Chapter 4

Diego's whole body stiffened as his head fell back against his father's chest. Alejandro's arms tightened around his son before he could start flailing around, but he couldn't completely stop Diego from struggling against his hold.

Alejandro listened in disbelief as Diego let loose a string of expletives that Alejandro didn't even realize his son knew. He'd certainly never heard him use that kind of language before. Diego didn't even seem to care that Victoria was hearing him.

"O Dios! Father. Victoria. Por favor, please don't count on Zorro to rescue us. Zorro…Zorro can't be everywhere." Diego's stare swung back and forth between his Alejandro and Victoria, his eyes pleading with each of them. "Please. You must listen to me! He…uh…I saw him…yesterday…he was…said he'd be gone...for a while…."

Diego was forcing the words out as if his life depended on them. As Alejandro began to comprehend what his son was saying, he frighteningly realized that all of their lives might be forfeit if Diego was right. Though Diego's voice was still weak, it was stronger, more insistent, than it had been at any time since he had been injured. But the toll the effort was taking on him was obvious. By the time he finished, his face had taken on a grayish tinge, and his breathing had become much harsher. He was barely breathing deeply enough to get air into his lungs, and each breath turned into a faint, wheezing groan as he forced himself to push that air back out of his lungs, despite the agony that felt like a dozen knives stabbing into his side each time he inhaled.

Alejandro and Victoria looked at each other, horror-stricken at the reaction Diego'd had to what they had thought would calm him and maybe convince him to try and sleep. They held him again as he struggled now, just trying to breathe. Then the coughing started, and Alejandro shuddered when he saw a small trickle of blood run slowly from one corner of Diego's mouth. The sudden movements had been too much. His lung was punctured.

There was little more they could do for Diego with only a bucket of water and a few rags to work with. They took turns sitting behind him, holding him half in their laps, with his head and torso elevated so he could breathe at least a little easier. Hopefully, if they could just keep him still, the bleeding would stop on its own. His skin continued to be clammy and pale, but now his cheeks were reddened from fever. The swelling in his hands was beginning to go down, but the bullet wound in his shoulder was showing signs of becoming inflamed. He tossed his head restlessly from side to side, and although he would occasionally open his eyes and say something, the things he said didn't always make any sense. Both Alejandro and Victoria were surprised when much of his fevered muttering seemed to become a rant against Zorro. Against his will, Alejandro found that Diego's mutters reminded him far too frequently of uncomfortable conversations he'd had in the past with his son.

"Zorro…can do…anythi…."

Diego, why can't you be more like Zorro? Get your nose out of your books and do something! Stand with us against the alcalde!

"Zorro…n…never…lets anyone…down."

You are a de la Vega! Our name has always stood for justice, honor, courage! How could I have raised a son who is such a coward?

"Zorro this…Zorro that."

You and your ridiculous "experiments". You should have been in the plaza today, Son. Zorro showed up and…."

"Sick of Zorro!"

Zorro would never let a simple head cold keep him from riding if someone was in trouble!

"Wish I'd never heard of Zorro."

Santa Maria, Madre de Dios! What have I done to my son? How many times have I told him I wished he'd be more like Zorro? How many times have I raked him over the coals, for choosing to be a man who fights his battles with words instead of with swords and guns. He sounds so bitter…so hopeless. Have I ever told him how proud I am of the way he took over the newspaper when no one else had any idea what to do with the printing press? He's stood against the alcalde many times in his editorials, and in front page articles, too. His writing is so good. He got that from his mother. He is so much like her in so many ways. O Elena. How many times have I been furious at Diego, shown my disappointment in his actions, simply for showing the parts of his personality that he got from you…the same characteristics that I fell in love with you for having in the first place!

Alejandro couldn't help but notice that even though he had been delirious for most of the past hour, Diego continued to worry about his and Victoria's safety. That's odd. He's so worried about our safety, but he hasn't made one reference to his own situation. He's in so much pain from that beating, and the bullet wound is infected, now, too. Most men, even trained soldiers, would be reliving that nightmare and begging for the torture to stop. All Diego is thinking about, even unconsciously, is finding a way to get us out of here.

"Father! Get her out of here. Please. Just take her with you and go. Please do this for me. Please!"

Diego was speaking again. He'd been lucid occasionally for a moment or two at a time, but those moments of awareness were becoming fewer as the hours passed and his fever grew. Right now, his eyes were fixed desperately on his father's, and his fingers were gripped painfully around Alejandro's wrist again. Dios mi! How did he ever get so strong?

"Shhh. I'll take care of Victoria, Son. Let me worry about that for now. You just lie still and concentrate on getting better."

It wasn't the first time during those hours that he'd begged Alejandro to leave him and get Victoria away from there. Or the first time Alejandro had needed to reassure Diego he would take care of the tavern owner. Diego also tended to be far more agitated whenever Victoria was out of his sight.

"Padre, por favor. You don't understand." Diego's voice was weakening again. "I…I love her so much. Please, promise me, just keep her safe for me."

Victoria was on Diego's other side, and he wasn't looking in her direction at the moment. Alejandro could hear her sobbing in the background, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from his son's face. For the moment, at least, Diego didn't seem to be aware that Victoria was even there. Diego's gaze was glued to Alejandro's, even as his awareness again faded back into delirium. The desperation of that look was combined with other emotions that terrified Alejandro to see. His mind flashed back to the only other time he remembered ever seeing that same expression in Diego's face, and hearing that heart-rending plea for a promise from his father. A child's confidence that his papa would do anything he promised to do, and a sudden terrified, dawning awareness that this time, there might be nothing he could do.

Papa? Is Mama sick again? Will she be better tomorrow? She said she'd read me a story when she is feeling better. Papa? Will you promise me she'll be better tomorrow? Promise, please! Papa, why are you crying? NOOOO!"

Alejandro's haunted eyes lifted from his son's face and found Victoria's. Dios! How he must love this woman! The dread in Alejandro's eyes was reflected in her own, and he realized suddenly that in his fear for Diego's life, he'd not even taken the time to make sure Victoria was OK. They'd been working together, trying to keep Diego alive and as comfortable as they could make him, and they hadn't talked about anything else at all.

Diego loves her. Not like a friend. Not like a brother. He loves her. He is madly, passionately, completely in love with Victoria Escalante. And she's in love with Zorro. My poor son. I'm not sure how I would handle the possibility of having someone like El Zorro as a rival for the affections of a lady! Diego wouldn't even know where to begin!

Why didn't he ever tell me? I could have helped him find a way to court her. Or did he just believe I would laugh at him for even thinking about trying to win Zorro's sweetheart away from him? I really haven't given Diego much cause to think I have any faith in his abilities in any area, have I? No wonder he has so little confidence in himself.

"Victoria?" He hesitated, not quite sure how to continue. "May I ask you a question?"

Victoria met his gaze with an anguished one of her own. The revelation of Diego's strong attraction to her, along with the uncertainty of their situation, and her fears for Diego's survival, had left her with dark circles under eyes that were red and puffy from crying.

"Of course, Alejandro. You may ask me anything. You know that." She held her head high and waited. She had a pretty good idea what Don Alejandro was going to ask her. She'd certainly been thinking about it enough as she sat there with Diego's head in her lap, listening to him struggle just to breathe.

"Did you know that Diego was in love with you?"

Alejandro kept his eyes on Victoria's face as she blushed and looked thoughtfully back down at Diego, once again pushing that stray lock of hair off his forehead.

"I think I've always known that Diego had some feelings for me, Alejandro. We've just both worked very hard to ignore that fact over the years…to pretend that neither of us noticed it."

"Why?"

"I do love Diego, Alejandro. In some ways, I always have. He's the best friend I have ever had. He's probably the best friend I ever will have. Actually, we were a bit sweet on each other even before he left for Spain. But we were so young, then, and nothing came of it.

"If Zorro had never come along, I think it's very likely Diego would have started courting me when he returned from Spain. And I would have been more than willing. I know the attraction was there. I felt it that first day I saw him in the tavern. Remember? When I dumped the lemonade on that drunken lancer, and Diego jumped in to protect me when he got mad?

"But, when Diego came home, Zorro DID appear… about that same time…and I fell head over heels in love with him, and he fell in love with me." She paused for a second, and then continued. "Diego realized that even before I did." She paused again. "You know, I think he even realized it before Zorro did."

Victoria met Alejandro's eyes again, with just a hint of a sad smile on her face that almost broke Alejandro's heart when he thought of what might have been.

"Diego is far too much of a gentleman to try to force a relationship when he knows how much I love Zorro. And he is so different from Zorro. Zorro is a warrior, a man of action. Diego is a scholar and a scientist. He's a quiet, gentle man who'd never hurt a fly. He…he seems to think so little of his own strengths. I don't think it would ever cross his mind that he might have a chance of gaining my affections on his own merits. I don't think he would ever even try. He'd be too certain I would reject him in favor of Zorro. He knows how much we love each other.

"I value Diego's friendship so much, Don Alejandro. If he had ever tried to court me, knowing my feelings for Zorro, it would have been very difficult…probably impossible…for our friendship to ever have stayed so close. We would have become too awkward around each other."

Victoria continued to hold Alejandro's eyes for another moment, but as she spoke her next sentence, her gaze returned to Diego's closed eyes, and her voice dropped to a barely audible murmur.

"I couldn't stand to lose Diego's friendship. I think that would kill me as quickly as losing Zorro's love." She finally broke down, reaching to cup Diego's face in her hands, bending and touching his forehead with a gentle kiss. She looked back up at Alejandro, both love and anguish plainly visible in her expression.

"O Dios! I don't want to lose him! Certainly not like this!"

Alejandro reached across his son for the second time that evening, and took Victoria Escalante into his arms. They sat there for several minutes, holding onto each other for the comfort that both of them needed. Their tears mingled as they watched the man they both feared was slowly dying before their eyes. And there was really nothing they could do to prevent it from happening.

Finally, Victoria quietly whispered her own question to her best friend's father, the man who'd been a substitute father to her, too, for so many years now.

"Is it possible for a woman to love two such different men at the same time, Don Alejandro? I've avoided asking myself that question for so many years."