November 23rd (7)
Diego looked at Victoria with a worried expression. "He may feel guilty about what happened, but it wasn't Felipe's fault that the plan went wrong, it was a desperate attempt so I could get rid of Zorro and woo you as Diego."
Victoria burst into tears despite her efforts to avoid it. "It was my fault, I pressured you by telling you I thought I was pregnant."
"I'm as responsible as you, or maybe more. You had reason to believe it, and it takes two to do that."
Don Alejandro said nothing, but nodded in agreement.
"I was the one who insisted that we be intimate."
"It's not as if you held a knife to my throat. I should have waited." he replied firmly.
"But Gertru told me that if you really loved me and I did...you know, you couldn't resist." (1)
"That would only justify the first time." Diego replied forgetting for a moment that his father was there.
Don Alejandro was dying of curiosity, and at the same time wanted to change the conversation, so instead of asking what had happened he decided to ask something else that was also intriguing him, "Who is Gertru?"
Victoria looked at him quizzically at that question. "She's my godmother, the dressmaker from Santa Paula."
"Ah, of course, Leocadio's widow." he said thoughtfully, but then realized they were straying too far off topic and turned to Diego. "Of course your behavior was inexcusable, but what's done is done. That's why priests are so insistent that young people wait until they are married, once you start..." Don Alejandro interrupted himself by clearing his throat a little. "Now the important thing is that you are here with us and you will be able to see your child grow up."
Diego nodded and was quiet for a few seconds, until he said, "I need to see Felipe, where is he?"
"He has gone out to help with the cattle. At first he didn't want to be separated from you, but when we told him that Victoria also wanted to be by your side, he just nodded and left. Since then I hardly ever see him, he goes out every morning with the men, does almost as much work as two of them, even though I've told him he doesn't have to, and comes home at the last minute, exhausted, to go to bed after spending some time with you."
Note:
(1) Sorry, but if I go back here to tell what happened I wouldn't be able to keep the story on a T rating ;) I was thinking of adding the scene as a M-rated last chapter if you have interest in reading it.