Chapter 61 – Victoria's talk

Doctor Hernández arrived at the tavern in a hurry with Don Alejandro, anxious to check on Diego.

"How do we do this?" he whispered at the entrance.

"I don't know. Pretend to check on Esteban, but make sure Sepúlveda leaves the room first!" Don Alejandro said, storming upstairs.

The doctor followed him then, shaking his head. Yes, but the question was: how do I do that?

"Come in!" Victoria said when they knocked at Esteban's door.

"You go first," Don Alejandro said.

"Good evening, Victoria. Corporal. Felipe," the doctor saluted when he came inside, followed by Don Alejandro.

"Buenas noches, Doctor," the soldier and Victoria said.

"Don Esteban, how are you this evening? Ready for your session?"

Esteban looked at the doctor, and then at Victoria, who also seemed at a loss. Don Alejandro, in the background, looked nervous, and expectant.

"As much as I can be, yes," he said, not sure how he should react to that question.

"All right. You know the drill, Victoria. Do you mind leaving the room while I treat him, please? And you as well, Corporal. Felipe can stay, because he is my medical student."

"The alcalde ordered me to stay with him all the time, no matter what. Sorry, I can't leave this room."

"It is called patient confidentiality, Corporal. I have to treat his fractured ribs, because the alcalde pushed them down into the lungs. It is a painful procedure, and I need concentration to do the manipulations, without distractions. So, please, get out of the room. He is not going anywhere. And I am sure you'll hear his screams from the landing."

"Yes, I cry like a baby," Esteban said. "Every time."

"Come on, Corporal, let's wait outside."

"All right. But, please, don't tell the alcalde I am not doing as he said!"

"Don't worry about that," the doctor said.

Victoria, Don Alejandro and the soldier waited outside, at the landing, while Felipe and the doctor moved the chest of drawers out of the way to check on Diego, with Esteban guarding the door.

ZZZ

"Diego, how are you? How are you feeling?" Felipe signed.

"I think I'm all right, thank you," Diego said with a big smile, glad somebody would finally explain him what was going on. "But it hurts when I breathe, and I can hardly move. It's as if my muscles weighted a ton."

"I am so glad you are awake," the doctor said, taking Diego's pulse, which was back to normal, not so slow as before. "I really had my doubts about you. Sometimes I didn't think you would make it."

"Neither did I, when I passed out at the kitchen, knowing what that dagger could do to a man."

"I still don't know what was in there. But thank God whatever amount of poison still left in that blade wasn't enough to kill you. Let me see that wound."

Diego leaned over so the doctor could check his back.

"Take a deep breath," he said, to listen to his lungs.

"Arggh! Doctor you are killing me!"

"What is he doing?" Diego said when he heard Esteban crying out loud in the other room.

"Pretending. You don't know the amount of acting we are doing these days. We could make an excellent theatre company between us. The best performer is Victoria. You should have seen her dealing with Pedro and Pablo."

"Who?"

"Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias, the workers at your hacienda. Your father told them what happened, because we needed help to keep this charade going. The alcalde made Victoria keep the tavern open, so they are working here now, fixing the banister and the chandelier, or at least pretending to, to keep the customers away from the first floor."

"Pedro Sánchez? I bet he wasn't surprised about this. He has been bothering me sometimes, insisting I could be Zorro since I found his daughter. The only one in the whole pueblo."

"Yes, he was very excited to be right, and to be able to help you now in return. Now, stop talking and take a deep breath."

Diego coughed when he did that, looking stressed again.

"Again," the doctor said, while listening to Diego's chest. "And again…"

"It hurts. It didn't hurt so much when I got stabbed. I thought the wound wasn't so deep."

"Yes. It doesn't look great, but it's not too bad either. You should rest propped up on the pillows, try not to lie flat on your back."

"Yes, it feels better if I am up."

The doctor checked his arms and his reflexes then, satisfied with the positive results.

"Don't do that! No! Arghh!"

"He is really enjoying himself, isn't he?" Diego said when Esteban cried again.

"Yes, it looks like it," the doctor said, chuckling. "About the weakness, I hope you recover your muscle tone soon, but that can take a while. Be patient."

"Felipe, how's Toronado?"

"I am going to check on him now."

"Vale, gracias. And how are they? I mean Victoria and my father. How are they coping with this?"

"As they can. Most of the times they can't decide if they should be happy or angry as hell, or a mix of both," Felipe signed.

"I bet they are. How much do they know?"

"Quite a lot, because they have been grilling us for information," the doctor said, and Felipe nodded. "They know a few of your dirty secrets now, and you should have a good conversation with them about all this. Good luck with that," the doctor said, with a hand on Diego's shoulder.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Arghh!"

"I think you should put him out of his misery now," Diego said, with a smirk on his face.

"Yes, before Sepúlveda tries to rescue him," the doctor said, chuckling as well. "We'll try to keep the corporal distracted so we can use the front door from now to check on you. In the meantime, drink some bark infusion, and rest." He handed him a glass and helped him to drink it, although he was regaining some control over his arms already and he could hold it a bit better than before.

"And be quiet! No more dropping off the bed, please. Don't try to reach anything on your own," Felipe signed.

"I'll try, thank you. I got a candle now, that should last the whole night."

The doctor closed the shutters more firmly then, so nobody could see the candle light from the street.

"Good. I'll come back tomorrow then. Good night."

"Buenas noches, Doctor. Thank you."

ZZZ

"I'm tired tonight. If everything is all right here, I'll retire to bed now," Victoria said.

"Good night, Victoria. I'll see you in the morning," Esteban said. "Don't worry about me, because I have a full-time nurse with me tonight. He can help me with the chamber pot and everything. Can't you, Corporal?"

"Eh… hummm… I don't know about that," Sepúlveda said, making them chuckle.

"Buenas noches," she said.

"Goodnight, Victoria. I'll follow you in a moment," Don Alejandro said, looking at her intently as she left.

Victoria closed that door behind her and walked to the next. She opened that one as silently as she could to step into Diego's bedroom, with her heart racing frantically in her chest. There he was, gracias a Dios, awake now, propped up on the pillows, looking at her with those gorgeous, bright, blue eyes; those puppy eyes that now looked so sad, so full of apologies and shame. But Diego's eyes looked also different now, so filled with tortured love, like the ones she could see through the mask, but she had never made a connection between those eyes. Which was the most stupid thing to do, ever, she realized now, as there were not may men with blue eyes in the pueblo.

She approached the bed, lost for words, staring into those eyes as if she was hypnotized by them, hoping to hear his soothing voice, but he didn't say anything either, silent, just like her. She sat at the edge of the bed, and she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Victoria, I…" he started with a broken voice, whispering so Sepúlveda couldn't hear him from the other room, but the same as her, he couldn't find the words to express his feelings.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, avoiding eye contact, they stared at the other intently. Then, suddenly, as if following a silent cue, they both leaned forward to find each other's mouth, filling them up with their tongues rather than with empty, deceiving words. Used that way, their tongues couldn't lie, so they fussed in their most passionate kiss ever, too hungry of each other to act rationally, ravishing each other. Despite his weakness, he managed to drag her body closer, to sit on his legs while he caressed her back and shoulders, and her hands got lost in his rich, thick black hair, now free from the hampering mask, which had always got on the way between them, physically and emotionally. Not anymore.

Yes, that was the mouth she knew so well, the one she enjoyed, unlike that awkward kiss she shared with the wrong lips at the cellar. And now that scrumptious mouth had a face, and there was finally a future to look forward to.

When he eventually broke contact with her welcoming lips, he leaned forward to embrace her tightly, crying softly with his head resting on her bosom.

"I thought I had lost you for ever," he whispered, always keeping his voice down. "Please, forgive me. Please, forgive all the lies and all the stupid things I've done. Please. I never meant to hurt you, or mislead you, or take advantage of you in any way, despite what you may think of me now."

"I know all that. I know you didn't mean to hurt me," she whispered back, still caressing his hair like a loving mother would do to her upset, crying child. "Don't worry about it. Come on, stop crying. Look at me. I am the one that should be crying now, as I have been crying every five minutes since I found out you were Zorro and you could die. But, I had enough with the tears. Look, I'm smiling."

He lifted his head to look at her, and he smiled back through his tears.

"So, what my cousin said it's true: you still love me, despite everything I've done to you, despite the deception."

"Of course I do. I've always loved you. And you'll never know how much I regret rejecting you when you came to the tavern with the roses. I am so sorry I put you through so much pain that day, but I was shocked when you confessed your love, and I couldn't think straight. I cowardly preferred keeping you as my friend while I kept Zorro as my lover, until I realized that was a mistake. And then, when I tried to fix it, I rejected you again as Zorro that very same night. But I didn't know it was you! Why did you never say you loved me before, as Diego? Why did you wait until the last possible moment to do so when you had so many opportunities before to let me know? And don't use the lame excuse you were afraid of Zorro. That dog won't fly anymore!"

"I thought I'd never had a chance with you as Diego, that you'd be so disappointed you would never be able to love my quiet self, as you were so mesmerized by the hero and the thrills."

"Why would you think that? Do you really have such a low concept of yourself?" she said, taking her hands to his cheeks, gently wiping off his lingering tears, because he had calmed down already and he wasn't crying any fresh ones.

"I guess so, like everybody else did, including my father. But that was the plan, anyway, and it worked too well for my own good. Sometimes, I could only be myself when I was wearing that mask. And it was really hard."

"Yes. Doctor Hernández pointed out how difficult it must have been for you living two separate lives, with personalities so different and opposed to each other. He said your head must be truly messed up with all this strain you went through to keep Zorro and Diego as separated beings."

"A little bit, yes. Actually, I don't know who I am anymore."

"You know, during the last two days, while you lay in bed unresponsive, flirting with death, I had plenty of time to mull over all the moments I spend with you either as Zorro or as Diego, and I began to understand your predicament. I am sorry for all the times I mistreated you as Diego, laughing at your cowardice and your apparent lack of manly skills, and for all the times I was so demanding with Zorro, as if he was God Almighty, and not just a man behind a mask," she said, lowering her gaze in shame. But then, her expression hardened, and she looked back at him to carry on talking, still using a low tone of voice, but much colder now. "However, I'm afraid I'm also extremely angry with you for all the times you lied to me, for all those moments I remember now with embarrassment, like every time I cried on your shoulder about Zorro, and you would talk to me as if he had nothing to do with you. How could you? How could you keep a straight face during those embarrassing moments and never tell me it was you? We always talked about Zorro as if he was a completely different person, not present in the room. Why? And then, as the last insult, I scolded Zorro for seducing me while praising you as the perfect gentleman, of all things! If I wasn't so worried about you now, I could hit you until I make you bleed!" she said, menacing with her right hand held high.

"I'm sorry. Hit me then, if that makes you feel better, because I deserve it."

She didn't think twice, and with a swift movement she punched his face hard to vent her frustration, instead of slapping his cheek as she usually did. Straight away, Diego took his hands to his face, deadening a cry of pain, and lifted his bruised chin up, pressing the back of his head on the pillows, with fresh, involuntary tears escaping off the corners of his firmly shut eyes.

"Victoria! What the…? Aaaarghhh. Shit. Why?"

"What? You said I could hit you! Let me see," she said, alarmed, yanking his hands off his face to see the damage. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry! Sorry. Sorry. Oh, my God!" she said, standing up, fretting about the thick stream of blood trickling off his nose. She grabbed a towel hanging at the small basin in the corner of the room, and came back to his side to dab the blood with it, applying pressure to that nostril. "Are you all right? Please, forgive me. I didn't mean to hit you so hard!"

"No, you did mean it, and that's fine for me, because I know I deserved it. Just like you said, you could hit me until you made me bleed… Job done, so please, don't hit me anymore! Have mercy on me from now on, por favor," he joked while taking the towel off her hand to press on his nose while he kept his head back.

"How can I love you and hate you so much at the same time? You are terrible!" she said, slapping his arm.

"Are you developing a split personality too?" he said, looking down at her with the corner of his eye.

She looked like about to hit him again, so he lowered the towel and leaned over her quickly, resorting to the only thing he knew would placate her fury: another endless, wet and tender kiss. She relaxed in his arms, and when they parted, he used the same towel to clean the blood that had smeared her face.

"Now, behave, and give me a moment here." He lay back again and pressed with the towel back on his nose until it stopped bleeding. Then, he put the towel on a side to keep talking.

"I know it will sound like a lame excuse, but I only did it to keep you safe. And I hated lying to you. I hated those moments so much, but you always used me as a handkerchief for your misery with Zorro, which only reinforced the idea our relationship was doomed. For what you told me, you never looked happy with him or the situation you were in, although, when I asked you about it as Zorro, you always insisted you were fine like that, waiting for me for as long as it took. Until you couldn't take it any longer."

"But, why you didn't tell me? And even worse: why did I never realize it was you?"

"I made up my mind to tell you once. Do you remember that night I was at your room, but we were interrupted and I got shot in my arm? That night I went so far as to take off the hat, and I was about to remove the mask and let you see my face when the soldiers spotted Toronado. I wanted to tell you, really, but, when I got shot, I had to reconsider: I couldn't tell you, ever, because if I was ever caught, the alcalde would hang you if you knew my identity. Then I considered courting you as Diego, but thinking hard about it, I realized it didn't matter if you knew my identity or not: I had to give up on you and let you go free to marry someone else because I could never keep you safe, especially if we were married. And that broke my heart. But, when I returned to the tavern another day to break the engagement, we end up kissing, and you swore you would wait for me no matter what. And later on, when I wanted to break the engagement again, for your own good, we ended up making love instead. I'm so sorry. That should not have happened. Every time I got near you to put things straight, you fried my brain and I always caved in to your female charms, captivated by you. I know I should have been stronger, as you said, and behave like a caballero, but I was weak, and stupid. Do you want to punch me again?"

"Yes!"

He instinctively covered his face then, but, taking advantage of his weakened state, she yanked his hands out of the way a second time.

"Yes, I want to punch you again, many times, but I prefer doing this instead," she said, kissing him while pinning down his now feeble arms against the pillows.

"Yes, I prefer that too," he said, taking a little break from her mouth to talk, only to find it again to carry on enthusiastically. She let go of his arms then to rack his hair one more time, and he embraced her, also playing with her hair. They slowly slid to a side, and they ended up lying across the bed. He rolled on his back then, dragging her on top of him, without breaking contact with her mouth, ignoring the pain in the freshly sutured gunshot wound and on his back. She giggled on his lips when she felt the familiar bulge pressing on her hip, but shortly after he hissed in pain, pushing her away to cough, looking distressed.

"What's wrong?" she said, swiftly moving off him.

"Sorry, Victoria. There is a reason why I am propped up on the pillows," he whispered with a faltering voice, whimpering, making an obvious effort to take some air in, coughing a bit more. "I can breathe better that way. Lying on my back is killing me!"

"Oh, yes, sorry. Get up." She said, pulling from his arms to get him up, to the position he was before. "Of course, you have that nasty stabbing wound reaching your lung, and the doctor fixed that gunshot wound yesterday, making a gruesome mess in your abdomen. How could I forget? Are you alright?"

"Yes, don't worry. This is better, thanks," relieved he could breathe better almost immediately when propped up.

"Good. Now, I have something I think you should give me back," she said, searching in her pocket.

"What's that?"

"One second," she said. When she found it, she took his hand and put the ring on his palm, exactly as she had done before, except he wasn't wearing a black leather glove this time. "I found it in Zorro's clothes."

"Oh, that. Yes," he said, clearing his throat before he continued with a solemn tone, taking her hand in his to kiss it. "Señorita Victoria Escalante, would you like to marry me, Don Diego de la Vega, the biggest idiot in the world?"

"Hum… I'm not sure if you qualify as the biggest idiot, because historically, that could be your cousin, but… Yes! Oh, yes, I want to marry you. Finally!" she said, unable to hide her excitement, fidgeting and grinning like a kid about to receive a new toy.

He gently positioned her hand to slid the ring on her finger, and they kissed one more time.

"I love you, Doña de la Vega."

"Oh, gosh. Doña de la Vega? That sounds too posh for me!"

"Posh?"

"As in upper-class. Aristocratic. Maybe a little bit too snob?"

"Are you calling me a snob?" he said, pretending to be offended. "Or my father?" he added, laughing at the notion of his down-to-earth father acting swanky.

"No! Of course not. Well, call me what you like, Don Diego de la Vega. I'll love you all the same," she said, kissing him again.

Don Alejandro got into the bedroom then through the front door, without knocking first, also keen to talk to his son.

"Nice to see things are going so well in here," he said when he saw them kissing, also in a low tone so Sepúlveda would not hear him from the other room. "But, Victoria, don't you think you should let him breathe?"

ZZZZZ