CHAPTER 9

Victoria heard a noise coming from the direction of the patio doors she had opened moments earlier, hoping that some coolness would come in on this warm night.
"Diego!" cried Victoria surprised, and jumped off the stool. Her cheeks were wet, and her eyes, full of tears.
Suddenly, Diego was standing in her room. In his left hand, he held a rose. A dagger clattered to the ground. His face was pale and painfully cramped.

"Victoria, I can't let you go."

"Let me go?" Victoria stuttered.

"You may ask me anything. There isn't a thing I wouldn't do. But please, don't ask me to give up on you."

"Diego,"
There was so much pain in his voice.
Victoria wanted to rush over to him and pull him into her arms. Instead, she stood nailed to the ground, staring at him wide-eyed, uncomprehending.
She began to stammer incoherently. "What do you mean?"
Protectively, she wrapped her arms around her torso and trembled like a straw.

Diego stuttered in a choked voice. "I love you. I can't live without you."

"Diego, what makes you say such a thing, I love you." He was scaring her.

Hesitatingly, he walked up to her and offered her the rose. The thorns had left some wounds in the palm of his hand.
"Then tell me you'll stay with me. Please."

"Stay with you?" What the hell was Diego rattling?

"When you'd rather sleep alone, I'll respect your wish." He had no idea how now he had discovered what it felt like to make love to her. When that was what she wanted, he'd find a way to keep his promise.

Victoria wiped the tears from her face frantically with the sleeve of her nightshirt. "I don't understand what you mean."

Diego realized that the item of clothing Victoria was wearing was his. It was the nightshirt he had lent her before their wedding when she was sleeping in the hacienda. It gave a warm glow to his heart. Cautiously, he came closer and stroked her cheek.
"I want you to be happy, and be with you as much as possible."

"Diego, I'm happy," Victoria uttered.

"Then may I stay with you, please," Diego whispered, hopefully.

Victoria stared at his feet. A red blush appeared on her cheeks. She muttered barely intelligibly. "It can't."

Immensely disappointed, Diego lowered his hand. His arm fell limply along his body. He cried, feeling desperate. "Why not?"

It took ages before Victoria said. "I'm not pregnant."

Now he understands even less, what does that have to do with it?
They were not even married for a fortnight. "Victoria, it doesn't matter. We just got married. Maybe, it is even better for the moment. And, who knows, next time."

Victoria shook her head, tears rolling over her cheeks. Her watery eyes, full of pain.

Diego carefully took a few steps toward her. He opened his arms to let her in and comfort her. Was this why she was upset? "Victoria, it can indeed happen so quickly. But you said yourself, it can also take years. A few months is no exception, give it some time."

"Diego, I am not pregnant." Victoria licked her lips nervously. "And I know because…you know…,"
This wasn't a topic one could discuss with a man.

Slowly it dawned on Diego what Victoria was referring to.
He did have some awareness of the female body. Although, this particular subject was shrouded in many mysteries to him.
"The only reason you wanted to sleep alone was that you are having your…, uh, monthly period?"

Victoria nodded.

Diego laughed in relief, pulled her into his arms. "I'm so glad. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know, how. I barely ever spoke about it to a woman." Victoria searched for words. "And you are a…, well, you are a man." It almost sounded like an accusation.

"Si, I am your man. You can tell me anything." Diego wiped away a tear.

Victoria sobbed again and threw her arms around his neck. Burying her face against his shoulder. "I am sorry. I wanted to tell you I had no idea how. What you must have been thinking?"

"You don't want to know what I've been thinking. I've thought about the most dreadful things."
His lips found hers in a kiss.
With bated breath, Diego asked. "Say I stay with you tonight?"

Victoria hesitated. "Are you sure you want to, and what will the servants say?"

"The servants will say nothing, but if it reassures you, I'll be happy to mess up the covers on our bed tomorrow. And, of course, I want to be with you. Come."
Diego pulled her to the bed.

Victoria crawled under the covers while Diego took off his shoes, shirt and pants. He crawled next to her, and Victoria crouched against him.
Diego sighed in satisfaction. "Your choice of nightwear looks strangely familiar to me."

To his delight, he saw a blush appear. "This shirt smells like you. So, it felt like you were with me. I missed you so much."

"Was that the reason you were crying?"
He felt her nod in the hollow of his shoulder. He stroked her temples with his lips. "Don't ever do this to me again."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry. It's just a topic...,
It's not something easy to talk about. I planned to tell you after…," Victoria silenced for a moment. "When it was possible again to be with you."

"Victoria, I confess I don't know much about…, may I call it female discomfort? It's a monthly thing, right."

"Roughly. Usually, it takes about five days, sometimes six."

"And this is day two..."

"Yeah... Diego, when you prefer to sleep alone..., I get that."

Diego wouldn't hear of it and soothed her. "As long as we are married and under the same roof, you will sleep in my arms. It will often happen for Zorro to go out, and you'll be alone for at least part of the night. So, I want to cherish every moment we have together."

After a few minutes, both enjoyed the silence of being together.
Diego rubbed her back. Gently stroking with his hand.

"Mmm, nice." Muttered Victoria. "I always have pain in my back on these days."

"Does it hurt?"

"The first day is always the worst. After that, the pain becomes less every day. It's just worse today because it was busy in the tavern. And, I hardly slept last night."

Diego kissed her shoulder. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

He walked away and returned not much later with a vial in his hand.
"Lie on your stomach. I have oil here that will help ease your pain."
Diego got on his knees next to her and put some oil on his hand.

Victoria thought she smelled lavender and rosemary.

Diego started massaging her back.

And Victoria felt the tension of the past two days slipping off her. She was starting to feel drowsy. "This feels wonderful. What is it? It reminds me of lavender."

"You guessed correctly. It's lavender oil with some rosemary and works well against muscle pain."

"How do you know all this?" Diego continued to amaze her with his wealth of knowledge and talents. Sometimes, she still had trouble comprehending how different he was then he made everyone believe.

"I get a lot of my information from books, as you know. And, Zorro needed a good remedy for muscle pain. He's not invulnerable."

"I never thought so. Diego, a little lower on the left, please." His hands slid to her lower back. He continued to massage her until he noticed she had fallen asleep.
He snuggled up to her, put an arm around her waist and breathed in the scent of her hair. Diego dozed off soon after.

.

Nothing of note happened for the next few days.

Until one morning, the word reached, de Soto would be arriving at the pueblo later that day.

Victoria was immediately nervous. So much, Diego insisted that she stay at the hacienda.
He had been busy with Felipe, making preparations if things didn't go as planned.
"We have to trust that the preparatory work we did will be sufficient. Some can indeed fail and turn out differently. We are prepared for the worst, will hope for the best and assume everything will go according to plan."
Victoria tried to laugh bravely but failed miserably. Diego pulled her against him. "Have a little faith in the fox."

"I have faith in you. It is De Soto I do not trust. "

"De Soto believes he can't get outsmarted. The moment, you are convinced you are right, it is difficult to accept another truth. De Soto is quite full of his genius. And that is his weak spot.

Diego, Alejandro and Victoria waited outside in the garden, in the distance, a plume of smoke rising. "There's the sign," Diego said pointing to the North.

Alejandro walked over to Dulcinea, who was already saddled up. "See you in the pueblo, son."

Victoria and Diego entered the cave together, where Toronado was already saddled up.

"Please be careful." Victoria pleaded to Diego.

"Zorro will only show himself if he has no other choice."

Victoria nodded bravely. He mounted Toronado and she pressed a his on his gloved hand. "I love you."

Zorro touched his hat with his hands and saluted her before he left the cave.

.

Alejandro was just enjoying a glass of juice when de Soto pounded into the tavern, closely followed by Sergeant Mendoza.

"I heard that son of yours is married."

"You may indeed congratulate me, Señor Alcalde. Victoria Escalante, now de la Vega, has indeed recently become my daughter."

De Soto grinned viciously. "Mendoza, arrest de la Vega."

"What, why?" Alejandro asked, genuinely surprised.

"Because your son is Zorro. That can be the only reason the señorita would do such an idiotic thing. Without a doubt, you are an accomplice and, therefore, just a criminal. You might think you could get away with it, well not."

Alejandro leaned back in his chair and burst out laughing. "Alcalde, you know Diego. He, Zorro? No one will believe that. I think you're suffering from heatstroke. Shall I get you the doctor?" He beckoned to Pilar, who came running at once.

"Indeed," the sergeant intervened. "Don Diego can't be Zorro. We all have seen them together many times. Mi alcalde, when you'd hear how the marriage came about, you'd know it can't be."

"Pilar," Alejandro remarked. "Be kind and get doctor Hernandez. Our alcalde probably got sunstroke."

Furious, de Soto slammed his fist on the table, "There's nothing wrong with my head. Your son is Zorro. You're all hanging on the gallows in the morning. Mark my words."

"But Alcalde, don Diego, cannot be Zorro. Zorro challenged don Diego to a duel. I saw it myself." Mendoza defended his friend.

"Don Diego has duelled with Zorro and is still alive? The man cannot distinguish the blade from the handle."

"That's not true, my son may not be a fighter, I admit. He does know what a sword looks like." Alejandro stood up for his absent son.

Out of the corner of the tavern, one of the lancers interrupted loudly.
"Mendoza, tell him the first time, it was not don Diego who fought Zorro. It was Victoria Escalante who did. The whole pueblo has seen her wipe the floor with him."
Many of the men present laughed out loud, most of them were still thankful they had not been the target of her anger.

De Soto began to lose his temper, his ears slowly turned red.

"So you expect me to believe that tavern wench dumped Zorro and then hooked up with that idiot de la Vega."

Alejandro rose to his feet. "My son is not an idiot, and my daughter is not a wench!" He began to take his glove out of his pocket. "You take that back."

"Gentlemen," Pilar intervened. "Calm yourself. I will not tolerate this behaviour in my tavern."

"Your tavern?" De Soto uttered, surprised.

"Since the marriage, Victoria has indeed asked me to take over the management of the tavern. I will not tolerate this behaviour. Not from a caballero and not from you, señor Alcalde. Perhaps, you should ask what happened before jumping to conclusions."
Mendoza looked in admiration at the slender woman who stood in front of the alcalde, with folded arms, showing no trace of fear.
On her heels, she turned toward the sergeant. "Why don't you give your supervisor an accurate account of developments since his absence."
There was nothing to indicate that Pilar seemed a whole lot braver than she felt.

"Well, uh..." the sergeant began. "It started with don Alejandro falling from the horse, so don Diego went to Santa Paula to meet the emissary."

"Emissary? Which emissary?" De Soto asked warily. "What are you talking about?!"

Mendoza explained patiently. "The one who stayed in Santa Paula two weeks ago on his way from Mexico to Monterey."

Alejandro interrupted the sergeant to inform de Alcalde. "I thought it was a good idea to give him a genuine account of all misbehaviour occurring in our pueblo."

"And why wasn't I told about this?!"

Alejandro said, annoyed. "Because, señor alcalde, you were too busy borrowing a suitable horse from my stable to make the trip to Monterey.".

" Anyway." Mendoza continued, glad that for the moment, the alcalde seemed to have forgotten that he'd ordered the don to get arrested. "Señorita Victoria insisted on accompanying don Diego out of fear he would not give an accurate picture of the situation.
On the way back, they had to shelter from a storm and spend the night in that old mill along the route."

"And that's why they got married? Do you take me for a fool!? Cause, when you do..."

"Well…, eh, no. That came later and was Zorro's fault, I think."

Someone In the crowd had been waiting to say. "Yes, Zorro had heard about it. He came to the pueblo to hear what had happened. The señorita assured him that nothing had happened, but Zorro refused to believe her. The señorita was furious. It was quite a spectacle."

"Then what?" de Soto demanded to hear.

"Well, Zorro wasn't defending himself. She's a woman, you see." Mendoza explained quickly.

De Soto nodded thoughtfully.

"The señorita gave Zorro a few nasty blows with her broom. He fled for his life, and the señorita..., eh dona came to her senses. As soon as she realized what she had said and Zorro implied, she passed out in don Diego's arms."

De Soto asked suspiciously. " And don Diego was present at the plaza?"

"That's what I'm saying. Well, anyway, People realized that more could have happened and, well," Mendoza felt uncomfortable reaching this part of the history.
"Don Diego, you know how much he values good behaviour, felt forced to propose marriage out of fear that any gossip would ruin his reputation or would damage the señorita."

"That's right," said Alejandro. "My son saw it as a duty to ask Victoria Escalante for her hand in marriage."

De Soto was sceptical. "And she accepted?"

"Well, not right away," Alejandro admitted reluctantly.

"I did save don Diego his life," Mendoza yelled a little louder than necessary. De Soto turned his attention back to his sergeant.
"She still had the broom within reach and wanted to take it out on don Diego. So, I confiscated her broom." Mendoza was proud he had dared to stand against the fiery woman.
"In the end, she calmed down enough to see the wisdom and agreed to a marriage."

"And your son indeed married her?"

Alejandro's chest seemed to double as he proudly pronounced. "The word of de la Vega is sacred."

"Idiot." De Soto muttered. "And where are our lovebirds at the moment?"

"In their skin, if they haven't escaped," Alejandro said. "How should I know? As far as I know, they are both in the hacienda."

"And Zorro, has he shown himself ever since?" De Soto was not yet totally convinced of the story.

"Oh, si, mi alcalde. It was terrible."

"I knew it! What did he do? What crimes has Zorro committed in my absence?"

"Nothing. I was making my rounds collecting the taxes. I was on my way to the Cavaljal brothers.
Doña Victoria and don Diego were riding to the pueblo in a carriage. I saw them getting ambushed by Zorro. It was horrible, just horrible.
Zorro challenged don Diego to a duel! Of course, don Diego refused. Zorro refused to hear of it and forced don Diego off the carriage into a fight."

"And yet, he's alive and unharmed? De la Vega must be wounded at least." gloated, de Soto delighted.

"No, but it was a mighty sight." Someone said at a table in the back.

De Soto muttered, full of disbelieve. "Diego de la Vega taking on Zorro? "

"No, señorita Escalante teaching Zorro a lesson. She screamed that he should have trusted her. After all, she didn't know how many sweethearts he had, and she always trusted him. She had a gun in her hand and pointed it at Zorro.
I don't think Zorro wanted to harm her because he left."

"So..., Zorro is licking his wounds?" De Soto asked thoughtfully, rubbing his beard.

Mendoza mentioned, in an apologizing way. "I don't think so. He didn't look badly wounded to me."

"Mendoza, you idiot! I mean because she is married to that fool. He must be heartbroken. Zorro is vulnerable at the moment and will make mistakes."
An evil grin came on de Soto, his face.
"Mendoza, make four patrols and have them search the entire region. I want Zorro found, now!"

"Mi alcalde, perdone, but we have been looking for years and never found anything."

"Then you're not looking hard enough! Mendoza! Look behind every boulder, turn every rock over, and every cave searched. I want Zorro, and you won't rest until he hangs on the gallows. And, you start at this moment."

"But mi alcalde." Mendoza stutters. "That are a lot of places to look."

"Meanwhile, I'm going to study the map. See where there are caves in the area are. There must be dozens of them along the coastline. That villain is at his weakest. And that will be to my advantage."
De Soto seemed to have forgotten why he had stomped into the tavern fifteen minutes ago and was getting absorbed in his plan to capture Zorro. Convinced, and enthusiastic, he greeted don Alejandro.
"He who shall prevail salutes you."
De Soto spun on his heels and walked haughtily out of the tavern with long strides.

Alejandro breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief. The plan seemed to be going well, and the traps in and around the village proved unnecessary.

"Mendoza!" A yell entered the tavern.

Mendoza rose hastily, grabbed his helmet under his arm, and clumsily knocked over a stool. It had been so wonderfully peaceful.

"MENDOZA!" Sound it louder.

The sergeant groaned and greeted no one in particular while mumbling under his breath. "Those who grow tired of that man also salute you."
After this, he gestured to the other lancers in the tavern, and he trotted towards the plaza. Mendoza got followed by the four lancers, who already saw the storm coming.
The days of relaxing for hours, filling time with card games, and enjoyable afternoons in a cool tavern were behind them.

Alejandro looked up and saw a dark shadow on the gallery and gave an imperceptible wink up.

.

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