Chapter 10

December 22. Los Angeles, the tavern.

De Soto came into a tavern. He glared around for a moment before nodding approvingly. Bored, de Soto orders a meal at the bar. At one of the tables close to the stairs, don Diego and Mendoza are enjoying having lunch together. Nice, he thought.
A great idea occurred to him. As a precaution, he hadn't told don Diego. The man turned into a nervous wreck as soon as you suggested anything he considered dangerous, and that was a lot.
The endless discussion about not wanting to carry any weapon was fresh in de Soto's mind.

Unobtrusively, de Soto strode to the small table carrying a glass of wine in his hand. Without being invited, de Soto takes a seat at the table.
"De la Vega." He greets the man casually.

"Alcalde, how good to see you again. Yesterday, there was quite a commotion in the plaza, or so I heard."

De Soto looked at him irritated. The man didn't appreciate the help he was trying to give. And also regularly managed to remind him of events which he would prefer to forget as soon as possible.

"Fainting ladies and two bandits in jail, I heard. Zorro galloped through the pueblo. Gunshots." Enumerated Diego.

"Eh, yes, then you do notice that Los Angeles lacks the certain refined sophistication of Madrid. The Sanchez ladies were genuinely shocked. I do believe for ladies not used to such an outburst of less..., well..., eh," De Soto searched for words. "Civilized way of life might come as a shock."

Diego nodded in agreement. "Luckily, the doctor was nearby to give medical support."

At that moment, Victoria came to the table. She held a tray containing the daily menu de Soto had ordered at the bar moments prior.

"Madrid, its grandeur. Its exquisite food and its magnificent buildings." De Soto mused on in thought.
He looks at the chicken legs he'd ordered with fried potatoes.
"Señorita Victoria, would you be so kind as to bring me a finger bowl?"

Victoria frowned her eyebrows. "A what?"

De Soto sighed at such lack of sophistication and repeated his question. "A finger bowl."

Diego sees how Victoria braces herself to reply to de Soto. Pointing to the chicken, he says. "The alcalde meant a small bowl of water to rinse his fingers after eating the chicken."

"A bowl of water?" Victoria repeated.

"With some lemon juice added to it, if it isn't too much trouble." Adds the alcalde.
"It's a common use in Spain in the more, eh…, refined restaurants."

This remark goes against Victoria's grain. She may run a simple tavern on the other side of the world, but her meals are of good quality and nutritious. Her business was always spotless.
It is because she doesn't feel like kicking up a scene that Victoria gives a polite nod. Otherwise, she would have told him exactly how sophisticated she thought the alcalde was.
"A bowl of water." She smiled sarcastically. "But of course. Coming right up."

"With some lemon juice added." De Soto called after her.
Then he heaved an inaudible disappointed sigh.
He was determined to carry out his plan and watched Victoria return carrying the requested water.

De Soto made a wild arm gesture. Victoria could not possibly have seen this coming. She let out a cry of terror. De Soto's sudden movement caused her arm to shoot into the air. Water gushed from the tray over de Soto. The receptacle tumbled through the air and landed pardonably on de Soto's head.

"My apologies, alcalde," Victoria uttered. "I will get a towel for you to dry."

Victoria was interrupted by de Soto jumping up furiously.
"You stupid woman. Look what you are doing. You ruined my whole uniform." Feted de Soto at Victoria.

Some other guests in the tavern saw it happen and burst out laughing. They nudge those who had not seen it happening. Water dripped down de Soto's face.
Diego gets up in a way that is just impressive.

"What are you going to do." De Soto grunted at Diego. "Will you defend the honour of this serving girl!" De Soto gave Victoria a hard push so that she fell to the ground.
De Soto laughed devilishly. "Coward, you refuse even to carry a weapon." He taunted Diego some more.

"No, but I do." Mendoza pressed the tip of his sword against de Soto's chest.
"You will not harm señorita Escalante. It was an accident because you suddenly moved your arm."

"Mendoza, you idiot! What are you doing? Don't interfere." De Soto uttered frustrated because the sergeant was about to ruin a perfect plan.

Victoria sat on the ground, watching Mendoza defend her from de Soto. Diego seemed all pent-up angry, his fists clenched. And yet he did nothing to help the sergeant.
It was not as if this was unusual behaviour from don Diego. In fact, it was amazing that he had stood up at all. Victoria felt a hint of disappointment.

This unexpected event reminded Victoria of another moment. Years ago. If she remembered correctly, Diego had carried a sword back then. Though, she wasn't sure about it.
It happened when Diego had just returned from Spain.
The tavern had been full of lancers. One of them had decided to behave very rudely toward her. She had thrown a jug of milk over the lancer. He had clutched her elbow.
At that moment, Diego had come between them. He had saved her from the lancer. It had seemed like the lancer would challenge Diego to a duel, him not hesitate to accept.
Then it had also been Mendoza who had intervened and, by doing so, had prevented things from getting worse.

Victoria remembered how impressed she had been by the handsome, tall man who exuded so much daring and gallantry. She had forgotten that Diego had ever impressed her so much. It had been a one-time event. After that, she had never seen Diego act so masculine. It was like he had been a different kind of man back then.
Until this moment, she had never given it much thought.
Don Alejandro had come to tell her as soon as he knew Diego was on his way back from Spain. The old don was so proud and confident his son would stand with him and the other dons to defend the pueblo and its inhabitants against alcalde Ramon.
That night, she and don Alejandro spent time in prison. Don Alejandro had talked for hours about what they could all do. Diego had done nothing. Then an unknown masked man appeared out of the darkness, changing everything.

Mendoza pressed the tip of his sword harder against de Soto's chest.
"You apologize to señorita Victoria and then leave the tavern."

Diego was helping Victoria get up. "Thank you, don Diego," She muttered.

"Mendoza! Stop making a fool of yourself!"
Under threat of the sword, de Soto said. "All right. I'm leaving."

"Don't you have something to say to the señorita first?"

"Mendoza, let me pass. OrI'll demote you to private!"

Mendoza lowered his sword and wanted to step aside. Then he saw Victoria standing there. It gave him new courage.
Steadfastly he said. "No, I still think you need to apologize first."

De Soto growled. "Sergeant, I am serious. Get out of my way!"

"So am I." Mendoza had raised his sword again and pointed it in de Soto's direction.
"Apologize to the señorita."

"Ahum." coughed de Soto. "Señorita Victoria, allow me to apologize."

Victoria looked briefly at Diego, who shrugged.

"Apology accepted."

.

De Soto stomped furiously across the plaza. Why did that idiot of Mendoza have to interfere? It had been a perfect plan. Insult the woman, and force Diego to stand up for her. Challenge him to a duel and let the coward win.
Then that wench had to take an interest in the infatuated half-wit.
But no, Diego de la Vega might be in love, but at the same time, he was still the biggest coward that had ever walked the earth.
De Soto slammed the door behind him with a loud bang. And he had to think of a way to keep this idiotic meddler out of the way.

.

Diego was still puzzled by what de Soto had done. If he didn't know better, he would think de Soto had wanted to provoke him into a duel.
As that thought came to his mind it occured to Diego it might even be correct the answer. De Soto had been talking about carrying a weapon for weeks now. Those fencing lessons had to serve some purpose other than arousing his irritation.

"What was that all about?" Victoria asked no one in particular.
"I mean, the alcalde does tend to be rude. But this didn't make sense even for him."

Diego stared ahead of himself, mesmerized. "I don't know."

Mendoza said. "I don't understand the alcalde anymore, anyway. Ever since that horrible emissary Risendo died, he's been acting weird. Sorry, don Diego. I know he was your brother."

"It doesn't matter, sergeant." Diego led Mendoza back to the little table where they had sat earlier. "But tell me, what do you mean the alcalde is acting weird." Victoria slid over and looked eagerly at Mendoza for what he had to say.

"Well, I heard the alcalde say to Corporal Sulpevelda last week ..."

"MENDOZA!"

Mendoza jumped up. "I'd better go. Maybe then he won't demote me."
At a hasty trot, Mendoza left the tavern.

Victoria said. "What do you think the sergeant wanted to say?"

Diego looked pensive. "I sincerely wish I knew."

.

Victoria had closed the tavern and walked upstairs to go to bed.
Poor Mendoza, she thought. She and Diego had never figured out what Mendoza had wanted to say. The alcalde had been furious about what had happened. And so he had sent Mendoza to Santa Barbara to deliver some urgent mail in person, according to de Soto. How implausible, how convenient. De Soto had his revenge. It would take the poor sergeant at least three days and probably longer because of Christmas before he would return to Los Angeles.

.

23 December. El hacienda de la Vega.

Diego cringed. Magdalena Sanchez had brought her music pieces and asked his father if she could perform some of them on the piano. His father had not had the heart to refuse the girl.
The child lacked any talent for playing and regularly hit the wrong key. When played correctly, most of the pieces she brought from Spain would sound beautiful.
The plaintive piece she played now sounded like the wail of a cat in heat.
Sadly, Diego thought, after tonight, he would have to retune the piano.

His eyes slid through the room. His father was in conversation with the alcalde and don Horatio.
Doña Francisca watched contently how young don Carlos sat in a quiet corner talking to Juanita Sanchez. The couple made an impression of being in love.
Victoria sat next to Isabella Sanchez, having a friendly chat. All the other guests swarmed around the room like flies around a jar of honey.
Diego knew that to avoid the youngest two Sanchez girls, Felipe did take refuge in the cave.

Felipe, the girls considered, was the most handsome young man in the pueblo. And although they did not hide the fact that they saw his disability as an obstacle, Lucia and Catharina did like to flirt with the boy. Since they had heard that Felipe would soon get adopted into the de la Vega family, they had dropped their objections. The youngest of the sisters, in particular, did her best to charm Felipe. Felipe, on the other hand, tried to avoid the girls in every way that wasn't plain rude.

Diego sighed. He wished he had been clever and brave enough to come up with an excuse not to attend the evening. His father's parties had always been a challenge, especially since the main objective always seemed: how to get my son interested in any woman. And since last fortnight, de Soto had joined his father's team. His father would never accept his son not attending his Christmas party, so Diego had not dared to not show up.

From the corner of his eye, Diego noticed how Victoria had left Isabella. And she was making her way towards the garden. Diego smiled and hoped Victoria longed for a few moments of peace and quiet, just like him. Diego got up and walked to the table where all sorts of refreshments got displayed.
"And don Horatio," Diego asked, keeping his eye on Victoria to see where she was going. "How do you like the evening?"

"Excellent, don Diego. The wine tastes exquisite, the food is great, and most guests are pleasant company."
Right then, even her father cringed when Magdalena Sanchez hit the wrong note for the umpteenth time. "Only the music is not quite to my taste."

Diego tapped the man on the shoulder, smiling. He had seen how Victoria had managed to work her way a little further towards the door leading to the garden.
"Enjoy the food and wine. There is plenty."

"Oh, Si, gracias, don Diego. Don't mind if I do."
Don Horatio's attention turned to the bowl of stuffed eggs.

When Diego took a few more steps, he would arrive at the garden door at the same time as Victoria, and he could suggest they go out to get some fresh air.
Victoria glared over her shoulders, her back partly turned to him. She took a step backwards. Quickly, Diego took two steps in her direction.

Suddenly there was this deafening, loud cry.

"Look! Don Diego and señorita Victoria must kiss!"

Lucia Sanchez pointed at something above the heads of Diego and Victoria.

.

.