I do not own the characters in the New World Zorro series nor do I profit from publishing this story.
So Burning.
Victoria pulled up a chair to position it in front of the kitchen cabinet so she could reach a box that was sitting on it. "I think I kept that little bag in a box I put up there." she said to her assistant.
Pilar had already finished washing the dishes. "Do you want me to climb the chair and get it?" she said looking at Victoria. "I'm a little taller."
She turned a little to answer. "No, with the chair I can make it, go home now, we're running late. See you tomorrow."
"Fine, see you tomorrow." said Pilar walking out the back door.
Victoria picked up the box and opened it, but the spice she was looking for was not there. However at the bottom was another box, so she tiptoed to reach for it. With her fingertips she managed to drag it with difficulty. As she reached the edge of cabinet top it caught on something and she gave a little tug to free it; as she did, the chair wobbled causing her to startle. Shaking her hands trying to regain her balance she slapped the box, which opened and began to fall. Victoria tried to catch it on the fly, but only succeeded in hitting it with her fingers, the box flipped over and a cloth bag inside crashed into her, scattering its contents in a cloud around her.
The cayenne from the bag got into her eyes and nose, causing her to tear up and start sneezing. Blindly she tried to keep her balance on the chair as she sneezed again and again.
"Victoria! Don't move!" said a male voice she knew all too well. She tried to hold on to the furniture as she continued to sneeze and noticed hands holding her waist.
"That's it, come down slowly." he said as she climbed down from the chair. "What happened to you?" he asked with concern as he helped her sit up.
"Cayenne." she said just before she sneezed again and was unable to open her eyes, which were stinging and watering.
"I'll get you something to wash your face." he said immediately. She brought her hands up to her face to scratch her eyes, but heard him exclaim from across the kitchen. "Don't touch your eyes! Wait until you've washed your hands." he advised her. She coughed and groaned, frustrated, as she heard him pushing the water pump lever.
"I know it's hard, but you have to try." She heard footsteps approaching and a clatter of something he deposited on the table, then dragged the table over to where she was. "You have a pan of water in front of you. Are there clean cloths in the cupboard?"
"Yes, on the second shelf."
She began to wash her hands and immediately felt a wet cloth over her eyes. He wiped the eyelids without rubbing, pressing gently against the delicate skin and using different areas of the cloth each time. She began to feel relieved. The voice said from her right. "Here's another clean cloth."
She held out her hand and he handed it to her so she could dry herself.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes, good thing you got here just in time, I thought I was going to fall." she said blinking hard as she opened her eyes. He was leaning slightly towards her, and she still had blurred vision from the hot spice. The first thing she could see was his mouth, with a serious expression. "I don't know how you manage to be here just when I need you to rescue me." she said, glad he was there despite how uncomfortable and ridiculous the situation was.
"I'm glad I could help you." he said.
She looked up, her eyes already clearing. "I'm glad too..." she gaped. "Diego?"
"Yes, of course, it's me. I was working at the newspaper and didn't realize it was so late. On my way out I saw the light and stopped by to say good night. Is something wrong?"
"It's you!" she exclaimed, realizing that it was indeed her hero who had rescued her, this time without his mask.
"Well yes, it's me, what's the matter with you?" said Diego somewhat alarmed.
"No, of course it's you, Diego, but it's you too!"
"Victoria I don't understand you." he said worriedly.
"You're..." she looked around, frightened, then got up and went to the curtain, peeking out to check that there was no one in the room. Diego followed her, not understanding her behavior, and as she turned around abruptly she found him right behind.
"You're Zorro." she said accusingly though in a whisper.
Diego stood there looking at her not knowing what to say. "Uh... well..."
She folded her arms and cocked her head slightly. "That's all you have to say?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't expect that after all this time you would just figure it out like that, all of a sudden." he said as he tried to regain his higher brain functions, albeit with little success.
"I suppose you think I'm too dumb to realize things." she said offended, raising her voice.
"No, it's just that you haven't realized for the last six years, I thought you'd remain unsuspecting until I told you, and that even then you'd find it hard to believe."
"And were you planning on telling me someday? Because you didn't seem to be in any great hurry to do so."
"I didn't know how." he confessed. "We had agreed that we would wait until Zorro wasn't needed. Besides, the times I've tried to talk to you, give you some clue, you always seemed convinced that behind the mask was someone... I don't know, more impressive than me."
"Actually it was you who decided not to tell me, I asked you to take off your mask. And when have I ever said anything like that?" she said suspiciously.
"You said it when I asked you if you could love Zorro when he took off his mask and turned out to be an ordinary guy like me. You also agreed with my father that if I tried to imitate Zorro I would look foolish."
"I don't remember exactly what I said." replied Victoria defensively. "I didn't know you were seriously asking. It's not fair, because when you're not wearing the mask you pretend you're someone else. What's my fault if you managed to deceive me by making a fool of yourself on purpose?"
"If I didn't pretend any of the alcaldes would have hanged me by now."
"I'm not the alcalde, you shouldn't pretend with me too."
"You don't have to worry about that. It's clear that from now on I'm not going to have to do it anymore, so now you'll have to keep it a secret too." he said starting to get tired of her yelling at him.
"You think I won't be able to?" she said defiantly.
"Well you're going to have to tell me. You're going to have to pretend you don't know who's behind the mask, behave the same as always when I'm not wearing it, and when the alcalde or some bandits threaten someone, you'll have to look like you believe the idiotic excuses I make so I can leave and change my clothes and intervene before it's too late."
"I guess I can learn from you, you have so much practice and you do it easily."
"You think it's easy to hide the truth? Well no, it's damned hard," he said in exasperation. "To let everyone think I can't defend myself and disappoint my father, who intended for me to openly confront the alcalde when I arrived from Madrid, as if that would have done any good."
Victoria realized something. "I didn't imagine it then, that night at the mill you did want to kiss me."
Diego moved closer to her. "Of course I wanted to, I want to all the time. That's the hardest thing of all, to pretend you don't affect me so no one realizes how much I want to kiss you every time I see you."
Maybe Diego was going to add something else, but he couldn't because Victoria lunged at him to kiss him, so eagerly that he had to take a step back to keep from losing his balance. She knew she was right about what she said in the cave, the man behind the mask was as passionate as Zorro. Lying and stubborn, but certainly passionate.
When they separated they both gasped, and Diego licked his lips a little quizzically.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I didn't expect our first kiss without the mask to be so burning." At her look he added. "You still had some cayenne on your lips."
She touched her fingers to her lips. "Well, it took you quite a while to notice."
"I was busy with something more important." he said waiting to see how she reacted. Then he asked her. "How are your eyes?"
"They're still stinging a little."
"Maybe you should go back to washing your hands and face to finish getting the spice off your skin." He offered her another of the cloths, which was still clean.
"Thank you." she said walking over to the sink to wet it. She wiped her face as she thought about what to say next. It seemed to her that Diego was as tense as she was.
When she set the cloth down on the table he was the first to speak. He walked over to Victoria and took her hand. "I need to know if you want to go through with our engagement."
She nodded and looked up, her eyes still a little red. "I do want to marry you, Diego, but what I don't want to do is wait until Zorro is no longer needed. That may never happen, and now that I know how to find you... I don't think I can pretend we're just friends for long."
Diego smiled slightly. "We'll have to find a way." then he cleared his throat, still nervous. "How did you know?"
"By your voice, and by the way you held me by the waist. I was sure it was you, I mean Zorro. You always come when I need help." She looked into his eyes. "Although until now I haven't known how many times you've done it, as Diego and as Zorro."
"I'll always be here for you." he said stroking her cheek. They kissed again, this time more slowly.
"No more spice on my lips?" she asked.
He looked at her very seriously, pondering. "I don't think so, but let me make sure." he said kissing her again.
When they broke apart she giggled.
"I have to go." he said also smiling.
"But I'll see you tomorrow." she replied hopefully.
"You can count on it." he assured her.
FIN
Note from the author:
This is just a little story. For some reason Spring inspires me different ways for her to finally find out. Two years ago it was "The Heist" and last year "April Rains."
I'm hoping to finish a couple of stories I'm pretty far along and post them in the next few months. Until then thanks for reading.