Short chapter but, this wasn't intended to be a long story anyway. Hope you enjoyed it anyway.

Chapter 3

"What?" Victoria's eyes widened as she glanced at the gleaming golden nugget.

Diego emptied the rest of the small leather bag that Jose had shoved into his hands moments before he rushed back into the cave that had claimed his life. Long fingers brushed aside each and every stone, noticing the finite differences in some of the stones compared to others. "Dios—there really is real gold mixed with fool's gold here."

"You mean – "

"José was right," Diego sighed sadly. "But he gave his life for this." He shook his head. "No amount of money is worth a man's life."

Victoria nodded solemnly. "Malinda will have the wealth from this to raise her daughter though. Test the rest."

Diego quickly tested the other pieces but to his disappointment, only a few smaller ones turned out to be true gold. "Well, there is enough here that can be sold to give Malinda something to live off of for a little while, anyway." Diego put the gold nuggets into the leather pouch and secured it shut. "I will speak with her when she wakes. Another option is that she can hire men to mine the gold. But without a guarantee that they will find something with which she can sell to pay them and save for the future, she may choose against it."

"What would you do?"

Diego stared at the pieces in his hand. "For my child's future, I would take the chance."

Victoria stepped into his arms and embraced him tightly grateful that the collapse of the mine that had taken Jose Perez's life had not taken Diego's as well. She wanted to see him holding his own child, their child.

Before she asked the question her heart and mind burned to voice, Victoria felt she needed to say something else, something that had been bothering her since the memorial service. "Diego – if I hadn't held you back – could you have stopped Jose in time?"

Diego sighed. "I honestly don't know, Victoria. But it was Jose's choice. And –" the sadness in his eyes at the mention of Jose's death gave way to a tenderness that made her heart flutter. "If you hadn't, I would never have had the courage to tell you that I love you."

Victoria nodded; her heard still ached for Malinda and her child, but in a way, their loss made her love Diego all the more. Who knew how much time they would have together? There was no time to waste on regrets.

"Will you take a chance on us?" she asked, her voice muffled as she rested her cheek against his chest.

A wry smile spread across his face. "I've been doing that for years."

When Victoria lifted her head, he was surprised to see such love and devotion in her eyes. "Take another chance – without the mask."

"I've wanted to," he admitted, trailing a long finger down her cheek. His eyes searched her face, as he fought the urge, for now, to kiss her sweet mouth.

"The rocking chair."

"I think I was hoping you would guess if you thought about it long enough." Diego shook his head. "I couldn't voice the words. It's been more difficult than I ever imagined."

"Your father sent you away the next day which gave me a lot more time than I really wanted to think about it." Victoria sighed. "I had convinced myself that you couldn't be Zorro, but then when I saw you in the cave, I knew. It was as if a floodgate burst open and every clue, every hint you'd given me over the years was right there in front of me."

Diego grinned. "I've been trying to tell you for a long time. I – just didn't know how." He tilted his head and pressed his lips to her cheek.

Victoria stepped out of his arms and stared at him. "'Victoria. I'm Zorro and I love you,' wouldn't have been direct enough?"

Diego laughed. "That would have been far simpler, that's for sure."

"I'd made up my mind to drag an admission out of you when I saw you next," Victoria admitted with a sheepish grin.

"And what if I had not been Zorro? What other admission could you possibly have dragged from me?"

"That you loved me."

A small smile spread across his face.

"It is very obvious now that I know what to look for."

"I've loved you to know for so long, Victoria," Diego sighed, shaking his head, unable to truly forget the true fear that had caused him to remain silent for so long. "I was so afraid –"

"You've let me wait and wonder for years about when we would be able to marry and start a family." She stared at him. "All because of a little fear. Zorro has never been afraid of anything. And since you are the man behind that hero's mask, you shouldn't be afraid of anything either. "

"Only your rejection."

"You never gave me the chance to reject you."

Diego swallowed hard. So it begins. He had foolishly thought that perhaps he would be spared an angry tirade. That she would instead sit calmly and listen to his reasons keeping this secret from her.

"It was no easier for me of that you can be sure." He reached for her and was surprised when she didn't pull away. Pulling the chair from the desk, he motioned for her to sit. He knelt beside the chair and she stared at him, remembering the last time they had been together in this position. "Can you forgive me? Please, Victoria. Your love has kept me going all of these years. Knowing, hoping, that when the oppression of our pueblo was over, that we could build a life together."

Silence followed and he nervously continued. "I've been so afraid that you would be disappointed to find out that your hero is only me." He clutched her hands almost desperately. "I will spend the rest of my life making this up to you.""

A small smile passed across her face and she curled her fingers around his. "Yes. You will."

Relief flickered across his face and Victoria leaned forward. Pulling one of her hands from his, she reached out and cupped his cheek. "I understand why you did what you did. I don't have to like it. But I do understand it."

"Then you don't have an aversion to dull, indolent Diego trying his hand at courtship?"

Victoria giggled and embraced him tightly. "I've always wondered why you never tried before now."

His arms tightened around her and he sighed. "I can take many things. But rejection from the pueblo's most beautiful señorita, whom I love more than life, is not one of them."

Victoria smiled widely. "You never tried so how, exactly, would you know that I would reject you?"

"I was going to court you. The moment I stepped into your tavern after returning from Spain."

Victoria snuggled closer, simply relishing the timber of his voice as it echoed through her ears.

"But then, we know what happened after that."

"Our lives changed forever," she said simply.

"And you fell in love with Zorro."

"You." Victoria corrected, assuring him that she did truly love the man behind Zorro's mask. "I fell in love with you."

He pulled away and she looked up at him. With a smile, he tilted his head and brushed his lips against hers. "It's time to begin our lives together. And –" Diego reached into his vest pocket and drew out a familiar object. "To that end, I have a question that I've waited far too long to ask."

Victoria's eyes widened. How had he gotten it? When did he have time? Where did he know to look? But he was speaking now, and she stared at him with a most excited smile.

"The last time I asked you this question, I was in no position to offer you everything that goes with such a proposal." Diego held up the ring. "If I have learned anything over the last few hours, it is that life is far too short. I have, up until now, dedicated myself to the defense of the pueblo and its people. But now it's time to dedicate myself to your life and your happiness. I love you, Victoria, with all my heart. Will you marry me?"

There was absolutely no hesitation as she accepted with an excited, "Yes!"

As Diego placed his mother's ring on her finger for a second time, their lips met and clung, sealing their betrothal. A promise made so many years before had finally been fulfilled and they would never again be divided.

THE END

ClassicCowboy - Thanks for the review. If you haven't seen the whole series, definitely get it. For there being 88 episodes, the price people are asking for on Ebay are quite reasonable, especially if they are relatively clean copies. The show is worth buying. Too bad the license holder doesn't think its worth releasing officially.

Uhm. What – thanks for the comments. Glad you're enjoying it.

Trollie – bad day. Oh no. You know what I do when I have a bad day? Hurt the hero . . . :) Fan Fic is such a wonderful way to release anger, tension, depression, etc. Of course, I really like to hurt the hero, or those he loves, regardless of how my day is going . . .

Hope your day gets better. If he stood you up, he wasn't worth going out with in the first place.

WolfDaughter – Naw, there was no need to drag this one out. I was nagged terribly because of how I ended the first part so I came up with something to, hopefully, satisfy everyone who didn't feel it was nice of me to end the first part that way :) This chapter is short, and, the end.

But that just means I can concentrate on finish posting Por Ti. The next chapter of that one isn't very nice, and I'll have to edit it down a bit to meet this site's guidelines. But, the full version will be on my site when I'm done posting it. And I have two more complete (one being the sequel to Shattered Dreams) and just awaiting beta'ing, and then I can start posting those . . . Then another that popped into my head yesterday, thanks to the torture Smithcrafter is putting Diego through in her first story. So, I've started that one as well. You'd think I could finish one story before moving on to the next? But, No-o. Mutters.

Anyway, Thanks for reviewing and I hope the end of this one isn't too disappointing.

Beverly – No, I'm not doing what smithcrafter (evil woman that she is!) is doing to our hero. Well, not in THIS story, anyway :) Yes, when someone is obsessed, or angry, they do things that they would not normally do and, in this case, Jose paid the price. In Por Ti, well, you have yet to see who pays the price for Victoria's hasty anger.