Chapter 23

Madre de Dios, he was at it again!

Victoria couldn't help this silent but slightly irritated thought when she saw Don Diego enter her tavern carrying señorita Alacen in his arms.

Again.

Honestly! It was really getting to be a habit with him! Anyway, he seemed to be developing a taste for it.

Victoria immediately chastised herself for these decidedly hardly charitable thoughts: if Don Diego was carrying this young woman, something bad certainly had happened…

My God, Victoria thought, angry at herself for her initial fit of temper, had she fainted again? Or... or worse?

Worried, she rushed to the woman.

"Don Diego," she asked, "what's wrong? Is she...? What's...? What happened to her? How is she?"

Swamped with the torrent of her questions, Diego didn't immediately answer. Then, noticing Victoria's growing anxiety, especially faced with his silence, Señorita Alacen herself reassured her, although in a feeble voice:

"I'm fine, Señorita, everything's all right, don't worry. Señor," she added for Diego's benefit, "you can put me down now, I assure you."

"You had a dizzy spell, you've just woken from two days of fever and unconsciousness, and all this on an empty stomach on top of things."

"I'm feeling better, you can put me down."

"You need to rest now," he objected.

"And I'm going back to bed straightaway, I promise," she replied. "Or at least I will as soon as you put me down. Please," she added in a gentler voice.

"Yes Don Diego," Victoria cut in rather sharply, "you may put the señorita down, now."

"I won't put her down anywhere but in bed!" he stated flatly.

"Oh! Alright, alright, make it quick, then" Luz told him, "we're being looked at!"

She finally seemed to take the full measure of things, of appearances, of her attire, of the fact that she was in a man's arms – and a mere stranger's at that – and of the way this situation could look to third parties.

Victoria, as for her, had already taken it a long time ago:

"She's right, Don Diego, my tavern is a very correct house of good repute and I intend it to remain so! Therefore I'd rather you put Señorita Alacen in bed as soon as possible and you come back downstairs immediately, or else I'll go upstairs to get you myself!"

Seeing that Diego was finally beginning to slowly realise what she was implying, she confirmed:

"Otherwise you might set tongues wagging and get yourself talked about..."

Wordlessly, Diego gave a slow nod and began to climb the stairs, señorita Alacen still nested in his arms. Halfway up, he stopped and turned back to Victoria to ask her:

"Victoria! Would you please be kind enough to take a bowl of broth and a plate of whatever the daily special is up to señorita Alacen?"

"The fish stew isn't ready yet, Don Diego, but as soon as it is, I will!"

Luz's head then emerged from Diego's shoulder and in a somewhat feeble voice she told her:

"Thank you very much, Señorita. And please believe that I'm sorry about the inconvenience and trouble all this is making for you and your business."

"Don't mention it, Senorita!" Victoria replied. "The disturbance is not that big, I assure you. Your only concern right now should be about getting some rest and recovering, don't worry about anything else."

Diego had barely resumed climbing the stairs when Victoria suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, wait!" she called.

She grabbed something under her counter and walked over to them. Diego then saw that the something in question was a small bouquet of wild flowers, which she handed to Señorita Alacen.

"Here," she told her, "this is for you. You've just missed Corporal Sepulveda who came here just a few minutes ago to ask about your condition and give you this," she added with a knowing smile.

"Who?" Luz asked. "Who is he?"

"He's one of the soldiers who found you and brought you to the pueblo," Diego clarified for her, a bit annoyed for the delay in getting her to bed. "He's the one who brought you to the doctor's office."

"And he's also come several times while you were unconscious, keeping vigil at your bedside with either me or Don Diego," Victoria added.

"I think that, above all, he was mostly watching me on the alcalde's orders," Diego added, in a slightly irritated tone of voice, "to make sure I wouldn't… prompt Senorita Alacen, suggest her what to say when she finally wakes up."

"Oh you're being unfair, Don Diego! Victoria scolded him.

"Yes," Luz added, "the alcalde's initial wariness was after all rather legitimate, although rather hurtful at the time, and anyway he finally acknowledged my testimony as truthful!"

"No," Victoria said, "I meant toward Corporal Sepulveda! He seemed to be sincerely worried for you... it was even rather sweet, indeed."

"Charming," Diego said with the air of someone who didn't find it charming at all. "Perhaps we could postpone this chat?" he suggested in a slightly gruff tone of voice. "She really has to get some rest right now."

"Very well," Victoria replied, a bit miffed to see her nice enthusiasm dampened by Diego.

Luz took the bouquet, asking her:

"Señorita, once I am rested, I'd really like to bathe or at least wash a bit. Would it be possible to have then a large wash tub and some hot water taken up to my room?"

"Of course Señorita, and I'll come up to help you with it. With your wounded shoulder and leg, you will have some trouble to do it by yourself, as well as to get dressed."

"Muchas gracias, Señorita, that's very kind of you. I'm very lucky, incidentally: ever since my arrival in this pueblo, I have met only nice people, obliging and compassionate, eager to help me: yourself Señorita, this Corporal Sepulveda, Señor de la Vega here, and even his son, who only wanted to help..."

"But you're forgetting the alcalde," Diego told her. "He's the exception."

"Don't be unfair," she replied. "I don't know what your quarrel with him is, but I have to admit that, after the initial suspicion he is bound to by his office, he was nothing but courteous and considerate."

"Believe me Señorita," Diego retorted, "you don't know Ignacio de Soto..."

"Don Diego is right, Señorita," Victoria said. "The alcalde is not a pleasant man, far from it. Wait until you really know him and judge him on his actions, you'll see... if you stay with us long enough for it, of course, but you'll certainly want to set off again as soon as you've recovered enough to do so.

"I have some business to attend to here in Los Angeles before I ride back," Luz said.

Strangely, Luz suddenly had the impression that, for some reason she couldn't understand, Señorita Escalante seemed somewhat quite eager to see the back of her as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience my condition is causing to you, Señorita," she added a little chagrined by her hostess's suddenly cooler attitude, especially since the latter had been so charming thus far, "but I'm afraid I will have to outstay your welcome one more day. Of course I will pay each centavo of what I ow–"

"Anyway," Diego cut her, "right now you're not fit to ride, and won't be for several days at least. Neither is your horse, for that matter. But that's enough chat for now: I'm carrying you up to your room. Off to bed!"

And walking the talk, he resumed climbing the stairs, Victoria following him very closely, hot on his heels, tight-lipped.