AN: I also respond to review-based bribery... In that I'll publish a new chapter whenever I get some :))) You may want to keep some tissues close for this chapter...

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It was the morning after Diego's return when Marisol opened the window, as she did each morning, looking forward to finding the flower her Papi had sent her. This time, however, there was no flower and, for a moment, she wondered if her Papi might have forgotten to send her one. Glancing around to make sure the flower hadn't fallen, she returned to her room and headed straight for Victoria, who was still half-asleep.

"Mama," she said, "the's no flowa…"

The taverness looked at her somewhat confused, trying to understand what she was saying.

"Are you sure?" She asked as she got off the bed.

"Yes. Come see!"

With a sigh, Victoria put on her robe and headed for the window to glance around. Indeed, as the child had said, there was no flower there, so, aware of how the flowers usually got there every morning, she naturally assumed her brother was still sleeping and resolved to wake him up.

"Perhaps Diego is not up yet and didn't get to send you your flower." She told Marisol as she started washing and getting dressed, then helped the toddler do the same. "Let's have some breakfast and by the time we return, I am sure your flower will be there."

The child looked disappointed, but nodded and, taking her hand, followed her adoptive mother to the taproom.

They both froze in place at exiting the room as they saw Ramon and Diego talking over coffee at a table near the main entrance.

"Papi!" Marisol exclaimed as she let go of Victoria and hurried towards him. The caballero smiled and stood up as she rushed to embrace him, collecting her into his arms and squeezing her in a tight embrace. "I missed you so much, Papi! I am so happy you a' back." She told him.

The taverness and her brother also neared the two, smiles on both their faces, although Ramon could do little but notice that there was also concern and a trace of regret on his sister's face.

"I missed you too, very much!" Diego told Marisol before smiling at Victoria. "Do you want to see what I've brought you?" He then asked the child. She nodded, so he headed with her to the table he had just left, and took out a bag from underneath it. Marisol didn't even try to suppress the sound of wonder that came out of her lungs at finding there the most beautiful puppet she had ever seen. Next to it there were several more toys for her to play with, but nothing compared to that doll in her eyes.

For the rest of the day, Marisol happily ran around the tavern, always making sure her Papi was within sight and refused to be separated from Diego and the doll he had brought her, even insisting that the caballero should sleep at the tavern that night, just so that he would be close to her.

Victoria was still awake when Marisol climbed down from her bed, her new doll in one hand, and slowly headed to Diego's room. After making sure her niece was sleeping comfortably next to the man she had chosen to be her new Papi, the taverness smiled worriedly and returned to her quarters.

Truth be told, as Ramon had already guessed, she was getting more concerned by the day at noticing the mutual attachment between her niece and Diego. She loved her friend more just for how he behaved towards the little girl, but she was also worried and unsure about what the future might bring, especially considering that she still had every intention of marrying Zorro. Unaware that Diego was the masked outlaw she hoped to one day wed, Victoria feared that, when that day would finally come, the bond between the caballero and Marisol might prevent the toddler from accepting her new father.

From time to time, though, seeing her best friend with the girl, Victoria did wonder what kind of husband he might make, for she was certain her niece would be lucky to grow up as his daughter.

ZZZ

"How's life with your new mother-in-law?" The tall caballero asked Jessie the following day, after there were no more patients, and they were cleaning the medical tools.

"She's a Godsend, Diego! The kindest, most modest and fairest woman I have ever met." Jessie answered, almost unable to believe what she was saying. "You know I even convinced her that Zorro was not the evil outlaw Ignacio had described to her? And it didn't even take much convincing. In truth, she just listened to the stories I and others told her, and decided for herself. You should have heard the scolding she gave my husband! It's a shame she hadn't come here sooner. I have the feeling he might have been a much better alcalde with Doña Maria by his side to set him straight!"

"You don't say!" Diego exclaimed slightly amused. "My father and Felipe told me Doña Maria has also been helping Victoria run the tavern. With Marisol around, I guess she needs all the help she can get!" He mentioned casually.

"Yes, it's true! The woman loves cooking, and, from what I was given to understand, your father loves her food." Jessie replied with a subtle wink.

"I have noticed that," Diego confirmed. "Maria says he hardly ever eats at the hacienda these days. Which is a shame, since her food is excellent!"

"But I always thought you prefer Victoria's cooking, Diego!" Jessie pointed out. "I really don't understand how in the world Ignacio turned out the way he did with a mother like her." Jessie continued, suddenly changing the subject.

"Maybe he takes after his father?" Diego suggested, relieved his friend decided not to press him into a confession about his feelings for Victoria.

"Not from what I hear." Jessie rejected the idea. "He was a farmer who spent all his life working hard to provide for his family. Doña Maria was an heiress and she was disinherited for marrying him but, the way she tells the story, it was the best decision she had ever made since the man was kind and loving to her, and also proved to be a wonderful father. She also grew to love her husband's parents, as her own never wanted anything to do with her after she went against their wishes in choosing her husband. It's only because Ignacio's grandmother died last October that she even decided to come here, her son being the only family she has left. Him and me, now." Changing the subject again, Jessie added "I confess I enjoy my married life to Ignacio much more than I ever expected I would. A mother-in-law who spends her time cooking, spoiling me and always taking my side in any argument - not that I need support to win them - is quite an unexpected bonus!"

The caballero smiled widely, part of him pitying the former alcalde.

ZZZ

It was about a week later and Ignacio felt like a fish out of water. The situation was strange to say the least.

He was, as that precise moment, sitting at the same table at which he had once sat with that pirate, Big Jim Jarrett and only a couple of times after that. He carefully looked at every person around him, wondering what all the joy was about. It was just dinner. Food was… fine. The De la Vega cook was, however, not even as good as the taverness, certainly not as good as his mother.

Despite having come to appreciate the tall caballero who had saved his wife's life, he had also done his best to keep Jessie away from Diego, at least on social occasions. After all, they were spending quite enough time together at the medical office, and he was still occasionally having nightmares about her leaving him for his former schoolmate. Truth be told, Ignacio de Soto continued having troubles understanding why Jessie had chosen him instead of the tall, younger, more handsome, and richer man who was her best friend. But, perhaps, Diego being Jessie's best friend had played in his favor, Ignacio considered. Or, maybe, he was simply not interested in women for, if he was, why hadn't he tried to court any of the two young, beautiful women sitting at the table that very moment?

"What do you think, Ignacio?" Jessie woke him up from his reverie.

The room fell suddenly silent, everyone awaiting his answer, apparently, and he had not even paid attention to the subject discussed.

"I believe you are right, mi preciosa!" He replied instinctively, after almost seven months of marriage having learned that simply agreeing with his wife was usually his best bet.

"You agree that Zorro is a hero, and should be decorated instead of only pardoned? Is this a miracle?" Jessie questioned as everyone looked puzzled at them both.

De Soto's face turned white at realizing the statement with which he had just agreed.

"Ah... Well… I…" He was at a loss for words since he knew he'd look foolish if he contradicted himself, and had no intention of looking foolish in front of his wife, his mother, the De la Vegas, Victoria Escalante, and Sergeant Mendoza. On the other hand, he couldn't just let them think he agreed with that nonsensical affirmation.

"See? I told you he wasn't listening to a word we said!" Jessie interrupted his blabbering.

"What?" He asked.

"We were discussing the news on the Mexican Governor. I was saying I hope he'll be different than our former Governor." Don Alejandro told him.

"Oh… Yes… I certainly agree with that, Don Alejandro." De Soto replied. "I would have probably killed that man, had I been here during his last visit."

"What? Why?" Doña Maria asked, baffled by her son's reply.

"Let's not dwell on sad memories." Diego encouraged everyone. "I, for one, prefer not to remember that visit at all."

"You're right, Diego!" His father agreed. "We were lucky that time and that evil man is, fortunately, gone. Perhaps a change of subject would be more appropriate."

A few moments of silence ensued as everyone tried to find a topic of conversation.

"Diego, how about you play something for us on the piano?" Victoria asked.

"That is a splendid idea!" Jessie agreed. "I've never had the chance to listen to you play, but Victoria always said you are very good!"

"You also play the piano, Don Diego?" Doña Maria asked, increasingly impressed by the young caballero.

"He plays the piano, the violin, he paints, he writes poetry, not to mention he is also the pueblo's unofficial lawyer, engineer, architect, official journalist, and, of course, doctor. Oh, and miracle-worker! If he was also Zorro, he'd be the perfect man!" Jessie mentioned with a laugh.

"I'm very far from perfect, I assure you," Diego replied with a smile.

"And I'd know if he was Zorro!" Victoria assured her friends with a chuckle.

Ignacio, his father, and Mendoza all grinned dismissively at the idea of the tall caballero being the pueblo's masked outlaw and followed the others to the living room, where Diego proceeded to play Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Jessie later joined him as they played together a sonata for four hands.

"You were both wonderful!" Doña Maria exclaimed, applauding enthusiastically and waking Mendoza up as he was already close to snoring.

"Yes! Especially you, my dear!" De Soto approved, bowing to kiss his wife on the cheek and almost dragging her away from Diego who did his best to hide a smile at noticing he was jealous.

The following discussions lasted for a couple of hours as nobody seemed ready to leave early. Diego bested De Soto in a game of chess, then Felipe did the same to him, making the former Alcalde frown at the thought that the adopted De la Vega was certainly a better chess player than he was; Victoria and Jessie talked about a wide range of subjects with Mendoza, but mainly about food and Marisol. The little girl who, for once, had agreed to spend the night with one of her new friends at her father's hacienda, had long since become Victoria's favorite subject of conversation as the young woman could hardly resist recounting for all her acquaintances every little funny thing Marisol did or said. As for Don Alejandro, the elderly caballero invited Doña Maria for a walk in the gardens, with the excuse of showing her the daffodils he had gotten from Spain the previous year and which had just bloomed a few days earlier.

ZZZ

"It is such a beautiful garden, Alejandro!" Doña Maria said with a smile as she looked around. "I am certain your wife, wherever she is, must be very proud of how you've taken care of it."

The old caballero saddened for a moment at the memory of the woman he still carried in his heart.

"I hope she is, just as I hope she is happy with how I brought up our son. He's my pride and joy, although, to be honest, there are times when I am not even sure I truly know him." He answered pensively.

"All children are like that. As a parent, one needs to live with the simple fact that, the older they get, the more secrets they keep. At least he is here, with you, and you were lucky enough to have him with you for most of his life. Look at me! My son spent over two decades away from me. And my daughter… I lost her for good merely a year after she left me to marry. She was such a good girl... A true angel on Earth. Perhaps that was why God took her so soon. But I am still grateful for every moment I had her with me." Doña Maria said, as a few tears left her eyes.

"I also had another son." Don Alejandro uttered. "One I only got to meet a few days before he died."

"I didn't know that. I am very sorry, Alejandro! What happened?"

"He was stolen at birth by a mad woman. I was away in the military when the boys were born. He and Diego were twin brothers. But the midwife must have drugged my wife. My Felicidad died without even knowing she had had another son. That woman… That horrid woman raised Gilberto – as she called him – to hate us. To hate his own family! He tried to kill both me and Diego. He would have killed his brother, had he not been shot just before pressing the trigger."

"Oh, Dios! I had no idea you had to deal with something so tragic! I… I am so very sorry, Alejandro!" She said as the older man, too, felt a few tears running down his cheeks.

"I was never able to truly talk about this to anyone but Padre Benitez… And not even to him could I bring myself to confess everything! I feel so guilty… I feel guilty for not having known about my son, for not having done anything to find him, and for treating him as I did while he was here… I feel guilty for not saving him… For not having found a way to do so. I feel guilty for being grateful to God that it was Gilberto the one he took that horrible day instead of his brother. Most of all, I feel guilty for being thankful to the man who saved one of my sons by taking the life of the other." He confessed allowing the older woman to embrace him and hold him for as long as he needed.

"Losing a child is the hardest, most heart-braking experience a parent can go through. Like a piece of your heart being ripped to pieces… No pain can compare and nothing can fill the void it leaves in one's soul." She said, as he finally let go of the embrace. "But such things are outside our control. Only God knows why they happen. Besides, no goodbye is forever. We all cross over at some point, and the ones we love and have crossed over before us will be right there, waiting." Wiping her tears, Doña Maria looked at Don Alejandro with a sad smile. "You know what I found helps?" She asked. "Speaking to them. In my head, not out loud, of course, or everyone would think I'm crazy. But I imagine entire conversations with them. I tell them how my day went, I tell them about my fears and little joys, and I imagine what they would say back. It is most probably because of such inner dialogues that, on occasion, I am even lucky enough to dream about them.

"About a month before I left Spain, they all came to me in one of my dreams and told me to head for California. I never dared consider it before… I never wanted to abandon their graves… After Ignacio left, I even sold our house in Madrid to return to Cadiz, only so that I might be able to visit their graves every day. Now, there's no one left to take them flowers anymore. But I know it doesn't matter. I carry them in my heart wherever I might be, so it is here where they truly are, not in a cemetery." She said, a hand on her chest. "That dream convinced me of it…"

"It was the most beautiful dream I've ever had, Alejandro..." The older woman continued. "I saw my daughter, and she was fine… She… She had this glow around her, just like an angel… and we talked… I told her how much I missed her, and she told me that I shouldn't, for she is always with me… Just like they all are.

"And my husband… He smiled and said he is happy, and that I shouldn't worry about leaving the Old World. That everything will work out for the best and he'll be waiting for me when my time here will be over. I even saw my in-laws and my own grandparents, who had died when I was a child. They all told me to come here.

"So I did. I came to California because of that dream, and I am glad I did so!" The older woman said, convincingly.

Don Alejandro looked at her and nodded with a smile. "I also talk to Felicidad at times, especially when I visit her grave, every Sunday. And, at times, I also dream of her. A year ago, I remember this dream I had... it was around Christmas. She came to me and we talked for the longest time. I don't remember what we talked about, but I felt like a new man when I woke up. As if the world was brand new and everything was possible again; as if I was given a second youth." He uttered. "But Gilberto… I don't even know how to talk to him... I feel guilty and… at the same time, I can't forget that he almost killed Diego. I used to have nightmares after he died… Nightmares in which he had pressed the trigger and I was forced to witness Diego falling lifeless to the ground, lost to me forever. And each time I had that nightmare, the next thing I did was to strangle Gilberto with my own two hands. I tried to forgive him, I lied by telling myself… and others that I could forgive him. But how could I? How could I do that when every time I visit his grave I remember that nightmare?"

"Try to remember it didn't happen. And that, should he have had a different life, he could have been a son you'd have been proud of." Doña Maria counseled him.

"Diego said something remarkably similar the day Gilberto died." Don Alejandro remarked as he again stood facing her.

A ray of moonlight lit their faces and they stared into each other's eyes for a few moments before the older caballero dared lean down and place a gentle kiss on Doña Maria's lips. Again they shared a glance and, not finding any trace of rejection in her eyes, he leaned down again, locking his hands around her waist, and started kissing her properly, as the older woman responded to his kiss, resting her hands on his shoulders for support.

It took them a few minutes to part and, as they did, the doña leaned against his chest, trying to calm her racing heart.

"After my husband died, I was certain that I would never love another man, nor feel as I did in his arms." She said when she was calm enough to speak. "I am too old for love…" Doña Maria continued, raising her frightened eyes to look at the caballero.

"We are never too old to love, Maria!" He answered, smiling at her. "We were both blessed to know true love before. To know two wonderful people who have made us profoundly happy and who we lost much too soon. Yet, we are still here, still alive. And who knows how long we still have? We may die tomorrow, in three months, or in twenty years. I don't know that, nor am I at the age when I can promise you a long, happy life together. No one knows what the future might bring. Yet, if there is one thing I know, it's that I would very much like to use at least some of the time I have left in this world getting to know you better."

"I… I'd very much like that, too, Alejandro." The older woman answered, subtly nodding her head a few times.