It was but a week later when another coach from San Pedro stopped before the tavern. From it exited three passengers among which was a distinguished woman with long, white hair and beautiful features. She was well in her late fifties, and possessed a kind, genuine smile.

Diego, Felipe and Jessie were having their meal on the tavern's terrace, Marisol attached to her Papi's neck and Victoria teasing him about her niece's fondness of him.

Don Alejandro, who was coming from the church in an elegant black suit to join them for lunch, almost bumped into the lady, and they both remained there, just looking at each other for a few moments.

"Excuse me, Señora!" He apologized, staring at her.

"No need for apologies, Señor!" She replied. "This voyage tired me so that I was probably not even looking where I was going."

"Are you coming from far away?" Diego inquired.

"Quite far, yes, young man!" She confirmed with a kind smile. "I come from Madrid. My ship arrived only a few hours ago in San Pedro. Pray, would you be so kind as to tell me where is the Alcalde's office?"

"It is right across the plaza, Señora!" Don Alejandro answered. "And I am the Alcalde, Don Alejandro de la Vega. Is there something I might do for you, dear lady?"

"You are the Alcalde?" She wondered, surprised. "But, this is Los Angeles, is it not? I...I thought my son, Ignacio, was the Alcalde here."

"Ignacio de Soto? Your son?" Don Alejandro asked in disbelief.

"Si! Can you tell me where he is?" She replied with some fear that something could have happened to her only remaining child.

"You are Señora de Soto?" Jessie wondered, reflecting Don Alejandro's disbelief.

"I am." The woman confirmed.

"I am your daughter-in-law, Señora. Ignacio is currently tending to our vineyards at our hacienda, northeast of the pueblo. We had no idea you were coming… I am sure he will be very happy to see you!"

"Vineyards? And you are my daughter-in-law?" The woman asked almost shocked. "Oh, my! Such a beautiful woman is my daughter-in-law? And you are a doctor? Ignacio must have become quite a good man if a woman like you agreed to marry him!" She concluded. "Then you... you, young man, she said looking at Diego, you must be Don Diego de la Vega, his best friend."

Ignacio's told his mother that I was his best friend? Diego wondered. Maybe he had written her I was Jessie's best friend, and she read it wrong! He easily dismissed the idea.

"And this, no doubt, is your beautiful family!" The woman continued, looking at Victoria, Marisol and Felipe. "I am so happy to meet you all!"

"Don't frown Diego!" Jessie said, expecting to see her friend's embarrassed look, although not finding it. "I will clarify all on our way to the hacienda. Señora, if you would be so kind as to follow me?" She invited her mother-in-law.

"You don't need to call me 'Señora', my dear. Doña Maria will do for now, until you may find it in your heart to call me 'Mother'! Goodbye, everyone! I am sure we'll have ample opportunity to meet again, soon!" The white-haired woman said, following Jessie towards an elegant coach parked behind the doctor's office.

"Goodbye, Señora!" They answered in a choir.

"Well, Diego, De Soto's mother doesn't seem to be exactly what I was expecting..." Don Alejandro confessed, his eyes still following the two women.

"She seems like such a nice lady. How can Ignacio de Soto be her son?" Victoria asked, expressing the question going through everyone's mind.

ZZZ

That very evening, as Don Alejandro was finishing some paperwork in town, Felipe burst through the main door of the Hacienda.

"Felipe! What is it?" Diego asked at seeing his expression. "Bandits? Burning down De Soto's vineyards? Come Felipe!" As he said that, he opened the sliding panel, and they headed for the cave where Tornado was eagerly awaiting his master.

Four masked men were at the De Soto Hacienda, armed with torches and swords. Ignacio and two of his men were trying to fend them off, but they were no match for them, and some of the vineyards were already on fire.

Doña Maria and Jessie also tried to intervene, and Doña Maria was almost injured by one of the bandits when Zorro came to their aid. He used his whip to force the bandits to drop their torches and cut the saddles from under two of the outlaws, causing them to fall off their horses. He then proceeded to disarm the other two as Ignacio was fighting the ones on the ground, and his men were hurrying to extinguish the fire before it engulfed all the vineyards.

"Do you need any help, De Soto?" The masked man asked as he had already overcome the two bandits on horseback, while Ignacio was still fighting.

"I am perfectly capable of defeating two bandits, Zorro!" He replied as he disarmed one of the men, but was immediately disarmed himself by the other when he stumbled and fell on his back.

Zorro used his whip to take the sword out of the man's hand, just as he was preparing to kill Ignacio.

"I can see that!" Zorro replied sarcastically as he proceeded to dismount and knock out the remaining bandits.

"I didn't need your help!" De Soto protested.

"He just saved your life, Ignacio!" Jessie admonished him. "Thank you, Zorro! I am certainly too young to become a widow!" She added, as she was heading for a bucket of water to help their men put out the fire.

"At your service, as always, Doctor!" Zorro replied, dismounting to tie up the men, then land a hand to extinguish the fire.

After about ten minutes, when the vineyards were saved through their collective effort, Zorro put the already-tied-up thugs on their horses.

"I will take these men to Los Angeles!" He informed them as he was mounting back on Tornado. "I don't believe you'll need to worry about them anymore. Adios, Señoras! De Soto!" He saluted taking his right hand to his hat.

"Adios, Zorro! And thank you!" Jessie uttered as Ignacio was watching him ride away, for a few moments pondering if he should try to shoot him or not. The reward on the black-clad man's head was still 6,000 pesos, after all, but somehow it no longer seemed right to try and collect it. He, thus, decided against it because he knew Jessie would not appreciate such an attempt, and he didn't want to sleep in the barn the entire following month and who knew how many after that? Plus, truth be told, experience had taught him that it was useless to try anything against the masked outlaw.

"I don't understand!" Doña Maria told Jessie as they were watching their savior ride away. "That man is Zorro? Ignacio wrote me that Zorro was a criminal, his archenemy. Why would such a man come to our aid?"

"Is that what he told you?" Jessie asked, barely containing a laughter. "Well, I believe we'll need to have a long conversation about Ignacio's definition of 'archenemy'."

ZZZ

Diego was away to Santa Barbara for the next two weeks (well, only for one, as he used the other to investigate, as Zorro, some sudden deaths at a nearby Indian camp, and bring a greedy land-owner to justice), and only re-started helping Jessie a day after he returned.

"How's life with your new mother-in-law?" He asked her when there were no more patients, and they were cleaning the medical tools.

"She's a Godsend, Diego! The kindest, most modest and fair woman I have ever met." Jessie answered, almost unable to believe what she was saying. "You know I even convinced her that Zorro was not the evil outlaw Ignacio had described to her? And it didn't even take much convincing. In truth, she just listened to the stories, and decided for herself. You should have heard the scolding she gave him! It's a shame she hadn't come here sooner. I have the feeling he might have been a much better Alcalde with Doña Maria by his side to set him straight!"

"You don't say!" Diego exclaimed slightly amused. "My father and Felipe told me Doña Maria has also been helping Victoria run the tavern. With Marisol around, I guess she needs all the help she can get!" He mentioned casually.

"Yes, it's true! The woman loves cooking, and, from what I was given to understand, your father loves her food." Jessie replied with a subtle wink.

"I have noticed that." Diego confirmed. "Maria says he hardly ever eats at the hacienda these days. Which is a shame, since her food is excellent!"

"But I always thought you prefer Victoria's cooking, Diego!" Jessie pointed out. "I really don't understand how in the world Ignacio turned out the way he did with a mother like her." Jessie continued, suddenly changing the subject.

"Maybe he takes after his father?" Diego suggested, relieved his friend decided not to press him into a confession about his feelings for Victoria.

"Not from what I hear." Jessie rejected the idea. "He was a farmer who spent all his life working hard to provide for his family. Doña Maria was an heiress and she was disinherited for marrying him but, the way she tells the story, it was the best decision she had ever made since the man was kind and loving to her, and also proved to be a wonderful father. She also grew to love her husband's parents, as her own never wanted anything to do with her after she went against their wishes in choosing her husband. It's only because Ignacio's grandmother died last October that she even decided to come here, her son being the only family she has left. Him and me, now." Changing the subject again, Jessie added "I confess, I enjoy my married life to Ignacio much more than I ever expected I would. A mother-in-law who spends her time cooking, spoiling me and always taking my side in any argument - not that I need support to win them - is quite an unexpected bonus!"