Chapter 19

The next day he came to the tavern mid-morning, and he had just time to greet Victoria before the alcalde entered.

"De la Vega, my soldiers just informed me of your arrival. I wondered when you would come," the alcalde greeted him. "Did your longing for beauty sleep keep you from coming earlier?"

"I slept well, Alcalde, but I don't know why my sleep should be any of your business?" Diego answered.

"It's my business as long as you have your money stored in my safe. I want my soldiers relieved from their extra watch duty for it, and I can't do that until you take it to the bank in Santa Paula."

"Ah, I understand, Alcalde. Did you think I was going to Santa Paula to the bank today? Then I must disappoint you. I don't plan to go to the bank today."

"Are you not going there today?" the alcalde asked, surprised. "It may be a little late already but you can still make it."

"I must have slipped from my mind to tell you yesterday that the bank is closed this week because the banker wants to spend the Holy Week with his daughter in Monterey and won't open again until next Monday."

"Monday? You want me to guard your money until Monday? "

"I didn't think this would put so much strain on your soldiers. Maybe you should ask for reinforcements if you have too few men in your garrison."

"My men are well-trained. They will manage without any reinforcements, de la Vega," the alcalde rebuffed him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that the bank was closed," Diego said, while Victoria served him his coffee on the bar, "but I have a question. Shouldn't there be more money in the safe? About twenty-thousand with the bounty money for Zorro? It appeared to be missing as I only saw the money from the taxes and the money I put inside."

"The money is there, but it is stored separately," the alcalde declared, annoyed.

"If there is more money, shouldn't it be in the safe too?" Mendoza asked, who had just entered the tavern.

"Mendoza, what are you doing again here in the tavern?" the alcalde asked. "Didn't I tell you to guard the safe?"

"Si, mi Alcalde. I came over to ask when Don Diego will take the money from the safe."

"Don Diego won't go to Santa Paula until Monday," the alcalde explained.

"Does that mean we will have to guard it for the whole week?"

"Yes, but I'm sure you and your men will do a good job," Diego said, making Mendoza beam.

"And what about the other money, Alcalde?" he asked.

"What other money, Mendoza?" the alcalde inquired.

"The one you were talking about when I came in. The one that isn't in the safe."

"You mean the bounty money for Zorro," Victoria said. "I remember Zorro told me once the late alcalde hid it in a special place."

"Did Zorro also tell you where?" de Soto inquired, eagerly.

"Yes, he did."

"And where was it?" de Soto asked.

"I don't recall," Victoria said apologetically, "but maybe it will come back to my mind. I haven't thought about it for years."

"I would be very grateful if you'd remembered where," de Soto said.

"All those years there was a bounty on Zorro's head that you didn't have?" Victoria rebuked him. "Not that it matters since you could never have caught him, and now that he's gone you won't need it anymore, but it's interesting to know."

"Then you must have taken the money you gave me for endorsing you from the normal taxes. No wonder the pueblo was always so poor," Diego stated.

"Is it true what the señorita says that you never had the money?" Mendoza inquired curiously.

"That's none of your business, Mendoza. The money is there. It's only hidden," de Soto explained. "You'd better go back to work and guard the safe."

"Si, mi Alcalde." Mendoza followed the alcalde out of the tavern.

"Wasn't that interesting?" Diego grinned. "Too bad, you can't remember where the money is."

"Maybe I can think about it. The alcalde will be very grateful," Victoria smiled.

"You should try to help as good as you can." Diego winked.

After a private word and some kisses in the kitchen, Diego sat down at one of the tables with a stack of Victoria's bookkeeping journals, pretending to check them and occasionally doing some calculations on a slate beside him. The reason he stayed in the tavern wasn't only to give the impression that he was serious about his ownership of the tavern but he also waited for a chance to protect Victoria from the unwanted advances she had told him about. He didn't have to wait long for the patrons to file in for lunch time.

While it was getting more busy, most of the customers behaved but there was a group of young caballeros that used to hang around with Don Pablo. Since his debts had become public, he had stayed away from the pueblo but his friends still came to the pueblo and the tavern regularly, to Victoria's dismay who tried to make the best of it.

Diego wasn't friends with them though they were close to his age and only about five years older. When they had entered the tavern, they had only taken notice of Diego with a short nod before they sat down at their table.

Victoria and her helper Alicia rebuffed their advances firmly, but they weren't impressed and laughed instead. Diego signed her and when she came to his table she told him she could handle it and there was no need to intervene.

Diego wasn't convinced but before he could walk over to the men's table, he was interrupted by his father who had spotted him from the entrance of the tavern.

"I knew I would find you here, Diego." Alejandro took off his riding gloves and sat down opposite his son. "Are you inspecting your new property?" He pointed at the ledgers on the table. "I don't think you'll find a surprise inside. Victoria has always been a good business woman and knows how to keep her money together. Too bad you can't say that about her brother. It's a shame what he did to her, leaving her with nothing."

"Yes, everything seems to be right," Diego said distracted, keeping an eye on the men, especially, Don Javier, who was well-known for his bold behavior towards women of lower status.

"Don Javier and his friends are harassing the women again," Alejandro said, following Diego's gaze, "but I believe Victoria has it under control."

"I hope so," Diego sipped at his drink, keeping his eyes on Victoria. When she walked to the kitchen to refill the jars, Don Javier followed her, prompting Diego to rise from his chair too.

"What will you do, Diego?" his father asked, surprised. "Victoria can take care of herself."

"Zorro used to be there to defend her but now he isn't around anymore," Diego said quietly. "It's my tavern now, so I'm responsible." His father looked at him with respect.

When Diego parted the curtain that divided the kitchen from the main room, Javier had Victoria in a firm grip around the upper arm while she struggled to get free.

"Leave her alone, Javier," Diego said with barely hidden anger.

"Diego! Stay out of it," Victoria uttered a warning to him as she noticed his voice, which was too much as Zorro's for her liking.

"The Señorita is right," Don Javier said. "We're only having a conversation which is none of your business."

"But it is my business, Javier," Diego corrected him politely. "You must have missed the fact that the tavern now belongs to me, and I can't let you keep my servants from their work."

Victoria flashed her eyes at the word 'servant'.

"Your servant?" Don Javier looked at her condescendingly, letting her go. "I thought she was your friend?"

"Victoria is a friend of the family but since I own the tavern, she also works for me," Diego explained. "As her employer I must ask you to leave her alone and let her do her work."

"As you wish, Don Diego." Javier looked down on her before he left the kitchen. "I won't mess with your servants."

"Are you all right?" Diego asked.

Victoria nodded, rubbing her arm where Javier's grip had left red marks. "It wasn't necessary to call me your servant," Victoria said angrily. "Did you notice how he looked down on me after that? I guess he has shared that with all his friends when I return."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you," he said, whispering "Querida, I wished it could be different."

"I wished that too." She understood what he wanted to say. They both wanted the situation to be different where they no longer had to deny their love, and he could be himself without hiding behind one mask or the other. "I trust you."

"Thank you."

"What happened in the kitchen?" his father asked upon his return.

"Javier tried to harass Victoria, and I told him to leave her alone," Diego stated, picking up his drink again.

"Did you call her your servant?" Alejandro inquired. "This is what I heard Javier say when he came back to his table."

"Yes, I did," Diego admitted, taking another sip.

"How can you treat her so? Victoria is our friend! How can you call her a servant!"

"But that's what she is now." Diego put down his glass. "She works for me now."

"She's like a daughter to me, and I won't let her be mistreated, neither by you nor by Don Javier!" Angrily, Alejandro rose from his chair and walked over to Don Javier's table. "Don Javier, you know that Señorita Victoria is a friend of my family, and the fact that she lost her tavern doesn't change it. If you continue to harass her and her helpers, I have to reconsider the way-leave you wanted to discuss with me. You'll have to find a different way to get your cattle to your pastures instead of crossing de la Vega land."

"This has only been a misunderstanding, Don Alejandro," Don Javier said meekly. "I was only having a chat with the Señorita. I don't want this to come between us and interfere with our business."

"Then we understand each other." Satisfied, Alejandro slipped his gloves through his hand.

"That will teach him to behave," Alejandro said to Diego back at their table. "I know how much he depends on the way-leave across our lands. And his 'friends' are not better. They all want to do business with us."

Under the disguise of checking the books, Diego stayed during siesta to spend time with Victoria while his father returned to the hacienda.

"My father was very angry that I called you a servant today," Diego said, leaning against the kitchen table, while watching Victoria making preparations for dinner.

"I would be angry at you too if you hadn't explained it to me before," Victoria glanced at him over her shoulder.

"It wasn't nice, but now the others are aware that you are under the protection of our family. If my father hadn't stepped in, I would have reminded him too of our business connections."

"I still don't like it very much."

"I'm sorry, and I'll to make amends for it."

"How? I know what you else have planned."

"Yes, my father will be even more angry with me, but it will get you closer to me." He turned her around to gently caress her face.

"That's the only reason why I agreed."

"I'm sure my father will step up again for you, as long as he doesn't know how much I care for you." He drew her into his arm to kiss her.

"If you keep doing that I won't get dinner ready," she chided him with a smile. "After you kept me from working during siesta."

"I'll leave you to your work. I can't wait to see you again, mi Querida. Adios."