The Secret of Zorro An Old Enemy Chapter Ten by Ella Christian @1999-2001 Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com Chapter Ten Phantom Elizabeth was sitting in the circle of live oak trees at the top of the hill at twilight when she saw the great white horse and the rider in black coming slowly up the road. The rider kept his usual perfect seat, yet there was a sense of tragedy in how he looked on the white horse. Why is he on the white horse? Where is Tornado? she wondered. Then she realized that although the cape was pulled around his shoulders, he was wearing a white shirt rather than the black one. She felt a sense of doom, and briefly wondered if it was even her husband on the horse. Oh, no, she thought, can it be Monastario? Can he have defeated El Zorro? Oh, Diego. Her heart began pounding. She stood up, and the rider's head moved slightly. He turned the horse and rode up to where she stood. As she saw them approach, Elizabeth began to shake. She could tell as they got closer, from the way he managed the horse so lightly with his hands and heels, that the rider was the Zorro she knew and loved. She tried to calm herself, pushing away her own profound sense of loss. She waited as he slowly rode up and finally stood before her. He dismounted and simply stood there. The white horse stepped back a few paces and nodded his head up and down, then lowered his head and began to graze. "Oh, no," Elizabeth murmured. She went to Zorro and put her arms around him, holding him as his arms rested motionless at his side, hidden in his cape. She looked up at his eyes, behind the mask, and she could see almost nothing of her husband. It was as if he had disappeared somehow, leaving behind only the tracings of a physical self. "Diego," she said, taking his hand. He looked down at her. "My pretty Elizabeth," he said softly, almost as if he were alone and wistfully looking at a picture of her. "Oh, Diego, what happened, tell me what happened," she said. "Where is Tornado?" He shook his head. Then his arms came around her and he pulled her into the cape with him. They stood there holding one another, wordless. She felt his chin press into the top of her head, and then rest there. In the way she had known, early in their marriage, not to ask him about his mother, Elizabeth now accepted that he could not bring himself to talk about whatever had happened in the days since he had left. "We are safe now," she whispered into his chest. "We are safe, we are home," she said. "We have each other, we have our daughter, we are blessed." She felt his body tighten, as if he were a dyke holding back the waters of a great storm. "Diego," she said, "take me down to the box canyon, let's put the horse away, and go upstairs." She felt him nod, and let go of her. She followed as he walked to the white horse, and there on his back she saw Tornado's saddle. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she said nothing. She put her hand on Zorro's shoulder and let him boost her up into the familiar saddle. The horse barely moved, but Elizabeth could feel his might underneath her. Zorro mounted behind her and nudged the horse back down the hill and around the rocky curve, into the hidden canyon and to the entrance of Tornado's cave. Instead of urging the horse in, he stopped and helped her dismount. Then he removed the saddle and bridle, letting the horse have the run of the canyon for the night. They watched as the stallion wandered off, in search of some good grass. His whiteness shimmered in the moonlight. He stopped and turned his head around to looked over at them. Then he shook his mane and trotted away. Diego pulled off the hat and mask, letting them fall to the ground at his feet. Elizabeth took her beloved's hand and led him slowly into the cave. There they paused, looking at the empty stall. "Oh, Jesus," Diego said, finally overcome. He fell to his knees, the tears sweeping over him at last. Elizabeth dropped to the ground as well, holding him as best she could as he wept. "I had to shoot him," Diego sobbed. "At first I thought he might survive but...it festered, he couldn't breath... I could not let him suffer..." he covered his face with his hands. Elizabeth felt own tears rising hot in her eyes, but she concentrated on stroking his back as he wept. Eventually he quieted. "He was the best horse on earth," she said softly. Diego nodded. "Yes, he was," he agreed. He tried to wipe his face. "I never thought anything would happen to him," he said. "I thought he would live forever." "I know," she nodded, a tear rolling down her nose. "So did I." "I do not know how many times he saved my life," he murmured. He looked at her. Instinctively, he brushed the tear off her nose lightly. "Life is so fragile," he said. "And I have been so arrogant. I let myself believe that I could cheat death. I thought that since my mother died, I had already paid the price the universe asked...." his voice trailed off. "How wrong I was." Elizabeth sat there, more tears coming down her cheeks. He looked at her more clearly, his own inner misery eased by his weeping. Seeing the grief all over her face, his loss over his horse briefly lost its grip on his heart. "Elizabeth?" he said. She looked into his eyes and shook her head. Then she lowered her head and began to sob. "Oh, no," he said, wondering how he could not have seen this when he first put his eyes on her. "Oh, sweetheart," he said. He took her elbows and, pulling both of them to their feet, led her into the clean straw of Tornado's stall. He unloosed his cape and let it shower open onto the straw. Then he helped her down and they lay together on it. Elizabeth now could not contain her own emotions, despite her deep desire to comfort him in his loss of the horse. She buried her face in his neck and sobbed, unable to say anything. He held her there, his own tears coming up again into his throat and nose and eyes. They lay there weeping and grieving in one another's arms for close to half an hour. "I wanted our new baby," she sobbed. "I know it was a boy. I know it. Lolita came and gave me medicine. Everything is gone now. Everything." Diego wept harder, as this new layer of sorrow set in. A son? he thought. He felt a vast wave of guilt. How could he have left her? He felt helpless grief over Elizabeth's pain, which he could not only hear in her voice but feel in the tight muscles in her body and in the way she clung to him. He wanted to comfort her but he had no reserves left. Another wave of guilt mingled in loss overcame him. For a while neither of them could say anything. "When did your period come?" he finally asked her gently, keeping her head on his shoulder. A son, he thought. She tried to wipe her wet cheeks off with one hand, sniffling. "A few days after you left. I think I will never know if it just came early or if I had a miscarriage. I think it was a miscarriage, I had all the signs...that we had another baby coming...Lolita said that is how it looked..." she began weeping again. "But maybe I wasn't..." He felt another sob well up in his chest, and breathed deeply to let it pass. "What has happened to our good stars?" he asked. "I don't know," Elizabeth said, her hand coming to rest on the center of his chest. "I prayed to the Madonna not to let it happen, but...." she stifled another sob. "I am so sorry about Tornado." He lifted her hand to his face and kissed her fingers. Then he pressed her hand to his chest, putting his lips into her hair. What could they say to one another? They lay there for a while, letting the calm of the night and the simple fact that they were together soothe them. Eventually the stillness prevailed over the tears. "What happened to Monastario?" Elizabeth asked at last. She kept her head on his chest so that she could hear and feel against her cheek the beating of his heart. For all of her pain, and all of his, she also felt overcome with relief. Her beloved was alive and well. Help me never to forget what is important, she thought as she listened to his heart beat under her ear. "It was a flash flood," Diego said. "In the middle of a duel...." Then he slowly, painfully recounted the story of his trip to Windhawk, and then the long journey, and the events in the Santa Susana Pass. When he told her about finding the fatal gouge in Tornado's chest, and of the horrible moment when he raised the gun and shot his beautiful horse in the head, they both broke down and sobbed again. Once they had recovered, he finished the story. He told her of Benicio Bocca's involvement, and his strange acts of peacemaking in retrieving the white shirt and giving him Caesar. "So that is how you ended up with Monastario's horse," she murmured, as he described his and Benicio's discovery of the white stallion in the brush. "Si," he said. "I do not know what I will do with him." Then she said something that, at the time, was mysterious to him. "God provides," she said. She added, "You redeemed another horse with an evil rider once." Diego nodded, thinking of Padre. "But Benicio, what will he tell of all of this?" Elizabeth asked. "I do not know," Diego said. "It could be the end of El Zorro, and possibly the end of me, if I am arrested." He stroked Elizabeth's head. "If he withholds his information, it will not be because of me," he said. "What do you mean?" "It will be out of his affection for you," Diego stated. Elizabeth said nothing, though she knew in her heart that he spoke the truth. They lay there for a long time in the darkness, their emotional exhaustion finally pulling them both into sleep. It was near midnight when Bernardo, on his nightly rounds, made his way down the stairs of the secret passage and, carrying a dim lantern. He was startled to find them nestled in the straw deeply asleep in one another's arms. They did not hear him and did not stir. He looked around, wondering where Tornado was. Going past his master and mistress, he exited the cave. Standing majestically in the light of the half moon, at the far end of the box canyon, was the tall white stallion. Bernardo absorbed this, a terrible pang rising in his heart and tightening his throat. Somehow he knew that Tornado would never again leap through the shrouded passage and into his hideaway. Sorrowfully he returned to the cave, and slipped past Diego and Elizabeth where they lay on Zorro's cape in the straw. Bernardo knew they would eventually come upstairs. For now, they needed to be exactly where they were. ****** When Diego woke up, Elizabeth was gone. He sat up suddenly in the straw, and saw light coming in from outside. It was morning. He felt instantly abandoned, as everything hit him all over again. Tornado was gone. There as no new baby to look forward to. And now his dear wife, the great comfort of his life, had disappeared. For all he knew, he would go upstairs to find soldiers waiting to arrest him, for there was no reason to believe Benicio had not gone straight to the cuartel to report the true identity of El Zorro when they parted ways the night before. He lay back in the straw, feeling more alone than he had ever felt in his life. As his head hit the straw he felt a piece of paper by his face, and sat back up to see that an envelope was near where his head had lain. He picked it up, thinking it had to be a note of some kind from Elizabeth. "Diego" was written in lovely script on the front. It was not Elizabeth's penmanship. He frowned, and turned the letter over to see an "M" gracefully drawn across the seal. He stared at it for a long moment, and then his heart began to pound. What he believed he was holding was impossible. Slipping his finger into the crease at the side, he carefully opened the letter and unfolded it. Then in the light from the cave opening, he began to read. My sweet Diego, If your papa does as I have asked, I will be several years gone from you when you read this letter. Do not think me cruel, dear son, for asking him to withhold this until you are no longer a boy but a young man, about to go to Spain. Perhaps it is selfish of me, but I want one last word with you now, rather than when you are tender and uncomprehending. I have finished my work on this earth. Much is required of you and my Alejandro, in accepting this and letting me go. Listen to me, Diego. You have greater gifts than you realize, in your strength and your imagination, and also in your heart. Do not squander them on an easy life, though surely you could have one given the family you were born into. Always watch out for those who have less than you have, and respect those to whom little has been given. They are, as we are told in the holy scriptures, the salt of the earth. You know these things. Act on them. Do not let yourself believe that I left you or that it was your fault that your mother went away. You sometimes blame yourself for things you cannot control. Do not be so prideful as to forget that there are always forces at work that are more powerful than we are. Because you are strong and handsome you will always face this temptation. Be mindful of it. I fear that the loss of those you love is the cross you must somehow bear in this life. Do not close yourself off. You will also experience great joy, I see that in the way you ride your horse and in the delight you take in your adventures with Maria and with the Indian boy. Keep your sense of wonder, my son, no matter what life gives or what it takes away. Whatever, and whoever, is precious to you is a gift that you cannot own, only a gift to treasure for all eternity, even if the only place it resides is in your heart. Remember always that I am proud of you, glad of your great heritage. Listen to your papa, for he is a wise man. How much his son you are. But you are mine, too, Diego. I will always be with you. Be kind in Spain, and wait patiently for the woman who will give you joy, and sons and daughters. They will keep us all alive forever. With love, Mama At the moment Diego finished the letter, he felt as if his entire world had exploded. He finally breathed, having held his breath as he read his long-dead mother's words from the grave. Before he could absorb his mother's message, he heard a rustle and looked up. Elizabeth was standing in the dark passageway. Esperanza was in her arms. The baby saw him sitting there in the straw and reached for him. "Do you want to see Daddy?" Elizabeth asked softly, carrying the baby to him and sitting down. "You missed him, when he was gone." He set the letter aside and took his little daughter in his arms, shutting his eyes and holding her against his chest until she squirmed. He held her out and looked at her. She reached for his nose instantly and started pulling on it, smiling. "Esperanza," he said. "Truly you are our hope." He hugged her again, re-closing his eyes tightly. Despite her wriggling aliveness and her innocent indifference to all that had happened, he felt as if Esperanza was the angel of salvation as well as his own flesh and blood. The baby looked away from him and back at her mother. Seeing her Mommie nearby, she returned her attentions to his face, putting her fingers into his eyes. He pulled his head away and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She laughed, her eyes sparkling. He rubbed noses with her, making her giggle more. Then he put her in the straw and watched as she looked around. "I think she is looking for Tornado," Elizabeth said. "He is gone, little one," Diego said gently, stroking the baby's curly hair lightly with his hand. "He did many good deeds and now he can rest from them." His eyes met his wife's. "This letter..." he started. "I found it in an old trunk in the rear barn," she said. "There was one for your father, too. He thinks she had them placed in the trunk during her illness, thinking Alejandro would find them when it was brought home." She was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Alejandro and I both thought you should have it this morning." Diego did not know what to say. He took the letter, folded it carefully, and put it back in the envelope. He thought for a moment. "She visited me once, before," he said. "My mother visits me all the time," Elizabeth replied. "But then, I invite her." Diego thought quietly again. Esperanza was crawling further away and he grabbed her, pulling her back into the little circle that they made as a family sitting in the straw. "It was when I was in the worst of that poison from Benicio's knife," he said. "She told me she would always be with me. And she told me how special you are." "I am sure you told her things from your heart, as well," Elizabeth said. She got up and walked to the cave entrance. Out in the sunshine, near the rock overhang that led to the cave, stood the white stallion. "I think someone would like to pay a visit," she said, looking back at Diego. She went outside and walked up to Caesar, patting his back. He nuzzled her arm. "Come," she said to him, pulling gently at his forelock. Amazingly, he followed her as she turned her back and walked into the cave. The horse came in and stood there tentatively, half-in and half-out. It was almost as if he were waiting to be accepted. Esperanza looked up at him and burst into a smile. Then she gave a tiny squeal of delight. Caesar snorted, but did not back away. Diego watched his daughter and looked up at the horse. Then he got to his feet, still eyeing Esperanza. "You approve of this horse?" he asked her. He scooped her up off the ground and let her touch the great animal's white face. "Be gentle, muchacha," he reminded her. She stroked the side of the horse's face and then turned to reach for her mother. Elizabeth accepted the baby. "He needs his own name, if he is to be here," she said. Diego eyed the horse. The horse eyed him back. "He is a very good horse," Diego admitted. "He is an excellent horse. I suppose I cannot blame him for the rider he was required to carry." They continued to look at him. Caesar stood there waiting. "He shimmers so much, in the darkness," Elizabeth said. "Here in the cave you can see him, but he is like a ghost in his hindquarters, against the white rock." Diego nodded slowly. "A phantom," he said. They looked at one another. Esperanza giggled and pulled at her mother's ear. "Faaaa," she said. She watched as her Daddy stepped forward and, after hesitating, patted Phantom's neck. Esperanza squealed delightedly again. ****** That night Elizabeth and Alejandro took a carriage into the pueblo to spend the evening at the Tavern. They stopped by Casa Matteo and picked up Carlos, who was eager to hear what had happened with Monastario. Rumors were circulating that Diego had returned, but no one yet knew the story of the Santa Susana Pass. Elizabeth had let Diego and his father have their privacy that afternoon, keeping to herself at siesta time. She knew that she had one more gift for Diego, but she wanted to wait for the right moment to lead him to it. Diego did not tell her what was said as the two men reunited after receiving their respective messages from Matilde de la Vega. Nor did Diego share his letter with her. Instead he stored it away somewhere. She imagined it was carefully placed in the same drawer in Alejandro's room that contained the much-treasured if mysterious box of jewelry. Over supper, Diego told her that he and his father had made some decisions that would reveal themselves this evening. "I suppose I will either end up in jail, or El Zorro will be a greater legend than ever," he had said. Elizabeth kept her own counsel and simply cooperated when Alejandro proposed the trip into town with her father and without Diego. The three entered the Tavern to discover that nearly all of their friends were there, including the Garcias, the Boccas, the Cahuengas, Consuelo Perez, and of course Corporal Reyes. The first question was, "where is Diego?" but before it could be answered the Tavern door opened again and a most unexpected visitor entered, in Benicio Bocca. His father Don Francisco growled. His mother Leonara jumped to her feet as did Clementia, heading for the prodigal son. "It is nice to see you too, Father," Benicio said, hugging his delighted sister and kissing his mother's cheek. Sergeant Garcia sighed. Benicio always meant trouble. "Why are you here?" Clementia asked, fluttering about him. Consuelo was on hand instantly as well. So was Seņorita Martina. The men in the room shifted uncomfortably. "How does he have this affect on them?" Don Miguel whispered rather loudly to Alejandro, who glared back. However, Alejandro's eyes returned to Benicio. Elizabeth watched him as well. The Tavern door was still open and everyone heard the shout of a peon from the plaza outside. They all scrambled to and out the door, to hear the pounding of hooves. Then to everyone's wonder, El Zorro roared up to them, riding a great white stallion. "Zorro!" Sergeant Garcia cried, stepping forward in front of everyone. Zorro's horse reared up magnificently on his hind legs, as the masked bandito lifted his hand and gave his familiar salute. "Sergeant!" he cried. "I am here to remind you that the poor in our pueblo deserve your kindness! And if you do not show it, you will have me to answer for it!" "But where have you been, Seņor Zorro?" Garcia asked. "And where is your black horse?" "I have been where I was needed most," came the reply, as the horse pranced lightly. "As for this horse, he is called Phantom! You shall have to ask Seņor Bocca for that tale. Adios!" With that the great Phantom reared up once again, and wheeled around to race away before a single lancer could even raise his flintlock and try to fire. Everyone stood there with their mouths open for a moment. "That looked like Monastario's horse," Corporal Reyes muttered. "It is," said Benicio. Everyone looked at him. "But his name is Caesar," Reyes said. "It sounds as if you have a tale to tell," Sergeant Garcia said to his brother-in-law. "Si," Bocca answered. He nodded towards the Tavern. Everyone filed back in and, though it took a few minutes, sat down quietly to await Benicio's story. Even Juan Bottega was quiet with his bottles and glasses behind the bar. "Monastario is dead," Bocca said to them all. "Dead!" several people exclaimed. "Si," Benicio said. "Drowned." "Drowned!" they exclaimed. "Si," Benicio continued. He saw in the doorway the figure of Diego de la Vega. No one else noticed as Diego stood there quietly. Elizabeth waited, her heart pounding, wondering what Benicio would say. She glanced over and saw Diego standing there. Their eyes met, and in that moment they knew that the fate of their entire family lay in the hands of a man who had tried twice to kill El Zorro. Benicio looked around until his eyes rested on Elizabeth. Then he sighed. "Don Diego tried to chase Monastario, but it was Monastario who caught him." Everyone gasped. They had all known how foolish Diego's pursuit of the Capitan had been. "But El Zorro overcame Monastario in a great duel," Benicio went on slowly. "They were caught in the flood." He shook his head sadly. "Monastario...he drowned." Elizabeth shut her eyes in relief. "How did you...did you see all of this?" Clementia asked her brother, spellbound. And so Benicio poured out his long yarn, of having become bored with San Juan Capistrano. Longing for a visit to the old family hunting house in the Santa Susana Pass, he bypassed Los Angeles to make his way into the hills. It was at the old cabin that he encountered the former Commandante, who kidnapped him, tied him up, and left him on a ledge to die. Diego was already captive on that ledge, an earlier victim of Monastario's ability to stalk and ambush. It was from this perch, Benicio told them, where he knew he and Diego would starve to death, that they watched El Zorro defeat Monastario. "There was never such a duel in all of California," he said, his eyes sweeping the room. "Truly I believed they would make the earth quake." He shook his head sadly. "Then the flash flood came out of nowhere. El Zorro rescued us, but his horse..." he shook his head again, looking exceptionally sad. It caused his mother to tear up and once again vow that she would make her husband love their son if it was the last thing she ever did. Everyone in the room was overcome with a strange sense of sadness over the bandito's lost black stallion. "But Monastario is gone," Diego said from the doorway. Everyone looked at him, immediately relieved to see that he was safely home. Elizabeth went over and hugged him, and then took his hand. She led him to the table where she, Alejandro and Don Carlos sat. Diego sat down, kissing her cheek lightly. He kept her hand in his as they sat there. "It is true," Diego said. He looked at Benicio. "And I could not have made my way home without Benicio's help. I was lost, up there. Truly lost." Don Francisco looked at his son, amazed. "You helped Diego?" he asked. "More than anyone can ever know," Diego said before Benicio could answer. "I suppose I should arrest you, Don Benicio, for helping El Zorro find a new horse," Sergeant Garcia mused. Everyone looked at him. Clementia's eyes narrowed. "But, everyone needs a horse, Sergeant," Corporal Reyes said. "True," Garcia agreed slowly. "And we all need El Zorro," Clementia said firmly. Everyone's eyes went from her to Sergeant Garcia. It was becoming plain who would be setting policy in the pueblo until the Mexicans arrived. "I am going to propose a toast," Diego said, borrowing Elizabeth's glass and lifting it. "To Benicio, who helped me, and to the two horses, the one who was so loyal to El Zorro for six years, and to the one who carries him now." Under the table, he squeezed Elizabeth's hand tightly. Many glasses and cups were lifted and everyone, with many affirmations, drank. After that, more rounds were bought. Stories abounded, as everyone recalled yet again the years of Monastario's terrible injustices among the people. They discussed and speculated, too, about his well-deserved end. "So, who owns that land now?" Francisco Bocca asked. Everyone looked at Carlos, who shrugged. "It was a legal sale!" he said. "If he had the son he claimed to have, I suppose it is his." Diego and Benicio exchanged glances. The conversations continued, for no one knew how to contact the Monastario family, if there was one. At least, no one who would admit it. Two hours later, people began to leave. Elizabeth walked out with Clementia, and they stood on the Tavern porch while others departed, saying many goodbyes. Clementia got caught in a conversation with Dona Corinna. Dona Leonora joined in. Benicio emerged. Diego was still inside with his father and a few of the other men. Elizabeth reached out and put her hand on Benicio's forearm as he brushed past her, on his way to his horse. "Benicio," she said. He stopped and looked down at her, his dark brown eyes revealing his feelings. "Si?" he said gently. Elizabeth suddenly felt tongue-tied. "What will you do now?" she asked a little lamely. "Go back to Capistrano, I suppose," he answered. "Or perhaps back to Mexico. I do not think El Zorro likes to see me coming." "You helped him, up there in the Pass," she said softly. "And you helped him again tonight." "Si, seņora," he replied, putting his hand over hers where it rested on his arm. She felt his rippling warmth radiate into her where he touched her. "Thank you," she said, in a near-whisper. He leaned over and, his lips nearly touching her ear, as if he were going to say something back to her, or perhaps even to kiss her cheek. Before he could complete whatever he intended, Clementia turned to them and said, "Benicio, you are coming home with us, we are all going home to Rancho Bocca tonight." Benicio started, and looked around. All the women in his family were closing in on him. In fact, he realized, it was most of the fine women in the pueblo. He smiled his slow smile. "So, I am to be escorted home in the middle of this flock of pretty pelicans?" he asked. Elizabeth stepped back, smiling, and felt his hand fall away from her. Diego came out of the Tavern, and went to her side. "It is time to go home," he said. She nodded. "Si." She watched as Benicio walked away surrounded by all the ladies, his father and Miguel Cahuenga following behind. She looked up at Diego. "He did not give you away," she said. "No," he agreed, also watching the little cluster of females fluttering around Benicio. "He did not." ****** The family went home quietly, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Alejandro knew nothing of the private loss Diego and Elizabeth shared, and Elizabeth knew no details of what father and son had said about the messages from Matilde. None of the de la Vegas were certain why Benicio had kept his counsel about El Zorro, nor why he had spun so generous a yarn about what happened in the Santa Susanna Pass. They all felt the loss of Tornado, but even that they could not openly discuss with Carlos in the carriage. By the time they dropped him off, no one felt like talking. As they got out of the carriage on arriving home, however, Elizabeth took Diego's hand and pulled him towards the stable. "What?" he asked. "Go on," Elizabeth said to Alejandro. She looked at Diego. "I have something for you," she said. He let her lead him to the stable and Blanca's stall. "Look at her," Elizabeth said. Diego stared at the filly, who was munching some oats and looking uncharacteristically contented in the late night. He looked at Elizabeth, puzzled. "Do you remember last September, when we were up in the mountains, and you got that letter from your father, about how Blanca got out and they found her near Tornado's corral?" Elizabeth asked. "Si," Diego said, thinking back. He looked at her strangely, and then back at Blanca. Then he looked at Elizabeth again. Elizabeth smiled. Diego literally gasped, and stepped into the stall to stroke the filly's side. Instead of pinning back her ears, she stomped one foot and continued her munching, her tail swishing softly. "Do you...think it could be his?" he asked. Elizabeth shrugged. "I suppose we will not know that until she foals," she replied. She entered the stall too. "But....I have a feeling that Tornado was not the gentleman we thought him to be. At least, I hope not." For the first time in days, Diego laughed. He patted Blanca's back. "Good girl," he said. "I had a feeling he would go wild if he ever got a whiff of you." He looked back down at Elizabeth. Nudging her out of the stall, he put his arms around her. "Oh, Liz," he said. Then he felt a well of emotion coming over him again. "I am so sorry," he whispered. "About the new baby." She hugged him back tightly. "I am, too," she whispered back. She was determined not to break down. "We have each other," she said steadily. " We have Esperanza. I am so sad, but I do not believe we are finished making our little family. And in a few months, we will have a special new horse." They held one another for a while. Elizabeth squeezed his ribs. "I am sleepy, seņor," she told him. He released her and they walked slowly back through the gates, across the patio, and up the steps to their room. Everything in the hacienda was quiet. A half moon shown in the sky to the east. Diego paused, looking up at it. "What are you thinking?" Elizabeth asked him. "I was making a wish," Diego said. "Will you tell me your wish?" He smiled down at her. "I fear I might endanger it by revealing it. I will tell you if it comes true." He touched her cheek lightly with his fingers. "God forgive me if I ever take anything good for granted again," he said. Elizabeth took his hand and led him into their room, closing the door behind them.