Chapter 8

"What is it?" Diego asked, wiping at the annoying tears.

"Felipe," Alejandro whirled on the stunned boy. "Send for the doctor at once."

"Father?" Diego asked, frustrated by the unrelenting pain pulsing behind his eyes and the disturbing realization that he could not see anything.

"Diego, lie back." Alejandro pushed at his son's shoulders, trying to steady his shaking voice.

"Victoria?" Diego asked next, fear rising in his chest. Strange that he could now keep his eyes open but could no longer see through them.

"Diego, listen to your father," Victoria sat next to him and held his hand, noticing his body tense with frustration.

Diego squeezed his eyes shut as they began to sting once more and sighed deeply when a cool, damp cloth brushed against his closed eyelids.

Time passed slowly as Victoria and Alejandro exchanged pained and worried looks, at the same time trying to calm themselves enough not to alarm Diego.

"Where is that doctor!" Alejandro muttered through gritted teeth.

Victoria pressed a mug of tea to Diego's lips and bade him to drink. She had mixed a pain agent into the liquid but it was not having as swift a reaction as she would have liked.

When Felipe burst through the door, the doctor in tow, Victoria heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Let me see him." The doctor brushed passed Victoria and she swallowed the ire that instantly rose as she was parted from her husband's side.

"Doctor. I seem to have lost my eyesight." Diego forced himself to remain calm.

"Yes, so I've been told. Open your eyes, please."

The doctor's sharp intake of breath was not lost on Diego. "What is it?" He asked. His already short temper was being tested as he asked, yet again, what was wrong. They obviously saw something that he could not.

"The whites of your eyes have turned a deep red-hue." The doctor knew better than to keep this information from his scientific-minded patient.

"This is why I am unable to see?" Diego asked with a wince as the doctor examined one eye with a cold instrument.

"Yes, I believe so."

Diego swallowed and clenched his hands into tight fists but his father covered the fist with his own hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Do you feel any pain?" The doctor asked, concerned that the young man was far more lucid than he had been the previous day but his condition seemed to have worsened.

"If you would be so kind as to rip my eyeballs from their sockets, no, I believe there would be no more pain." Diego's attempt to lighten the mood failed.

"Son, please."

"Diego . . ." Victoria began.

"I can't see." Diego said with a slightly exasperated air. "And my head no longer hurts, with the exception of the increasing pressure and stinging pain behind my eyes."

"It's not often I have an occasion to see something like this, but it is an ailment that is not all together uncommon, " the doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Alejandro asked, eyes narrowing.

"It appears the pressure in Diego's head, which has been causing him so much pain, has found a natural way to relieve itself."

"Through his eyes?" Victoria's voice held a bit of wonder.

"Yes. The pressure has caused blood vessels to burst behind his eyes which is causing the sharp stinging pain." The doctor continued to examine his patient carefully. This was a condition he had never seen, only read about in European textbooks.

"Is there a treatment?" Victoria asked, afraid of the answer but needing to know.

"No." Diego answered with a heavy sigh. He, too, had read about this condition.

The doctor nodded in agreement as Alejandro and Victoria exchanged panicked looks.

"The pressure must alleviate itself."

"A cold compress might help with the swelling." Diego added.

"Yes. It may help." The doctor finished his exam and gathered his things.

"How long will this last?" Alejandro asked, his eyes falling with concern on his only son.

"Until the pressure has been adequately released," The doctor answered. "There is no guarantee that . . . " He glanced at Diego, then toward his family, "that his eyesight will return. You must be prepared in case it does not."

Victoria quickly moved to the doctor's vacated spot as Alejandro led him to the door.

"Fate continues to conspire against us, querida," Diego felt Victoria's hand slid into his and he brought it to his lips and kissed the slim fingers.

"We will endure." Victoria sat beside him on the bed and leaned against his shoulder. "We always have."

He turned his head and pressed his lips into her hair. "Lay with me. Let me hold you." He whispered.

She instantly stretched her legs onto the bed and curled herself around him.

The next morning, Victoria slid from beneath the covers and brushed her lips across Diego's, their customary good morning greeting. She trailed her fingers down his cheek and rested her forehead against his before getting up and pulling some clothes out of the wardrobe at the opposite side of the room.

Once dressed, she pulled open the door between the bedroom and sitting room and padded over to where Felipe was curled into an oversized chair. He was sound asleep and she regretted having to wake him.

Felipe's eyes widened in hope as he shook the sleep from his head, but Victoria shook her head slowly. "Can you sit with him for a little while? I don't want him to be alone when he wakes and I have – an errand to run."

Felipe nodded and immediately went into the bedroom. Victoria sighed and unfolded the beautiful shawl that lay on a nearby table; the one she had used as a mantilla when she and Diego were married. She placed it carefully over her shoulders and left the room.

Alejandro found her in the one place he had spent a great deal of time in himself. If his daughter-in-law wasn't beside his son, there was only one other place she would be – at the church.

He knelt beside her in silence and he didn't need to look at her face to know that she had been crying. Saying his own heartfelt prayers, he glanced at the statue with her arms outspread as if bestowing a blessing and prayed fervently that his son would survive this new complication to his already severe injuries.

After a few moments, Alejandro put a comforting arm around Victoria and hugged her close. He couldn't stop the tears that slipped down his cheeks as the two of them sobbed together, their tears dropping onto the wood floor to mingle with the countless many that had gone before.

The padre watching the scene at the altar lowered his eyes sadly, thinking the young man he'd visited a few days prior had passed away. The good friar made his way down the aisle and spoke quietly. "I am here if you have need of my services, my children."

Victoria turned tear-filled eyes on the padre. "Please pray with us?"

The padre knelt beside the distraught woman and took her hand.

"It isn't fair, Padre." Victoria began, sobbing with each breath. "Diego is such a good man. He doesn't deserve his life to end this way."

"Only God can choose how one's life is to end, my child. Perhaps it was time to call him home."

"No," Victoria shook her head in denial. "It is not time. He has too many people who need him, who depend on him, who – love him. We can't lose him now."

The padre watched Victoria very carefully. Perhaps he had missed something. The lady was speaking of her husband as if he was not yet dead.

"Child –"

"God wouldn't take him from us, not after we just found him." Victoria turned imploring eyes on the padre as Alejandro watched silently, his heart in his throat. "He wouldn't be so – cruel."

"Your husband's life is in God's hands." The padre said softly. "Trust that he will know how to properly care for that life."

Victoria nodded and the padre lifted his own voice in prayer. Countless minutes later, Victoria and Alejandro left the church, their hearts a bit lighter than when they'd entered.

Over the next few days, the doctor came and went, pleased with the progress Diego had made.

The pressure behind his eyes was lessoning every day and his sight had returned, even in small measures. He could see shadow and light.

This encouraged the doctor as well as his family who waited by his side, night and day.

"More soup?" Victoria asked with a sweet smile Diego could not see.

She sat at the head of the bed, spooning soup into her husband's mouth. His earlier, stubborn attempts to do it himself had only resulted in his making a mess of his clothing and the bed coverings. Interestingly, it had been the cause of their first fight as well.

Alejandro grinned in remembrance.

"I can do it myself!" Diego argued, unseeing eyes glaring in the general direction of his wife.

"No, you can't," came Victoria's quick retort and an equally withering glare that her husband could not see. "If you spill it all over yourself, I will laugh and make you clean it up!"

"Fine!" Diego snapped and held out his hands expecting Victoria to place the bowl into them.

"Oh, no, Diego," Victoria began crossing her arms. "If you're so much better, you can get it off the tray yourself!"

"Well," Alejandro interjected. It would be the only time he would dare to do so during one of their fights ever again. "Diego is definitely feeling better. I've never heard him argue so vehemently before."

Two pairs of eyes turned and glared at him and Alejandro hid a grin behind his book.

"Victoria," Diego said quietly.

"Yes?" The triumphant look on Victoria's face was lost on Diego.

"At least give me the bowl. I said I could feed myself, nothing more."

Alejandro fought the rising urge to laugh. His son, so used to doing everything for himself now found that he had to depend on others. That had to be a blow to his pride. Alejandro understood, had felt that way himself many times after an injury. But never, ever, had he been foolish enough to get into a fight with his wife over such a thing.

Victoria waited for several moments, glancing down at the bowl in her hand. Slowly, she placed a tray on her husband's lap and then set the bowl down atop it. Next to the bowl she placed a large mouthed spoon. "There, all yours." Victoria sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.

The first few, tentative bites, made it to Diego's mouth with little problem. But as he gained confidence, he lost his concentration and Victoria bit back a chuckle as the next spoonful of beef-filled broth spilled down the front of Diego's nightshirt.

"Oh be quiet," Diego turned his head in the direction he knew Victoria was sitting. "I've done fine so far."

"Of course you have." Victoria tried to keep the amusement out of her tone, but failed.

Diego scowled at her and concentrated deeply on bringing the spoon to his mouth. He smiled triumphantly as the next few bites reached their destination with only a few drops spilling onto his nightshirt. His hand was starting to shake from overuse but Diego was determined to finish the contents of the entire bowl. Thankfully, Victoria couldn't hear his thoughts about the size of the bowl.

After spilling three spoonfuls in a row down the front of his nightshirt, Diego leaned back with a heavy sigh. "Enough. You can take it away."

"You're done?" Victoria leaned forward a small smile on her lips.

"No." Alejandro, and even Victoria, winced at the defeated tone, "But I'm wearing more of it than I'm swallowing at the moment and I really don't wish to save any for later."

Victoria couldn't suppress the giggle and quickly snatched the tray off Diego's lap before he could slam his fist into it and make an even further mess.

One amused eyebrow lifted over his book, but Alejandro wisely chose to remain silent.

"Let me help you finish it then," Victoria pressed the spoon to his mouth and he'd planned to keep it tightly shut, if it wasn't for his stomach betraying his hunger by growling. "I'll order you some solid food tomorrow."

"That would be preferable," Diego said, more annoyed with himself than Victoria.

He finished the rest of his meal in silence and then Victoria reached out to unbutton his soiled nightshirt.

Alejandro had to remind himself that it was not against the bounds of propriety for Victoria to be disrobing his son. Diego was married to this woman, after all.

Victoria glanced down at the bed and then at Diego. She arrested her fingers and slid her hand into his. "Up."

Diego hesitated and Victoria rolled her eyes.

"You not only have remnants of your dinner down the front of you, but on the bedclothes as well." She helped him up and quickly lifted the nightshirt over his head. One quick glance down at the trousers he wore satisfied her that those didn't need to be changed. "And I have no intention of sleeping on beef scented covers tonight."

Alejandro coughed, hoping it was enough to hide the laughter that bubbled from his lips before he could stop it.

Victoria turned and glared at him. "Say goodnight to Diego, Father. He's going to bed when I get back."

Alejandro laughed and approached the bed as Diego sank back into the cushions – shirtless. "Well, son, you're definitely married."

Diego grinned, looking in the direction he knew his father to be sitting. "Yes, I suppose. I wish I could see her."

Alejandro nodded and rested his hand on his son's arm. "Soon, Diego. Let your body heal."

"Visiting hours are over," Victoria swept back into the room with Felipe in tow. "Say goodnight."

Felipe leaned in and hugged Diego and followed by Alejandro. "Sleep well, son."

Victoria spread the blanket over the bed and kissed each of the men in turn as they left the room. Glancing back at Diego, Victoria slid the door between the bedroom and the sitting room shut and then turned down the lamp.

Days later, Victoria woke just as the sun rose and rolled over, stretching languidly against Diego's side. She lifted her head and watched him sleep, a small smile curling her lips as she reached up to touch his soft, dark hair.

Diego opened his eyes and smiled, parting his lips in an invitation Victoria didn't hesitate to accept. His arms came down around her shoulders, pulling her deeper into his embrace.

When she flattened her palms against his bare chest, he sighed against her mouth. She could feel the evidence of his desire pressing against her thigh, had felt it for the last few evenings, but it was too soon. She didn't want him to suffer any kind of a relapse because they were unable to control their desires.

"Dios, I want you so badly," he whispered against her mouth as his lips trailed down her cheek to her neck.

"Not until you're better. You can barely see," Victoria breathed, but made no move to push him away. His touch simply felt too good.

"I can feel my way around your body," he whispered against her neck, but flinched as a needle-like pain shot through his eyes.

"See." Victoria threaded her hands through his hair and pressed her lips to his forehead. "Get better, Diego. We can wait."

"I don't want to wait." Diego muttered and Victoria smiled.

Truth be told, she didn't want to wait either.

TBC

Thethirdtroll - you should know by now I loveeeee to be evil :)

Teri - I won't kill him. Rarely do I kill him in my stories. But its so fun to torture him and put him through lots of pain!

Amarie5 - ok. I've left you all hanging long enough. Though, truthfully, I was just waiting for my beta reader to get back to me with these last few chapters.

Beverly - get the chance to read the rest yet:)

Andi - could I do that? Kill the poor man? After all this? Well, yes, I could . . . but will I . . . ?

Zeifanaat - here is your update . . . not sure if this is as much of a cliffhanger as the last chapter, but I was satisfied with it . . . hehe