Chapter 5

Alejandro was sitting on the dirt floor, his back against the wall, his arms around one flexed knee providing a head rest as he tried to find some sense in everything that had happened since Ramiro and his gang appeared. The night was half gone, now. Alejandro estimated that it had been about fifteen hours since Diego had been shot and this nightmare had begun. Fifteen hours…a lifetime for a badly wounded man with no medical care.

Diego's head was resting in Victoria's lap again. Both of them had become very aware of the fact that what little rest Diego was getting seemed to occur only when he knew, even if it was just subconsciously, that Victoria was there with him.

Alejandro visibly flinched when he heard Diego let out another soft, racking cough, followed by a short, shallow breath. He buried his head in his hands for a moment. Then he pushed himself up from the floor, shuffled over and took Victoria's place so she could stretch for a few minutes.

He'd been listening to his son's labored breathing for what seemed like an eternity. He knew exactly what would come next. Three or four shallow breaths, each followed by a low moaning exhalation that tore into Alejandro's heart like a knife. Then would come the moment when, in desperation, Diego's oxygen-starved brain would force him to take one large, gasping, deep breath to suck in enough air to keep him alive just a little longer. His body would stiffen in agony as the gasp poked the broken ribs into his side again. The cough that inevitably followed might or might not leave them wiping more blood from Diego's mouth. Then the cycle would start all over again. But the coughs were becoming weaker, and the "deep" breaths farther apart and not as deep as they had been earlier.

Dios mi! My son is dying in my arms. Even if we were to be rescued right now, we wouldn't dare try to move him. And I'm not any too sure we would have time to send for the doctor and get him back here before it's too late.

Who am I trying to fool? I spent ten years as a soldier. I've seen all kinds of wounds, in all kinds of circumstances. If Dr. Hernandez were to walk into this room right now, I doubt he would be able to save Diego. Fifteen hours with no care, a bullet wound that's badly infected, the bullet still in his shoulder, God knows how many broken ribs and internal injuries, and a punctured lung that's slowly filling up with blood. He's not going to make it.

It had been over two hours, now, since the last time Diego had spoken or shown any sign that he was even partially conscious. Alejandro thought back again to the delirious murmurs his son had been making earlier. Amidst the ranting against Zorro, there had also been a surprising number of endearments to Victoria.

Alejandro had watched Victoria's growing awareness of just how strong Diego's love for her was. She was noticeably shaken by several of his comments. When Diego had mumbled something about "roses on her pillow", Alejandro heard her gasp of shock, and thought for a moment she was going to faint.

Roses on her pillow? Had his notoriously, supposedly unromantic son actually managed to slip unnoticed into a lady's bedchamber and leave anonymous flowers for her to find? For that matter, it was a good thing Alejandro had never caught his son slipping into Victoria's private chambers, for whatever the reason!

Then there was the remark about "kisses stolen in the night". Strange. I would have expected Victoria to look embarrassed about something like that if it had actually happened. She looks more like she just saw a ghost!

"Alejandro, I swear, I've never kissed Diego…." Her voice stopped. Her eyes widened as she stared first at Don Alejandro, then back down to Diego. Then back to Alejandro. This time her gaze was almost panicked.

"Oh, no. O Dios, NO!" She started to say something else, then she paused and looked back to Diego again. Alejandro could see the tears pouring down her face, even while he puzzled over her expression.

She's terrified! Does she think I would be that judgmental to find out that she and Diego had been meeting secretly? Disappointed with both of them, yes. Probably angry if I had caught them at it. But if I were either of them, I would have been much more concerned about the thought of Zorro catching them together.

Yet, she just said she'd never kissed Diego. And I don't believe she'd lie about that. Especially not now. Oh, Diego! I guess all of your love for Victoria was hidden in your dreams, wasn't it? How foolish! And how sad.

But why does Victoria look so panic-stricken?

"Victoria. I believe you, my dear. I know you and Diego well enough to know neither of you would have done anything inappropriate. I suspect that Diego, though, must have done a lot of dreaming about claiming you as his own. And right now, he can't separate the dreams from the reality."

Victoria looked at him so weirdly. She stared at Alejandro for a long moment, and Alejandro watched her expression change from shocked panic, to surprise, to a profound sorrow. He thought she was going to say something. Her mouth opened, then closed, then she bowed her head back down to Diego's and gave him the gentlest, yet most loving kiss Alejandro had ever seen. Her hand was trembling as she raised it to wipe the tears from her face. She took a deep, shuddering breath before she faced him again.

"I…he…you didn't know, either, did you?"

"That Diego loves you? No, child. I had no idea whatsoever."

She gave him another oddly penetrating look, then smiled sadly.

"I'm not surprised at that. I think we'd better talk about it later, though. Somehow, I think it would just make things harder if we try to figure it out now. I…I don't think Diego would want that."

She's not making a whole lot more sense than Diego was! Poor child. She may be realizing that she has deeper feelings for Diego than she ever considered before. If that's the case, she's going to need as much emotional support from me as I'm going to need from her for the next few hours. His heart sank again as he thought about what the next few hours were going to be like. Probably a lot longer than that.