The following morning, after a stop at the bank, Don Alejandro entered the tavern, head held high, four of his vaqueros accompanying him, each carrying two large sacks in their hands. "Here!" he said, as the men left the sacks at Gilberto's feet. "Thirty-one thousand pesos: the sixteen thousand you are still to collect from Los Angeles and fifteen thousand as the rent you have illegally asked me to pay! Now get your things out of my former house, and do us all the favor of leaving this pueblo! Today if at all possible!"

The Emissary turned almost white. "Your former house?" the man uttered incredulous.

"Yes. I sold it last evening. Didn't you hear?" Saying that, Don Alejandro turned his back on the baffled young man, and, together with his men, headed out of the tavern in the cheers of the people there.

As soon as he left, Gilberto stood up, in his fury causing the table at which he had been sitting to tumble to the side. "This doesn't end here," he muttered, not even trying to disguise his rage.

Ordering his men to count every last centavo in the sacks, he headed for the garrison, crossing the plaza in just a few moments.

"Who bought it?" he asked De Soto as he entered his office, ignoring the lancer guarding it. "Who bought the De la Vega Hacienda?"

It was already close to siesta and the official, who had been riding back from the port all morning, had been dozing off in his chair before Risendo entered, slamming the door into the wall and causing Ignacio to jump up.

"What? I… I don't know what you're talking about," he said, completely dumbfounded.

"Then I suggest you find out soon, or you may say goodbye to your position here!" Risendo threatened.

De Soto nodded nervously a few times, then headed for the door. "Sepulveda! Get me Mendoza! Now!" he ordered the man on guard, who hurried towards the garrison's living quarters.

The sergeant entered De Soto's office just a couple of minutes later.

"Here you are!" the alcalde said.

The man saluted, then glanced at Risendo.

"I understand that Don Alejandro just sold his hacienda. I want you to find out who bought it, why, and what he paid for it. Now!" De Soto said, then turned towards Gilberto, "Don't worry," he said, "the sale can be cancelled seeing how, a few months ago, after Don Alejandro sold some of his lands, I passed a new law forbidding the sale of properties in Los Angeles unless it was done with my consent."

Mendoza swallowed hard at that.

Rather annoyed with the fact that his man had not hurried out the door to comply with his order, De Soto again addressed him: "Well, Sergeant, go find out what I want to know!"

"But… I… I already know…" he said shyly.

"Oh? Then tell us!" De Soto asked in surprise, pleasantly surprised by his sergeant for once.

"It was a lawyer acting on behalf of a certain Conde de Dragonera. He gave him 100,000 pesos for it."

"100,000 pesos? Is the man mad?"

"Don Alejandro made quite a good deal, didn't he? They treated me to dinner after I signed the consent for the sale."

"You did what?" De Soto asked, enraged.

"You left me temporary alcalde, Alcalde, and the law stipulates that the consent can be given by the alcalde or the acting alcalde..." Mendoza partly stuttered. "And I assumed you would consent to such a good deal... Didn't you say you passed the law to make sure the people are not being cheated when selling their property here?" Mendoza asked.

The now red-faced De Soto inwardly cursed his man's naiveté. He had, indeed said that, but only so that no one suspected his true intentions.

"Absurd! The hacienda is hardly worth a third of the sum that lawyer paid for it, especially now that the vineyards burned down," Gilberto uttered.

Mendoza nodded. "That was what I also thought. Don Alejandro even told the lawyer that the hacienda is not worth more than 40,000 pesos, but the lawyer insisted on paying the price he offered."

By that point, Gilberto's face matched in color De Soto's. "So, like a cat, he again fell on his feet…"

The white-haired man shook his head, trying to find the right words to say. "Look at it this way," he uttered, "he did have to sell all he had. He'll have to leave his house now…"

"But here, he can buy three haciendas with the money that count's man has paid!" Gilberto retorted.

"True… Though I am not sure he will…" Mendoza intervened. "He was also offered and agreed to remain in the house to manage the property."

At that, Gilberto just took a crystal wine glass from the small table on which De Soto kept his decanter and threw it across the room, causing it to smash into a million pieces at impacting with the adobe wall.

"I'd rather you didn't take it out on the good crystal!" De Soto said.

Gilberto reacted by smashing the other glass, as well, then headed for the door. "I'm retaking your room, seeing how I must leave the hacienda now. My men will also need proper quarters," he said before exiting in the same manner in which he had entered.

The alcalde watched the door with a frown. "Latrine duty for a month, Sergeant…" he then uttered in anger before calling some of the other lancers to clean up the glass and start moving his things back to Mendoza's room.

ZZZ

"Here is the plan for the house," the lawyer told Don Alejandro a day later, unfolding a large sheet of paper on the library's desk.

"But these are plans for a palace…" the don muttered. "Though," he said looking better at the plan, "I do have to admit much of it actually fits the existing layout of the house."

"Having inspected the place, it is my opinion that we can, indeed, keep most of the house as is. The southern walls will have to be moved some thirty feet, and a second floor will be added to the house. That will, of course, mean, reinforcing the existing walls and completely redoing the roof."

"Yes… That will be necessary… When is the count due to arrive?"

"On October 10th at 10 a.m."

"Nobody is that precise," Don Alejandro said with a smile.

"The count is, Señor. He made sure to take into consideration all contingencies. He'll be here on the 10th of October at 10 a.m. precisely."

"If you say so… But we might need more time to finish all this. And new furniture will need to be made for such a huge house…"

"The count will be bringing his own. The first shipment will arrive soon with his mayordomo. The most valuable of his possessions, however, will arrive on the same ship as him. Of course, I was also instructed to find local furniture that might be to his tastes, which is why I offered to also buy your furniture, Don Alejandro."

"I see… Still, we'll need at least two dozen men or more if we are to finish the additions by October 10th."

"Find them, and I'll take care of their payment."

"Well…" the elderly man said with some enthusiasm, "I know some of the farmers have lost their crops... Surely they will be more than glad to find work here under the circumstances."

"Hire whoever you want. And you may keep the quarters you are currently occupying. The count prefers his rooms on the second floor."

ZZZ

While Don Alejandro was starting the work to expand the hacienda, a few miles away, in Los Angeles, Gilberto instructed De Soto to buy him a hacienda leaving the man 21,000 pesos for it and whatever work needed be done to make it livable, then, taking ten thousand pesos with him – the true amount the king had asked him to raise, though from the entire province instead of just one village – he headed for the port and embarked on a ship for Acapulco.

No more than a week later, as a widow arrived in the pueblo intent on selling her family's hacienda, De Soto bought it at half its market value, taking advantage of the woman's urgency in selling the property. The rest of the money he used to rebuild, the house having been uninhabited for years, and buy furniture. What was left, a little over 4,000 pesos, he set aside for himself.

ZZZ

Victoria was melancholic for several weeks after receiving the news of Diego's demise. She had not seen the young man she had agreed to marry in over 8 years at that point, yet he was still in her heart: her one great love; the man no other would ever compare to.

Yet she was still young; and, from time to time, she allowed herself to dream that there was still a chance for her to one day have a family of her own.

It was under such circumstances that Juan Ortiz walked back into her life.

The young man had been away from California for a little over seven years at that point, having joined the Royal Navy soon after Diego's departure. And, in all that time, he had built a career for himself, one that eventually led him back to the Californian shores just around the time news spread in the territory that the son of Los Angeles' most prominent haciendado, Don Alejandro de la Vega, was never to return home.

After much consideration, ignoring the advice of some of his friends – who had told him he'd better set his eyes on the Governor's charming niece than wed an innkeeper – Juan Ortiz headed for Los Angeles, set on asking for Victoria's hand in marriage.

The young woman was just chopping some onion for the day's lunch when Juan entered her kitchen. "Victoria," he greeted her.

"Juan!" she replied with surprise as she glanced up at him. "What are you doing here?"

He looked at her for a few moments, taking in how beautiful she grew up to be. "I have come to ask for your hand in marriage," he said.

"My hand? But…"

"Don Diego is dead, Victoria. I am sorry about that, but I, too, have been in love with you for a very long time. In all the years I have spent at sea, I have carried you in my heart. I will be a good husband to you, if only you agree to marry me…"

"I…I don't know what to say, Juan…"

"Say yes!" he urged her.

She hesitated, then turned around, no longer facing him. "Diego might be gone, but I still love him. I am still mourning his loss… I still have not accepted it, to be fair... I can't marry anyone right now. I'm sorry, but I can't say yes. Not yet…" she told him.

"Then I will wait till you are ready," he uttered, a smile on his face, for the young woman had just given him hope. "I will return every month, on the same day, to ask you the same question, until you say yes!"

Her first impulse was to shake her head, yet, at the same time, she could hardly avoid being quite impressed with her new suitor. In truth, at the back of her mind, a voice was already telling her that, by marrying Juan, she could still have a loving husband and a happy life, even without Diego in it.

Victoria, thus, nodded. "Alright… But you will need to be quite patient with me. I will need a lot of time to move on, Juan. Diego is… was" she corrected herself, "the love of my life."

"I know… I know… But I still hope I could prove to be the man of your life." Juan said, then bowed politely, and exited the kitchen.

The young woman remained watching the curtains separating the kitchen from the taproom for a while, then returned to chopping the onion.