AN: This is the third chapter I publish today. This story is basically finished. Epilogue to follow in a few days.

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The two women walked in silence for over an hour, glad to see that nobody followed them. Then, Milagros just stopped.

"We should camp here for the night. I can see nothing ahead." She said.

"Si… Si, mi hija. We'll camp here." Señora Nuria replied and soon helped her lay down a blanket for them to sleep on. The wolves made sure to keep them warm during the night.

It was early morning when the older woman woke up to see her daughter sitting next to her, watching the sunrise.

"Was he telling the truth?" Milagros asked at noticing she was awake.

Señora Nuria didn't answer.

"The real Milagros is dead then?" Again the young woman inquired.

"You are my miracle," Señora Nuria answered, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"But I am not your real daughter…"

Señora Nuria shook her head.

"How did she die?"

"Those bandits… May they burn in hell…" She answered among sobs. "It was not enough to hit her. They raped her mercilessly… When her father and I came back, we found her covered in blood, barely conscious. We didn't know what to do, so we put her in the wagon and headed for the Mission. We rode all day and all night, but she still died in my arms, right before we arrived at San Luis Obispo."

"That's why she is buried there…"

"I thought I would die too, with her…" The older woman continued. "I took one of the horses, and headed this way, towards the ocean. I wanted to see it one last time, and then end my life by jumping off one of the cliffs. I had just made my peace with God… when I saw you.

"You had washed ashore on the beach. So I postponed my plans and went to see if you were still alive. You were in a very bad shape, but you coughed out water and held my hand tight... And I knew! I knew my daughter had sent you to me, to alleviate my sorrow.

"My husband found me by your side, having followed me there. He suggested we take you to the Mission. So, we put you on the wagon. On the way, however, you woke up, and we realized that you had no memory of anything.

"I also took that as a sign from God.

"I was a mother without a daughter. And you were a daughter without a mother; a child who needed help. So I told my husband that we should take you in.

"He didn't want to, at first… He thought people might come looking for you… But I convinced him…

"I will always miss my real daughter… She is and always will be in my heart… But I love you, too, as if you were my own…" Señora Nuria finished her account, a pleading tone in her voice.

"And I love you. You were right. Every daughter needs her mother."

"You'll stay with me, then?" The older woman asked hopefully.

"My daughter also needs her mother…"

"She… She has one. You heard Don Diego. His wife is a good mother to her."

"But she is not her mother. I am. And I might not remember much about who I was before… But I remember loving a small child. I even see her in my dreams at times… I always have… Since I can remember. Till yesterday, though, I thought she was a promise of things to come rather than a memory."

"If you leave me, I will die…"

"No! I don't intend to leave you. If what the De la Vegas said is true, I had been an orphan before you took me in. I grew up without a mother. But I have one now." Señora Nuria started sobbing harder when the young woman took her into her arms and held her tight. "So this is what we'll do." She said. "We'll go back to the shore; and, if they didn't wait for us, we'll go to Los Angeles. Together. You're coming with me. I won't let them part us. They can call me Juliana. But I will never stop being your daughter."

"You forgive me, then?"

"Love needs no forgiveness… Mother…"

ZZZ

"Are you alright?" Diego asked his brother the following morning, as the men finished taking the horses to the ship.

"I should have gone after her." He replied. "And I should have realized she was my wife long before you did."

"You forget that I knew Juliana better than you did."

"You saw her naked, too? How did you know about the marks? I didn't! Not till you mentioned them last evening." Dario asked, a pang of jealousy in his voice.

"Of course, I didn't see her naked!" Diego replied. "And I didn't know about the marks either. Not until the idea came to me that my wife might know if yours had any marks we could use to identify her. And she did."

"Victoria? But how did you know to ask?"

"I heard when Señora Nuria asked you about any signs or marks Juliana may have had, a day or two before we left the cabin. I didn't give that question much thought at the time, but, the day before yesterday, when I realized Milagros had recognized Elena from her portrait, I remembered Señora Nuria's question. So I asked. And Victoria made sure to send me a reply before nightfall."

Dario nodded. "You always think several steps ahead, don't you, Diego?" He wondered, just as the shape of the two women they had just mentioned appeared from behind a sand hill.

"It's a useful skill…" The tall caballero answered as they all turned towards them. "Ready to head home?" He asked Juliana.

"We are." She replied. "On our terms."

The two brothers exchanged a glance. "And they are?" Diego inquired.

"For one, that my mother comes with me."

"That woman is not your mother," Dario said.

"She is more of a mother to me, in my heart, than you are a husband." She replied.

"Señora Nuria will come with us." Diego agreed instead of his brother, who just remained silent, and nodded. "There's plenty of room in the hacienda."

"And you must promise you'll never try to part us. She'll be my daughter's grandmother, and I won't stand for anyone mistreating her, or making her feel unwelcome."

Diego glanced at his brother and, as Dario agreed with a bow of his head, so did he.

"Furthermore," Juliana continued, glancing at her husband, "you won't–"

"Touch you. I already know that part." The first-born De la Vega twin interrupted her to say.

"You won't interrupt me again." She corrected. "My next condition is that you won't take me for granted. I will be your wife, but I want you to make me feel wanted. I want to feel loved. I deserve as much!"

Dario's jaw just dropped at that. "You… You are willing to actually be a wife to me?"

"We are married, aren't we?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Then I already am your wife. We even have a child together. I might not remember what our relationship was like before the shipwreck, but I doubt I would have married a man I am clearly attracted to, had it not been my choice to do so."

He continued staring confused.

"My last condition is that I won't have to part with the wolves. Are we agreed?"

Diego smiled as he glanced at his brother.

"Yes," Dario said with a grateful look on his face. "Those terms seem quite reasonable to me."

"Good," Juliana said. "Then we should be going."

"Will you be able to get on the ship?" Emmanuel wondered.

"I am a grown-up woman. I am perfectly able to face my fears… As long as I understand where they come from." She replied and slowly neared the boat waiting for them. Stopping right before getting to it, she glanced between it and the ship, then back towards the people on the shore, and stepped inside.

ZZZ

It was a hot summer evening, and Victoria was again getting worried. No carrier pigeon had arrived in two days, and all kinds of thoughts ate at her as she kept coming up with all sorts of scenarios as to what was going on up north.

Standing in the library with the Gamboas and Don Alejandro, she couldn't hear a word they were saying. Not until Zorro's name came up.

"What?" She asked.

Her father-in-law's smile was barely perceivable. "I said that the men sent by the Governor to investigate Colonel Palomares' death ended up firing the alcalde after accusing him of gross incompetence and mismanagement of the pueblo's affairs. We'll have new elections in two weeks' time." He replied.

"That's wonderful news! Perhaps Zorro can finally stop riding now…" The young woman said. "So the envoy didn't find out who shot the Colonel?"

"No. He and his men searched the entire pueblo but were unable to even decide from where the shot was fired. Well, they concluded that it came from one of the buildings situated in the northeastern part of the pueblo, but they couldn't pinpoint with certainty which one."

"Couldn't Zorro have done it?" Don Janos asked.

"Of course, he didn't! Zorro doesn't kill." Victoria defended the masked man.

"Indeed." The elderly De la Vega said. "The Governor's men believed the shooter had killed the Colonel to defend Zorro. Which is not impossible, I suppose. But, frankly, I think one other possible explanation is that someone tried to shoot Zorro, perhaps even one of the Colonel's guardsmen, and ended up killing Palomares instead."

"That can be..." Don Janos confirmed. "Soldiers have awful aim these days."

"Exactly what the Governor's envoy also thought. It would certainly explain why the Colonel's Royal Guardsmen left so soon after his death." Don Alejandro remarked.

Victoria knew that was not why, but she had no intention of correcting that assumption.

"Someone's coming," Diana said as she glanced through the window.

"Who?" The young doña De la Vega asked, standing up.

"I can't see, but there are many riders. At least ten… maybe more."

Victoria hurried outside with Diana, and Don Alejandro, Felipe, and the Gamboas, together with some of the family's most faithful servants who followed them.

"It's Diego!" She said as she recognized her husband's tall figure, and started running down the road.

The young man guided his horse at a gallop towards her at seeing her, then stopped and dismounted, running to meet her some thirty feet from the hacienda. She crashed into him, and he slightly lifted her into his arms, holding her tight to his chest.

"I missed you! I missed you so much!" Victoria said as she held on to him. "Were you injured?" She then asked.

"Not me. Dario. But he is fine now. Forgive me for taking so long to come back to you!"

"You came back. That's all that matters." Victoria replied.

"Papa? Papa!" The boys and Elena, who had curiously followed the adults at hearing the commotion in the yard, shouted in unison and started running toward Victoria and Diego. He let go of his wife and headed for the children, kneeling to embrace them all at once.

As she held on to Diego, Elena raised her eyes to spot her father. Smiling, she let go of her papa and headed towards him. Then, as she spotted the woman riding with him, she stopped and looked back at Diego and Victoria.

"We found your mother, Carino," Diego confirmed with a nod.

"You found her?" Victoria asked, then she too, looked at the riders still to arrive. "Oh, my God!" She exclaimed as she recognized Juliana. "She's alive!"

Elena again turned, big eyes and half-open mouth, towards her parents, but didn't move from her spot.

Dario stopped the horse a few feet from her and dismounted before using his only good arm to help Juliana do the same.

Hand-in-hand, they approached the little girl, who was still watching them in awe.

As her mother came to stand right before her, Elena opened her arms and the young woman didn't need more of an invitation to let go of her husband's hand and lift her into her arms. Breathing in her daughter's smell, she started crying. She still didn't remember much of her old life. Elena, she recognized. Her smell, however, felt like home; and, at that very moment, she promised herself to never again forget even a moment spent with her child.