Chapter 13:

Victoria's eyes sparkled when she looked up at her new husband. The eyes were full of love for him even though she tried to hide it as much as she could. Diego's eyes held an equal amount of love when he looked at his new wife. Finally, they could start their life together, something he never dared to hope for.

The young newly married don offered his arm to the family's new dona. She accepted the arm before they both walked back the aisle towards the door of the church.

All the people who were present in the church started clapping and even the rest of the pueblo started cheering when Diego and Victoria made it outside. They had waited a long time to see the two of them together, even though most people didn't know that she had married her hero for real. Most people thought that she was safer marrying the young don and with that the safety of the family name. Nobody in their right mind would even think about hurting Dona De La Vega.

Don Esteban waited until he was the last person in church before leaving it. He watched how the whole pueblo cheered and gave their best wishes to the happy couple while they made their way towards the tavern where Don Alejandro bought drinks for the whole pueblo the whole night long.

They wouldn't be there for the whole night because they had a dinner party for their closest friends.

The tavern was filled to the brim with people of all classes, happily chatting with each other until The old De La Vega walked a few stairs until he stood a bit higher than the people that were celebrating the marriage of his son.

"Dear people…" Don Alejandro tried to yell over the sound of the happy people.

"Dear people…" The old De La Vega tried again but the people didn't stop talking with each other until Sergeant Mendoza felt brave enough to whistle on his fingers.

The tavern fell silent and their eyes all went in the direction of the sound. Some people had expected to find Zorro there which made Diego and Victoria chuckle.

"Thank you, Sergeant." Don Alejandro said before he continued, "Dear people, here before you stand a proud father, my son has finally taken the step to start his life with a beautiful and smart woman. A woman that I always thought of as a daughter, especially after what has happened to her family. I am sure her parents are looking down on us as we speak with pride. With these words, I gladly accept Victoria Escalante as my daughter-in-law. I am sure that she will be a fantastic dona and an amazing wife for my son. Last but not least I want to thank you all for celebrating with us. Please enjoy this evening. I hereby toast to the marriage of my son Diego with Victoria."

The tavern almost exploded by the sound of the people cheering and chanting both Diego's and Victoria's name.

Diego squeezed his new wife's hand softly before he made his way towards his father. The moment he stood beside his father the people felt silent again, "Thank you so much for this speech father, and for this feast. Thank you all for celebrating this day with me, to be honest, I never dared to dream that she would ever choose me over our town hero but I am happy she accepted my proposal. For the people who liked to know, Zorro visited me a few days ago and told me that he wouldn't ruin this day for me. He once suggested that she was safer being my wife. He wished us the best of luck and asked me to tell the people that they didn't need to fear, he still was going to watch over the pueblo like he always has." Diego said before he turned to his beautiful bride, "My sweet Victoria, you made me the happiest man alive by marrying me, I will be forever grateful and will do everything in my power to make you happy. I love you so much, my sweetheart."

Victoria smiled lovingly at her husband while a tear of happiness rolled over her cheek. Only she knew the true meaning behind his words, just how much this man loved her.

Don Esteban watched everything from a dark corner of the tavern. He nodded towards his friend who was waiting for him on the other side of the room. Pablo nodded back as a sign that he had seen it so that the man could start his little plan of revenge.

"Senor, senora, may I congratulate you on your marriage." Esteban smiled the moment he had made his way towards the happy couple.

"Thank you, I don't believe we have met, I am Diego De La Vega and this is my wife Victoria," Diego responded with a friendly smile.

"I am sorry, senor De La Vega, my name is don Esteban Alegra. We are just traveling through and decided to stay the night to continue our journey tomorrow. I am a big fan of wedding ceremonies and every opportunity I get I want to wish the couple the best in their future lives together. I was pleased to hear from your waitress that the lovely owner of this beautiful tavern was about to get married when I arrived here. Please let me bring you some luck with a little toast of my own. A little family tradition." Esteban turned towards Pablo who gave the man a silver and a gold cup. The golden cup was decorated with silver while the silver one was decorated with white decorations, "In our family, we wish the happy couple by letting them drink out of these old cups. They have been in our family for generations and they always travel with me." Don Esteban said while he handed the gold cup to Diego and the silver cup to Victoria.

"To your health and thank you for this opportunity." the man smiled knowing he could trust Pablo to have done exactly as he had asked. He only had to wait now and in a few days, the happy bride would become the grieving widow.

Diego and Victoria didn't want to insult the don so they drank the wine in the cup before giving it back to him.

"I thank you for your good wishes, please enjoy this evening." Diego smiled.

"I hope the room will be at your liking don Esteban." Victoria smiled charmingly.

"The room is excellent, senora. Thank you." Don Esteban smiled politely.

The couple nodded one last time and excused themselves because others were waiting to congratulate them.

The party went on well into the night but without the couple and some of their best friends. The dinner was for the upper class but Sergeant Mendoza and the Alcalde were invited too. Felipe wasn't a servant anymore but was adopted by don Alejandro. The young man often felt out of place but not today, don Diego had always been very important for him and not only because he was the only one who knew Zorro's identity as only one and this for a very long time. He didn't mind that he had to share the secret with his new father and his big brother's new wife.

He did keep a close eye on Diego all evening though, he knew something was wrong with the man. Diego clearly had dizziness spells during dinner but his adoptive father had told him that it probably had to do with the fact that Diego wasn't used to drinking wine. Diego had been drinking wine all night now. He promised himself and his wife that Zorro would stay where he was tonight, in the cave.

"Diego, are you alright?" Victoria asked when she noticed that Diego was grabbing onto his head again.

"I don't know, querida, it's probably nothing. The world is spinning at the moment. I think I had one too many glasses of wine." Diego responded with a sigh, he didn't want to worry Victoria any more than he had too. He was going to sleep it off tonight, tomorrow was another day.

"Come on let's go to bed so that you can sleep it off." Victoria smiled. Knowing that this was the one day he had allowed himself to drink alcohol.

"But what about our wedding night? It will be ruined that way." Diego whispered, he wanted to give Victoria everything she deserved and more but he didn't know he would be capable of doing anything.

"As far as I know I am already yours, my love, proof of that is growing inside of me," Victoria whispered in a way that only Diego could hear. She wasn't going to show her disappointment to him.

"Thank you so much for who you are, querida, I promise you I will make it up to you all day tomorrow." Diego grinned but the grin disappeared when he tried to get up and wasn't able to stand alone. Victoria grabbed his arm but the man was just too heavy for her alone so she silently asked Felipe to help her. Felipe nodded and together they helped Diego towards the bedroom. They managed to do it without drawing attention.

Diego fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. Victoria sighed deeply touching her little baby belly, "Daddy isn't used to drinking wine so no fun for me tonight. I will make sure I am well rested for when he wakes up though." The new dona whispered before going to bed herself. She placed herself on Diego's chest, who automatically placed his arm around her, "I love you, my hero." She whispered before falling asleep herself.

The next morning came way too soon for Victoria's liking, Diego had turned himself on his side during the night, with his back towards his wife. Victoria sighed and snuggled against his back with her head on top of his, "Good morning, my love." She whispered, kissing his neck but Diego didn't respond. She kept kissing him without result, "Wake up, sleeping beauty." She whispered a bit louder but there was still no reaction.

She started to roam her hand over his chest, she touched every inch of him until she was at the place where she wanted to be so bad since they married even before that, let's say ever since that first time on their way back to Los Angeles. Ever since they conceived their baby. The reaction though wasn't what she had hoped for or rather the lack of a reaction started to worry her now.

"Diego?" Victoria asked while shaking his shoulder. The man didn't wake up.

"Diego? Come on this isn't funny anymore!" Victoria said worriedly, shaking his shoulder even more. That movement made Diego's arm fall lifeless out of the bed.

"Diego!" Victoria yelled again but it was no use Diego wasn't going to wake up.

TBC