Don Alejandro and Diego arrived at the tavern. Diego was carrying a basket with two bottles of their best wine.
"Where do I put them?" Diego asked.
"On the table. I'm finishing up in the kitchen. I'm serving the customers and we can sit down to dinner."
"Do you want me to help you?" Diego said following her into the kitchen.
"No, there are only three of them. I'll be done in a minute."
"They're the couple that came in the other day. Who's the other woman?"
"It's Azucena, Loreto's sister. She arrived just before Christmas Eve. They were going to continue the trip, but Loreto began to feel back pain. I told them to stay for a few days, or even until the baby is born, and they said they could only afford one room. I offered them two rooms anyway.
Diego looked at her smiling.
"I wasn't going to leave a family helpless at Christmas time" she said.
"Of course not,"
Victoria picked up three plates of stew and headed into the living room. Diego pulled back the curtain. As soon as she served her customers she returned to the kitchen and served four more dishes, but this time Diego took two of them.
Don Alejandro had just opened a bottle of wine and was serving it. Diego pulled the chair away from Victoria, and after waiting for her to sit down, he sat down in front of her, with his father presiding over the table.
"Thank you for coming," Victoria said looking at don Alejandro.
"We must thank you. I told the servants to go with their families, that we can manage on our own for a few days while they spend the holidays. The truth is that we would have had dinner just the three of us, and the dinner would have been much less tasty," don Alejandro said laughing.
At that moment Felipe entered and joined them, occupying the chair next to Diego.
"How are the gifts going for the children at the orphanage?" Diego asked Victoria.
"Better than I expected. Loreto and Azucena are helping me with the clothes. Everything will be ready for Twelfth Night. Mendoza has been coming too, and has carved several wooden toys. The other day they worked on a doll together. She sewed a dress to a rag doll, and put wool on it to make hair, but it has wooden hands made by Mendoza".
The dinner was almost over when the alcalde went into the tavern with heavy steps.
"Can I help you with anything, alcalde?" Victoria asked, frowning.
"I need some dinner. Those gluttons have eaten everything in the kitchens."
"I'll get you something," Victoria said coldly.
"We thought you wouldn't come for at least two days," said don Alejandro.
"The governor's party was not what I expected. The high-ranking guests did not mingle with the others. I saw no reason to stay any longer," de Soto said in a bad mood. Then he looked over to the table where the family was dining and happily chatting. "Who are they?"
"They are just passing through," answered Diego. "The farmer's wife is pregnant and needed to rest before she could continue traveling."
De Soto got up from the table and addressed them.
"I suppose you paid the traveler's tax."
"Yes, señor. Six pesos."
"But that's just for spending one night. You must pay one more peso every night you stay."
"Señor, we don't have any more money."
"If you don't pay, you'll go to jail."
Victoria came out of the kitchen with a plate for de Soto, and stood up in outrage.
"They are honest people. You're not going to lock them up because they don't have any more money. You just made up that extra amount."
Diego tried to stay calm. "I'm sure we can clear this up. Why don't you sit down and have some dinner? They're not going anywhere after all."
De Soto sat alone at a table and began to eat. Victoria sat down with them again.
"I wish I'd put a good helping of tabasco in his stew."
"I am sure that as soon as he finishes his dinner he will insist." Don Alejandro said.
Diego looked at Felipe, who looked back at him and nodded briefly.
"Felipe, come with me. I have brought the telescope, and from the hill behind the barracks there is a perfect place to observe the stars."
"I am staying. It is too cold to walk around in the dark," Don Alejandro said.
As soon as Diego and Felipe left the village they made a detour to return to where the horses were. Diego mounted his mare and headed to the cave. Having become Zorro, he decided to take his caballero's clothes with him so he could change back at the newspaper office. He also took Esperanza back.
After meeting Felipe, Zorro dodged the soldier on duty and entered through the back of the tavern. He spied through the curtain. He saw Victoria and don Alejandro talking to the two women, the older one was crying. He entered the room and asked. "What happened?"
"The alcalde took my husband because we couldn't pay him."
Zorro slipped through the shadows of the square, and climbed up the roof to enter through one of the windows in the inner courtyard. He went to the office through the alcalde's bedroom and hid behind one of the curtains. When de Soto came out of the dungeon, Zorro drew his sword and put it on his back.
He said, "I see you don't have much Christmas spirit, alcalde," then he took the dungeon key from his hand. I know it's not Twelfth Night, but I'm going to take a gift in advance."
A few minutes later Zorro left de Soto tied to the chair and gagged, and headed for the dungeon.
"Señor, I'm going to take you out of the cell, and we'll go to a cave I know where you can spend the night. Tomorrow we will convince the alcalde to let you go."
"I can't. I need to go to my wife. She is pregnant, and our child will be born any minute."
"They will take care of her in the tavern. Don't worry. The important thing now is to get you away from here or he will put you back in jail."
The man went with him reluctantly. They carefully dodged the soldiers and Zorro helped him to ride Tornado.
"The horse will take you to a cave. There are provisions inside, and what you need to spend the night. Let the horse loose. I will go in the morning to get you."
The man rode off on Tornado, holding on tightly to the harness. Zorro went to the tavern to tell the wife that her husband was safe. He heard a scream and entered the room with his sword in his hand. The pregnant woman was sitting on one of the chairs, with a frightened expression. The alcalde and two soldiers looked at her in astonishment. "I haven't touched her," said de Soto.
"It's your fault. She has gone into labor because you distressed her," Victoria said angrily.
De Soto looked at the woman, then turned to Zorro.
"Give up, Zorro."
"Don't you get tired of saying that? You know it's not going to work," replied the masked man.
De Soto lunged at him, and Zorro led him to the back of the tavern, away from the women to prevent any of them from getting hurt. De Soto attacked again, and Zorro made a feint and then counterattacked. He played with him for a few minutes, until in a circular motion he blew the mayor's sword into the air. Unfortunately, he had not realized that on the stage at the back of the tavern were the figures of the Nativity that Victoria put up every year. The sword fell and broke the figure of the baby Jesus into three pieces.
Victoria shouted. "No!" and ran over there. She took the pieces of the figure gently. "It was my grandmother's," she said in anguish. She left the pieces with the other figures and looked at the two men, who shrank at the sight of her angry eyes. The soldiers didn´t dare to intervene.
"Get out! Both of you!"
"I'm sorry Victoria, it was an accident," said Zorro with a tone suspiciously similar to Diego's. Fortunately, the others were too shocked to notice. Victoria went to a corner and picked up a broom.
"I'm sick of your fights," she said, hitting de Soto with the broom. "This has already become a stupid competition. I'm sick of you breaking bottles, dishes, chairs and even tables," she attacked Zorro with the broom, but he managed to dodge. "It's over. I won't consent to one more fight in my tavern. All you men are useless," continued Victoria as she pushed two men much taller than her towards the door. At that moment the woman screamed in pain and Victoria cried out in exasperation. "Speaking of useless men! Where is Diego when I need him, and why isn't Don Alejandro able to find him?"
The two men crossed the door, dodging or receiving broom hits. Once outside, the alcalde looked at Zorro and tried to pull a dagger from his belt.
"I don't have time for this." said Zorro. With one punch he knocked the alcalde just as the soldiers were leaving, and ran to the newspaper office. He circled it and pulled one of the boards out of the back. Felipe was waiting for him with his caballero's clothes.
"Thank you. We have to go back to the tavern. My father is looking for us."
Diego took the telescope and walked over to the tavern trying to pretend they were coming back from a walk.
"Diego" heard his father say from across the square. "I've been looking for you. Where have you been?"
Diego pointed in the direction he was coming from, but his father didn't stop to listen. Instead, he told him. "It doesn't matter. Come with me. That woman is about to have her baby and Dr. Hernandez is not here. You're going to have to help her."
"I'm not a doctor."
"But you're the only one who has some knowledge," he said, pulling him into the room.
Diego turned pale. He had only helped birth calves and foals. He came up with something. "Isn't there a midwife in the Indian village?"
"Yes, sometimes she helps women here," said Victoria, "but we can't go looking for her at night."
"I can try to bring her," said Diego.
"You'd get lost," answered his father.
Diego had an idea. "Dr. Hernandez told me he has a treaty for midwives. I'm going to look for it," and he walked out the door before anyone could stop him.
He returned to the office, changed clothes again, and went to the edge of town where he whistled for Tornado. For five long minutes he heard nothing, but then he thought he heard a muffled noise and whistled again. Tornado approached him.
"Thank goodness you are here, delivering a baby by myself is more than I feel capable of," he said as he left for the Indian village.
De Soto entered his office rubbing his jaw.
"I think he broke my tooth," he grunted. "Mendoza!"
"Yes, alcalde," said Mendoza as he approached him.
"Get a patrol ready. I want all available men to go out and look for Zorro and the escaped prisoner."
"But, it is New Year's Eve. Men are finishing their dinner."
"Finishing dinner and drinking wine. Get them on the road immediately!"
"Yes, alcalde. Right away."
The alcalde rubbed his face again.
"Señor. Sepulveda makes a tonic for toothache. Would you like to try it?"
"Yes, bring it to me. Anything as long as it stops hurting."
Mendoza ordered the men to go out on patrol and took a bottle from the pantry.
Do Soto poured a glass of the liquid, which had a greenish color, and drank it in one gulp. He immediately coughed, "This is pure alcohol," he said in a choked voice.
"No, alcalde. It has alcohol in it, but it contains many other things, especially herbs. Take another little bit and you'll see how you'll feel better."
The alcalde took another gulp, this time more easily. "Yes, I think I'm starting to feel better."
Zorro rode eastward until he saw some fires. He headed for them and entered the Indian village at the pass, to avoid accidentally running over someone.
"I need the midwife," he said to one of the men who approached to see who the intruder was.
The man nodded and instructed him to wait. A middle-aged woman approached.
"I've been told that you need my help."
"A woman is having her baby, and there is no one to help her."
"It's fine, but you'll have to guide me. My eyes are tired and I can't see well in the dark."
"Can your horse follow mine?"
"Of course, man in black. I will follow you."
Zorro led the woman to the tavern. "The woman who needs help is inside. I must go."
The Indian woman tied her horse outside and entered the tavern. While Zorro went back into the office and changed his clothes again.
When he entered the tavern Victoria shouted at him. "Where have you been? Thank goodness Zorro brought the midwife."
"I'm sorry, Victoria, I was consulting the book."
"And why didn't you bring it here to read it?" she said with an irritated tone.
Mendoza ran into the tavern.
"A fire in the Cabrera's house. They put a candle in the window to attract luck and the curtain caught fire. Quick, come to help with buckets of water", then he saw the woman in the corner, who was moaning in pain while the Indian woman touched her belly. "What's wrong with Loreto?"
"She's going to have her baby," answered Victoria.
"Madre de Dios, and the doctor is not here."
"The midwife will help her, and Diego, if he can remember what his book said."
A soldier came in helping an elderly woman walk. She tried to resist. "My husband is in the building. He needs someone to go in and rescue him. He is disabled and will die if he is not taken out of there."
"Where is he?" Diego asked.
"In the bedroom, above the kitchen."
Diego went out the door, but Don Alejandro intervened. "Come help us with the buckets," and he walked out the door taking Felipe with him.
"Yes, of course," he said as he walked out the door, but as soon as Don Alejandro walked a few yards he turned around and went back to the office to change clothes once more, although he left his cape and hat there.
Zorro climbed the wall of the armory and jumped from building to building until he reached the Cabrera house. He broke the roof to enter the house. He turned right, trying to find his way around the smoke-filled house, and managed to enter the bedroom, where an old man was coughing in bed. He helped him sit up and passed a rope under his arms. Then he went to the window.
"Here!" he cried.
Several people came under the window and caught the man as soon as Zorro took him down with the rope. He then dropped the rope and ran to the hole in the roof, managing to get out just before the floor of the second floor collapsed.
Then he realized something, and went to the doctor's house, sneaking through a window that he opened with a little knife. He went into the office and took the book he had talked about earlier.
He shook his head, somewhat dazed by the smoke he had inhaled, and ran back to the tavern.
"I'm back," he said to Victoria, who was at the door watching the others wet the surrounding buildings to prevent the fire from spreading.
"I can see that," she said, somewhat calmer than before but still angry.
"I already have the book."
"The medical book?" she said. He nodded. "And what are you going to do with a medical book?"
He realized that he was still dressed as Zorro. "Don Diego told me to bring it," he replied, not knowing what else to say.
"And where is he?"
"Eh... I'm going to look for him," said Zorro as he left again in a rush.
She looked at him in astonishment, but entered the tavern and left the book on one of the tables. Then she went over to see if she could help Loreto.
Diego changed his clothes again, but this time he left the black shirt underneath to take less time. When he entered the tavern he was disheveled and panting.
"Where were you? And why do you smell smoke?"
"I helped with the fire."
"Didn't you go to get the book?"
"Yes, that too."
Loreto groaned and Victoria pushed him towards her. "See if you can help with anything."
"All right, I'll try not to be useless," he replied, a little fed up.
"I beg your pardon," she asked.
He realized that she had said that he was useless in front of Zorro, and not Diego, but he hoped that with all the hustle and bustle she would not realize it. "Water," he said. "We'll need some boiled water," and he pointed to the kitchen.
Victoria went to the kitchen to do what Diego asked. Meanwhile don Alejandro and Felipe entered and collapsed on chairs.
"The fire is under control," he said.
Diego was reading the book and was getting a little pale.
"Son, are you all right?"
"Yes, I think so."
They heard horse hooves and don Alejandro commented. "It's after eleven o'clock at night. Who could it be now?"
They got up and went out. The soldiers had Loreto´s husband on a horse with his hands tied. The alcalde came out of the barracks.
"Well, I see you've... ratted..., patted…, trapped, that is, trapped him."
Don Alejandro looked at Diego. "Is he drunk?"
Diego shrugged. Mendoza approached them. "Don't tell, but I gave him some mint orujo to soothe his toothache after Zorro hit him, and he has drunk almost half a bottle."
"Please, I could not stay in the cave, I have to go to my wife," begged the man.
"Maybe we can convince the alcalde," said Diego.
"Only Zorro can do something like that," Mendoza emphatically stated.
I can't believe it. Diego mumbled. He took a step back, then another, and when he saw that his father and the sergeant were still looking ahead, he snuck out.
A slightly more disheveled Zorro than usual entered the square. The soldiers confronted him, but with little enthusiasm. They all wanted to go back inside the barracks to finish the celebration.
Zorro didn´t need to disarm the alcalde, he dropped his sword when he tried to pull it out of its sheath.
"Alcalde. The problem is that this man has not paid the tax".
"That's it. He hasn't paid. To the dungeon with him!" he said, turning on himself to point first to the church and then, shaking his head, to the barracks.
"What if somebody pays the tax for him?"
"Then it would be paid."
Zorro looked at Don Alejandro in exasperation. Don Alejandro understood. "I will pay the tax."
"Okay, it's sies, no, six pesos."
"Here you are."
While de Soto was making a mess counting the coins, the soldiers let Zorro untie the prisoner, who got ran into the tavern.
"Isn't the Alcalde going to tell us to catch Zorro?" asked one soldier in a low voice.
"Shut up, you idiot, don't remind him," said another.
Mendoza approached the alcalde slowly. "Shall we put the money in the safe?"
"Good. Do you remember where it is?"
"Of course, alcalde. In the same place as always."
Both men entered the office while the soldiers were going to the barracks.
Victoria walked out the door.
"The Indian woman says something is wrong. Has anyone seen Diego?"
"Well, good night," said Zorro and ran out again.
Diego arrived at the tavern minutes later, dressed as a caballero, although the shirt was missing a button.
When he entered the tavern he saw Loreto accompanied by her sister. Her husband and, curiously, Sergeant Mendoza were also there.
He took courage and approached the Indian woman.
"It is time to take her to a quieter place, but something is not right with the baby".
Diego nodded and looked at the book again.
In one of the rooms Loreto was trying to get comfortable while the contractions were happening faster and faster. Finally, the Indian woman brought her in by making her squat and told her to push.
Diego watched in horror as the baby's head came out, but there was something else. A cord was wrapped around its neck. Diego had read about it, and after checking that it wasn't tight around the baby, he helped the midwife by holding the cord while she guided the baby's little body through the loop. Finally the baby came out and started crying. They helped the mother to lie down on the bed and gave her daughter to her.
"It's a girl," the woman said.
"She's very pretty," Diego contributed.
"Thank you," said Loreto, tired and happy.
The Indian woman asked Diego for clean cloths, and took care of the woman.
"Tell the outsiders they can come in." she said a few moments later.
Diego went outside and saw Loreto's family. The husband saw Diego's bloody hands and was frightened, but Diego smiled and told them. "All is well. It's a girl, and you can come in and meet her."
Azucena applauded jubilantly. The sergeant looked at her smiling and said "Congratulations," she kissed him, and he turned as red as a tomato.
Felipe asked something by signs.
"I've changed seven or eight times, I think. I've lost count."
Diego went to the kitchen. Victoria had a clock over the fireplace, which struck almost midnight. He washed his hands in the sink, feeling exhausted.
"Diego," said don Alejandro. "You have to explain several things to me."
The clock began to chime. Sighing, Diego turned to his father.
"Why have you been disappearing all night?"
Victoria was also confused. "How did you know I said you men are useless?"
Don Alejandro noticed Diego's shirt. "What happened to your shirt, and why are you wearing a black shirt under it?"
"Why did you smell so much smoke if you were in the square?" asked Victoria.
"In the square? I was in the square and he wasn't there," said Don Alejandro.
They both stared at Diego as the clock struck the last chime. Diego looked at his father, then at Victoria, and while the midnight echo was still reverberating, he took Victoria by the waist and brought her close to him to kiss her passionately.
"Zorro!" she said as they parted.
"What?" Don Alejandro asked.
"Happy New Year," Diego said.