The pen glided routinely across the white page:
...
With love, your son
Diego.
.
.
Exhausted, Diego lowered his arm and carefully circled his right shoulder. A real writing marathon was behind him. No wonder his hand hurt.
The effort was great, but unfortunately necessary. After all, he had to give the impression that he was still in Spain. So, he had written many letters in different variations, very general and intended as a reply to his father's mail. Since Alejandro wrote very vaguely, he had good reason to hope that the deception would go undetected as long as his father did not notice that there was no date on the pages. Fernando would be staying a few more weeks before returning to California, so he would take on the task of reading the incoming letters and sending an appropriate reply. His two servants had also been instructed and would assist him and take over this task later.
The other preparations were also nearly finished.
Diego carefully closed the inkwell and put the sheet of paper together with the other sheets into a folder, which he carefully sealed. The day after tomorrow their ship would set sail and take them to California. Don Rafael had booked a full passage on the ship so that they would be safe from prying eyes and could take plenty of luggage with them. Diego could only hope that the crew would regard the presence of so many suitcases as a peculiarity of rich caballeros and not become curious about the contents of the luggage. How else would he explain to the men all the disguising utensils?
Sighing, he got up and walked over to the table. Here he had already prepared everything for the big trip. Thoughtfully, he reached for the wig he would be wearing in public for the next few weeks. It would be strange to go around with curly dark brown hair that was also quite long. He would probably have to tie it back so it wouldn't be in his way all the time.
The wig was carefully made and quite expensive. However, it was very comfortable to wear and changed his appearance considerably.
He still didn't like the role he had to play. The web of lies his patron had built around his false identity was deeply distasteful to him.
Nevertheless, he had finally agreed. Don Rafael's idea of his alter ego was well thought out and offered a good starting point for his next steps. Diego was also confident enough to believe that he could play his role convincingly.
However, it would demand a lot of him.
His baptism of fire would probably be when he met his father for the first time in Los Angeles.
.
.
A/N:
I'm trying to make Diego a little more human in this story than in the show. And right now, he has no idea what he's in for. He's young and has had a relatively carefree life in Madrid so far - he still has to grow into his future role.
The chapters are rather short at the moment, but the length may vary from time to time.