Chapter 30. Unsolicited Advice.

"As soon as we finish breakfast we're going into town." said Victoria.

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to talk to the alcalde. We've never gotten along." said Diego with little hope that she would give in. For once he could have used some bandits showing up and none had come close. Life was very unfair.

"Better you than me, I don't think I could keep my cool long enough not to yell at him or whack him with some heavy object."

" Alright, that would be an even worse idea, but this is still a bad one. I don't know what to tell him."

"Tell him the truth, that he's a rogue, immoral, sleazy seducer and he doesn't deserve her." she said raising her voice with each word.

Diego stared at her as she vented, "I guess I'll figure something out."

"You've stood up to him many times."

"It's different, I could carry my sword to begin with, and besides he didn't know it was me."

"It won't be so complicated to bring it up, you men love to brag, don't you talk about such things?"

"I don't, especially not with someone like him. It's disgusting just thinking about it."

"We don't do it for him, but for Marina. Imagine that she had married someone nicer, like one of my brothers."

"If she had married someone nice she wouldn't have this problem."

"Yes, that's true."

"Seriously, I don't know why we have to meddle."

"Because Marina is my friend and you're always fixing problems, so you're not backing out now."

Diego sighed, defeated.

A short time later, in the barracks office, the sergeant approached the alcalde, who was engrossed in reading some letters.

"Señor alcalde, Don Diego asks if you can attend to him now."

The alcalde looked up suspiciously. "Has he said what he wants?"

"No, mi alcalde, only that it is a matter of a personal nature."

The alcalde snorted. "All right, send him in."

The sergeant returned accompanied by Diego. The alcalde rose from his chair to greet him.

"Sit down, can I help you with something?"

"Perhaps it would be better if you asked your men to leave, this conversation I would prefer to keep between us."

That piqued de Soto's curiosity, who directed the soldiers to leave the office. Then he went to a corner where he had some glasses and a decanter. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you, I'm fine."

The mayor poured himself a drink and sat back down across from Diego. "Well, you tell me."

Not sure how to begin Diego finally decided on direct action.

"Yesterday your wife was visiting mine, and Victoria is worried about her."

"I assure you that my wife is well taken care of, you have nothing to worry about." said de Soto defensively.

"I'm afraid my wife has some information that you lack." said Diego, remembering what Victoria had told him when they were left alone.

"What information?"

"About the birth of your son."

"I suppose he was born in the usual way."

"In a way yes, but the midwife was late because Doña Marina hadn't told anyone she was expecting a child."

"I guess she hid it because she was embarrassed. At first I thought the baby wasn't even mine, but the truth is that he has my eyes, and from the date he was born it is indeed likely."

Diego looked at him, incredulous. "She wasn't embarrassed about the pregnancy, she was afraid because she didn't know what was happening to her." the alcalde looked at him in disbelief. "She didn't know that what she had done with you could have such consequences."

"Nonsense. It was a game to her, and she enjoyed it as much as I did."

"What do you mean it was a game to her?"

"She feigned innocence with her lovers, but believe me, she knew well enough what she was doing the times we were alone in that library. She didn't behave like an innocent young woman, she was eager to experiment on me."

Diego shook his head. "She didn't know that was what happens between a man and a woman, her friend told her not to worry, that what she was doing was right if you were already engaged, and when everyone knew what you had done because she gave birth to your child they repeated to her so many times that the intimacy between you was wrong, that now she thinks she is guilty and that she must not behave like that again."

The alcalde looked away, thoughtfully.

"That's absurd, she had to know what we were doing was wrong when it happened, there is no one so innocent."

"Not anymore." replied Diego very seriously. "Now she's convinced she has to behave like a decent woman. She heard you mutter something about a sack of potatoes, and I think Victoria and I have understood what you meant, although your wife is not so clear about it."

"And now she thinks it's all sin?" he asked. "But if within marriage it's allowed."

"If she had married a good man who had told her what you just said there would have been no problem, because she would have believed her husband above all else, and other people would not have interfered, but since you abandoned her, everyone has given her their opinion, and now they've convinced her that there's only one legitimate way to be intimate."

"And if you don't have a solution - what are you telling me all this for?" said the frustrated alcalde. "Have you come to mock me? Because by all accounts you are as much of a scoundrel as I am."

Diego couldn't help but be offended. "I have never taken away a woman's innocence and then abandoned her."

The alcalde, in his fury, decided it was better to attack someone else than to face up to what he had done, and realizing that what he had said had had an effect he did not hesitate to continue provoking Diego. "Surely you haven't taken anything from your wife, that should have been taken care of long ago by Zorro." he said with a sarcastic smile.

Diego was about to hit the alcalde for insinuating something like that, but he controlled himself in time. After all, the people who really mattered knew the truth. He managed to stay seated in the chair and respond coolly, so that the alcalde didn't come to suspect how close he had come to losing a few teeth. "This has nothing to do with me, my wife or even less to do with Zorro. This is about you and your wife. You don't deserve her, but she does deserve to be as happy as she can be in her marriage. Victoria has asked me to tell you that there is a possible solution."

The alcalde looked at him with interest and gestured for him to continue speaking.

" Padre Benitez said something quite different to Victoria before we were married. You should go talk to him - didn't he make you go to confession before your wedding?"

"Yes, and he was like a dog gnawing on a bone. He didn't give me absolution until I told him practically my whole life. He had me on my knees in the confessional for almost an hour."

Diego had to restrain himself from smiling as he imagined the scene, remembering that he too had not been able to escape the priest's insight. Then he stood up. "Victoria is going to accompany your wife to see the priest again, to see if she decides to talk to him, but what happens next is up to you. That's what I wanted to tell you, now I'm leaving." said Diego ending the conversation and hoping not to have to talk to someone like that ever again.

The alcalde waved goodbye, although he continued to sit thinking about what he had just heard.