Some twenty dons and their families, as well as Victoria and Sergeant Mendoza, were invited at the hacienda to attend the Count's farewell dinner.

They were all chatting when the nobleman requested their attention.

"Thank you all for coming here tonight." He said, a glass of champagne in his hand. "While my time in California was briefer than I had initially though it might be, my stay here was not only pleasant, but very instructive, as well. I was happy and very fortunate to meet you all, and I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your friendship and for making me feel welcome.

"Don Alejandro," he then said, addressing his father, "knowing you has been a true honor. There are not many men like you left in this world. Men who are honest and true to their beliefs and to themselves, even in the face of great adversity. As I depart, I leave you all my possessions here, in Los Angeles, including this hacienda and the lands the king offered me north of it. I am also leaving you most of my servants. You are sure to need them, and they seem to prefer California to Spain. I am certain you will take good care of them, and will use all my gifts to help the people here prosper. I also hope to thus rectify a grave injustice committed against you."

Don Alejandro's mouth dropped at hearing that. His son had not told him he was putting everything in his name. The elderly don, thus, just stood there, looking at the Count in disbelief.

"Ah," he uttered when he recovered his senses, "I don't know what to say, Don Sebastian… I… I am grateful… and honored by your confidence and friendship." Saying that he wondered if the people there could see that he was acting. Nobody gave any sign if they did.

The fiesta continued after that brief interruption, and every one of Don Alejandro's friends came to congratulate him on his very good fortune.

Then, some ten minutes later, it was the abbot's turn to interrupt the festivities.

"If I may…" he uttered. "I do not want to eclipse Don Sebastian, but I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to also take my goodbyes. A letter just reached me, you see… This morning… The Archbishop of Seville asked me to return to Spain. I am only due to arrive in about six months, but, seeing how the Count was kind enough to offer me a cabin on his ship, I have decided to join him."

"You're leaving, too?" Doña Maria asked in disbelief.

"I'm afraid so. But I will always keep you all in my prayers…Unfortunately, it seems I might never finish that compendium I have been working on…"

"A good reason to return, Padre!" One of the dons remarked as he raised his glass, a gesture imitated by everyone else there.

ZZZ

"You shouldn't have done that, Son!" Don Alejandro said that evening, after the guests had departed.

"On the contrary. This is your house, Father!" The young man replied.

"But… You realize that Gilberto, should I end up recognizing him as my son, will be entitled to half of it…"

"As he should have been all along."

"You don't mind the idea that the man who almost caused your demise will share in your fortune?"

"The people truly responsible for all my sufferance are already in their graves. It's how I chose to look at things."

"You are a better man than I am, Diego!" The don concluded with a smile before saying goodnight and heading for his room.

His son watched him leave, then headed for the cave. There, after putting on Zorro's clothes, he made his way towards the tavern. He and Victoria were to part for a while, and he had every intention to make sure they would do so properly.

ZZZ

The entire household was in the courtyard the following morning as the Count, his mayordomo, and Fariz headed for the coach due to take them to the port, where the abbot was to meet them. After shaking hands with each of those who were to remain in California, the nobleman thanked them all for their service and assured them that Don Alejandro would always take good care of them. That was done for the sake of his father's employees, given the fact that all the former slaves who had accompanied Diego and Emmanuel very well knew their plans and had not trouble recognizing them without their disguises.

"Will we ever see you again?" Maria asked as the young men were about to depart.

The Count glanced towards her and shrugged his shoulders. "Until God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all us humans can do is wait and hope*," he replied with a smile as he saluted the people gathered, and the coach started towards the port.

ZZZ

It was some ten days late when a small Spanish ship anchored in San Pedro. From it descended two men in their twenties, and a short-haired boy.

"Señor," the taller of the men addressed the lancer who was preparing to write down the passengers' names, "can you tell us how we might be able to get to Los Angeles?"

"There is a coachman. He usually leaves at 9 a.m. when there are travelers," the lancer answered. "Names!" He then uttered.

"Don Diego de la Vega."

The lancer wrote down the name, then stopped, glanced at him, then raised his head towards the newcomers. "Don Diego de la Vega?" He asked, unsure he had heard right.

"Si…"

"The entire Los Angeles believes you dead…"

"Yet, here I am. Very much alive, as you can see." Diego answered with an innocent smile.

The soldier stared at him for a while, then glanced at his companions. "Your names?" He asked.

"Emmanuel Dos Santos," the other man said.

"And this is Felipe, my ward. He's also been away for a while." Diego replied.

Again the lancer stared, this time at the boy. "Is he the one who escaped Devil's Fortress?" He asked.

"Yes. But he has been pardoned in the meantime, when the Governor discovered he should not have been there in the first place."

"I… I heard, yes… It's just… How did you find each other, Don Diego?"

"Quite deliberately, Corporal," the young man said. "Now… About that coach… Where can we find it?"

The lancer was too baffled to react properly, but he eventually stood up and made his way towards a man sitting on the terrace of the port's small, soon pointing the three travelers to him. They continued to talk for a few moments, before the man hurried towards the newcomers, hat in hands. "Don Diego? Is it really you?"

"Yes…" the young man said.

"Oh, Don Diego! Don't you recognize me? It's me, Juan!"

"Viejo Juan? Is that really you?"

"Si, Don Diego… It's truly me… I am much older now than last you saw me, but it's me… Though I can hardly believe you are truly back..."

"Life is full of surprises, is it not? You remember Felipe?" The young man introduced the boy.

"Felipe! You found him?"

"We found each other… And this is Emmanuel Dos Santos. My most trusted friend."

"Honored to meet you, Señor!" The older man said. "I will take your luggage, Don Diego. Everyone in the pueblo will be so excited to see you! Especially your father and Señorita Escalante!"

The young man nodded, and they were soon on their way to the hacienda.

Don Alejandro, warned by one of the servants about the nearing coach, waited in front of the house when they got there, and put on quite an act at receiving them.

Maria and the rest of Don Alejandro's servants didn't need to pretend, however. They were all so happy to have their young master and Felipe back that they were hardly able to stop crying. As for the Count's servants, they did their best to feign just making the acquaintance of the new arrivals, inwardly reminding themselves their masters were good people, though they did behave strangely at times.

"Victoria will be so happy to see you!" The old don told Diego as they all entered the house. "And you, too, Felipe! Though, like me, she will hardly recognize you, my boy!" He confessed quite truthfully.

Diego had spent the last few days doing his best to whiten his ward's sunburned skin with the help of lemon juice and baking soda, at the same time managing to get the black paint out of his hair. The last step was a haircut. As a result, Felipe's bronze had almost disappeared and his short, light-brown hair now shone in the sun.

ZZZ

Victoria had spent the last few days in a state of melancholy, missing Diego more than ever before. Every day seemed interminably long to her, and every night without him seemed colder and darker.

"I didn't know a ship was due to anchor in the port today…" Pilar uttered as she came into the kitchen one day.

Victoria, who was sweeping the floor, glanced at her, then, abandoning her broom, a smile on her face, she headed to the terrace just in time to see the coach entering the pueblo.

When it stopped before the tavern, it was Don Alejandro to first exit it. "I have a surprise for you my dear!" He announced.

Moments later, Diego stepped down.

With a cry, Victoria hurried to embrace him, and he lifted her off the ground as he embraced her, as well.

"¡Dios mio!" Pilar said in disbelief.

"Drinks for the entire tavern! On me" Don Alejandro ordered and Victoria's helper nodded, but delayed obeying for a while longer, as she continued staring at the young De la Vega. "We have much to celebrate today. Felipe!" He then called the boy who had followed Diego out, and was patiently awaiting for Victoria to notice him.

At hearing the name, she let go of Diego and, while still attached to her fiancé, she put a hand around Felipe and squeezed him to her. "I missed you both, so much!" She uttered. "I can hardly believe that you are truly back!"

"I told you I'd return to marry you, didn't I?" The tall caballero asked for everyone to hear. "Forgive me for my delay…"

As they headed inside, everyone there saluted the young man, taking turns to express their joy at his return.

"It's a shame you didn't return a few days earlier, Don Diego," Pilar said as she poured them some lemonade at Don Alejandro's instructions. "You just missed the Count…"

"The Count?" He pretended to be confused.

"Si! We had a count here, Don Diego," one of the dons hurried to say.

"You still have a count here," Diego replied, and everyone stopped in their tracks.

"What do you mean?" One of Don Alejandro's friends asked.

"Well… My grandfather was Count De Lara, and I did inherit his title together with his estate… So I am a count now."

"What do you know? She'll be a countess after all…" one of the dons told another as gossip about the young woman and the Count of Dragonera had abounded since they had been seen returning to the pueblo together one morning.

"She'll make the most beautiful countess," Diego replied, causing Victoria to feel quite flattered.

"The Count of Dragonera mentioned something about a Count de Lara…" Doña Maria said at remembering the name. Not that she'd ever forgotten one.

"I'm sure he did. Don Sebastian is a good friend of mine. He came here at my request, to protect the people I hold dear."

"That is true, my friends," Don Alejandro confirmed. "He had told me everything the night before his departure. I could hardly stop myself from shouting out that my son was alive when I found out."

The people there chuckled and raised their glasses. "To Don Diego!" one of them said, and everyone cheered.

"And to Felipe!" Another added, and they again cheered.

"And to my beautiful fiancée, who gave me the courage and faith to survive hell if only to return to her!" Diego added.

"To Victoria!" Don Alejandro said with enthusiasm, and everyone cheered again.

"Where were you all this time, Don Diego?" Juan Macinas asked.

"In Spain for the first two years. The next five, I've spent in Chateau D'If under false accusations; accusations I only found out after I managed to escape." He confessed.

"But who did that to you, Don Diego? And why?" Another don asked.

"Gilberto Risendo and Ignacio de Soto were the ones to invent those false accusations against me." Diego explained to everyone puzzlement. "It's because of them that I had asked the Count of Dragonera to come to Los Angeles. I knew they were up to no good and, from what the Count told me in his letters, I was right."

"Indeed…" the same don uttered. "But… when Don Gilberto confessed to having killed his brother and all the bad things he's done to Don Alejandro, he said nothing about you… I would have assumed that causing you to spend five years in a prison was top of the list of missdeeds, yet he never mentioned it…"

"Actually, he did." Don Alejandro said. "He just didn't know Diego was still alive. He thought him dead and he still blames himself for it." The people there seemed dumbfounded, so the elderly man realized he needed to explain further. "As it turns out," he said, "Gilberto Risendo was born a De la Vega. He is my son. Diego's twin brother."

ZZZ

When Diego entered the alcalde's office, about two hours later, Mendoza was busying himself organizing the elections.

"Don Diego," the good man exclaimed at seeing him. "What brings you here?"

"I was hoping to see your prisoner, Sergeant," he informed him.

"Of course! Certainly," the man said. "But… Are you sure that you are ready to?" He wondered, fully aware of who Gilberto was to his childhood friend.

"I believe time has come for us to finally have a long overdue conversation. You haven't told him anything, have you?" He inquired.

"Not a thing, Don Diego! You told me not to… Though I doubt he would have even heard me had I said anything. He's been very despondent since that day he was due to be executed. For almost a week now he's refused to eat and, since yesterday, the guards informed me he also stopped drinking water."

Diego nodded pensively as he was led towards the jail.

"Don Gilberto…" Mendoza uttered as they entered.

"I don't want anything… Just go away, Sergeant!" The man said, not even opening his eyes as he lay on the cot in his cell.

A few moments later he heard steps heading out, and the door closing.

Diego remained in front of the cell, not moving an inch as he looked at Gilberto. For several minutes he just stayed there, in silence.

"I tried that once," he eventually uttered. "Death by hunger and thirst. I almost succeeded…"

Gilberto was caught by surprise at hearing that voice, so he opened his eyes and slightly stood up, turning to see who it was. "Have you come for my soul," he asked, certain he was seeing a ghost.

"In a way…" Diego replied. Spotting a jar of water on a small table by the door, he poured some in a cup, then took the spare keys and opened the cell's door, entering to offer it to Gilberto.

The man looked at him, then at the cup and took it with trembling hands. He remained staring at it a while longer, then drank it eagerly before he returned his eyes on Diego, certain he'd have a different face now. After all, people in his state are often misled by illusions.

"You…" he uttered, unable to understand why he was seeing the same man. The man he knew to be dead because of his actions.

"I'm not dead… I know you thought so; that everyone believed me gone… But you are not seeing things," the taller man replied, guessing his thoughts. "I escaped the Chateau and made my way back here."

His brother shook his head a few times, stared at him some more, then fell on his knees, and started crying.

"It's alright," Diego said after a while. "I know who you truly are now, and I know why you did all you've done. I am also willing to forgive you, should you prove yourself a different man than you have been thus far."

At hearing that, Gilberto raised his eyes. "You could forgive me?" He wondered.

"Everyone deserves a second chance. So, yes… I will forgive you," Diego answered, squinting to look his brother in the eyes. "We can start again. Be to each other what we were not allowed to be while growing up. All I want is for you to become the kind of man I can trust… A man I can care for as I should have, had we grown up together. Can you do that, Gilberto? Can you become such a man?"

"I don't know… But I will try!" He replied. "Are you really alive?"

"I am." Diego said, as he stood up, offering Gilberto his hand to help him do the same. "And I'm marrying Victoria a week after Easter. Perhaps the Sergeant will allow you to come to the wedding."

Gilberto shook his head. "I don't deserve to be anywhere near her. I almost killed her…"

Diego nodded. "I know. Yet she is alive…"

"Our father lost his hacienda because of me."

"The Count of Dragonerea returned it to him before leaving Los Angeles. He's richer now than he was before you came here."

Gilberto smiled at that. "There truly is a God then… How did you find out that I am your brother?"

"I read the letter Inez Risendo wrote to Antonio Cordoba… Father also read it."

"He knows?"

"Yes. He's been pondering over what to say to you when he visits."

"He wants to visit me?"

"Why do you think your punishment is to be served here? This jail is normally a short-term kind of facility. Father convinced the Count to ask that your sentence be served here, and the Governor agreed that it was right for him to get to know his other son, especially seeing how you have spent all this time away from him."

"He… He doesn't hate me?"

"He does… For what you did to me. But he will learn to forgive you for that, just as I will. For the rest, he has already forgiven you."

Gilberto smiled at hearing that, then sat on his bed.

"You should eat something…" Diego said.

"Are you sure… Are you sure you wouldn't rather see me dead?"

"I am sure of few things in this life, Gilberto. One of them is that I would like to know my brother. The real man. The man you would have grown up to be, had we been raised as brothers."

"I'm not sure he is in here..."

"Perhaps we can find him, nevertheless… Together."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

* Those of you who read The Count of Monte Cristo surely know this phrase belongs to Alexandre Dumas – well, in part (it is not an exact quote but an adapted one). I only used it here because I have always loved it.

AN: This was, initially, supposed to be the final chapter of the story, but I am now working on an epilogue. It might not be ready by the end of next week, though, so, if you don't find any new chapter next Saturday, please be patient. I will publish it as soon as it is done. Also, in the meantime, let me know if you liked the story and if there is something you would like to read about in the epilogue. I might be able to include it :)