was disappointed when Isabel Azuela gave birth before her. The next few days she spent hoping it would soon be her time to become a mother and, with every day that passed she became more and more impatient.

One Saturday, after their normal lunch with Diego and Felipe, she asked her husband to get her some sweets that only a certain baker made and would only be found in a rather far-away part of the city. As the good husband he was, Enrique left to get them and was gone for almost two hours. Not ten minutes after he left, Isabel's water broke and Diego sent Felipe to fetch the doctor and the midwife, while he took her to her bed and stayed with her until help came.

The birth was rather fast but the doctor soon became worried about the new mother's chances of survival since her postpartum bleeding was quite severe and there wasn't much he could do to stop it.

"What's wrong?" Diego asked at seeing the doctor fussing over her, even more after she had given birth than before. The doctor looked at her, then at Diego, somewhat unwilling to give the bad news.

"She is bleeding too much." He eventually said. "If I don't stop it…"

"I don't want to die!" She said, realizing what the doctor wasn't saying. "Please do something, Diego!" Isabel asked, putting all her hope in her friend.

"What can be done?" Diego asked the doctor as he saw Isabel's eyes filled with fear.

"A blood transfusion might help, but I'm not sure there's enough time and the procedure is not as reliable as I would like. We would need one of her parents here; preferably her mother." The doctor stated.

"I'll get her mother!" Diego stated, leaving Felipe in his place to assure Isabel everything would be fine.

Mounted on Tornado, he rode as if an army of demons were chasing him. He found Isabel's parents getting ready to go to her house, a servant he had sent when her water broke having already brought them the news that their daughter was in labor.

"Dona Catalina!" He shouted as he arrived. "You need to come with me! It is urgent!"

The woman saw Diego's concern and hurried towards him. He helped her on Tornado and hurried back to Isabel, while her father followed on one of his horses, arriving a quarter of an hour after them, just as Enrique was also returning home.

When Diego brought Dona Catalina, Isabel was already unconscious due to the blood loss and the doctor was close to giving up on his patient, certain her mother would not be there in time.

ZZZ

"Here!" Diego encouraged Isabel to drink one of his horribly-smelling concoctions several hours later. "You need your strength back as soon as possible."

"The doctor said I would have died if you hadn't brought my mother here on time!" Isabel uttered.

Diego grinned at her. "I am just happy we made it! And I did learn something new. I should really find out more about blood transfusions. For some reason, I always considered them too risky, which is why I never paid them too much attention."

"I am trying to thank you for saving my life and you change the subject. How typical! You know…you should really learn to accept other people's gratitude, Diego!"

"I did not save your life, Isabel, so your gratitude is misplaced and should be directed towards the doctor and your mother."

"Who wouldn't have been here on time if it wasn't for you!" Enrique stated, after overhearing Diego's last statement. "Really, darling! I am glad you did, but I still wonder sometimes why have you chosen me over the living legend, here!" He uttered addressing his wife.

"It was a calculated sacrifice, my friend!" Diego answered jokingly. "Isabel knew I cannot marry all the beautiful women whose lives I save, so she married you instead. Truth is, she was just trying to save me from being imprisoned for polygamy, nothing more!"

ZZZ

Days later, Felipe found Diego in his office, where he had installed a full laboratory, immersed in testing samples of blood. His eyes were sparkling as if he had discovered a new toy, while he was observing the samples under a microscope, and Felipe felt for a moment that they had turned back time and they were again at the cave, working to uncover a mysterious plot aimed to harm the people of Los Angeles. He, thus, stood there, fascinatedly staring at Diego and eager to learn about whatever he was doing.

"Here! Have a look!" Diego encouraged him.

After Felipe took a first look, Diego changed the sample and encouraged him to take another.

"Can you see the difference? One of the blood samples is from me and one from Ruben. They didn't seem any different when I looked at them before, but, after adding more lenses to the microscope I realized there is more to be seen in the blood. I am not sure if it is important, though. Maybe it is. I will need a sample of your blood, as well, Felipe, just to compare it!" Diego stated as he took out a syringe.

Felipe looked at the syringe and realized he preferred swords to needles, so he made a quick exit, Diego on his heels, trying to convince him it wouldn't hurt one bit.