Chapter 10:
Diego and Victoria were engaged for about 3 months now. She stayed in the hacienda at night, in a guest room until they were married. Diego didn't want Victoria sleeping alone in the tavern not after what had happened with don Domingo.
In the first weeks, they all speculated why Victoria suddenly changed her mind. Some people thought that she married Diego for his money, others thought that she and Zorro had a fight and Diego had comforted her, making her see that he could give her what Zorro couldn't, a family.
To the couple's relief, nobody saw the real reason, the fact that Diego and Zorro were the same. Not even the Alcalde had thought about that. They just let the people think about what they wanted to think as long as nobody linked Diego to Zorro.
Zorro himself had stopped greeting Victoria but not before he publicly gave them his blessing or gave Victoria his blessing. Saying how glad he was that he finally listened to his advice but that she always could count on him as a friend.
Victoria had thanked him for his understanding of the fact that she wanted a family so badly and that she loved Diego even though he wasn't a swordsman like Zorro. She had defended Diego for the entire pueblo, not hiding that she loved the peaceful man.
She still worked in the tavern in the evening when the place was filled with people of the pueblo or travelers, she still made the food for the lunch rush right before siesta but she didn't sleep there anymore. She paid the girls extra to sleep in when they had overnight customers. Working with shifts so that Pilar slept one night and Maria the next night only for Pilar to sleep in the night after that.
Diego and Felipe were in the tavern every night with the carriage, they usually stayed until Victoria's had closed up the tavern, to accompany her back to the hacienda for the night. Sometimes his father would join them but not tonight.
Diego sat at his usual table where he could keep an eye out in the tavern and at his fiance but he could disappear easily if Zorro would be needed.
Victoria had been looking rather pale for a few days now but she insisted that she was alright and that she couldn't leave the tavern to Pilar and Maria, not during this evening rush. She had stayed at the hacienda during the day already because Diego was so worried about her. He already asked her to see Dr. Hernandez but Victoria refused and said it was just a stomach bug.
The tavern was full again that night. There were so many citizens that she needed both Pilar and Maria's help.
"Querida, please sit down for a minute," Diego said, his voice full of worries. It was like Victoria was getting more tired with every second.
"I don't have time to sit down, Diego," Victoria said with a tired voice while she placed a glass of lemonade in front of him and Felipe. She still was trying to hide it though. She walked away but didn't get far when all went black and she hit the floor.
Diego jumped up and was with her in two large steps, "Victoria!"
He crouched down beside her, "Felipe, go get Dr. Hernandez immediately." Diego ordered not hiding his worries now. He lifted her into his arms, "Pilar, help me to get her to her room."
Victoria's body hung almost lifelessly into his arms. One arm over her belly, the other arm hanging beside her.
The servant nodded and run up the stairs. Diego tried to hide that he knew where Victoria slept before she moved towards the hacienda. It would be highly suspicious if he knew. How would he otherwise explain how he knew. It wasn't like he could tell that he knew because Zorro visited her at night.
Pilar opened the door to her room and stepped out of the way to do that Diego could place his fiance on the bed.
"Come on, querida. Wake up." Diego whispered while he was holding her hand. He kissed her hand before he caressed a lock of hair from her forehead.
Victoria groaned softly before her eyes started to open. She placed the hand that Diego wasn't holding and grabbed her head. "What happened?"
"You fainted, querida. How are you feeling?" Diego said softly, not letting go of her hand.
"I am fine, Diego." She said trying to get up but this time Diego didn't want to know about it and pushed her back on the bed, "Felipe went for Dr. Hernandez. I want him to do a check-up." He said firmly in a tone that didn't accept a no as an answer.
Victoria nodded briefly before laying back down, she wasn't used to dealing with the real Diego. Diego was as stubborn as she was, and had a temper. The Diego she fell in love with. If she was honest with herself though she didn't have the strength to protest.
A knock on the door made them both lookup. It was Dr. Hernandez with Felipe behind him.
"Good evening, doctor. I am glad you could come so soon." Diego said with a sigh.
"What happened?" The good doctor asked curiously. Not shocked about the caballero's not so studious appearance. He already had a suspicion that there was more to him than the eye could see. Ever since he brought the meds to the De La Vega hacienda as Zorro, the ones that helped Don Alejandro. There was only one man who knew about the missing bottles.
"I don't know, doctor. The last thing I remember is that I served Diego some lemonade and the next thing I knew I woke up in my bed." Victoria said with a tired voice.
"She fainted, doctor. She already looked pale since last week. I managed to keep her from the lunch rush in the tavern but I am worried." Diego said before kissing her hand and placing it next to her body, "I will leave you in the good hands of Dr. Hernandez, querida. I will be downstairs if you need me."
Victoria nodded and smiled weakly. Diego walked out of the room leading Felipe with him. He closed the door behind him.
The young don kept his place at the bottom of the stairs watching Victoria's room. It took a nerve-wracking fifteen minutes before the doctor came out of the room.
"Doctor, how is she?" Diego asked immediately.
"She will be fine, Diego. She has too much stress at the moment and will need to slow down a bit, for the time being anyway. She asked for you though she needs to talk to you." It wasn't his place to tell him the news and especially not in a full tavern.
"Thank you, doctor," Diego said in his studious way, the opposite of how he reacted when he was in the room with her, plus he had a code of silence.
Diego motioned Felipe to come with him. This was necessary that people wouldn't think badly of them, not knowing what news was about to hit him.
He opened the door, "querida, you wanted to talk to me?" Diego said while he closed the door with Felipe in the furthest corner of the room, "Victoria what's wrong?" He asked when he saw her red puffy eyes. Diego's heart stopped at the sight.
Victoria took a deep breath, "Diego, I…" she sighed again, "I am pregnant."
An old carriage stood at the harbor within it a farmer on top of it. A horse waiting patiently for the guest to arrive.
"Pablo, what nice of you to come here and wait for me." A voice suddenly said while the man motioned his chests to place on the carriage.
"I am happy to see you, at last, don Esteban." Pablo reached out his hand which Esteban took happily, "In which will you be sleeping?" the farmer asked the don, "I would recommend tavern San Pedro, sir."
The don nodded, "bring me to the tavern so that you can tell me what happened to my brother and more importantly the one who is responsible."
Pablo nodded before motioning the horse forward towards the tavern.
About half an hour later the men sat at a table in the furthest corner in the tavern. An excellent table for their conversation.
"Well, I am listening. Where is my brother?" the don asked.
"He is staying at the asylum here in San Pedro." Pablo sighed, "It's not a pretty sight, believe me."
"What happened?" the don asked in a dangerously calm tone of voice.
"He wanted to marry a senorita from Los Angeles, right before the boat would leave to Spain. He had paid a gang to bring her here so that he could marry her. The only thing I know is that the same senorita was saved by an outlaw with the name Zorro but somehow she was the one who smashed a candle holder against don Domingo's head. He doesn't even know who he is after that." Pablo said the brother of don Domingo saw that his friend had a hard time telling him this story.
"I want to see him." the don said still dangerously calm.
The farmer nodded silently.
Pablo drove him with his carriage towards the mental hospital that don Domingo called home now.
The don was dangerous for himself so he had a room for him alone with nothing in it but a mattress on the ground. Everything that could hurt him was forbidden inside the room.
Don Domingo's eyes locked itself with the eyes of his brother but all don Esteban could see was emptiness like there wasn't even a soul there. don Domingo didn't know his brother or Pablo at all.
"Do you think that there could be any chance of changes?" don Esteban asked the doctor who had accompanied them.
"That's hard to say but nothing has changed in all these months so I don't think it will change at all." The doctor said.
"I will take him with me to the asylum in Madrid. That way I will be close to him. Can you make sure that he is ready to travel the moment I come back? I have some businesses to attend to." Esteban said.
"Are you sure you could handle him during the travels? I will let a nurse come with you if that's what you want, senor. To make sure he gets where he needs to be because we can't have him live in society." The doctor said knowing he couldn't stop a family member to take him along. The only thing he could do was to make sure that he was brought where he needed to be. The cost of the nurse or doctor's travel was for the family and the doctor didn't have a responsibility to what would happen the moment they left.
"Pablo I want to know who did this." The don asked once they were outside.
"A woman called Victoria, senor. The word goes she owns the tavern in Los Angeles. I would be careful, don Esteban. She used to be the love of the outlaw Zorro and it's known that he would always protect her even after she agreed to marry the rich Don Diego De La Vega."
Pablo said.
"I'm not afraid of one man, Pablo. She will pay for what she did to my brother. She will pay dearly." don Esteban responded coldly.
TBC
