"Diego!" Don Rodrigo exclaimed at seeing him in the library, pretending to read. "I thought you had already retired for the night, nephew!"
"I couldn't sleep, uncle, so I decided to catch up with some reading. Perhaps it will get me tired enough."
"Yes…my wife always says that a good book is a book which can make you fall asleep in one chapter or less."
The younger caballero stared at his uncle with a smug look on his face. "What are you doing up this late, if I may ask?"
"Oh…I was just getting a glass of water from the kitchen."
"I see."
"You're nervous, aren't you, Diego? Oh…I remember when I married your aunt Carmen. I couldn't close an eye the entire night before the wedding. But, let me tell you, nephew, you need to sleep or you might be too exhausted tomorrow, and that's not when you want to be exhausted! By the way…Did your father tell you what to do? What your wife will be expecting of you?"
"I don't believe we ever finished that conversation, to be honest. My father realized there was no need to." Diego answered, failing to convince his uncle.
"Of course there is! And, since someone has to do it, it might as well be me!" The older man decided, sitting down in a chair positioned in front of Diego's. "I've already done this with Rafael, so I'm probably better at it than Alejandro!"
"Instead, why don't you tell me if Uncle Ernesto is better? I heard he was not feeling well earlier." Diego made an effort to change the subject.
"He's perfectly fine. He just overestimated his resistance to alcohol."
That would explain why he left his daughters with the brothers. Diego thought, making a mental note to have Maria prepare and send his uncle Doctor Hernandez's hangover remedy in the morning.
"Now…about your wedding night…" His uncle continued.
"As I said…we really don't need to have this conversation." Diego raised a hesitant hand in a failed effort to stop him.
"Nonsense! You'll thank me later! My father never gave me 'the talk', and I wish he had. Look, nephew…it's not complicated. All you need to know is that women expect the men to be quick about it and allow them to rest. For some reason, lovemaking gives them a bad headache, which can last for weeks at a time. So just remember not to dwell too much while in the act, and you'll have a happy marriage, like I have with your aunt!"
"Yes…Thank you for that advice, uncle!" Diego uttered nervously, fully understanding the life experience which had determined his aunt's marriage counsels to Victoria. He, then, briefly wondered why nobody had contradicted her during those talks, especially since there were other married women in the room. Thinking of his beloved, reminded him to check his watch again. "They're late!" He muttered only for himself, but his uncle heard him.
"Who's late?"
"No one, uncle. Why don't you go to sleep? I'll stay a few more minutes and do the same, myself." He stated with his best reassuring smile, in his head wondering if Victoria would mind her brothers each getting a black eye before walking down the aisle. Francisco's left and Ramon's right, he considered.
"Alright, Diego. Goodnight!" Don Rodrigo wished him and headed back to his guestroom, only to stop and turn around when he heard horse neighs outside.
Diego rapidly covered the few feet to the door and opened it to find the two pairs saying goodnight with a kiss.
"Ahem!" He cleared his throat, expectantly.
The two young women got completely red as they saw him and hurriedly entered the hacienda.
"We'll talk tomorrow!" Diego promised the two Escalante brothers, having decided Victoria might not like him punching them right before the wedding. The two younger men nodded with an innocent look on their faces, then started chuckling as soon as he closed the door.
"So…This is what kept you awake!" He heard his uncle's voice behind him, as the twins stopped somewhere between the two of them. "They were late and you were concerned for your cousins!"
The two women stared at each other in disbelief, as the meaning of Zorro's use of the possessive pronoun suddenly dawned upon them and the strange back-alley conversation, as well as the brothers' refusal to discuss it, finally started to make sense.
Don Rodrigo smiled and made his way towards his bedroom, mumbling something about youth and love.
"You?" Antonia asked as soon as their uncle was gone. "You are Zorro, Diego?" She whispered.
"Me? How could I be Zorro, if he is dead?" He wondered, looking intently at the two of them.
"But he is not dead, is he? And if you're not him, your fiancée is being unfaithful to you, since we just saw him, coming out of Victoria's room and into the alley behind the tavern." Clara stated defiantly.
"Really? And what were two respectable senoritas doing in that alley, at this time of night?"
The two sisters exchanged a glance. "Everybody has secrets…We understand each other, cousin?" Clara asked, self-confidently.
"Let me see if I've got this right…" He said, folding his hands across his chest "You two believe me to be a dangerous outlaw with a price on my head, yet consider it wise to blackmail me?"
Clara swallowed hard. Never before had she felt intimidated by Diego, so the feeling was new to her "I…I…" she stuttered.
"I won't tell your father if you two behave from now on. No kissing the brothers in back alleys, in fact, no spending any time with them without a chaperone! Am I making myself clear?" Diego asked them, somehow amused at his own hypocrisy. He justified his reaction by reminding himself that they were his baby cousins, the closest female relatives he had, whom he used to read stories to and tuck in when they were children, so he felt responsible for them, at least while they were staying at the hacienda. "And I'm counting on you not to spread dangerous rumors about dead masked men coming back to life!"
"Si, Diego…You can trust us." Antonia conceded for the two of them. "And we are very proud to be your cousins!" She added, as she dragged Clara to their room, her sister barely having time to confirm her words with a nod and a broad smile.
Diego watched them with a sly grin, then started counting, in his mind, with increasing concern, the number of people who knew his secret at that point.
When he finished, his smile returned at remembering that the twins had attended the tavern pre-wedding talk with Victoria, so he wondered if having them marry the brothers wouldn't be a fit punishment for the two Escalantes, in light of the young women's recently-acquired knowledge. The caballero headed for his room and soon fell asleep with a smug look on his face, maliciously hoping his uncle Rodrigo might also consider giving 'the talk' to the Escalante brothers, should one or both of them marry his nieces.
ZZZ
Initially, Don Alcides had decided to just have his men attack the pueblo, cause as much havoc as possible, and get Diego to reveal himself in order to get his revenge. He had promised the thugs that nothing would stop them from plundering Los Angeles, as long as they didn't let a small thing like killing some of the lancers stand in their way. However, while witnessing the speeches made by Diego, - whom he still believed to be in charge as Alcalde - and the Governor, a new idea crept its way into his mind. He, thus, decided that one stone can kill as many birds as one wanted, as long as one knows how to use it.
So, convinced there was no proof against him, except for Diego's word, he decided that, with one swift action, he would achieve several objectives.
The scenario was not very complicated. Resistance was only anticipated from the soldiers - whose numbers were recently diminished by some of the men he had sent as scouts. Sixteen lancers and six more of the Governor's own men were too few to fight an army of thirty-four blood-thirsty cutthroats, especially if taken by surprise. In fact, not even Zorro could possibly compensate for the disparity in forces, he reasoned, and the wedding guests were all to be unarmed, so unable to pose any threat.
Attacked, the Alcalde, would have no other choice but to reveal himself, thus bringing shame on his name and family, condemning them all either to the gallows or to a life as outcasts, their possessions confiscated and sold to the highest bidder.
Furthermore, Don Alcides decided that after the bandits he had hired had been given the time to plunder the pueblo, it would also be good for him to ride in and pretend to fight the thugs, driving them away, saving the Governor and everyone there. After that was done, he was to point out to everyone that De la Vega was Zorro, just moments before he would disarm him and thrust his sword through the outlaw's heart. He had never fought him before, but he was completely confident to be the better swordsman, having been the best student of the famous fencing master Pedro Diamanti, while he attended university in Mexico City.
Diego was, thus, to die, and so would his testimony against him, Don Alcides decided. Moreover, the Governor was to be grateful to him, for both saving his life and for unmasking and killing a certain outlaw, who would have, otherwise, evaded justice. He was also to become the new hero of the pueblo, for having saved it from the men he, himself, had hired. The reward for Zorro's capture was, at that point, just a bonus, in his opinion.
However, since he had never shared his entire plan or suspicions with his cohorts, and only referred to Diego as the Alcalde, Don Alcides didn't know that De Soto had returned to reassume command of the pueblo. Thus, he had no idea that the men he had sent as scouts knew that the white-haired man was the Commander of the garrison, and it was him they were prepared to target, instead of the tall, black-haired caballero he wanted destroyed. Nor was he aware that the man his vaqueros had kidnapped, at his orders, was a King's Emissary, and that Diego had spent much of his time nursing him back to health, the kindness he demonstrated made the man feel indebted towards the caballero. Finally, he had no knowledge of the fact that the bounty on his own head stood as high as the one on Zorro's, nor that the soldiers were loyal to the outlaw and fully aware of his true identity. In his thirst for vengeance, he had even forgotten how much the people of Los Angeles still loved and respected their masked hero.
What he did know, was that he was absolutely right in assuming that the Legendary Fox of the Night was alive, his own cohorts having seen him, even if they still believed it had only been his ghost.