Chapter 3

The padre waited outside of her door, his hand pressed to the wood in a silent prayer. He'd given her the knowledge if she could only see through her grief to see it for what it was. Diego would need all of her support, and her love, to make it through this.

Maria, one of the part-time tavern help bounded up the stairs and greeted the padre with a sad smile. She'd rushed over to the tavern as soon as she'd heard what happened. The whole pueblo was buzzing with the news.

"Please help her." He said with a gentle hand to the woman's arm. "I must return to the church."

Maria rasped on the door as the padre left, calling Victoria's name quietly.

When the she didn't answer, Maria cracked open the door and found the woman sobbing uncontrollably into still bloodstained hands.

"Oh, Victoria!" Maria knelt beside her friend. "We need to get you out of these clothes and cleaned up."

At the sound of Maria's voice, Victoria looked up. She nodded wordlessly and allowed Maria to help her change. She slowly, almost reverently washed the blood off her hands and face, while tears slipped unchecked down her cheeks.

"I need to get to the church," Victoria rushed out the door and down the stairs, Maria on her heels.

"Victoria, what about-"

"Take care of the tavern for me, please!" Victoria called as she rushed across the plaza. She had no idea where she was going but she had to get into the church, she had to be with her friend.

Victoria ran into the padre on her way inside and he calmly led her to the back room where they'd taken Diego. Her heart caught in her chest when she saw him lying there, motionless and pale. She ignored everyone in the room and rushed to his side and gripped tightly the pale, cold hand.

"Please, you can't die." The distraught woman begged and even Alejandro was taken aback by her plea. "You can't leave me all alone in this world. You can't."

The padre allowed himself a small smile, realizing that she had understood the meaning of his words to her in the tavern. Sad eyes shifted toward the unconscious man in the bed and he whispered a silent prayer to God to pull the young man through.

Victoria cried for hours, clutching at Diego's pale, cold hand. Alejandro, even through his grief thought her reaction strange but was grateful the young woman felt so strongly about his only son.

When the padre came in to offer prayers, Victoria and Alejandro silently mouthed them with the kind friar.

Over the next few days, Diego's fever worsened. The doctor had taken to staying in the next room to keep a close eye on his patient. Dozens of well-wishers came to see the injured man but were turned away by the kind padre with a simple plea - to pray.

Victoria had refused to leave, muttering that it was her fault that Diego was lying in this bed fighting for his life and she wasn't leaving until he was well enough to get up and walk out on his own. She still could not fully comprehend the secret she had learned and resolved to deal with one heart-wrenching situation at a time.

The padre counseled patience but Victoria would hear none of it. She watched Diego's face for any signs of recognition to her voice but his eyes remained closed, long lashes lying lightly against pale, clammy cheeks.

Felipe brought soup three times a day, and Victoria almost reverently held Diego's head and forced him to swallow some of the liquid. If she could just get some nourishment into him, perhaps it would give him the strength to get well.

Alejandro had also refused to return to the hacienda, instead what little time he spent outside of his son's sick room, he spent sleeping in one of the spare rooms next door; ones that visiting priests would use upon their visit to the pueblo.

"It's my fault." Victoria sobbed one evening when the silence had become too much. It had been a difficult day struggling to get the young caballero to simply breathe. His fever had gotten no better and every breath seemed labored even though the doctor was certain that his lungs had not collapsed.

The padre remained silent and simply allowed the woman to vent. Alejandro had been forcibly removed from his son's room and given a sleeping draught so had not been present to hear the young woman's guilty admonition. Victoria was next on the padre's force-to-sleep list, but he wanted her to release some of her guilt so that sleep would come easier.

"He took that shot for me. He put himself in the way." Victoria pressed a kiss to his palm and watched his face closely. "Why did you do it, Diego? Please wake up and tell me why."

"I think you know the answer to that, my dear." The padre's soft voice answered and for a moment, she glanced down, thinking, hoping, that it had been Diego that had answered her question. Her shoulders sank when she realized it had only been wishful thinking and sobbed against his hand.

"It's too impossible to believe, Padre." Victoria finally said, leveling a strong stare at the friar, remembering it was he who had finally convinced her of certain secrets surrounding the life of her best friend.

"Look into your heart and perhaps it will not seem so impossible." The padre smiled kindly.

"If he dies-" Victoria suddenly stood and rushed out of the room, leaving the padre to stare questioningly after her.

Tears dripped down her cheeks as she ran across the plaza and into the tavern. Once in her room, she rifled through her secret belongings and with trembling fingers. Reverently, she pulled from its hidden location, the ring Zorro had given her the day he'd asked her to become his wife.

She stared at it, seeing the magnificent craftsmanship seemingly for the first time. A man of wealth and position would own such a fine piece of jewelry. She sobbed and clutched the ring tightly to her chest as she ran back to the church.

When she returned, she didn't notice Alejandro's dark-rimmed eyes staring curiously at her. The padre was sitting silently next to Alejandro, offering yet another quiet prayer.

Without thought, she held the ring out to Diego, imploring his unconscious form to answer. She squeezed his hand tightly.

Alejandro and the padre exchanged a look before Alejandro's eyes focused on the unmistakable piece of jewelry in Victoria's hands.

"Victoria?"

She didn't answer. Simply continued to implore Diego to wake and answer her questions.

"Victoria?" Alejandro stood, agitated at her unwillingness to respond. His eyes never left the ring she held. That had belonged to his wife. How did it come to be in Victoria's possession?

When she didn't answer yet again, he reached out and grasped her hands. When he folded his fingers around the ring Zorro had given her, she glanced up at him.

"Zorro-" She breathed. "He- he gave this to me."

The padre's eyes narrowed and Alejandro glanced at his son and then back at the ring Victoria held in her trembling hands.

"He gave you my wife's wedding ring?" Alejandro asked quietly.

Victoria sobbed loudly, the final confirmation slamming into her mind like a tidal wave. She buried her face in her hands. "Why didn't I see it? How could I have been so blind?"

Alejandro stared at Victoria a look of disbelief crossing his weathered face. "Victoria, do you mean to tell me-" He cast a long look at his son and then took a deep breath. "Do you mean to - No, that can't be possible."

"Zorro gave this to me the day he asked me to marry him." Victoria sobbed. "He promised that soon we would be together."

"Zorro wouldn't steal-"

"Zorro is no thief." The padre whispered quietly.

This left only one explanation. "My son?" Alejandro's voice faltered. "Is - is, Zorro?"

Felipe skidded to a halt in the doorway, his eyes wide. He stared at the ring Victoria held, recognizing it as the one Zorro had given to Victoria that day in the cave.

Alejandro glanced up at Felipe, eyes narrowed. All the pieces of a complicated, yet simple puzzle began to fall into place. "You knew, didn't you?"

Victoria stared expectantly up at the young boy and his eyes darted from one shocked face to another.

Felipe moved to stand beside his adopted father's bedside and reached down to rest a hand on the unconscious man's arm. He lowered his eyes apologetically and slowly turned to Alejandro. When Felipe nodded his head in the affirmation that the older don wasn't truly expecting, the man slumped against the bed, eyes welling with shameful tears.

"Dios." Alejandro sobbed, clutching his son's hand tightly. "How could I have been so blind?"

Felipe shook his head and placed a comforting hand on his adopted grandfather's shoulder.

But Alejandro continued, "I called him a coward for not standing up to the injustice running rampant in this pueblo." He risked a glance at Victoria, who still sat motionless on the other side of the bed, her own hands wrapped around those of his unconscious son. "I nagged him like an old hen. I treated him so poorly." Alejandro buried his face in his hands, ashamed at the memories that wouldn't go away despite how tightly he closed his eyes.

"He will live," Victoria finally said, finding her voice. "He has to." She stared down at the man she'd fallen in love with so long ago. "He has too much explaining to do. I won't allow him to escape my wrath so easily."

TBC