Chapter 6
December 9, Los Angeles.
Today was Sunday, and the citizens of Los Angeles met in church.
The Sanchez family occupied the entire front row. And they were the talk of the day.
After the church service, the tavern was crowded.
Around siesta time, the tavern would close for the rest of the day, and Victoria would have her well-deserved half-day off.
Early that morning, de Soto had called one of the lancers and handed him a note.
The lancer sprinted across the plaza towards the tavern that had just opened.
At five minutes past one, de Soto left his office, crossed the plaza, and nodded in satisfaction at the sight of the familiar blonde mare ridden by Diego.
He was still standing in the doorway of the tavern when Victoria Escalante approached him.
"There you are! It is about time. Half past twelve, you had said. Here!" Victoria thrust a basket filled with food into de Soto, his hands.
"Um, yes, that is what I came. I don't need it anymore."
Victoria reacted just as de Soto had expected. Her nostrils dilated slightly. She squeezed her eyes together and placed her fists at her waist.
"You don't need it? So I'm ordered to have a picnic basket ready at exactly half past twelve, and you show up over half an hour late saying you no longer need it? Any idea how busy I've been!?"
"Si, I'm sorry. Something important has come up. Isn't there someone else who wants it?"
"Do you see anyone?" With a wide gesture, Victoria pointed around the tavern. "It's siesta time. I've stayed open longer for you."
"Um, perhaps don Diego?" Suggested de Soto hesitantly, pointing at the man at the back.
Diego's head shot up from the book he had been reading.
"Don Diego?" Victoria smiled sarcastically. "Yes, that is indeed the man, I expect to be able to get a date at such short notice."
Victoria felt grateful however that the old Sanchez widow never wanted to visit the tavern. The entire family had left the pueblo after the church service to have lunch on their rancho.
The eldest girl was far too pretty for Victoria, her liking. And the youngest two had been extremely loud, even during the service. The girls giggled so much that the padre had had to ask for silence twice!
"Are there any problems?" Diego came casually, standing beside de Soto.
"Yes, the alcalde had asked me to prepare a picnic basket for an appointment with a certain señorita." Victoria had a slightly sarcastic undertone in her voice. "One wonders what woman would want him! But anyway, I do what I get asked, and now he comes and says he no longer needs it."
Diego uttered. "Oh, um, that's a shame indeed."
De Soto did vein getting angered by the way he got treated.
"You know señorita. Actually, I don't care what you do with that basket. I have to deal with the affairs of the state. You can do as you see fit!"
De Soto cast a conspiratorial glance at Diego, then turned and walked out of the tavern in a huff.
"Oh, come on, can you believe this?" Victoria looked at Diego.
"It is yours to take. Go ahead." She waved towards the basket.
Diego suggested. "Since the basket got prepared, and it seems no one else nearby to ask, why don't you and I enjoy a picnic together, just as friends? It's a shame to waste all this delicious food."
Victoria hesitated for a moment. Today in the church, she had felt a hint of jealousy, seeing no less than five young women trying to get the don's attention. All were very suitable for the most desired bachelor in the territory. "All right, then." Victoria gave in. "Let me go upstairs and fetch a blanket."
.
Somewhere east of the pueblo de Los Angeles.
Diego and Victoria sat in a quiet spot under a tree, and Diego enjoyed being with the woman who meant so much to him.
De Soto's new obsession with getting Diego and Victoria together had some advantages. De Soto had said he would make sure Victoria went on a picnic with him today, and he had succeeded.
Victoria sunk her teeth into a piece of cake and then asked.
"What do you think is going on with de Soto? Can it be that he is in love?"
"I don't know. Ever since de Soto shot Gilberto, he's been acting differently."
"I had noticed as well. The alcalde does seem to have changed. His doings changed a little for the better. The good thing is Zorro is needed less." Victoria, her face, turned to grief. "I hate seeing him so few. I mean, it is a good thing Zorro is needed less and doesn't have to risk his life so often. I do miss him."
They sat side by side in silence for a while until Victoria broke the silence.
"So, who do you think she is?"
"Who do you mean?"
"The woman de Soto has his eye set on. Could it be one of the old widow's granddaughters?" Victoria pondered, and a frown appeared on her forehead that Diego thought looked cute on her. "Would he have asked one of them? And that her parents don't approve? What do you think?"
Diego got distracted because he saw something white-haired moving behind a bush about five yards from where he and Victoria were sitting. It was de Soto. Apparently, he found it necessary to keep an eye on him and Victoria to see if everything was going according to his plan.
Diego wondered, grinning internally, looking forward to what de Soto was to tell him he had done wrong.
He shifted so that Victoria unconsciously turned her back on de Soto to guarantee she wouldn't spot the alcalde.
Diego didn't like getting spied upon. He felt something hard and square under the blanket. He lifted the blanket and saw what appeared to be a book of sonnets. De Soto must have put it there. Some pages had a piece of paper sticking out.
"What is that?" Victoria wanted to know when she noticed that Diego had found something.
"Nothing." Diego tried to tuck the book away.
He didn't feel like reading sonnets selected by de Soto with him sitting so close by, eavesdropping.
"It's something. Come on, Diego, let me see."
Quickly, Victoria reached for what it was. Diego tried to hide from her behind his back. As Diego also had to make sure Victoria wouldn't spot de Soto hiding behind the bushes, he had to let her snatch the book. She opened it on the first page.
"Is this de Soto's? Was it in the basket or something? Look, he has some of the pages marked. Could it be the sonnets he wanted to recite to his date?"
Victoria opened one of the marked pages. She let her eyes slide over the page and started to blush.
Diego felt a pebble getting thrown against his leg. He gazed over his shoulder and saw that de Soto was close behind him.
"Read her. I," De Soto pointed at himself. "Marked pages." Whispered the alcalde in a slightly too loud tone for Victoria not to hear.
"Diego, what are you doing? Who are you talking to?" Victoria curiously asked as she noticed something was going on.
Quickly, Diego tried to distract her. "I thought I saw a condor floating through the air. Such magnificent animals. So big, and yet they float so elegantly through the air." Diego pointed into the clear blue sky, where nothing was to see. He heard the alcalde softly groaning disapprovingly behind him.
Victoria looked absently at where Diego was pointing, but she saw nothing special. She shrugged her shoulders.
Meanwhile, Diego saw de Soto trying to crawl away.
The man clumsily put a hand on a twig, which loudly cracked in half.
Victoria turned to see where the noise was coming from and saw de Soto lying in the bushes.
"Alcalde, what are you doing here? Surely you had more important things on your mind? Affairs of State, you said."
De Soto laughed uncomfortably and got up. Victoria noticed Diego also seemed anything but at ease.
Victoria began to shout.
"Oh, now I get it! This whole picnic is part of some evil plan. The two of you try to lure Zorro this way! Is that it? What were you hoping? That he would show up and be easy prey!?"
It didn't surprise Victoria that de Soto was capable of such a horrible thing. But that Diego was an accomplisher!
"Diego! I can't believe you agreed to participate in such a thing!" He was at arm's length from her. Victoria lashed out and hit his face as hard as she could with her flat hand. "I thought you were my friend. I expected better from you!"
Furious, Victoria stood up and straightened her back. Her eyes were almost black and spitting fire. "And how on earth did you dare…, you dared to…," De Soto stepped back in terror at the sight of Victoria radiating so much anger. "I am so angry!"
Diego thought that when eyes could kill, he and de Soto would fall dead to the ground right here. The cheek where Victoria had hit him felt warm and began to tingle.
"Zorro is far too intelligent to be fooled by you two! And besides, he trusts me. Your little plan to make him jealous has failed. Zorro knows that he is the only man on earth for me!"
To add force to her words, Victoria stamped her foot angrily on the ground. Her hands clenched into fists.
She turned and started walking in the direction of Los Angeles.
Behind her, she heard Diego calling out. "Victoria! Please, wait! Let me explain. "
She stopped and watched as Diego bridged the yards she had walked with great strides.
"Let me explain. It's not what you think."
Victoria was spitting out her words. "I think it's exactly as I think."
"Victoria, at least let me take you home."
"Are you completely out of your mind!? I don't even want to see you.
Go! Have a nice picnic with de Soto. Don Alejandro told me the two of you have became friends. You can ask him to read you another one of those sonnets."
Still boiling with anger, she quickened her pace and left Diego behind.
De Soto came to stand beside Diego.
"Why didn't you do as I said. You ruined a perfect plan."
Astonished, Diego looked at de Soto. Was the man blind or something?
De Soto walked back to his horse and left not much later, leaving Diego under a tree with the remains of what was supposed to be a picnic to bring him closer to Victoria. Sighing, Diego tidied everything up.
It had been an enjoyable afternoon. That was, until Diego discovered de Soto hiding behind the bushes. And the man had thought he needed advice. Diego picked up the bundle. He read the title on the cover and flipped open one of the pages de Soto had chosen.
The book contained famous sonnets by various writers.
Diego turned pale when it dawned on him what Victoria had read.
Diego hurried to load everything into the buggy and went after Victoria.
She had walked over a mile before he caught up with her.
He stopped the buggy and jumped off.
Victoria had seen him. She continued to walk steadily, ignoring him.
"Victoria, please, wait a minute. Let me explain." His legs being longer than hers, he kept up with Victoria easily.
Victoria was almost running. Twice she almost stumbled over rocks. "You don't have to explain anything to me! It's as clear as glass. You could have known I would never participate in such a dreadful thing."
Diego pleaded. "Victoria, please, listen. De Soto may have planned it that way, but it was without my knowledge, I swear. ."
Victoria stopped abruptly. Diego almost bumped into her.
"You think I am stupid enough to believe that!? Quite a coincidence that you just happened to be in the tavern this morning. And even more, coincidentally, the page marked in that book is my favourite sonnet. Something that coincidentally only you happen to know." Victoria had small hands. Every time Victoria said, coincidentally, she poked her index finger hard against his chest.
"A bit too coincidental, don't you agree? Coincidentally, I think it's all a bit too coincidental, coincidental. And the fact that you happened to gossip about me with de Soto is completely outrageous. Coincidentally, I find it disgusting. I thought we were friends. De Soto, having a date with a woman." Sniffing, Victoria emitted a sound that resembled a jeering laugh. "Ha. I can't believe I got fooled so easily."
As abruptly as she had stopped walking, so quickly she turned to continue on her way.
Diego grabbed Victoria by the elbow.
She looked at him, and Diego froze. Her eyes were ice-cold and full of hate.
"Let go of me!" She shook her arm.
Defeated Diego, letting his arm drop beside his body.
.
After walking two mile with a firm stride, her anger began to subside slightly. Victoria had grown accustomed to the fact de Soto did everything he could think of to get Zorro. He had used her so often as bait in his disgusting schemes. The only thing that still surprised her in that respect was Zorro always outwitted de Soto.
What hurt most was Diego helping de Soto to cooperate in such a scheme. Diego was her friend. She thought she could trust him.
And what hurts, even more, was that he deliberately wanted to remind her of the night they spent in a mill. For whatever other reason than to hurt her, could Diego have chosen that exact sonnet?
But Diego had known the sonnet by heart, a little voice in her head reasoned. He wouldn't have needed a book to quote it.
And to think that, just this morning, she had seriously asked herself whether the strange jealous feeling in her lower abdomen meant that she had feelings for this man. Angrily, Victoria wiped away a tear from her cheek.
Oh, well. With renewed fury, Victoria kicked against a large rock. She never wanted to see Diego de la Vega again. Ever! If she had felt any hint of butterflies because of Diego, his behaviour cured her forever.
It was quite a long walk to Los Angeles, so she'd better use her anger to get home instead of venting her thoughts on someone who wasn't worth a second of her time.
.
.