CHAPTER FOUR

"What would you like to wear to dinner tonight, Senorita Cabrillo?" Cresencia asked Anita later that evening. The young woman's clothes were spread out all over the bed.

"It's funny, but I feel as though I am so underdressed whenever I am around Don Diego and Don Alejandro," Anita said with an embarrassed smile. "I did not really pack anything that befits a home like this, or men of their position. My mother…" Anita trailed off, blinking back tears. "We did well enough," she said finally.

Cresencia gave her a hug. Then, she studied the dresses on the duvet. "This one," she declared, holding up one with a full blue skirt, bell sleeves, and white, high-necked blouse. She helped Anita change into it, added a yellow sash at her waist for a touch of color, brushed her hair, and helped her step into her shoes. Then, she stepped back. "Elegante," she proclaimed, and Anita blushed. She looked at herself in the mirror.

"It needs something," Anita murmured, studying the outfit. Her eyes lit up. "Oh!" She rummaged through her trunk, pulling out an item wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped it and held it out to Cresencia.

"Senorita, it's beautiful," Cresencia exclaimed. The item was a brooch. A bouquet of flowers carved from mother-of-pearl sparkled in the light, in a gold setting. Emeralds sparkled around the frame. She helped Anita pin it to her collar.

"It was a gift from my father to my mother," Anita explained. "It's all I have of him, besides my mother's stories of course."

"I think he must have loved your mother very much," Cresencia told her, "to give her something so beautiful."

Anita wrapped her arms around herself. "I hope that he loves me as much, when I find him."

"How could he not?" Cresencia smiled as there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Bernardo standing there. He looked at Anita and smiled widely. He held a hand to his chest and fanned his face. Anita laughed as she accepted his arm and he escorted her down to the dinner table.

"There she is!" Diego said, standing alongside his father as Bernardo pulled her chair out for her. "Anita, you look lovely."

"Oh, gracias, Don Diego," Anita said, blushing slightly. She sat, and the de la Vega men took their places also. "Cresencia helped."

"Cresencia has impeccable taste," Alejandro declared. He looked at Diego. "She would always help your mother get ready for important functions. I swear she is a magician…" His voice trailed off as his eyes settled on the piece of jewelry Anita had at her neck. His expression darkened. "Where did you get that?" he demanded.

Taken aback at his change in tone, Anita stammered, "W-what?"

"Father?" Diego questioned.

"That," Alejandro barked, poking a finger at the brooch.

Anita ran her fingers over it. "It-it was my mother's. She gave it to me before she died."

Alejandro stood up so quickly he nearly upended his chair. "Your mother?" he clarified, and Anita nodded.

"Father, what on earth-" Diego started, but was cut off by his father holding up a hand.

"Anita. How old are you?"

"S-seventeen," she stammered. "Don Alejandro, what-"

"Your mother's name. What is your mother's name?!"

"Father, stop," Diego chided him.

"Not now, Dieguito," Alejandro said sharply. His hands were shaking, and he gripped the edges of the table. "Answer me," he told Anita.

"Penelope Cabrillo," Anita told him.

Alejandro's jaw dropped. "No," he whispered. "No, it cannot be."

"Father, what is going on?" Diego demanded, standing himself. "Why are you badgering her so?"

Alejandro's face flushed, and his heart thudded in his chest. He closed his eyes, remembering. "The trip to Spain," he whispered. "Eighteen years ago. Diego, you were about ten, I suppose. There was a woman at the posada, the tavern. We would meet every evening. I bought that brooch for your mother, Diego."

"My mother worked in a tavern," Anita said.

She had her mother's eyes. Alejandro could see it now.

Diego's eyes narrowed in understanding. "Father." He ran a hand through his hair. "You didn't." He shook his head in disbelief. "Please tell me you didn't…"

Alejandro couldn't meet his eyes. "I loved your mother, Diego, but…" He nodded sadly. "There was a morning…the brooch was gone from my bag. I confronted Penelope and she told me she'd stolen it,I assumed that she needed the money. I exploded, but before I could have her arrested for theft, that was the moment I received word you both were sick. I was on a ship back to California that evening."

"My mother stole this brooch…from you?" Anita's eyes widened.

"Eighteen years…." Diego had gone to universidad, he could do simple math. The realization hit him the same moment it hit Anita.

"You're her father!"

"You are my father?"

Alejandro sagged back into his chair. "I think….there is no other explanation," he said quietly.

There was a pause. Then, "Then that is why you've been so….so…How could you tell me none of this?" Diego demanded. His dark eyes flashed. "Did Mother know?" he demanded. "That you were unfaithful to her in Spain?"

Alejandro shook his head. "I never told her. I was too ashamed of my actions."

"And this woman, this Senorita Cabrillo. You just left her in Spain? With a child?"

Anita shrank back in her chair. Diego was furious.

"No!" Alejandro protested. He looked pleadingly at Anita. "I had no idea. She never tried to contact me. If I had known-"

"Oh, what?" Diego snapped. "What would you have done, Father? Would you have left me on my own, gone back to Spain? Sent for her? What?"

"I don't know!" Alejandro exploded. "I did not tell your mother because she was ill, Diego, she did not need to die knowing I had been unfaithful to her. I wanted to spare her the heartache along with everything else. And I never told you because…it was years ago! I did not think it mattered!"

"...My mother did not matter to you?" Anita spoke up quietly.

Both de la Vega men froze, and looked at the young woman. She stood up slowly, looking between them, her eyes settling on Alejandro, brimming with tears. Swallowing thickly, she pushed back from the table and walked away. Bernardo reached out a hand to her, but she ignored it, leaving him hanging as she went to her room and closed the door. Bernardo looked back at the two men, his mouth open in an o of shock.

Diego looked at his father. "I need some air," he said finally. "Con permiso." He stalked away from the table in the direction of the patio.

Alejandro closed his eyes, swearing quietly in Spanish. He felt a hand on his arm, and looked up sharply to see Bernardo there. He shrugged the other man's hand away. "A moment, Bernardo, por favor," he said. "I…"

He swept his empty plate to the floor with a growl of frustration. "I…" He held his breath, let it out. "I'm going for a ride. Please tell Cresencia I'm sorry for the mess."

You're going to have to apologize to Diego and Anita both for the other mess, his mind told him. Alejandro strode down to the stables, saddled Princesa, and drove her out into the waning sun.

_/_

Anita lay in tears, sprawled across the four poster bed. The pillow she held in her arms was soaking wet. She kept replaying supper in her mind. Her father….Alejandro de la Vega is my father!

There was a knock on Anita's door. She ignored it, too upset to answer.

"Anita," came Diego's voice from the other side of the door. "Anita, it's Diego. Por favor, may I speak to you?"

It really wasn't Diego's fault, Anita knew. And perhaps…perhaps her half brother…oh, that would take some getting used to…was just as lost and confused as she was. "Yes," she said, sniffing, sitting up and rearranging her hair and dress to look a bit more presentable. "Come in."

Diego pushed the door open gently and sat down at the edge of the bed. "Cresencia put your dinner away so you can eat it later," he told her. "And…I wanted to say that I am sorry for my behavior tonight."

"Perhaps it would have been better if I had never come to California," Anita said quietly.

"What?" Diego shook his head. "No, no. You misunderstand. None of this is your fault." Tentatively, he reached out for Anita's…for his sister's hand. "I am sorry if it was made to sound that way."

"I came to Los Angeles to find my father," Anita said, her back to Diego as she faced the wall. "Now I wish I hadn't. And I don't think he wishes I had either!" She buried her face in the pillow, sobbing.

Diego ran a thumb over the back of her hand. "My father is…he is a hard man. He is a good man," he assured her, "but a hard one. It is hard for him to talk about my mother, even after all these years. When she passed, he threw himself into running the rancho. I hardly saw him. When I went to Spain for universidad, we wrote letters, but they were few and far between. Alejandro de la Vega is not a man who expresses his feelings well." Diego chuckled. "That is, unless it is about the price of cattle or corruption in Los Angeles." Or telling his son how he truly feels about El Zorro. "I am afraid it is a trait we both share, unfortunately. I am sorry for yelling, for the things I said about your mother, and you."

"You did not say anything wrong. You did not know."

"No," Diego agreed, "but that isn't a good reason. So I am still sorry."

He tapped her on the shoulder, and Anita rolled over on her side so she was facing him. Diego ran a finger over the brooch at her throat. "Father must have spent a great deal on this," he mused. "Mother of pearl, emeralds, and what I am sure is real gold for the setting." He smiled sadly. "It is beautiful. My mother would have loved it."

"I am sorry he never got to give it to her," Anita said. She reached for it, unpinned it, and held it out to him. "I think it must go to you."

Diego closed her fingers over it. "No, Anita. It ended up in your hands for a reason. It is just as much yours as it would have been hers. And I have a feeling, if she had known your situation, my mother would not have hesitated to give it to you herself." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You know, I always wanted a brother or a sister."

"Me, too," Anita said. She bit her lip and looked at him. "Do you…do you think Don Alejandro will be all right?"

"In time, most certainly," Diego assured her. "We both will. He just needs some time to think. This is a bit much, for everyone." He patted her hand encouragingly. "You'll see, mi hermana, when he returns from his ride, everything will be all right.''

_/_

Alejandro climbed off Princesa's back and patted her on the neck. The hacienda's lights flickered in the fading sun down the hill. The horse nudged him in the shoulder and gave him a whinny. "Si, Princesa," he nodded. "I think a ride was just what I needed to clear my head." He sighed. "I should not have yelled at Diego or Anita. Diego is right, I should have told him a long time ago. And Anita, she is the spitting image of her mother. She came all the way to California to find her father, and find him she has. Paula would make me sleep in the stables if I turned her away." He stroked the horse's nose. "She is beautiful, smart, and spirited. She is a de la Vega through and through." He began leading Princesa back home. "I think she'll fit in just fine."

He registered the footsteps half a second before something hard came crashing down on the back of his head. He saw stars…then blackness.