January 23rd, 1821/ Day 7
The first ray of sun hit his face like a punch. Diego realized instantly that he was not at the tavern but in his room. He looked around. Everything was the same as it had been the previous morning and the five ones before that. He just needed a confirmation, so he got out of bed, put on his robe and headed for the kitchen.
"What day? It is Tuesday, Don Diego!" Maria told him.
"And the date? Do you know the date?" Diego asked impatiently.
"I believe it's the 23rd of January." She replied.
"Of course it is!" He answered and headed for the cave.
Felipe joined him about an hour later. By that time, Diego had put in writing all he could remember from his previous experiences reliving that dreadful day. Well...the last two times were not that bad, if he was to be honest.
He barely noticed his son coming in, and did not make any effort to explain to him what he was doing. Felipe thought for a moment that he might have upset Diego and asked him about it, but his mind was soon put at ease.
"Let's have breakfast, Felipe! I will tell you all about this later." Diego decided and they made their way to the patio where Don Alejandro was already finishing his meal.
"Oh, here you two are!" The old don greeted them.
"Good morning, Father." Diego said with a rather sad smile at sitting down.
"Is there something bothering you, Son?" His father asked at seeing the look on his face.
"Actually, there is." Diego answered after some hesitation. He then took a deep breath trying to decide on what to say next. "I...I have decided to write a story." He begun. "And I have an interesting premise, but I cannot figure out what to do with the characters next."
"Now you've decided to become a writer, Diego?" His father asked with some amusement in his voice. "Well, you have certainly read enough stories...And what is this interesting premise you are considering, if I may ask?"
"My premise... is that my...heroine keeps reliving the same day but she is the only one who remembers it."
"Reliving the exact same day? That won't be much of a story, Son. Maybe for a chapter, but then it would just repeat itself, won't it?"
"No...not exactly. Because each time he… she relives it, she tries to change something, leading to very different results. That means that the day starts the same but ends up differently, depending on her actions."
"I see...I have to say, Diego, maybe the idea does have some merit..."
"Thank you, Father."
"So why are you sad?"
"Sad? No, I am not sad. It is just that I cannot figure it out. Let's say that, after a few tries, everything goes fine. She rights all wrongs. Has the perfect day…or as perfect as a very complicated day can be. I would not want to end the story there, though. So how does she react when the day still insists on repeating itself? Assuming that, from her point of view, the reason why the day keeps repeating itself is so that she can correct the things that had gone wrong in the first place."
"I see...Perhaps she starts with the wrong assumption?"
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe the day keeps repeating because she keeps wanting to change it? Or maybe because she changes the wrong things?"
"Like trying to save a life but ending up saving the wrong one?"
"Yes...I suppose it would be something like that."
"You may be on to something, Father!" Diego ended the discussion after carefully pondering on the idea and got up, heading back inside the hacienda.
"You are not having breakfast, Diego?" Don Alejandro inquired after noticing his son had not touched any of the food on the table.
"I am not really hungry." Diego replied as he reached the door. "Father!" He asked, suddenly turning around "What would you do if a day kept repeating itself and you were the only one to know about it?"
"What would I do? Well, depending on the day, I guess. If, for example, I would have to repeat yesterday, considering how it went, I would probably put a bullet in my head after a few repeats. But, if I could relive a happy day, like the day of my wedding, I would certainly not mind a second, a third or any number of repeats. That was a very happy day, indeed, and I wouldn't mind holding your mother in my arms again." Don Alejandro answered with more than a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "What would you do, Diego? Read some more or work on some of your experiments, I suppose?"
"I don't know. I guess I would do what my heroine would do. Try to fix everything that went wrong. But perhaps you are right. I never did look at it from that point of view. If the day just insists on restarting anyway... You can do what you want and it wouldn't matter, since no one else will remember. But if you, accidentally, do the one thing you should do to avoid the day from restarting again, then at least make sure you get a good day."
"It is not exactly what I had in mind but I do see your point, Son."
"Thank you, Father. This conversation has been most useful!" He uttered as he headed towards the library.
Felipe found him pacing in the cave, and asked him what the strange breakfast conversation was about. Diego did not answer right away, too lost in his thoughts to even consider how to explain everything.
"I will be out for a while, Felipe!" He informed him when he eventually stopped pacing and, exchanging his suit for Zorro's black clothes, he mounted Tornado and left for Los Angeles.
Arriving at the tavern, he entered the kitchen and waited for the woman he loved.
"Victoria!" He whispered as she came in.
She startled for a few seconds but then she smiled back.
"Zorro! What are you doing here?" She asked. "Is there something wrong?"
"No. I just came to see you." He answered. "Can you ask Pilar to handle the clients and meet me in the stables? I want us to have a private conversation, and with the Sergeant and the Alcalde here it might not be so private after all."
"But they are not here!" She protested but, opening a little the drapes, saw the two men walking in. "How did you know?"
"Let's say I had a feeling. Stables?"
"Let me tell Pilar I am stepping outside, and I will meet you there as soon as I can!"
Victoria joined him five minutes later, after Zorro had made sure there was no one in their vicinity who could hear their conversation.
"Not that I am complaining about the visit, but I am beginning to worry!" She said. "You are acting strange today."
"Stranger than usual, I suppose." He answered with a grin. "I was wondering if I might convince you to elope with me."
"Elope?"
"Yes, Victoria. The truth is I wish for nothing more than for you to be my wife. So why wait? Just marry me today, and let's go away for a while."
"Marry you? Today?"
"Now. Just come to the church, and I will ask the padre to marry us right away".
"But...but what about your secret? How can I marry you when no one knows who you are? I don't even know your name. I don't even know your face! And don't we need witnesses? They would also know, if we get married!"
"Yes, you are right." He confirmed as if the issue hadn't crossed his mind before. "Well, for one, you do know me. Rather well. We see each other almost every day. And you certainly know my name."
"I do?" She asked.
"Yes, Victoria. As for the witnesses, just not to take any chances, I'll ask my father and Felipe."
"Your father and... Felipe?"
"My son. Felipe"
Victoria looked at him incredulously. Did he just confess to being Diego de la Vega? She wondered.
"Do you understand who I am?" He asked her.
"You can't be!" She protested. "That's impossible!"
"Because Zorro has something that I do not have?" He quoted the words she once told him as she was addressing Diego. "Think about it, Victoria! Zorro just happened to appear the same week I returned from Spain. I am frankly amazed no one summed that up yet. Glad, but still amazed."
"Take off the mask!" Victoria ordered and, after checking around one more time to make sure they weren't being watched, he obliged her. "Diego!" She whispered as she was coming to terms with the unexpected revelation.
"Marry me?" He asked.
Victoria just stared at him, completely lost in thoughts for several minutes, focused on his face, as if seeing it for the first time.
"I need to change. I don't want to get married in these clothes." She eventually answered as a smile started brightening her face.
"I need to get my father and Felipe. Maybe put on a suit. No reason to make it easy on everybody." He told her with a smirk after putting his mask back on.
"No. No point in that!" She confirmed, her eyes inviting him to kiss her.
"Victoria!" He whispered just as their lips parted. "My father doesn't know I'm Zorro. Let's keep it that way. He is terrible with secrets."
"And Felipe?" She asked.
"He is much better at keeping them." He acknowledged.
The marriage ceremony was a strange one. Don Alejandro had protested all the way there, and was only silenced by the loving gaze he saw in Victoria's eyes as he walked her down the aisle. Felipe couldn't come to terms with his father's sudden urge to marry, and Padre Benitez, while glad to perform the ceremony, had a hard time understanding why the woman he knew to be in love with Zorro, suddenly decided to marry - in secret - the man who seemed like the exact opposite of the one she loved.
Victoria informed Pilar that she would be away for a few days and refused to give any other explanation, when they all drove away in the carriage.
"Can you two explain what has just happened?" Don Alejandro inquired as they were on their way towards the hacienda. "Why would you get married to each other, and what's with the haste?"
"Let's just say I was tired of waiting for Victoria to give up Zorro, Father." Diego answered. "So I decided to give her an ultimatum, and married her before she had the chance to change her mind."
"Wait for her? How exactly were you waiting for her since you've never even courted Victoria? And an ultimatum? Why would you do that?"
"Diego just realized I needed a push, Don Alejandro." Victoria answered for him. "And he was right. I now see that my obsession with Zorro was just a way to hide my feelings for Diego. He was afraid I didn't love him and I thought he harbored only brotherly feelings towards me, so I went on pretending to love someone unattainable. We were both fooling ourselves and I am happy that Diego finally got the nerve to step forward. Although, I wouldn't have changed my mind about marrying him. No matter what."
"You did it once, Victoria." Diego replied seriously. "I didn't want to give Zorro a chance to come between us as it happened when you wanted to marry Juan."
"But what about Zorro, Diego? Have you considered him? What he might do now, Son?" Don Alejandro asked.
"Zorro will continue being Zorro. And if you're afraid for Diego, we all know he would never harm him, Don Alejandro" Victoria uttered. "He only wants what's best for me. In fact, he once even told me that I should marry and suggested Diego. He knows that he and I can never be. If I was ever to marry him, the Alcalde would have him arrested on the spot!"
"But you have waited for him for so many years, my dear! And now you want me to believe you suddenly decide to give him up and ... Oh, Dios! You did not give him up, did you? You just married him!" Don Alejandro exclaimed, feeling as if he was about to have a panic attack. "That's the reason for all the secrecy? You are Zorro, Diego?"
"Don't be absurd, Father! I am nothing like Zorro." Diego tried to calm him down.
"I...I would have believed that a year ago! But I saw you fight Gilberto! You told me he believed you to be Zorro, but I thought it was nonsense! It wasn't nonsense, was it?"
"I am not going to dignify that train of thoughts with an answer, Father!" Diego simply stated. "Seriously, what's more believable to you? That I am Zorro, and somehow managed to hide that from you for 9 years, or that Victoria and I finally got the courage to surpass our fears and confessed we loved each other?"
The old don calmed down and considered his son's arguments for a minute.
"Alright, Diego! You might have a point there." He eventually replied "But I still find it hard to understand why all the secrecy and the hurry! Why not wait the proper amount of time? Dios! Victoria, you are not pregnant, are you?"
"Pregnant?" Her eyes grew big with a mixture of indignation and embarrassment. "Of course not!"
"Don't get me wrong, my dear! I do want grandchildren and the sooner they get here, the better, but..."
"I am not pregnant! I have never...I...I don't even know what I am supposed to do to get pregnant!" She admitted blushing.
"I'll show you later" Diego whispered in her ear, and she instantly turned a deeper shade of red.
"What was that, Diego?" Don Alejandro asked.
"Nothing, Father." He replied innocently.
"No. I know there is something you're not telling me!" Don Alejandro decided.
"You may think whatever you want, Father. The important thing is that your son is married to the woman he is in love with and who, by some miracle, loves him back."
"Fine. I know you are right! But if you are so decided to keep your secrets, at least make sure to give me those grandchildren, sooner rather than later."
"We will do our best, I assure you!" Diego answered with a mischievous smile on his face.
As soon as they arrived at the hacienda, Diego asked Felipe to keep on the premises and avoid the town, also instructing him to take his father to the cave in case there's any trouble. Then, he saddled two horses, packed a minimum of clothes, took some money, and left with Victoria for Santa Paula.
"Not that I'm complaining, but how did you know what to do, Diego?" Victoria asked him later that evening, in their room, while resting her head on his bare chest.
"I do know how to make babies, Victoria." He answered with a grin.
"So I am not your first?" She questioned with some disappointment.
"No, my love. But you are certainly my last!" He answered.
To be continued...