Chapter 2

September 14th

"Felipe!" Don Alejandro spoke the name, even knowing the boy could not hear him, as he reached out a hand to spin the boy to face him. "Felipe, I need you to help me in the library. Don't disappear on me again," he chided.

Felipe nodded and obediently followed Alejandro. The pair of drooping shoulders betrayed the somber feelings of both. The house was not officially a house of mourning yet, but it would be only a matter of time before Don Alejandro would allow those who lived there to face the harsh reality.

Diego was dead.

The sadness hung heavy over the household like a shroud. Three months of waiting for word, any word, of Diego's whereabouts had slowly taken its toll on everyone. Alejandro had tried to remain hopeful, but it was all too real to him now. Lost at sea. Such a strange epitaph!

He shook his head and called up a smile, even if it was one tinged with a bit of sadness. Felipe was standing there waiting on him.

"Here. Help me lift this so I can attach it here. See?" He had been trying to lift the planter alone, but his own strength was failing him these days. The thought that he might need to go see Doctor Hernandez crossed his mind, but, just as quickly as it had come, he pushed it aside.

Felipe lifted the weight easily. It was difficult for him to see Alejandro have such a hard time doing such a small task. But ever since word had come that Diego had been lost, Alejandro had begun to lose weight. He barely ate these days, barely even left the hacienda. It was a solitary existence he lived these days, only occasionally coming around to make an effort for Felipe's sake.

They both were so intent on getting the large container suspended from the overhead wooden beam that they didn't even notice as Victoria Escalante swept into the room, followed by a tall man in uniform.

"Don Alejandro!" she cried. Her voice was loud and she brought into the room an energy that was rare in these dark days. "There may be word!"

"Victoria! How nice to see you, my child." Don Alejandro almost choked when the word came from his mouth. His child. His Lost child. But Victoria was continuing her excited announcement.

"This man, Corporal Sanchez, is from the regiment in San Pedro. He says a man has been found there wandering the beach, dazed. He could be Diego!" She was smiling happily as she urged the man forward into the room to give his story.

"Welcome, Corporal. News, you say? Tell me about this man." Don Alejandro tried to act interested, tried to seem to care, but he knew this new sighting of his son would end like all the rest of them. It would not be Diego but some other poor soul who had met with an accident. He'd been through this too many times before to hope too much.

"Yes, Sir, You see, I was on my way back to the harbor late last Thursday night when I came across this man. He has no memory and he's not saying much. But he sounds like he might be your son, or at least there's a possibility." He looked back and forth between the hopeful look of the señorita and the doubtful look of the elder man.

"I see. And just how tall would you say this man is?" Don Alejandro asked simply.

"About your height, I'd say, possibly a bit shorter."

"No!" Victoria sobbed the word. "No, no, it has to be him!" She broke down in tears and collapsed into a nearby chair, crying uncontrollably.

Don Alejandro crossed the room and knelt at her feet. "Victoria, I'm sorry. I am so sorry." He reached for her hands and pulled them from her face. "Please. You have got to stop this. You are grasping at every little hope there is of finding him. I did too, at first. But it is about time we realized that he's gone."

"No!" she whispered through her sobs. "You can't. He is alive. I would know if he were dead!" She was getting hysterical and the words came out angrily. "Diego would never be lost, not like this! He would never—"

"But he is lost. He's lost to us. Felipe —" He turned to ask the boy to get some water for the señorita, but the boy had disappeared. "Not again," he said with a sigh. "Every time anything is said about Diego, he runs off. What is happening to us all!"

The corporal stood there shifting his weight from side to side, unsure what to do next. "Sir?"

"What? Oh, yes, Corporal. I forgot you for a moment there." Don Alejandro rose to his feet and turned from the crying woman, shaking his head. "I'm afraid, you see, that your man is not my son. My son is quite tall, much taller than I. You would have noticed that. I am afraid you have made your journey for nothing."

"Perhaps. But there was another man too. He was found up near San Pedro. He was in pretty bad shape and he died after several days. The people who found him said he spoke in his delirium of a caballero aboard his ship. He was very impressed with the young man, declaring the sea could not hold such a one. And this man said that the caballero was seen drifting south, away from the rest of the wreckage."

"Well, I thank you, Corporal, but I don't see that this makes much difference."

Victoria's sobs grew louder and Don Alejandro seemed to be torn as to what to do. "Corporal, my son has been missing three long months. These men are obviously not my son and the two men we've already heard about were found fairly quickly after the ship went down. Three months, Señor. It is a long time. A long time indeed. So you see, I don't think you offer me," he turned to look at Victoria who still cried with her head in her hands, "or rather, us much hope. I thank you for coming. Do you need a ride back to the pueblo? I think the Señorita should remain here for now…"

"No, Don Alejandro. Thank you, but I have my own mount. I am sorry too. I only thought to help…"

"Yes, yes, I am sure. And I do appreciate your efforts, Corporal, really. But if you'll excuse…" He raised his hands in a helpless gesture. He was not sure how he was going to comfort the señorita when he felt none himself.

"Of course, Sir. Your servant." And the young corporal left the two bereaved people to their sorrows.

"Victoria, please, my dear. You must—"

Her head came up as she declared, "Give up? As you have! Never…never…" and the tears began to flow again. Between sobs, she gasped out the rest. "I have no one to turn to now. Even Zorro has deserted us in this time. He hasn't been seen in so long, I wonder if he has even heard of Diego's …disappearance." She looked up at Alejandro, her eyes wet and shining. "Have you heard from him?" she asked hopefully.

"No, I am afraid not, my dear. But Zorro chooses his own time to come forward. And though this is puzzling, he's been known to go far afield in giving his aid to people who need it. There's not much he could do in this case anyway." He looked around him. "Now, where did Felipe go? I'll have him see to your horse. You are staying here tonight. I'll not have you going back to the pueblo tonight."

Casting one long look at her from the doorway, he turned to leave her to go find Felipe. This kind of reaction from Victoria had been totally unexpected at first, but after a while, he'd finally guessed that her feelings for his son had been much deeper than even she had guessed. It was such a pity she had found it out now when it was too late. "All these years," he mumbled softly as he went down the hallway, "all these years wasted."

The room grew quiet as Victoria tried desperately to control her sobs.

The huge clock on the mantel counted out the seconds, ticking loudly in the room so richly decorated in the exquisite taste of Diego's late mother. Wondering sadly if she were now greeting her only son in the great hereafter, Victoria shut her eyes tightly against the thought.

"No!" she said aloud to the empty room. He is not dead.

She jumped at the touch of someone at her elbow. Grasping at her throat with one hand, she turned to see Felipe standing there, timidly offering her a long white envelope.

"Felipe! You startled me. I thought…never mind what I thought. Oh, Felipe, how are you?" She turned at once into the nurturing female. This lad had been like a son to Diego. She couldn't imagine how this had affected him.

Felipe dipped his head and shoved the envelope towards her once more.

"What is this?" she asked, even as she turned the envelope over in her hands to see the bold handwriting on its front — "To Victoria- In the event of my death"

She sat and stared at it for a full minute, listening to that dreadful ticking all the while. Death. The word had been written when Diego was very much alive. The clock's ticking grew louder in her ears and she turned toward it, fully expecting it to have grown in size as well. The whole room tilted at an odd angle with shimmering heat waves distorting her vision before a white veil descended all around her and she fainted.

"Victoria!" Don Alejandro had come back into the room just in time to keep the girl from hitting the floor.

"Felipe, Go and fetch some water. No, she's all right. Just fainted." He picked her up in his arms with ease and said, "I'm going to take her to Diego's room. Bring it there." And as Felipe turned and ran, he shouted after him, "Tell Consuela I need her too!"

Thankfully, Alejandro's strength came at such a moment and he hurriedly carried the unconscious girl down the hallway and into his son's room where he laid her gently on the bedcovers. Crossing to the table that held pitcher and bowl, he found that no water remained, a sad reminder of just how long the room had gone unused. Even the water had evaporated into thin air, just like his son.

Consuela and Felipe came into the room together. Consuela leaned over the girl on the bed and immediately began dunking the cloth she had brought with her in the bowl of water Felipe held in one hand. In the other he held out a full pitcher of cool water for Don Alejandro.

"What happened?" she demanded as if the fault lay with the man present. "What did you do to her?" Consuela had worked a long time in this household and could get away with such familiarity with her employer.

"I? Nothing! Nothing. She just fainted… it must be the heat. She's distraught. Felipe, you were there," he turned to question the boy, "did she—" But Felipe was gone.

"I swear! That boy," Don Alejandro began and then stopped when he realized Victoria was slowly opening her eyes. Consuela offered her a drink as soon as she seemed well enough to take it.

Sipping slowly, the room seemed to settle down into normality for Victoria. "I'm sorry. Did I faint?" she asked, embarrassed at the whole situation.

"Yes, Señorita, but you are fine now. Just relax. These men! They do not know how to treat ladies, do they? Just drink a bit more, dear. There you go."

Don Alejandro rolled his eyes as Consuela continued to soothe Victoria and berate all men for the problems of the world.

He had turned to look about the room, remembering so many good things about his son, when Felipe entered once more.

This time, he gave the envelope to Don Alejandro.

"What's this?" Don Alejandro asked, and watched as Felipe signed that it was for the Señorita. He brought out another similar envelope from behind his back and gave that one to Don Alejandro as well, indicating that this one was for him.

Both women's eyes were now on him. Victoria was looking fearfully at the envelopes and breathing heavily. Tears threatened to spill once more as her emotions came back in force.

"To Father — in the event of my death," Don Alejandro read aloud. Victoria watched his face as he read the words and realized just how much that face had aged in the past three months. She didn't think Don Alejandro could take this any more than she could.

"Don't! Don't read it!" she cried from the bed. Sitting up quickly, she clasped a hand over her own mouth to keep from crying out anything else.

"Victoria, perhaps it is time." He came to the bedside and sat down beside her, signaling to both Felipe and Consuela to leave them. "I admit, I am surprised this has hit you so hard, my dear," he said softly. "I knew you and Diego were good friends, but —"

"But, don't you see? We weren't just friends. He was…no! No! He is my best friend. No matter what you say, I will not believe him dead. He is not. I know it and you should too!" She let her anger grab hold. Anger was better than sorrow. It gave one strength! "Diego is… Diego. He is always there when you need him."

At the strange look her words earned her from Don Alejandro, she gave a small tearful laugh. "No, I mean it. When we have ever really needed him, he's always been there. No one could ask for a better friend, a more caring man, a more intelligent man." She reached up to wipe away a tear. "I just can't believe I took him for granted all these years. Now I can see —" She gulped back another sob. "I see things so much clearer now." She wiped at her eyes again and said firmly. "You just put those letters away!"

"Thank you. Thank you for the kind words about my son. It's good to hear them." He looked down at both letters in his hands. "But there has been enough time passed now that these need to be opened. I don't know what my son would want to tell me at such a time as this, but we do need to honor his wishes, do we not?"

"His wishes! His wishes would be for us to find him!" And her tears began to fall once more as she broke down crying, leaning into Don Alejandro's arms.

"There, there, now. It will be all right," he mumbled to the top of her head as she shook with the sobs that wracked her body.

Find him! If they only could! His own tears would not come. For some reason, he had not cried for the loss of his son yet. Maybe he was just too tired of it all. Tired of the searching for clues, for any bits of information that might lead to the knowledge of what had truly happened to his son .

So he sat there and comforted the young girl who had always berated his son throughout his life and who now cried her heart out for him at his death. Why had she never realized the depth of her feelings for Diego when he was alive?

Consuela came to the door once more and silently, she and Don Alejandro communicated to each other that the girl would be staying the night. It would be best. If things had only turned out differently, if she'd only realized these feelings for Diego sooner, this might even have been her home.

As Alejandro prepared for bed, the words of the Corporal came back to him. "The sea could not hold such a one." That was what the sailor had said. Alejandro sighed and slipped beneath the covers. As he extinguished the candle by his bed, another thought came to him. "Why does it always sound like they're talking about Zorro instead of Diego?"