Don Alejandro remained watching Diego ride away, then frowned as he returned to the house, Felipe on his heels.

"Did you know about this?" He asked the young man his son had adopted barely four months earlier.

He nodded reluctantly.

"You did?" The don asked. "How long? How long has he been in love with Victoria? Has she given him any indication that she might feel the same about him? Why hasn't he said anything about this before?"

Felipe was reluctant to tell what he knew. Instead, he signed, telling the older don that he should ask Diego before turning around and making his escape.

"Felipe! Felipe!" Don Alejandro called, but easily gave up remembering the young man was, as far as he knew, deaf.

The following day, after having spent a tormented night imagining Diego dying by Juan's hand in a duel, he decided to leave for Monterey and prevent his son from doing what he was bound to do.

As morning came, thus, he sent one of his men to San Pedro to find out if there was any ship leaving soon for the provincial capital. The man returned in the late afternoon, bringing news of a ship due to leave in four days. Don Alejandro thought it might get him there right in time for the wedding, but there was no certainty it would.

The only other way was by taking El Camino Real, but that could have taken even longer, and his son was more than a day ahead of him. After weighing his options, the don decided the ship was his best option.

Before leaving, he made sure his hacienda would be properly run during his absence, instructing both Felipe and his head vaquero on their duties.

ZZZ

As news spread about the young De la Vega's hasty departure, speculations about the real reasons behind his hasty decision also started to abound. In no time, most people had reached the right conclusion: Diego was in love with the taverness.

The Alcalde, who was already wondering about the young woman's unexpected decision to marry Juan Ortiz, was now starting to piece things together.

In truth, despite the proof he had about the black-clad man's death, including his weapons and torn clothes his men had found downriver, Ignacio couldn't rid himself of the feeling that the fox had somehow cheated death once again. Diego de la Vega mysteriously getting ill around the same time even made him wonder if it was more than just a coincidence.

Thinking back of all he knew about both the masked man and the caballero who had once been his schoolmate, corroborating those facts with the new speculations about his love for the taverness, it was not difficult for him to finally start to suspect that the young don could perhaps be more than he seemed.

Deciding to find out the truth, no matter what, De Soto, thus left for Monterey, riding north a few days after the caballero headed that same way.

ZZZ

Diego arrived in the Californian capital on the afternoon of the fifth day after his departure from Los Angeles, some four days before the wedding was due to take place. After leaving the horses at the Presidio's inn, he headed for the lancers' quarters, hoping to soon find out where Victoria was staying. He needn't look long as the young woman was just washing some clothes at a corner fountain, next to the barracks, together with several other women.

She wiped away some sweat from her forehead and raised her head towards the plaza, just as Diego's eyes found her.

"Victoria!" He shouted, then hurried towards her, ignoring the inquiring glances he was getting.

"Your brother?" One of the women asked Victoria.

"No. A friend." She replied with a large smile and several tears in her eyes before leaving the shirt she was washing and heading towards the caballero. "Don Diego! You… You are well! I feared you… You were very ill when I left the pueblo. I thought I'd never see you again! I am so happy you are in good health!" Victoria uttered as she wiped her hands on her apron and embraced him. Diego eagerly returned the embrace, assured she also cared about him.

"Yes… I understand my state was not very encouraging. But I am fully recovered now." He told her and, as she let go of him, Victoria felt his gaze trying to penetrate her very soul, and started feeling rather uncomfortable in his arms.

"Have you come for the wedding?" She innocently asked.

"In a way…" He replied. "I've come to stop it. I can't let you marry Juan, or anyone else for that matter." She gaped at him as if not understanding his language, so he continued. "I should have told you long ago how much I love you, Victoria. I should have married you already, but I dared not… I was so foolish… But I can't lose you. I can't even imagine going on living without you."

"You… You never said you felt that way about me." The taverness uttered, at a loss to identify her own feelings about the situation.

"I did… in a way. But I know… As I said, I am a very foolish man at times." He answered, moving his hands on her upper arms to be able to look better at her. "I love you, Victoria. With all my heart. And if you'll have me, I promise to be the husband you deserve."

She stared for a while longer, and, as she finally grasped what he was saying she became livid. "I'm sorry, Diego, but there's nothing to do anymore." She uttered folding her arms across her chest. "Juan and I already married this morning. He left on an assignment from the Governor. A dangerous one… So we decided to hold the ceremony earlier." The young woman said and the caballero felt his entire world shattering around him. "We will still celebrate on Saturday… You are welcome to attend…" She continued in a rather mechanical voice.

"No…" He tried to deny the truth he was hearing, shaking his head and looking at her with disbelief in his eyes. "You can't be married. Please tell me this is nothing more than a cruel joke! Please tell me I am not too late…"

"I am telling the truth." She answered, unsure how to console him and realizing she was mad at him for never before mentioning his feelings to her. She could have married him instead of Juan, and would have at least gotten to spend her life with her best friend but he was stupid enough to keep quiet, then fall ill at the worst time.

"Why? Why, Victoria?" He asked, heartbroken, raising his tone to her and looking horrified. Then an idea occurred to him. "Are you pregnant? Is that why you hurried to come here and marry him?" He asked, not bothering with the fact that he could easily be overheard.

She looked at him dumbfounded, mouth half-opened, as her ire turned her face red. Before Diego was able to react, she slapped him, then stared at him, fuming. "How dare you? I thought you were my friend! And now… You first come here to prevent my marriage, then accuse me of being a woman of low morals? I married Juan because I love him! You had a full decade to tell me how you felt and never did. Which was for the best because I would have never married you, anyway!"

"Victoria, you don't' mean that!" He retorted, grabbing her arm.

"Of course, I do!" She replied, snatching herself free from his grip and worriedly glancing around the courtyard at the women who seemed to carefully listen in on their conversation. "So take your 'love' and insinuations, and get out of my sight!" She shouted, before hurrying to Juan's apartment and slamming the door behind her.

The young don remained frozen for several minutes, as he watched her leave, then slowly made his way towards the tavern, head bowed, not even noticing the soldiers and the amused looks they gave him.

Several times on his way he turned around, wondering if he'd be able to change Victoria's mind by confessing he was Zorro, and several times he stopped and turned around again at remembering that she was already married, that she had confessed to love Juan, and that she had stated that she would have never married him.

The first problem could, most probably, be solved, and he chided himself for his impulsive reaction. If the marriage hadn't been consummated, which, seeing how it had taken place barely a few hours earlier, was quite possible, she could have found a reason to ask for an annulment. Had he taken the news more calmly, had he had the chance to talk to her in private, where he could have told her the truth, perhaps he could have persuaded her.

As for loving Juan, he was rather certain that statement couldn't be true, but, then, he couldn't really be certain of anything.

Victoria had once left the Lieutenant at the altar because she loved Zorro. Even if she had feelings for the young Ortiz, her love for Zorro ran much deeper. But herein lay the true problem. She loved the black-clad mysterious hero of Los Angeles, not Diego de la Vega, the rich caballero she had known her entire life, and who thought of himself as her closest friend. And she had just declared she'd never marry Diego.

But how could someone love a man when wearing a mask and dismiss him when he wasn't? Still, wasn't that exactly what had always bugged him about her? How she loved him when a mask covered half his face, yet barely seemed to notice he was a man when he was dressed as himself.

In the end, he remembered what his father had eventually confessed to him. That, about two months after he had fallen ill, she had left the pueblo without even a goodbye, and realized her words must have been true. She didn't love him. No woman who cared for a man even as much as for a good friend or a brother would have simply abandoned him like she had, just when he needed her the most.

As he arrived at the tavern, for the first time in many years, Diego asked for a glass of tequila, then another, and a third one, before paying and heading, rather dizzily, towards the stables, deciding there was no reason for him to remain in Monterey.

Before he left, though, he went to try one last time to find a way to talk to Victoria in private. He didn't know if it was even worth it, but he couldn't leave before being absolutely certain there was no more chance for them.