Chapter 14

Dec, 24. Los Angeles, the tavern.

Furious, Victoria used all her strength to push him off her.
This was't Zorro. It was Diego and he had kissed her! And not just a small, petite, insignificant kiss on the mouth. But a hot, intense, fiery kiss.

And worse, she had reciprocated his kiss! She had believed she was kissing Zorro, but it turned out to be Don Diego!
Victoria felt betrayed and deceived. The kiss had been full of passion. And until she noticed something was wrong, it had felt like she was kissing Zorro.
Diego had taken advantage of the situation in a vicious manner. He had lured her into a trap for his gain. How was she ever to face Zorro again?

Her sudden movement caused Zorro to lose his balance. He took one step backward to regain it. Zorro wondered why Victoria pushed him away from her. It gave him time to come to his senses. His heart raced wildly. He had never been able to resist Victoria. It was wrong to come to her believing he could succeed this time no matter how determind he was.

Victoria's eyes shot off sparks of anger. She had never felt this upset. So betrayed. So hurt. So..., so..., angry. Victoria stretched out her arm. ''How dare you!" She spat out.

Diego was just about to ask why Victoria had said his real name when he reflexively grabbed her wrist and prevented her from hitting him in the face with her flat hand.

She was right. Diego was conspiracing with de Soto to have Zorro captured. And this time he had tried to make her believe he was him. She would never have believed it was possible for Diego to sink even lower. Feeling outraged and humiliated, Victoria snapped at him. "How dare you come here disguised as Zorro and try to fool me. What on earth were you thinking!? Did you hope me to swoon myself into your arms, begging to get a kiss?"

Zorro was flabbergasted as her words and their meaning sunk in. Victoria thought he was Diego dressed as Zorro and not the real Zorro. Didn't she see it was him?

"Out of my sight. I could just kill you!"
Victoria was too furious to realize she was face-to-face with the real Zorro.

His secret was safe, unfortunately.
Coming this close to having her discover the truth, Diego wished he dared to tell her Diego didn't disguise as Zorro, for he was Zorro.
Then he remembered the rejection she gave him. He didn't want to hear her saying she had feelings for Diego because he was Zorro. Victoria had her chance and ruined it.

Unconsciously, his gaze drifted to the emerald ring lying disconsolately on the floor. It had slipped from his hand while he had been embracing Victoria.

Victoria noticed that Diego was staring up at something on the tiles. It took her a few seconds before she realized it was her engagement ring.
And a strange thought occurred to her.
"Diego," She, therefore, asked dumbfounded. "How did you know about my ring?"

Zorro watched as the now inescapable truth slowly dawned on her. Instantly, Victoria turned frighteningly pale. Zorro reached out to catch her. Victoria sank to the ground, unconscious.
Victoria had discovered the truth. He could not leave her. First, he had to make sure she would keep his secret. In an outburst of rage, Victoria might betray him, deliberately or not. He could not leave her like this. Therefore, Zorro scooped Victoria into his arms and carried her up the stairs, into her bedroom.

Carefully, Zorro flattened Victoria down on the snow-white sheets.
Her fire-spitting eyes were fresh in his mind.
He had almost managed to get away without revealing his identity to her. Victoria had even thought for a moment that Diego had fooled her. A careless slip and the ring had betrayed him.

His eye fell on a jug. It contained a bit of water.
He grabbed a cloth from the pile next to it and wet it.
Zorro sat down on the edge of the bed and started dabbing Victoria's forehead.

A moment later, first, her eyelids began to flutter. And one more moment later, Victoria flicked her eyes open.

Victoria cried out. "Diego."

So she had not forgotten. Had he hoped she would or that she would not discover his identity? Diego wasn't sure whether his voice worked, so he nodded.

"You are Zorro." Victoria stammered uncertainly.

Another nod.

Victoria sat up straight. Her eyes began to sparkle and a wide smile appeared on her face. "That's fantastic! Oh, Diego. You have no idea how amazing this is. It is you." She tried to embrace him.

Swiftly, Diego rose from the bed.
He had to keep her at a safe distance, not to fall for her lies. As standoffishly as possible, he announced to her. "This doesn't change anything. I merely stayed to ask you to keep my secret to yourself."

Her brain was working at full speed. Diego was Zorro. How was it possible that these two men were the same? Stumbling over her words, Victoria faltered. "How do you mean this does not change anything? It changes everything. I can't believe it is actually you. It is wonderful. I love you."

"Are you sure? When my memory serves me right, you told me only yesterday you can never devolep any feelings for me.
You rejected Diego because I was not HIM! Well, guess what? I am HIM! Victoria, you are in love with an illusion. A man who solely exists in your imagination. Zorro is not real! I AM! And you didn't want me." With every word he uttered, Diego lost more control over his emotions.
"Yes, I am Zorro. But you know, he is just an act. In reality, Zorro is the boring, ordinary, plain don Diego. So don't you lie to me. You told the truth yesterday. And…," God, this was hard. "I must have known from the beginning I was fooling myself by believing you might, one day, love the actual man. It is over Victoria. You had your chance. Before I go, I do have to ask you for the safety of yourself, my father, Felipe and our workers, not to pass on who Zorro is. From tomorrow on, he will cease to exist."

Feeling dizzy, Victoria tried to understand what was happening and what Diego, DON DIEGO! OF ALL PEOPLE, was telling her.
Zorro was Diego.
It felt so unreal. It was the answer to all her prays. A voice started shouting in Victoria's head. He was about to leave her! All she could think was he couldn't leave her! She had to stop him. How was she to do that?
Victoria jumped out of bed, desperately, in an effort to stop him. She had moved too quickly because, right away, the ground began to sink beneath her feet again.

"Victoria," She heard a worried voice call out as two strong arms caught her.

She did not lose consciousness this time. And when she opened her eyes again, Victoria stared straight into the worried, blue, oh-so-familiar eyes of the person she held dear.
"Don't leave me," Victoria begged him. "Diego, please, I do love you. You being Zorro, I can't believe it. It's amazing."

"Don't suddenly start acting as if you care about ME! You told me yesterday that you have no interest in Diego whatsoever. It was loud and clear. But guess what, he's the one behind the mask." Zorro pointed to the piece of silk.

"Ho, take it easy. Can we please take a few steps back?" Victoria interupted him.
"As I recall, I said I couldn't answer your feelings. Not that I didn't want to."

Opinionated and determined not to forgive her, Diego muttered. "Does that make a difference?"

"Um, YES! Diego, can I call you Diego?" He didn't move a muscle. "You overwhelmed me with your question. Or did you conveniently forget that I am secretly engaged? With what turns out to be YOU! That I promised Zorro to wait for HIM! Keep HIS proposal a secret! What did you expect me to do? That I would break my promise just like that?" Victoria snapped her fingers. "Yes, I love Zorro. That doesn't mean I can't see what kind of man you are. Nor that I don't have feelings for you."

"So, you have feelings for me? That is rather sudden!" Sneered Diego harsh, just to avoid giving in to the hope that began increasingly to sparkle in his heart.

"Eh, yes," Victoria stammered embarresed. "NO!" That was not what she wanted to say. "Diego, listen." Victoria took a deep breath. She had to calm down and find the right words to express why she had acted as she had. At least, he was still in her room and listening to what she was saying.
"Had Zorro and I not been engaged, I would have told you Diego had a chance." Victoria looked at him again and immediatly slammed her eyes. It did feel like she was talking to Zorro about her feelings for another man. Victoria had to help herself remember this wasn't the case. "A very real chance, even." Turning her face in the other direction, waiting for his reaction.

She felt how a cold leather glove touched her chin. Zorro asked in a restrained voice.. "Victoria, are you serious?"

Victoria whispered. "Don't you remember when you came back from Spain? I hoped you would ask permission to court me. You didn't show any interest in me." Her voice flattered. "Zorro, on the other hand…,"

"He did." Diego finished her sentence.

Victoria opened her eyes. His gaze caught her eyes. Terrified, she stared at him. "In the beginning, I admired Zorro as much as any other. When he started to single me out, I felt flattered, charmed and fell in love. The rest…," Turning her face away again.

Could it be true what Victoria said? Diego could hardly believe it. He remembered how, at the beginning of Zorro, he had struggled to develop two identities, as different from eachother as possible. And, he had to admit, one of the things he had done out of selfprotection was create a distance between himself and the people he cared for most.

The silence lasted too long.

"You think I'm lying, don't you? Didn't you feel it when we kissed?" Victoria cried, pleading. "It's said a kiss can't lie. When we kissed, I felt you loved me. You must have noticed some of my feelings for you."

No, he hadn't. Being Diego, at that time, his main focus was on not showing any of the emotions rushing through his veins. To get the kiss over with as soon and with as little damage as possible.
"To be honest, no. I was mainly concentrating on not letting anything of my emotions show." Diego confessed, knowing he had tried to lie about his feelings and failed in his intention to do so.
"A kiss can't lie, you say. Maybe we should put it to the test."
Slowly, he bent closer towards Victoria. In his hand, he held her chin and turned her head closer to his mouth. Hesitantly, his lips explored her mouth.

This time, Victoria did not kiss the masked hero she adored. Nor the don Victoria thought she only held feelings of friendship.
She was kissing the man she loved.

Victoria loved him. There was no denying it. The proof was there in a kiss in which she put all her feelings.

Victoria licked her slightly swollen lips.
"Convinced?"

It took him a while to regain his voice. His smile said it all. "Maybe not quite yet."
His arms slipped tighter around her waist. Victoria wrapped her arms around his neck. His lips caressed her cheek, and he tasted her salty tears flowing profusely down her cheeks.
Their lips met again for a second, even more, fervent kiss.

"How about now?" Victoria asked a little later, out of breath.

"It's starting to come."

She pulled Zorro's mouth onto hers once more and allowed herself to fall back into the pillows, pulling Zorro with her. She heard him moan into her mouth.
"Diego, I do love you," Victoria whispered when they had to stop kissing, in need to regain their breath.

"I know," Diego uttered, feeling shaky. "Wait, I'll be right back."

Zorro jumped up, and she heard how he went down the stairs.
Where was he going? Victoria was still half dizzy.
Diego was Zorro!
How remarkable! How unexpected! How delightful!
She heard from the creak of the step that he was returning again and sat straight. Victoria felt a bit scared of what was to come. Diego said he believed her, but what if he didn't want her anyway?

Zorro stood in the doorway and seemed to fill the whole room.

He kneeled in front of her, and on his palm was the ring.
"Victoria, will you marry me?"

"That depends," Victoria replied resolutely.
She smiled at the sight of the disappointed face. "I only want to marry the man behind the mask."

Grinning, Diego untied the bandana, throwing the mask on the floor. "Better?"

Victoria laughed, happily, holding out her hand, and Diego slipped the ring on her finger. Victoria folded her hands around his cheeks. Diego raised, leaned forward, and together landed back on the pillow. Victoria managed to cry out, "Oh, yes. Much better." Before, Diego covered her mouth again for a kiss that did not hide any of his feelings.

.

"The alcalde." Victoria suddenly said when Diego had just managed to tear his lips away from hers to take a deep breath.

Dazed, Diego looked at her. How could Victoria be thinking about de Soto at this moment?

"Don't you think he will find it suspicious if I suddenly take an interest in Diego, even want to marry him instead of Zorro?" Victoria let out her worry.

"I think that might surprise you."

Victoria raised her eyebrows.

"De Soto has been pairing us up for a while now. He is even giving me fencing lessons, hoping to make me more appealing to you."

Victoria giggled into his armpit. "You can't be serious. Is the alcalde giving Zorro fencing lessons? I would have liked to have seen that."

"He doesn't teach Zorro, but don Diego. And as you know, Diego is a hopeless case. I must say I admire de Soto's patience.
He even tried to get me to defend your honour a couple of days ago. It is too bad Mendoza acted too quickly for his own good.

"Is that all that fuzz was about?" Victoria chuckled.

"Yes, de Soto saw his umpteenth plan fall apart."

"That explains a lot," Victoria said, pondering. This time it was Diego's turn to look questioningly.
"I think since the beginning of the month, de Soto has been taking every opportunity to say something positive about you. About your work for the Guardian and how generous you and your father are to the poor. In which he made insinuations about your family' wealth more than once. I thought he was jealous. But why on earth would de Soto want to pair us up?"

"I haven't figured that out yet. It seems he does it out of guilt after Gilberto's death. He shot one son of my father and now sees it as his job to make the other son more dignified. And that includes marriage and giving my father grandchildren.
And in doing so, I think he did not object to trying to drive you and Zorro apart.
So what do you think? Shall we let Diego court you and give our cupid the idea that his plan to get me a wife has a chance of succeeding?"
Diego slid his fingers tenderly over her forearm.

Victoria uttered. "Only when you're sure it's safe. Now that I finally have you, I don't want to lose you."

"Victoria, you have always had my heart."

.

Somewhere in the tavern, a clock struck multiple times.

"I have to go. It is nine o'clock, and my father will never forgive me when I am not ready, on time, to attend the Christmas mass."

Victoria uttered, smiling. "That's where I have to go as well. I had completely forgotten about it. Earlier on, I didn't feel like going. I hated having to pretend nothing was going on while I was getting torn apart."

"I felt the same thing. After the service will you come with me to the hacienda to celebrate Christmas?"

Victoria nodded, and her lips sought his one more time. And time became unimportant.

.

Don Alejandro ran fuming through the hacienda, calling angrily for his son. When he finally found Diego in the library, deepened in a book, the man gave his son a piece of his mind.

The carriage ride got used by don Alejandro to express his dissatisfaction. Don Alejandro told Diego what he thought of his son's lax behaviour regarding being ready, on time, to attend Christmas mass.

.

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As most others posting stories on fanfiction I also like to get reviews. Each one feels as a gift. And since it is Christmas...

From the Netherlands, I wish you all een vrolijk Kerstfeest en een gelukkig nieuwjaar.
A Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!