Diego woke up that morning just a few minutes after 6 a.m. He was nervous. He was also excited, concerned, happy, worried and hopeful, all at the same time, so he felt it would have been impossible for him to remain in bed even a minute longer.
As he got up to dress for breakfast, he immediately realized that the hacienda was already buzzing, the servants busying themselves with finishing decorating the courtyards and the house itself to properly receive the guests due to come in the afternoon, setting out the tables, arranging the food platters, squeezing oranges and lemons, making sure that the wine was cold enough, that there was enough hot water for their masters and guests to be able to take a bath that morning, that the senoras and the senoritas had the necessary help to get themselves ready, and that the clothes due to be worn by the groom, his father, his son and their guests were impeccable. They also had a different task, one Don Alejandro had entrusted them with, but which they could only start working on when the De la Vegas would have left for the pueblo.
Dressed in a pair of blue pants and a white shirt, Diego made his way towards the garden, scissors in hand. Having decided against wearing black to his wedding, the caballero had settled for an emerald-green suit with golden embroidery, matched with a red sash, a white shirt, and a red cravat. The colors were also chosen to match Victoria's wedding gown, which was white, with red, gold, and emerald-green flowery embroidery. He thus headed for the red rose bushes he had been cultivating especially for his soon-to-be wife, and cut the most beautiful stems for her bouquet, then searched among his flowerpots and finished the arrangement by including, as per his lady's request, some blue, yellow and white wildflowers. Once this task was achieved, he wrapped the bouquet in white silk and sent it to the tavern with one of his vaqueros.
With the wedding scheduled for 11:00 and most guests also intent on seeing the parade in town, the breakfast was served at 7 a.m. that morning, and only the men attended. The women were preoccupied with their hairdos, and had requested for some food to be delivered in Dona Carmen's room, where they had all gathered to help each other get ready, after having exiled Don Rodrigo.
Almost as nervous as his father, Felipe, spent the early morning in the cave, polishing Zorro's sword and tending to some of the ongoing experiments.
His reasons to be nervous, had nothing to do with how his relationship with Diego was to change after Victoria would become a De la Vega, as one might suspect. Felipe also loved the taverness, and was happy about the marriage, despite not being very certain about how to relate to her. Since the age difference between them was only around seven or eight years, Felipe somehow thought of Victoria as more of a big sister, rather than a mother. He, eventually, decided that, considering his adoptive father was only twelve years his elder, having an eight-year-older mother was not such a big deal, as long as he got to have one.
The real reasons for Felipe's nervousness had, however, a lot to do with the wedding. The young man was anxious about how Diego and the rest of the family was going to react to his present, which included no material possession, but in which he had invested a lot of time and effort during the last months. What he had planned for Diego and Victoria was a wedding speech. It wasn't long and his voice was still somehow foreign to him, still unsure, still sometimes shaky, but he had one and he was looking forward to his family hearing it.
On the other hand, he was also afraid since, making that speech would also mean letting everyone know that he was neither deaf nor mute, and there was no coming back from that, should he need to continue helping Zorro. Yet Diego had also, occasionally, pointed out to him that his ability to hear needed not remain a secret forever and he was the only one who could decide if and when to give up keeping it as such.
Felipe, thus, prepared a story to tell, one about a night when he had a nightmare and woke up moaning, thus realizing that both his hearing and his voice had miraculously returned. Unused, at first, with hearing, it had taken him some time to get accustomed to how words sounded like, as he could not, initially, understand people without also seeing their lips move. As for his voice, he had wanted to use it the day he had regained it, but it took him a few more days to utter another sound. All of this having happened just a few weeks earlier, he decided to pretend he was still deaf and mute and only reveal the truth as a surprise for the wedding.
The story was credible enough, he thought, so he had little concern about people believing it. What worried him, however, was Diego's reaction to finding out the truth. And the truth, which he intended to say in private, sometime during the following days, was that his voice had been slowly returning for over a year at that point, ever since he said his first word "Zorro" to warn the man who had raised him against the blade of a foe.
After that day, Felipe had tried speaking every day and, about six months later, he was again able to say "Zorro". What helped him get there was his adoptive father's suggestion to write down his feelings and everything he remembered about the events responsible for his trauma, as well as any memories associated with them. As soon as he started doing that, Felipe felt like something buried deep inside of him was finally able to emerge, and his voice started emerging with it.
The second time he managed to say "Zorro", all he wanted to do was tell Diego but, as he tried to do it again, he failed, and another two weeks passed before he was again able to utter the word. Since his voice was not reliable, he, thus, refrained from telling anyone, and decided to practice in secret, whenever he had the time, by reciting the Alphabet. It took him two more months to be able to recite the entire Alphabet, and another one to say "Diego". Three weeks after that he said "Alejandro" for the very first time, then "Victoria" a week after that. He didn't understand why it was taking him so long to be able to pronounce the words, until he realized he was re-learning them, just like a toddler. He had a voice, but using it, after neglecting his vocal cords for so long, was a tedious process. Some months later, just around the time Gilberto had showed up, he was almost ready to tell Diego, feeling confident enough that he could speak whenever he wanted. Yet, the events of that week and the idea that the man who had been father and mentor to him had come so close to death, twice in the same day (three, if counting the fact that he had been close to hanging as Zorro, had De Soto believed the accusation against him), blocked all his progress, and it took him one more month to start speaking again. Yet, now, he knew he was ready. Diego still rode as Zorro, but not very often and the lancers were on his side, this time, not aiming to shoot him. More so, he was also allowed to help rather often, so he was no longer feeling powerless, unable to intervene. It was, thus, time for his secret to come out and the young man just hoped his adoptive father would not be disappointed that he had kept it for so long.
ZZZ
Breakfast passed quickly that morning, everyone hurrying to prepare for the day ahead. The three elderly De la Vegas spent the next hour laughing and talking about their own weddings as they were getting ready in Don Alejandro's room, occasionally sipping on their glasses of brandy; the Governor and the Emissary both finished rather quickly and left by official coach to go to the pueblo, together with the six lancers acting as personal guards, arriving just in time for the parade to begin; the women were only ready twenty minutes after the hour set for them to leave the hacienda; and Diego dressed himself and then helped Felipe with his tie, the younger man being rather unaccustomed to wearing one, and quite uncomfortable with it.
Since the tall caballero wanted to assist, at least, to part of the parade and his confession with Padre Benitez was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., together with his son, he left for town on horseback and arrived there as the 'march of the settlers' was ongoing. People dressed in the attires once worn by their grandparents, most of the garrison, including the Alcalde, as well as selected cattle, horses, donkeys, and sheep were all marching through the pueblo, singing and dancing to the same tunes sang some forty years earlier, when the first stones of the Mission had been laid. Over two hundred people, including many of the wedding guests, all dress to the nines, were watching from the sidelines, enjoying the procession.
Making his way towards the church, Diego was surprised to find the padre waiting for him in the Mission's garden.
"There are already people inside." Padre Benitez told him. "I thought we might have more privacy here."
"Isn't this a bit…unconventional, father?" The caballero asked as he sat next to the priest, having first glanced around, instinctively feeling the need to make sure there was nobody close enough to overhear them.
"God is everywhere, my son. God made the trees, the grass, the birds, the sky, and He is in all creation. I will still abide by the rules of confession, if that's what concerns you, Don Diego." The older man replied.
The caballero smiled, fully aware of what the priest must have been thinking. "I wasn't really concerned about that…" He assured him. "Well…I guess we should start, then…Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. Three months and two weeks have passed since my last confession." He uttered.
"Three months? May I ask how come this is the first time you confess since I have been here, yet you say it's only been three months since you last confessed your sins?"
"My normal confesor is Padre Antonio of La Purisima."
"I know Padre Antonio well. A good and wise man, no doubt. I remember that I used to help guide him through the Mission when he first arrived there. But, Don Diego, may I ask why go such a distance to confess? Do you not trust I will keep your confessions just between us and Our Lord?"
"It has nothing to do with that. I had decided to go to Padre Antonio at least a year before you even came to Los Angeles, and I had taken that decision because he was the only blind padre I knew of."
Padre Benitez looked at him inquisitively. "I'm not sure I understand, Don Diego!" He stated.
"What I had to say to my confessor might have ended up endangering said confessor, except if said confessor was blind. It's one of the reasons why I have always avoided coming to you. I would have avoided it now, as well, were it not for your conditioning the ceremony on Victoria and I making these confessions."
"Why would your confession endanger me?" The confused padre asked.
"Because you know who I am. Padre Antonio doesn't, since I never gave him my name. I even used disguises when going to see him and I always chose the day of my confession randomly."
"I see…"
"I doubt that. But you just might by the time we are done."
Padre Benitez looked at him and nodded.
"Tell me, my son, what sins have you committed since your last confession?"
"Let's see. I lied, I pretended to be someone I am not, I disrespected my elders, I caused physical harm to others, sometimes even enjoyed doing that, I let my anger get the best of me on at least one occasion, I almost gave into my passions before marriage, multiple times, and I am selfish enough to go through with this wedding, despite the harm it may cause to the woman I love."
"And do you repent for your sins, my son? Will you do your best to stop committing them in the future?" The padre asked half absentmindedly, as he wondered what kind of physical harm could a man such as Diego inflict on other people, since he was known as the kindest, most peaceful person in the pueblo.
"For some I do. For some, I can't repent. Those men I hurt, wanted to hurt either me or others, so I harmed them in order to make them stop. I regret enjoying it, but I do not regret hurting them, and I will do the same if faced with similar situations. Most of the lies I said were only meant to protect people, so I regret having to do it, but I will continue doing it as long as it's necessary. Finally, I don't repent for being passionate about my fiancée, nor for my decision to marry her, no matter how egotistical it might prove to be in the future. Because, the truth is, I don't believe I can go on without her, and I certainly can't have her waiting for me any longer."
The padre looked at him pensively. "Waiting for…I see…" He said with a smile, only now fully understanding Diego's choices of confessor.
"Yes…I believe you do…" Diego uttered with a smile. "And now I've put you in danger, as well."
"I seem to remember that God sent you to my rescue when I first arrived here. Were it not for your actions then, I would have no life for you to endanger." The padre smiled at him glad to so unexpectedly find out the pueblo's hero was still alive and that he was about to keep the promise he had made to the young woman who had remained faithful to his love for so many years. "And I also remember I once told Victoria that you are bound by a higher calling; that you have a mission in life and nobody could know when that mission might end, or if it ever would. Has your mission ended, then? The day your brother died?"
"No. That's why I still lie. That's why I could end up hurting Victoria, and not only her. I took a break until my arm healed and I do my best not to be seen but, the truth is, I never really stopped riding. I'm not even sure I can…at least, not as long as my alter ego is still needed. I do that, despite the fact that many already know the truth and more seem to learn it every day. I managed to keep it all a secret for seven years and in just three months it almost became common knowledge! I personally have no idea how many are in on it...which is why this wedding is a mistake, a selfish mistake, I cannot stop myself or Victoria from committing."
"Quite a conundrum the one you are in…Yet loving is not selfish, Don Diego. You are probably the most selfless person I have ever had the privilege to meet. Not many men risk their own lives for others, less even have the strength to help their own foes, fewer still are able to inspire as much hope as you have given people these last seven years. So keep your faith, my son! God sees all and gives each man as each man deserves. Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Now go with God…and trust Him to give you both the happiness you deserve!"
"Thank you, father." Diego uttered with a smile, then left the peacefulness of the garden to head the main entrance to the church, where his family and friends were gathered, waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin.