Chapter 70 – Not conforming anymore
"Felipe, why can't we open this door now then?" Don Alejandro said when Felipe also failed to action the switch.
"It must be disabled from the inside," the youngster signed.
"What?"
Felipe tried again, with different signs, until he got it.
"He locked it from the other side? Is that what you mean? To keep us out?"
Felipe nodded, shrugging his shoulders, not sure how to take the aggressive tone the old don's voice was acquiring.
"Me cago en tu leche, Diego! How could you!" he said, banging at the door, crying out loudly. "Open that damn door!"
ZZZ
"For fuck sake, Father, not now!" Diego cursed, going limp, moving his head off Victoria to drop it on the desk, banging his forehead on the flat surface, in desperation. Mierda. Coño.
"Diego! Open up!"
"Joder! He doesn't even care about keeping the secret anymore! Si no se calla la puta boca, all the servants are going to find out!" he carried on cursing, extremely annoyed, standing up quickly to pull up his underwear and his trousers, for the first time truly appreciating Victoria's rushed decision to leave his boots on. "Come on, get dressed, quick!" he said, running to the door.
"In a moment, Father! And stop shouting my name, for goodness sake!"
"Open the door!" Don Alejandro shouted again.
"Wait a moment, the mechanism is jammed!"
"I can't believe that, not even for a second! Open up!"
Sod it. He moved away from the door and grabbed the ruined, and now stained and sticky shirt, looking for a place to hide it, and in the end, he shoved it into a pile of hay. Luckily for him, he had some spare clothes at the cave, so he put on a clean shirt, and buttoned it up as fast as he could while Victoria was still fighting with the corset, always a chore to put on properly on her own, even more with a cast. He helped her with it, and also to put on the rest of her clothes quickly, and when he was about to comb her hair with his fingers, he took his own hand to his nose, pulling a face at the smell.
"Maldita sea! We stink of sex from a mile away! Wash your hands, your face, and your mouth in that basin please, and use that aromatic soap," he said, washing himself in a bucket while she used the basin, before he combed his own, tousled hair back quickly. Then, he grabbed the small bottle with the spearmint solution he used as a mouthwash, took a sip, gargled it all over his mouth, and spat it on the bucket.
"Rinse your mouth with this, quick," he said, handing the small bottle over.
While she did that, he combed her hair quickly with his now clean, but not completely smell-free fingers.
"You look all right. How do I look?" he said.
"As good as you can look in the three minutes you had to smarten up," she said after she spat the mouthwash.
"For goodness sake, open this door! What the hell are you doing down there?! I said no hanky-panky!"
"There we go. Already on it. Brilliant," Diego said, running back to the door. He re-engaged the mechanism to open the secret door, and his father came through it, charging like a raging bull.
"What the hell, Diego! What were you two doing in here? Ah?"
"Having dinner, and talking, and now Victoria is leaving," he said, calling her to the door with his hand gestures. "Felipe, do you mind accompanying her to the pueblo, please? It is dark, and she shouldn't be travelling on her own."
"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, under Don Alejandro's stern look.
"Buenas noches, querida. Thank you for that delicious dinner. Take care," he said, kissing her hand lightly.
"Goodnight, Don Alejandro," she said, but the old don only huffed, mumbling an unintelligible answer.
After they left, Diego closed the secret door quickly.
"Damn it, Father! What the hell were you thinking, calling my name like that while I am supposed to be in Monterey? Have you lost your mind?!"
"Yes, I have! Didn't I tell you that you should keep it in your pants? I am so cross with you I could smack you into the next century again!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Diego said, hesitating by the door, considering it would probably be better not to let his father venture into the cave, but he charged inside, nonetheless, ignoring him, like a hunting dog looking for clues. Diego followed him, cursing himself when his father spotted the dinner tray on the floor, and the empty desk. He should have paid more attention to that, rather than focusing on their appearance only.
"Why didn't you finish your delicious dinner, as you put it? And why is that tray on the floor, when you have plenty of space on the desk?"
Don Alejandro sniffed the air, and he caught the distinctive, but faint smell of sweat and sex in the area close to the desk, which looked suspiciously clear at the middle. The objects on it were pushed in bundles to the sides, quite carelessly.
"I dropped the ink, and I had to clean it," Diego improvised.
"The ink… right. You did a very good job there, because the wood is not stained at all. But, where are the cloths you used to clean that mess, ah? And, look at that, you even had time to refill the ink!" he said, taking the small container from the desk, as if surprised it was still full. He put it back where it was, and leaned to get the tray from the floor. When he did that, he spotted the buttons all around the area. "Oh, look, you dropped a few buttons… I wonder how they got there, to the floor, all at the same time…"
Diego didn't even try to justify that, and he stood there, still, just looking at his father with a serious face, with his jaw set and his arms crossed over his chest, while the old don carried on, apparently having a ball trying to humiliate him.
"You know, half an hour ago, Pedro asked me where we should keep Toronado when you bring him to the stables. I told him he shouldn't worry about it, because you are always on top of things. I didn't know you were doing that so literally tonight…"
"Father, stop it. I'm tired of this game. Whatever happened here, it happened. And it's none of your business. So, leave it, please."
"We had this conversation already, and you seemed to understand!" Don Alejandro shouted, no longer humouring him. "I'm so disappointed with you, Diego. You should know better than behaving like this!"
"And so do you!"
"What?"
"Nothing," Diego said, biting his lower lip.
"I'm worried about you, Son. This is a sin! Don't you realize? Why can't you wait until you are married? It's not so difficult!"
"I'm sure God will forgive me for loving my future wife. And if He doesn't, I don't give a damn!"
Don Alejandro gasped, staring at his son with his mouth open, disbelieving his rebellious attitude. For the first time, he could see the true Diego, the one he had only seen before behind a mask, like when Zorro ignored his wishes, taking a rose from his garden, under his nose, only to provoke him: a strong individual, firm to stand his ground, and determined in his own convictions, not giving a toss about anybody else's. Even less, his father's.
When Don Alejandro found out Diego was Zorro, he had trouble reconciling the image of his bland, spineless son, and that brazen, masked man, but now he could fathom how Zorro could be antagonizing the alcalde for so long, and anybody else that was a threat to the pueblo, coming into his turf uninvited, like that sinister Palomarez. It was a shock for him to realize he no longer had a chance of intimidating such a man, ever again, about anything. Nonetheless, as a father, he still had to try, because before, he had always won every argument with his son, and Diego had always bent, conforming to his ruling, hardly ever shouting back, except that time he had called him a coward and Diego had lost it, slamming the door on his back.
"Diego! How can you say that? That's blasphemy!"
"As I said, I don't care, because I'm sure the Almighty has more important things to do than worrying about this so much as you do."
"But you are a caballero, a gentleman. Gentlemen don't behave like this!"
"Oh, yes, they do, indeed!" Diego shouted, running out of patience and self-control. "They all have their needs, just like anybody else, to be satisfied with whores and women of ill reputation while they pretend to be flags of decency themselves. Me, on the contrary, I have been faithful to Victoria since I returned to Los Angeles, for more than four years. I haven't touched, not even looked at another woman in all that time, and I've made love to her twice. Twice. In four years! I don't think I'll ever feel God's Wrath about this. If anything, comparing with the others, the so called "gentlemen", that jolly group you belong to, God must be cheering on me from Heaven. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you won't make me feel guilty about this anymore!"
"Well, you should!"
"And you shouldn't visit Collado's widow! So, sod your ill principles, Father!" Diego finally exploded, red-faced with anger, spilling the secret he had known for nearly a year.
Don Alejandro's hand flew to his son's face automatically, like a spring, without thinking, but Diego grabbed his wrist before he could hit him, as fast as the legendary Zorro would do.
"No, not anymore."
"How do you know about that? Nobody knows that!" Don Alejandro said while struggling with Diego's firm grip.
"I'm Zorro, remember?" he said, releasing his father's arm, which he retrieved slowly. "I know everything that happens in this pueblo. I didn't want to mention that before, every time you gave me grief about this issue, because I know you regret your own weakness, but… I can't take this shit anymore! I had enough of your double moral!"
"Diego, I don't recognize you. Where is my son? Who the hell is this man in front of me?"
"I often ask myself the same question, because I don't know who I am anymore. But, this evening, I only know one thing: I am a man who had it with this nonsense. I'll talk to Padre Benítez right now, so we can get married tonight. Then, maybe I can have your blessings if Victoria stays here locked up with me for a couple of days, to stop me from going mental!"
"Don't be stupid. You can't go to the pueblo yet, not for at least another three days. You can't pretend to go to Monterey and be back in less than a week!"
"I'm going as Zorro, and, by the way, this is what happened to my other shirt!" he said, untucking his shirt and yanking the front open, with buttons flying everywhere just as before.
"For goodness sake, Diego... I can't believe you are the same person! It can't be!"
"I am exactly the same, only I won't pretend anymore. At least, not with you," Diego said, donning the black shirt and the rest of Zorro's cloths and weapons quickly.
Don Alejandro watched his son transform into the masked bandit with mixed feelings. Diego got Toronado's tack on, and when he was ready to go, he put on the mask and the hat, and hopped on the saddle.
"Diego, don't go. You can't go, not like this."
"Watch me," Zorro glowered, setting off towards the back door.
ZZZ
Victoria was glad she could just leave the hacienda, happy to avoid a heated exchange with Don Alejandro, embarrassed to the core as she was. Felipe accompanied her, but as he couldn't talk, she didn't make any effort to have a sign conversation with him, so they both cantered in silence towards the pueblo. When they were quite close, they heard a furious clatter of hooves behind them, as a rider came up to them in the dark. They turned their head to look back, surprised to see Zorro catching up with them.
"What are you doing here?" Victoria said.
"We are getting married tonight. I'm fed up of this," Zorro said when he slowed down Toronado, to canter hand in hand with them, at the side of the road.
"Are we?" she said, puzzled.
"Yes. Carry on to the tavern. I'll talk to Padre Benítez first, and we'll be there as soon as possible. Felipe, stay a bit, please, so you can act as a witness. Thank you."
He spurred the black stallion then, and they carried on galloping at full speed towards the pueblo, soon disappearing out of sight into the darkness.
"Is he for real? Get married tonight?" Victoria said, still baffled.
"I guess," Felipe signed, shrugging his shoulders. Diego was behaving so randomly recently, nothing could surprise him anymore.
"Wow," that was all she could add, feeling a bunch of nervous butterflies in her stomach. The event she had been waiting for so long and with so much expectation, will happen that night, and in secret. Unbelievable. And she would have no time to prepare, no time at all.
ZZZ
Mendoza sat at the alcalde's desk, smoking one of Ramón's cigars under the faint light of a small candle, in a quiet, relaxing semi-darkness. As the appointed Commander of the garrison by default, he had moved into the alcalde's quarters upstairs, and he was making the best of the situation until a replacement arrived. It was late, but he didn't mind. Tomorrow, he could wake up at whatever time he wanted, as he didn't need to report and give explanations to anybody. It was such a bliss, he couldn't help but smile while sending columns of spiralling smoke into the air.
He was surprised to see Victoria arriving at the tavern with Felipe as such late hour, so he stood up and walked to the window to have a better look at the other side of the plaza. Victoria took her horse to the stable while Felipe tied his pinto to the rail at the front, waiting for her to open the front door.
Mendoza carried on smoking, inconspicuous by the window, like a bored, busybody old lady with nothing else to do but meddling in the lives of others, prying behind a laced curtain. Victoria opened the tavern's front door and Felipe got in. Shortly after, he saw Zorro and the priest crossing the plaza, also entering the tavern. He puffed at his cigar then a couple of times and left it on the ashtray, too curious to find out what was going on.
ZZZZZ