Don Alejandro left the church about twenty minutes before his son, who asked the padre to listen to his confession. As Diego made his way back towards the tavern, a man in a caballero suit hurriedly made his way towards him.
"I demand satisfaction, Don Diego!" He said just as he dismounted before him.
"For what, Señor ?" He wondered.
"For the way you treated my daughter! For breaking her heart and the engagement! She's been crying since this morning!"
"Oh… I take it you're the Señorita's father? Señor De Bromada?" Diego wondered as a small crowd begun to gather around them. "Señor, I have no quarrel with you. But, if a duel is what you want… Should we say... sundown, perhaps? Pistols?"
"What? But…" The man hesitated. "Are you sure you don't want to reach a more amiable solution?"
"No. I completely understand your position. I don't remember your daughter, and I do feel it's better for her to find a husband who would not be the burden I would certainly be on her, but, if I was so careless as to propose and, as you already know, I changed my mind about marrying her, you have every right to try to kill me." As he was saying that, arms folded across his chest, his father, Victoria and the Sergeant who had exited the tavern some moments earlier, were, like everyone else, staring at him in disbelief.
Señor de Bromada looked inquisitively at Don Alejandro.
"Diego! You know you are useless in a duel! I'm sure Señor de Bromada can be satisfied with some other solution." He suggested. "What can my son do to appease you, Señor?" The old caballero then asked the man.
"He can ask for my pardon and that of my daughter… on his knees." He decreed.
"No. I think I'll stick with the duel." Diego replied. "Father. Would you care to act as my second?"
"Yes… No… Diego, you just promised to marry Victoria… She needs you, Son! You can't just get yourself killed instead!"
"But, Father, the duel will take place after the wedding, so, if the worst should happen, she will no longer be unmarried but a widow… still free to wed Zorro after I am dead, whenever time will come for him to unmask. That might even prove the best solution for her." Diego said as Victoria was at a loss for words, just looking at him flabbergasted. "However, I should also mention that I don't intend to get myself killed if I can prevent it and have been practising with the gun before my memory loss. I was even getting quite good at hitting a target, even from fifty feet… So, I don't believe you have reasons to worry, Father!" He stated to everyone's dismay.
"You… You know what? If he is to marry the Señorita… I can understand that he… he has a duty to another woman… I will just talk to my daughter and I'm sure she'll understand." Señor De Bromada uttered.
"So… Does that mean you don't want to duel anymore?" Diego wondered innocently.
"No… I wouldn't forgive myself if I'd make Señorita Escalante a widow just after her marriage…" The man said. "Have a good day Don Diego! Don Alejandro!" He continued as he mounted his horse and hurried to leave the plaza.
Diego watched him go, then, after asking Victoria to bring him his lunch a little while later, he made his way towards the Alcalde's office.
ZZZ
"This is not going according to my plan!" Don Alejandro uttered as everyone reentered the taproom.
"This is all wrong, Don Alejandro!" Victoria exclaimed. "Did you hear what he said? He thinks that dying after marrying me is the best for me! I… I can't go through with this marriage!"
"You need to, for your own good. That marriage was not part of the plan, but you have no choice, Victoria. My son is your best option at this point." Don Alejandro replied pensively.
"Do you think he might be suspecting something?" She wondered. "He is not acting like himself."
"No… He is not… and he's destroying a carefully-planned charade because he's not behaving as he should. But I doubt he's suspecting anything. He seemed rather convinced by our explanations this morning, isn't it so, Sergeant?" Don Alejandro asked.
"He's been ordering my men around all day. He wouldn't be doing that if he knew the truth…" Mendoza pointed out.
"Perhaps it's the fact that he believes himself the Alcalde. The office must have made him more self-confident." Don Alejandro suggested and everyone nodded in agreement.
ZZZ
Victoria entered the Alcalde's office with a tray of food in her hands to find Diego at the desk, doing computations.
"Oh… Victoria! Thank you for bringing my meal." He uttered with a smile.
"Of course!" She stated. "Diego, may I talk to you?" She asked, hesitating.
"Certainly!" He answered as he put the quill down and signalled for her to take a seat.
"I… Diego…"
"Yes, Victoria…" He tried to encourage her.
"I think you are a good alcalde!" She decided to say. "I just wanted for you to know that! And I don't resent you for not pardoning Zorro."
"I am glad to hear that." He answered. "Is that all?"
"Yes… No… I also wanted you to know that I am grateful you agreed to the marriage… Diego… Will you expect me to act as your wife right away? I mean…"
"I didn't actually have the time to think about it too much… But you heard my father… He will be expecting grandchildren, so, if we are to get married, we will have to act as husband and wife. Is being intimate with me unacceptable to you? I guess I never wondered if you found me in any way attractive…" He replied.
"I do!" She hurriedly answered. "I mean… Of course, I find you attractive, Diego. I just never thought about you as a husband, and now… I guess I also need some time to think things through."
"Well… Victoria, if that means that you are not sure, I'd rather you said so this very moment instead of changing your mind when we are before the padre, as you did with Juan! I don't believe I'd be able to be as forgiving as he was and that would end up ruining our friendship." The caballero stated. "So, please tell me right now if you have any doubt."
"I… No. I will marry you, Diego!" She replied, taken aback by his words.
"You… Promise?"
"I promise."
"Alright then. Now, if there's nothing else… I still have a lot of calculations to make."
Victoria smiled a little offended at being shown the door, and left the office. Diego frowned after she left, ate half the meal she had brought and, after asking the Sergeant not to disturb him, he made his way out of the cuartel via the bedroom window, just as the lancers went to their rooms for siesta.
ZZZ
Victoria was gathering the last plates and glasses left in the taproom, so that she might wash them before taking some time to rest and have a bath in preparation for the afternoon wedding, when Zorro made his way to the tavern, careful not to be noticed.
"Victoria!" He said as she came into the kitchen after checking that the tavern was prepared for a small reception to be held there later.
"Zorro!" She uttered as he took her hand to his lips to kiss it. "Are you alright? Mendoza said you were injured."
"It's… nothing. I'm quite fine. But… I have heard of your plight, so I came to offer you to marry me… the real me. I know you have already promised you'd marry Don Diego, but -"
"I'll keep that promise." She said.
"What? Why?"
"Because Zorro, should I marry you, you'd be hung the following day! I can't risk that. I don't want to be your widow, and the people still need you. I'd rather sacrifice our love than your life." Victoria answered saddened.
"But you don't love Don Diego. It's me you promised to wed; my ring you accepted… I can find a way… Maybe we could just run away…"
"No… We can't! I was naïve to think that we can make a life together. I know I said I'd marry you… But… You, yourself, suggested Diego once! And I do care about him. I don't love him with the same passion I love you… but he is my friend. I trust and respect him… and I know he'll make a good husband to me and a good father to our children."
"He'll bore you to death with his experiments and books," Zorro warned.
"He most certainly won't!" Victoria contradicted him rather offended. "For your information, I find his experiments fascinating and… and you clearly don't know him well enough if you think he could ever be boring!"
"Perhaps I don't know him as you do… But I doubt you truly respect him, considering you went along with this farce you all seem eager to play on him. Or do you truly believe it's all just harmless fun you're having at his expense?"
"I… Don Alejandro was the one to come up with the idea, and he assured us Don Diego won't get upset when he'll find out. Now… I don't know… I feel it's wrong to let him believe he is damaged somehow when he is certainly not. And it's too late to tell him. I tried… But I fear he will hate me if I do! And what then? I'll either have to marry someone else… or end up losing everything I have. And, I'd rather lose everything than marry someone else!" She uttered as her own thoughts surprised her and she remained pensive, staring into the fireplace. "I… I think I really do want to marry him…" Victoria uttered as she realized that.
"I see. In that case, I guess this is 'Goodbye!', Victoria." Zorro uttered, seemingly saddened.
"Wait!" She said as he was about to leave. "Wait… I'll bring the ring…"
Zorro waited until she returned with the ring he had given her when he proposed, then, taking it, he made his way towards The Guardian's office, where he changed his clothes. After pacing the room for about five minutes, trying to clear his head, Diego went to church.
ZZZ
The lancers were ordered by their Alcalde-for-the-day to take a message to everyone living in the area belonging to the pueblo, inviting the people to come to Los Angeles that afternoon as there was an announcement he wanted to make.
At 5 p.m., as everyone gathered in the plaza, most of those present whispering to each other, waiting to see what the caballero had to say, the soldiers installed a small table near the pueblo's fountain and Mendoza sat down, a list in front of him and a rather big box next to the table. Diego exited a few minutes later and climbed the box, which served as an improvised podium.
"Citizens of Los Angeles" He started, doing his best to ignore some of the glances he received. "I have asked you to come today because I have an announcement to make, which concerns us all.
"I have gathered you here to inform you that I have decided to triple your taxes and confiscate all properties owned by those late with the payments," Diego said and everyone looked at him aghast, the entire plaza becoming completely silent. The caballero laughed at their reaction. "I'm not serious, of course. I'm sorry if that…joke didn't seem funny to you. It was funny… in my head."
People breathed easier as he said that but still remained silent, looking at him expectantly.
"Anyway. Bad jokes aside, I am sure you all already know about my… memory loss… which is my only excuse for not having done what I'm about to do much sooner.
"You see, I realized, earlier today, that the traveller's tax had not yet been cancelled so, of course, I proceeded to rescind it. But I also started wondering what other taxes were still in effect. So I spent the morning and part of the afternoon studying the ledgers.
"Consequently, I found out that over 18,000 pesos in unjust taxes were taken from you this past decade, most of the money justified as part of a fund created for improvement works to the pueblo, yet never actually used. Coincidentally, I also happened to find where the money had been hidden by the previous alcaldes. So, as a reparatory measure, I have calculated what each one of you is due back, and Sergeant Mendoza will be distributing each his own share."
The people looked at each other in awe, then cheers were heard from the crowd as a line rapidly formed in front of Mendoza. The poor Sergeant just stared imploringly at Diego, who climbed down and opened the box to reveal the money in it. Absent any other choice, the lancer then proceeded, without much enthusiasm, to give the money to the people, fearing De Soto's reaction at finding out the news.
ZZZ
About an hour later, the caballero, dressed in his best suit, and Victoria, dressed in a white shirt and a blue skirt, said their 'I dos' in church, just as the real Alcalde was returning to the pueblo with his men, after a tiresome day of chasing his nemesis.
Mendoza hurried to give him a verbal report about everything that had happened during his absence, but started with the most recent event and was interrupted before moving to the others.
"Victoria Escalante married Don Diego, at your suggestion, and you acted as Best Man? I don't remember the marriage being part of De la Vega's plan!" De Soto asked suspiciously.
"No, Alcalde. They only married because of a message which had arrived this morning from the governor. The Señorita had to wed someone or forfeit the tavern."
"What are you talking about, Sergeant?"
"About a new law, Alcalde. From today, women are no longer allowed to own properties unless they are married."
"The Governor passed such a law?" De Soto asked in disbelief. "And that fool Zorro spent the day trying to elude me while his woman was marrying another man!" He chuckled. "But… If the law entered today into force… that means that the wedding was useless anyway, since the tavern was forfeited at midnight, so no longer Señorita Victoria's!" De Soto stated as he hurriedly headed for the tavern, a wide grin on his face, arriving just as Felipe was also getting there, apparently just returning from San Pedro, where Don Alejandro made sure to send him that morning.
"Don Diego, Señora de la Vega!" Ignacio greeted at entering the crowded establishment after having made sure to properly read the announcement Mendoza had posted earlier. "Allow me to offer you my… congratulations on your recent nuptials. I wish I could have been here to bear witness. Also, I am sad to inform you that you were a day too late to save the tavern."
"What do you mean, Alcalde?" Don Alejandro asked.
"I thought I was Alcalde." Diego corrected his father slightly amused.
"Well, you are not! I am! It was all a farce! Everyone here, including your bride, was in on it!" Ignacio stated with a chuckle.
"No! But I trusted you all! How could you do this to me?" Diego asked rather mechanically as he stood up, folding his arms across his chest, glaring at De Soto.
The entire tavern became silent, everyone curious about the caballero's reaction.
"Your mistake, Señor!" De Soto answered, not even noticing the smile on Diego's face, then proceeded to address Victoria. "You see, as the law has entered into force today, you are too late to save the tavern, which is no longer legally yours, Señora, since last night… At least you have a place to live! I would have hated to see you penniless, on the streets."
"What? No! You can't take the tavern away from me!" She replied enraged.
"Of course he can't since there is no law forbidding you to own property." The tall caballero stated.
"Sure there is! It's posted outside." De Soto uttered.
"No, there isn't." Diego contradicted him with a smug smile. "I have to say it took me a little while to figure out what was happening. It would have taken me a lot less, had I known it was April the 1st today, a day celebrated in quite a few countries, as a day of trickery. I guess someone thought it a good idea to bring the celebration also here and you all agreed to have a laugh at my expense… However, even though Mendoza was rather convincing in his explanations, he unwillingly gave me some clues which made me start to suspect that I was being lied to. Then, my father, you and Victoria gave me more." He explained, addressing the Alcalde. "So, seeing how you were all so determined to have me believe that I was suffering from memory loss and forgot an entire year of my life, without any concern for my feelings, and my sanity for that matter, I decided to play my own tricks on you all." He confessed as everyone was looking at him open-mouthed.
"I did give you opportunities to tell me the truth during the day, but, as you did not, I went along with my plan." Diego continued, pacing the tavern as people stepped aside to make way.
"Victoria was my first victim," he, thus, continued, suddenly turning to address De Soto "since I made up that new law. Meaning that there is no basis for you, Ignacio, to take the tavern away from her, as I wrote that document myself, so it holds no more than… literary value. Nobody was even careful enough to see that I misspelt the Governor's name so that I wouldn't be accused of forgery. The real message which arrived for you this morning from Monterey is in your desk drawer, still sealed and completely intact.
"As for the marriage, I'm afraid it was all a hoax too, since I made sure to discuss with Padre Benitez beforehand, and arrange for a fake ceremony to take place instead of the real one."
"We're not married?" Victoria wondered as she was on the brink of crying, upset about the turn of events, relieved to a certain point, mad at Diego and regretful about her own actions.
"No. I didn't think it was fair to force you into a marriage neither of us would have wanted under normal circumstances. So… Father, Ignacio, Victoria… and everyone else. I'm afraid your plan failed." Diego continued.
"Oh… And, I should mention, Alcalde, that I did also take advantage of your absence to look at the tax records, and returned to the people the money stolen from them since Luis Ramone came to Los Angeles. The 18,000 pesos hidden under the floorboards in your room, I mean." He added, stopping right in front of De Soto, a defiant smile on his lips.
"You did what?" Ignacio asked, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Mendoza just finished distributing the money an hour ago. I'm actually confused as to why you haven't done that yourself, since you are an honest man, are you not?" Diego wondered and De Soto stared back at him, his mind trying to decide whether to strangle the caballero with his bare hands, have him executed, or cut his losses and pretend he didn't know about the money since killing in cold blood was not something the Governor would have taken kindly to, and he was already in trouble for shooting the Royal Emissary the previous Autumn.
"I didn't know about those errors in calculations, of course… or of where the money was hidden." The Alcalde eventually said through gritted teeth, already wondering how to get back what he considered his retirement fund since the day he first stumbled across Ramone's hidden financial reserve.
"Really? That's odd… Since the books included some errors you made, as well, I had thought you added to the money Luis Ramone had taken considering it was all there, down to the last peso. Well… If you did not, that means that you still have an error of about… 3965 pesos to make up for. I will be happy to point out the mistakes, and I am sure you will insist on replacing the money anyway. Perhaps you can donate it… for the poor box…" Diego suggested innocently.
Again De Soto was pondering on whether to strangle or shoot the man before him.
"Yes. Please let me know what errors you found in my books… Although I doubt there are any…" He replied instead, enunciating each word.
A few moments of silence fell as the two were staring defiantly at each other and nobody else dared to say another word.
"Ah… Don Diego…" Padre Benitez said, standing up from a table at the back of the taproom.
"Si, Padre?" He asked.
"I… I think I made a mistake… I am so used to these wedding ceremonies, you see… And I always get emotional… I know you asked me to perform a fake ceremony… But I got confused, and mistakenly performed the right one. So you and Señorita Victoria are actually married..." Padre Benitez uttered apologetically.
"What?" He asked in disbelief, glancing rather aghast between Victoria and the padre. "No… That can't be… Zorro will kill me when he finds out!" Diego said rather worriedly, swallowing hard.
De Soto started chuckling. "That's what you get for trying to outsmart everybody!" He said, his ire almost forgotten. "What did you think Don Diego? That you can compare to the masked fiend in terms of trickery? You did a fine job, I admit, but now you'll have to deal with the consequences! You know what? I'm actually glad I didn't capture him, despite spending most of my day chasing him!"
"You did?" Victoria wondered.
Diego glanced at Felipe who replied with a knowing look.
"Yes… The fiend barely managed to escape this time, after six hours of pursuit… and only because our horses got tired. Well… Señor, Señora! " He greeted, glaring once more at the tall caballero, then walked out the tavern and headed for his office, a smile on his face.
"Well… Win some, lose some, isn't that right, Son? Don't worry about Zorro! I'm sure he will forgive you if you prove to be a good husband to Victoria." Don Alejandro said as he patted Diego on the shoulder. "Again, welcome to the family, my dear!" He then added, addressing his new daughter-in-law.
The taverness startled and gazed towards the old don at hearing him say her name, as she had been pensively staring towards the Alcalde's office.
"I think we should be heading home," Diego uttered. "Do you need help with your luggage?" He then asked his wife.
"What?" She wondered.
"You are my wife, as the Padre just mentioned. So, you do have to move to the hacienda, after all." He replied, smiling at her.
Victoria just stared at him rather confused. "But you don't want me to be your wife!"
"Yet you are. And, since we are stuck with each other and I feel Father makes a good point about how to appease Zorro, I plan to become the best husband you could have asked for." He promised to her increasing surprise.
"You do?" She just wondered
"Certainly!" He replied. "So? Do you need help with packing?"
"No. I can do it myself." She answered, still staring at him in disbelief. "But then we will have a long conversation, Diego!"
"Of course!" He agreed just as she headed for her room.
"Son…" Don Alejandro stated. "I feel I need to apologize… I should have known this trick would also fail just as miserably as the one I pulled last year…"
"What trick did you pull last year?" He wondered.
"Well… Let's just say that Doctor Wayne's potions weren't his doing…" The old don confessed.
"You are responsible for those potions?" Mendoza, who had overheard them, asked.
"I'm afraid so, Sergeant. But they were not meant to be found by Victoria when she did… I had a whole other plan for them. I should have learned! But I did now. This is the last charade I'll ever concoct!" He promised.
Diego just eyed him in disbelief. "What was your plan? Last year?" He wondered.
"Well… I had read about the power of suggestion in one of your books, and I thought I might use the potions to do a little experiment on you. Perhaps get you to be a bit braver, more forthcoming…"
"Really?" The caballero asked, glaring at his father.
"My dear!" The old don uttered, glad to see the taverness walking down the stairs since she made for the perfect distraction to escape his son's icy glance. "I'll help you to the carriage!"
Diego smiled at Padre Benitez then signed to Felipe and they followed Don Alejandro and Victoria.
"Pablo," the tall caballero addressed the driver, "why don't you stay for a while… enjoy the party. Felipe can drive us to the hacineda and you can come home on Esperanza when you'll feel like it."
The man understood from his tone that his patron's words represented an order, so he gave Felipe the reins, climbed down, and watched from the porch as they left the pueblo. Then, scratching his head, he entered the tavern to hear the latest gossip.
"Before you say anything…" Don Alejandro broke the silence as soon as they were away from anyone's earshot, "I need to say that I am still a bit resentful about you not confessing to me what you know you should have confessed after that fight of yours with Gilberto. So, before you tell me that you are upset with me, think of how I've been feeling!"
Diego shook his head and smiled. "So you know… You gave me those clues on purpose, didn't you?" He asked. "Father, I am not upset. On the contrary! I can only be glad about how well my plan worked thanks to you. Or was it your plan which worked thanks to me?"
"What do you mean?" Victoria asked him. "Both your plans failed… Miserably. And we are now married."
"That's exactly why it worked," Diego answered and Don Alejandro agreed with a knowing smile.
"So… It was all a lie? You didn't ask the padre to perform a fake ceremony?" Victoria wondered.
"I did… Initially… When Felipe told me what you were all doing and I came up with a plan to punish you. But I changed my mind later, so I asked him to perform the real ceremony and pretend that it was by mistake that he had done so."
"You changed your mind and wanted to marry me?" Victoria asked. "If so, why did you ask the padre to pretend he had made a mistake?"
"Because I didn't want anyone to become suspicious of me." He replied. "Victoria… First of all… Of course, I wanted to marry you. I've wanted to marry you for a long time already. It was you I wasn't too certain wanted to marry me." He answered. "After all, you are a woman in love with a legend… Besides… there were other… complications, as well."
"What? Diego… But you never said anything! And… What made you change your mind?" She asked, alternating between various emotions.
"You. And the letter De Soto received. I lied when I said I hadn't opened it. I had, but I made sure to reseal it afterwards. The letter was informing him that he is being urgently recalled to Madrid. I doubt he will ever return considering that, based on my information, the war for Mexican independence is close to being won. So my first and most important reason to postpone our marriage all but vanished. And Father's plan gave me the opportunity to wed you without letting anyone believe it was more than a mere joke gone wrong. As for you, when you told Zorro this afternoon that you wanted to marry me, I knew you finally chose the man over the legend."
"How do you know about that? Were you listening in on us?" Victoria asked outraged.
"No, Victoria." He answered with a resigned smile on his face, taking out the emerald and diamonds ring from his pocket. "I know because this ring once belonged to my mother…" he uttered, giving her the piece of jewellery. "I'm sorry for the ruse, my love, but I had to be certain…"
Victoria slowly shook her head as she took the ring. "I don't understand." She muttered. "You're him? You're Zorro? But… How? And why does De Soto believe he has been chasing Zorro all day?" She asked glancing between Don Alejandro and Diego.
"He did chase Zorro. Felipe dressed as Zorro, to be more precise. At least in the beginning… By the time he got closer to Tornado, our dear Alcalde was chasing a few branches dressed in black, since I'm not fond of letting my son risk his life to help me. I did, however, need to keep the Alcalde away from the pueblo for the day, and my stallion did need the exercise…" Diego explained and Felipe also turned his head to grin at Victoria.
She didn't utter another word, but a relieved smile crept on her face together with a few tears of joy and a bit of anger at her new husband's years of deceit. She was going to make him pay… Another day…
"So, last year… with the potions… you were also trying to get Victoria and I together, weren't you, Father?" Diego wondered.
"What can I say, Son? I've always wanted to see you two married. Last year I failed because I didn't have all the information. I had no idea my son was Zorro. After your fight with Gilberto, I did… And I am proud of you. I am also glad about your marriage and that my plan worked perfectly! Isn't that right, Felipe?" Don Alejandro muttered.
"Yes, Grandfather!" The young man answered to Victoria's surprise since she was the only one who still didn't know the young man could, by that point, both hear and speak.
"And all the charade with the señorita? What was the idea there?" Diego asked.
"I just wanted to make the entire act more believable by giving everyone the illusion that I was, indeed, trying to have some fun at your expense." The caballero replied. "They were both actors and you reacted just as I hoped you would!"
"I see. So you were a true puppet master today…" Diego said with a respectful grin.
"I outsmarted the Fox! And everyone else, as well, including the Alcalde!" Don Alejandro chuckled. "Now you two can start working on those grandbabies I've been asking for! Oh… And, by the way, Diego… That lancer who brought the message for De Soto was also an actor I hired. The Alcalde wasn't recalled anywhere. But he's only going to find that out when he gets to Spain, four or five months from now!"
THE END
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AN: Happy 1st of April to everyone! Hope you enjoyed this!