Chapter Six

Dulce was still not found. The riders returned at dawn, without Ana-Carmen's precious daughter.

Rosarita had stayed up all night, for news. Ana-Carmen had not thought the worst, and so she'd retired as usual.

But when dawn came, her mother came creeping into Rosarita's room, and embraced her older daughter. "Vincente brought news. They have seen no sign of her."

Rosarita shivered in her mother's embrace. "No sign? At all?"

"He said they inquired to the boys' parents. The boys have been inside all night. They did not come fetch her, and have not seen her," Mama said dully.

Rosarita could feel the fear emanating from her mother.

She'd already lost children, but those were to natural causes. Rosarita wasn't sure how her mother would react if Dulce wasn't found, or worse, was found...

She abruptly broke off her morbid train of thought. "Did they go to the beach?" She asked.

"Vincente said everywhere," Mama whispered. "Pray with me."

Breakfast came, and brought a white-faced Domingo back to the hacienda. "I just need something to eat," he muttered, trying to push past to the kitchen.

"No, Domingo, is there nothing you found?" Ana-Carmen cried.

He shook his head, unable to speak, and instead took the first food he saw.

Rosarita hung back, terror choking her throat.

While her parents tried to speak, she flew from the hacienda and along the road that led to the beach.

"Diego, I know this is not my place, but have you considered..." Alejandro trailed off, then awkwardly traced a 'Z' in the air, as Bernardo would do.

Diego was surprised that his father would know to do that, but then remembered that his father had 'known for a very long time'.

"I do not see what Zorro would do in this situation that we could not," Diego said. It felt so strange to be casually discussing Zorro with his father! Strange and relieving.

"Well, suppose someone did take her," Alejandro said, shifting in the saddle. "Zorro would instill terror in their hearts much more easily than you or I."

"Well, suppose someone didn't," Diego said. "Suppose she walked into the ocean, and Vincente, or worse, Rosarita, sees Zorro sweeping the ocean with no reason to be there."

Alejandro opened his mouth, then closed it again. "It is your choice," he began gently. "But I still feel that Zorro has something on his side that we do not. At the very least, a faster horse."

For Phantom had been hidden in a cove off the beach. Bernardo tended to him twice daily, and Diego had exercised him once while they'd been there.

"Speed could be no asset," Diego said.

"It might be," Alejandro said. "Domingo decided before going home to start covering more ground. I planned for you to go as far as Santa Clara."

Diego's jaw was set. "Fine. Zorro will ride. I will send Bernardo to you."

Without further notice, he turned his horse around and galloped, heading back to the hacienda.

Rosarita ran along the path to the beach, and when she reached the sandy shores a huff of air escaped her as she sank to her knees, trying to regain breath.

Surveying the length of the beach, she could see no figure. She wondered whether a body would have come in on the tide yet, then again tried to clear her brain of horrible thoughts.

No, no, no. Dulce will be all right. Dulce will be fine. Madre di dios, todos los ángeles y santos, help her. Help us find her.

Rosarita ran further to the water; she crashed through the waves to look behind the rocks lining the shore. Panic was choking her as the salt water soaked her skirt and she struggled back to land.

She reached her hand up to wipe away her frantic tears, and grasped the sodden skirt firmly in her fists as she climbed up the opposite side of the beach, to look more for Dulce and not return to the house.

Her heart was beating so quickly, so loudly, she could hear nothing else.

El Zorro searched the shoreline, astride Phantom, and soon was flying across the beach and up towards the Cortez hacienda. He honestly didn't know where to look; he wished Rosarita to be there and guide him to where her sister would go.

The thought took him aback. He wished Rosarita to guide him.

He thought that over a few minutes, as his eyes flew across the horizon in search of a little girl.

Isn't that true? Diego, tell the good Senor Zorro. How true is that?

He ignored the little voice inside of him, refusing to let it sway him in his search.

You want Rosarita, as a guide, as a helpmate.

What does Senorita Verdugo matter?

Could she ever be to you what Rosarita once was, that day on the bank of Don Nacho's stream?

The landscape was pastures, and Phantom leaped one fence into the southern pasture. Zorro searched all the nooks and crannies, going to the farthest corner of the fenced land in each direction.

There was no flutter of color, no flash of lace or windblown hair. Zorro felt bile rise in his throat and he was suddenly very fearful of what could have happened to Dulce.

A little girl wandering the road could be picked up by anyone, man or beast.

And if she'd been walking along the water...

It seemed she'd been running for hours, and now Rosarita stumbled into a place she'd never seen before.

One moment she was charging up a hill, the next she was in fairyland. Wonder overtook her, and she halted. The whole grass seemed to be covered with flowers, and it was all she could do to not sink down on her knees and just breathe everything in.

Huge trees sheltered the land from prying eyes, and Rosarita wondered how she'd ever missed it.

Then she heard a neigh, pounding hooves. From a corner of the hidden valley, a white horse charged.

She glanced forward, and suddenly saw a flash of pink linen, white lace and dark curls, curled up on a rock.

Dulce!

But who was the man astride the white horse?

Why was he here?

Rosarita's heart pounded as she struggled to her feet and tried to reach her sister before the man did.

But then she remember Milana's words, and her tired brain realized that the figure wore black.

Zorro rode a white horse now!

Rosarita ran forward with a gasp, relieved beyond all measure.

Zorro was leaping from his horse and gathering Dulce into his arms. In moments, he was up again, cape streaming behind him.

Rosarita wondered how she'd ever mistaken him for a bearer of evil.

She ran forward more, saw that Zorro was preparing to go and called out.

"Senor Zorro!"

He turned his horse almost immediately, and when he saw her standing there, something like lightning seemed to pass through Rosarita.

His big horse was galloping towards her, in moments he passed her and swept her up with him. She was perched on the barest side of the saddle, his arm was the only thing keeping her there. She struggled to adjust herself, and saw that Dulce was not awake.

"What is wrong with my sister?"

"I think she only sleeps," Zorro replied, slowing his horse just a fraction so that Rosarita could wiggle around to the back of him. Her skirt was riding up, but she didn't notice as they kept riding, heading towards the road.

Behind him now, she clutched at his shoulders and tried to rise to look at her sister, but Zorro shook off her efforts.

"You are going to unbalance me," he said, keeping pace. She reluctantly sank back down, and instead leaned into him, letting her head rest on his back.

He was so big, in this moment. Larger than life, heaven sent and wonderful. Her hands dug further into the material on his shoulders, trying to keep him there with her, though her brain didn't realize it.

The Cortez hacienda was coming into view. Zorro was slowing, and at the gate his horse halted.

"Wait there," he said, and she shifted back so he could dismount, cradling Dulce. She had woken up, and now stared at the man holding her.

"Buenos dias, Dulce," he whispered, and her eyes widened. He set her down, then turned back to her sister.

Rosarita had swung her legs over to one side, preparing to dismount but Zorro was there, with every intention of helping her.

To let him would be a slippery slope, Rosarita realized, and slid to the ground moments before he reached her and he halted.

"Thank you, ever so much, Senor Zorro," she said, meaning every word.

Something seemed to change in him. Something seemed to strengthen. His shoulders straightened, and he seemed even taller than before.

Rosarita smiled at the change.

Inside, Dulce was cooed over and embraced.

Riders were sent to recall the other searchers, and, in time, everyone had made their way back to the hacienda.

Rosarita started at the remembrance that they had been going to have the picnic that day. She felt a tinge of disappointment it hadn't been possible, but brushed it away in the wake of her relief over Dulce's safety.

Everything was good. Life was once again bright and wonderful.

So why did she feel so depressed?

After dinner, a boisterous meal that Dulce had been allowed to stay up for, Rosarita wandered to the patio. No one was there, her parents had gone to bed early with the expectation their guests would do the same.

Rosarita sank down in one of the chairs, a sigh escaping her.

"A centavo for your thoughts?"

She looked up to see Don Alejandro joining her, and smiled at him.

"Buenas noches, Don Alejandro. It's a lovely night, isn't it?"

"Si," he said, looking up at the starstudded sky.

She sighed again, feeling tired, and Don Alejandro looked at her quizzically.

"Does something trouble you?"

"Maybe," she admitted, and he leaned forward in his seat.

"Would talking it over with me help, if only to get it in the open?"

She smiled again, a faint twitch at the corners of her mouth. "It's about your son," she confessed, and he nodded.

"He is lost to me," she confided. "He fell in love with Anna Maria Verdugo while in Monterey. From the moment he came here, I had no chance with him."

"There was a chance," Don Alejandro said. "I saw him with Anna Maria, and I saw him with you. Querida, there was a marked change."

"How do you mean?"

"In his eyes, maybe," he continued. "Or his bearing. But with Anna Maria there was always tenseness, the question of whether he'd win her heart making him feel strained. When he looked at her, all sorts of feelings would just flow from him, of love and desire..."

Alejandro trailed off, a bit embarrassed at his frank words. "But with you, there was comfort. With you, he could be happy and carefree. With you, he could let his feelings show and not regret it."

"He hid many things from me," Rosarita said.

"But for different reasons," Alejandro replied. "I know my son. You are a better match for him than he knows."

"He'd have to know, though, if he were to choose me," she said and stood up. "No, I have accepted it. Diego will go back to Los Angeles, and I will stay here."

"That does not mean anything final," Alejandro said, standing with her. "I still hold out hope that you will be the one to..."

She smiled, and took his hand briefly. "Gracias."

A long, long time later that day, and into the night, Rosarita walked down to the garden and wasn't surprised to see who was there.

"Diego," she said.

"I was hoping you'd come down," he began. "I didn't dare expect, but we'll be leaving so early tomorrow there will only be time for goodbyes."

Rosarita nodded, and walked forward to sit in the chair opposite his.

"Diego, I can't deny it," she said. "I do still love you."

"I'm sorry," he said, fervently. "I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"You aren't," she said. "You never disappointed me."

He rubbed his hand over his face. "What about back in Los Angeles?"

"Oh, Diego," she sighed. "Things were different. I was uncomfortable there, after all that time I had expected things to be the same. But one of the first people I saw was you. And you were different. Not just grown up, but you were false."

"How do you mean?" He asked, tense.

"There was something to you that wasn't, well, you," she said. "You didn't feel true, anymore. There were layers and layers to you that I could not see and it frustrated me."

"Rosarita, there is something I must explain," he said.

"Don't try," she said.

Her hands clutched the sides of her chair, the pain keeping her conscious through her swirling thoughts.

"I just grew up." Diego began. "You must believe this, Rosarita. If there was a chance for me to regain you, I would. If there was a chance to fall in love with you all over again, erasing those things that stand between us, I'd take it. Maybe that's what I was trying to do this whole visit, I don't know!"

"What do you know?"

"That you would still be the first woman I'd choose to marry," Diego said. ""But let us face the truth. I am not getting married!"

"Don't you think I've realized by now?" Rosarita said, angry again.

"What?"

"That this is the 'again' you spoke of," she whispered. "The 'again' whispered by a masked man on a moonlit night."

Diego stared up at her from where he sat, hunched over in his chair. "Rosarita," he whispered.

She nodded.

Then Diego was standing up, running to her and pulling her to her feet. Without a word, he kissed her.

Truly, madly, deeply.

When he pulled away, she swayed on her feet for a moment, before smiling and laying her head to rest on his chest. His hands came up to cradle her head, and she felt him pressing desperate kisses on the top of her head.

After a moment of cherishing Diego, Rosarita looked up.

"I thought women were supposed to have stars in their eyes after being kissed," Diego teased. "You are looking at me so forthrightly, not hiding your face or seeming the least bit shy."

"I've been waiting for that all my life," she told him warmly. "Am I really supposed to be shy now?"

After a moment, reality seemed to return to them. Diego's arms loosened around her enough that Rosarita recognized what he was doing and stood up.

"I'm still going back home tomorrow," Diego said. "As much as I hate to say it...this didn't actually change anything concrete."

"I know," Rosarita said. "But it changed more than enough. I...I'd wait for you."

Diego jumped to his feet, eyes dark. "Can I ask that of you?"

"Why not?" She said. "It surprises me to say this, Diego, but for the first time in perhaps forever, I'm not considering Los Angeles my home."

Diego was quiet.

"All my life, ever since we moved to Monterey, I had always thought of Los Angeles as home. Here, this rancho, it was just a stopping point. Any day now, Papa would announce our return to Los Angeles, you'd come looking for me, my uncle would need me there. That is how I used to think of here, and of what home meant to me." She turned to face him. "I'm not thinking like that anymore. Los Angeles is my past, and, perhaps eventually, my future. But Monterey is my now. You can leave, Diego, and I will not wilt away waiting for you."

She stepped forward. "Can you understand that? I also realized if you'd asked on this visit..." She sighed. "The best answer would be no. You could not fully give your heart to me right now."

Diego took the hand offered him. "I agree. I regret it, but..." His eyes were warm. "But how do we leave this, verbally?"

Rosarita just smiled, her eyes twinkling with unshed tears. "Can't we just say that our old promise still stands?" She whispered.

"I will be collecting," Diego vowed.

A/N: First of all, I don't believe in endings.

Second of all, I flat out hate them. I cannot, have never, written an ending to any story that I published on this site that fully satisfied me. Maybe that's because you can't really write an ending for a TV show.

And it just felt so incredibly false to just give Rosarita a reveal, kiss, wedding. I tried, but the whole concept just seemed untrue to the person Rosarita is.

So that means this is not the end. I intend to write another chapter, (at least!) but as I finished this one, I felt like Maud Hart Lovelace when she completed Betsy's Wedding. Fully intending to write more, when she wrote her last words, she suddenly felt that that was enough.

I feel like that right now, and I just don't 'have it in me' to write more at this time. In a few months, inspiration will overtake me again and I can tie those loose ends up.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed my little series featuring Rosarita. It was truly a joy to write.