Diego slept in the next morning, and lay undisturbed for a few hours more. His mind was full of stray thoughts, complications and plans that were never going to be successful. He contemplated the ceiling quietly, musing on the pain in his arm. It throbbed almost unbearably, making him at last get up and get dressed.
He had to do something to distract himself, before he went insane, he decided. His arm probably needed tending to, and he knew that he needed assistance with that. He was in no mood for reading or any peaceful pursuit, but had no energy for anything else, due to his wasted journey the evening before.
He almost collided with Victoria on his way out of his room, and after steadying her, glanced down at her. Her glowing face dimmed a little as she met his eyes.
"Your arm?"
"I overdid things yesterday," Diego said briefly. "It's nothing really."
Victoria took his hand and led him back into his bedroom, and made him sit on his bed.
"Let me see the damage. Hernandez will visit later in the day," Victoria said in her no nonsense way.
"My father has already arranged for it?"
Victoria glanced at him carefully, and Diego decided to stop talking. He felt irritated, but it wasn't her fault.
"Sorry. I had a disappointing day yesterday."
Victoria gently unwrapped the bandage and sucked in her breath. "Diego, you've broken some of the stitches. What on earth were you doing yesterday?"
Diego met her eyes as she glanced up at him again. "It doesn't matter…"
"It matters to me that you recover your strength," she said softly. "I love you, Diego."
Diego bit back the unkind thing that had sprung to mind. He took her chin in his good hand, and tilted her face up. Their lips met so softly that it was as if they hadn't touched at all, and he deepened the kiss with an intensity that took his breath away. He startled, taking into account where they were sitting, and eased back, almost immediately.
"Victoria…"
"Will you tell me what you did yesterday?" She said, as she slowly opened her eyes.
He was a little stunned and a bit disappointed that the first thing out of her mouth was an interrogative question.
"I want to further my father's plan for the future of Zorro."
"How?"
"By recruiting interested parties...Victoria…"
"Kissing me is delightful, but I need to know what is going on," Victoria said firmly. "I want you alive."
"A living hero rather than a dead legend."
"A living man rather than a dead legend. There are many ways to be a hero. As you have shown me…"
"You can't say you see me as a man…"
"Maybe, maybe not. The legend was overpowering...as you meant him to be," Victoria said softly. "It may take some time for me to see you as 'ordinary' as you seem to think you are. You might find that you are the only man in this district that thinks as you do."
"I hope not," Diego said, with feeling. "What do you suggest we do about the arm?"
"Kissing it better is not an option," Victoria said, with a slight blush and her eyes downcast.
He smiled a little. "Well, I think the stitches may need to be repaired," he said. "I can do it myself."
"Did you have to before?" She said, her eyes widening as she glanced back up at him. "How dreadful!"
"How would you know if I needed them before?"
"Diego, I have helped nurse you for some weeks now. I can recognise scars that have been stitched. I work with hurt and ill people at the Mission all the time."
It was his turn to blush, he realised. Heat rose up his chest and neck until it reached his cheeks. She had seen more of him than he had realised. He stood up and walked to his desk to try to compose himself and quell a sense of vulnerability.
"There is no need to be concerned about it. I have seen nothing I haven't seen before."
Just how much had she seen of him? He studied a pile of papers, trying to quiet a racing heart.
"You have raised brothers almost from babyhood, Victoria. That leaves a lot to the imagination."
"Oh," she said, lifting a hand to a suddenly crimson cheek. He stared at her as her eyes widened in mild horror. "Nothing untoward. Nothing indecent. Of course not."
"I am teasing…" Diego half lied. Thank goodness, some secrets remained between them.
"Your father...he was very circumspect."
"I'm glad of it," Diego said, seriously. "Let's get some thread and a needle and I will see to these stitches."
"No," Victoria said firmly. She had composed herself with an effort. "I will do it. I have done it before for others. I can do it for you."
He took her hand gently, as she rose and stood beside him. "It is different when it is someone you care about. Believe me, it is a lot harder."
His mind drifted back to when she had been so badly injured he thought she would die. Bishop's handiwork had been brutal. He had nursed her carefully, and tended to her bandages as much as he could. Not that he had to stitch a wound closed, but every task that kept her modesty intact he had performed himself, in the absence of the doctor.
"I am brave, Diego."
"Yes, yes you are," Diego said, softly. "Very brave."
Zzz
Victoria made Diego sit on the sofa in the library and asked the servants to fetch the appropriate thread and needle. She rolled the cotton sleeve up his arm gently, still amazed by the mess of the half healed wound in his shoulder.
"Maybe the shirt should be removed altogether," she suggested.
"No. You are not undressing me in any way," Diego said firmly. His eyes glinted strangely, and she was curious about the meaning behind it. She didn't feel brave enough to ask him and just nodded.
"The shirt is awkward," she added.
"I can hold it in place," Diego assured her gently. His large hand took over her smaller hand's task, and then she had both hands free.
"It's best not to watch," Victoria said gently, heating the needle over the flame of a candle for a few seconds. "You might feel faint."
"I might, but I won't," he answered. She glanced at him and their eyes met. It was Diego. Almost the old Diego. Her old friend, the man who had been like a brother. More than a brother. So much more than a brother, she realised.
"How did I never find out your secret, Diego?"
"I am a great actor," he murmured. She threaded the needle with the black silk, and bit her lip with concern.
"It will hurt," she said thoughtfully. "It will."
"I have felt pain before," Diego said. "I can still do it instead."
"No. How could you bear it?"
"There are many things I can bear," Diego said softly. "Some things just need doing, and you just do them. That is life."
"That's courage, Diego. You speak about it like it is as easy as walking and talking."
"What else could I do?"
"You could have taken care of yourself, and not the pueblo," Victoria said gently. "Like everyone else in town."
"I was taking care of you - and that takes care of me," he said. "How could I bear your anguish and disappointment? The times that they almost killed you? How could I stand by and watch as no one stood up for you?"
"You still could have stayed quiet."
Diego shook his head. "You don't understand, Victoria. I have loved you for so long I don't know when I started loving you. That day I returned home, you were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen."
"Flattery. You had just been in the elite social gatherings of Spain. There are surely more attractive women in Spain than me."
"I said beautiful, and I mean it. Attractive is just ornamental. Beauty encompasses everything," he said, catching her eyes again.
"We are never going to get this done," Victoria said, distractedly. "Maybe you are right, maybe this is too hard for me."
"Hand me the needle," Diego said.
Zzz
Alejandro entered the library, with the doctor behind him, just as Victoria nervously handed over the needle and thread.
"I hope this isn't what it looks like, Diego," Alejandro said firmly. Diego sprung to his feet as if he had been stung, and Victoria glanced back at the older men.
"What...does it look like?" Diego said.
"Sit down, young man. I see some damage has been done over the last couple of days," Hernandez said, firmly. "Victoria, some hot water and a new bandage if you please."
Victoria got to her feet, obviously grateful for a means of escape.
"Guilty conscience?" Alejandro said, after she had left.
"We decided it needed to be done as soon as possible," Diego said with a slight shrug. "Stitches."
"Official engagement needs to be announced as soon as possible," Alejandro said with a snort. "As fast as socially acceptable timeframe for a wedding."
"We didn't do anything untoward," Diego complained.
"Diego, do you want a drink before I start this?"
"No," Diego said. "Just do it."
"Yes, he does need a drink, Hernandez. Hold on, I'll pour him one," Alejandro interrupted firmly. "Not invincible, my son, no matter what your heart tells you."
Diego dashed the brandy down in a few seconds, and his father poured him another one.
"All this fuss, when Felipe and I would have stitched this in seconds."
"Doubtful," Hernandez said. "It's going to hurt, try to hold still."
Diego bit his bottom lip as the needle went in and out, and then it was over. He sighed, and his father handed him another brandy.
"I wasn't planning on sleeping for the entire day," Diego said with disappointment, and drank it down obediently. "Victoria…"
"Victoria needs a duena, as soon as possible. You are determined to marry her, eventually?"
"It is too soon, it may arouse the alcalde's suspicions," Diego said.
"With Zorro believed dead, I think the safest place for her is by your side, living in this hacienda. She may not agree right now, not with her tavern so close to her heart, but it is for the best."
"Well, father. You may have to convince the senorita of the logic of that sentiment. I believe she tends to think with her heart before her head," Diego said reluctantly. "There is nothing more that I long for to have her in my arms and in this hacienda, but Victoria's feelings must be considered."
"She's not the only one that thinks with her heart," Alejandro said with a shake of his head. "This hot and cold nonsense will do neither of you any good."
Victoria returned with the hot water and the bandage. As the water had cooled slightly, she washed the blood from his arm, and then bandaged him expertly while the doctor watched on.
"Brandy?" Victoria asked, glancing at the empty glass on the nearby table. "For the pain?"
"Yes. A good idea to remember for the future?" Hernandez said, with a glance at Alejandro.
"So it didn't hurt too much?" She asked Diego.
Diego smiled sleepily. He wasn't used to drinking so much brandy at once, and his eyes were getting heavy. She squeezed his hand gently.
"Perhaps a nap in the library would be more soothing than the bedroom," Hernandez said gently. "Alejandro, a light blanket and a cushion and some quiet will do your son some good, I think."
"We could all sit quietly in the library for a while. That would be very companionable," Alejandro said, with a meaningful glance at his son. "Victoria, you'll find more than a few novels on the shelves behind you."