The Secret of Zorro
Clementia's Wedding
Chapter One through Chapter Three
by Ella Christian @1999-2001
Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com

Chapter One - Military Wisdom

The hacienda at Rancho Verbena, on the outskirts of the pueblo de San Juan Capistrano, was famous in southern California. Rumored to be haunted, it was the childhood home of Doņa Leonora Verbena Bocca, mother of Clementia. The large party of women from the pueblo of Los Angeles descended upon it, "rather like the swallows," Padre Dominic was overheard to comment, a week before the nuptials of one of their own.  It was early October, when sycamore leaves were dusty and no rain had fallen for months on the parched earth.  Still, the evenings were beautiful as the sea air poured across the dry landscape, cooling everything down.  Doņa Leonora, eager to see her daughter properly wed, had sent many servants ahead to open up the house and prepare it for the arrival of many guests. "It is a matter of principle," she advised her husband, "that she be married in my family home." 

The ladies were accompanied on their two-day journey by Don Francisco Bocca, Clementia's long-suffering father, two lancers assigned to escort them by Capitan Roberto Vilaro, and Bernardo, Diego de la Vega's personal manservant.  The other menfolk of Los Angeles, including the groom, as well as ladies who were not included in the preparation and wedding party, were due to arrive the day before the ceremony.    

No one could quite believe that this week had finally arrived.  It was only after Doņa Leonora, Clementia and her cousin Consuelo Perez, Seņorita Martina Morales, Doņa Corinna Cahuenga and her 16 year old daughter Lupe, and Doņa Elizabeth de la Vega, traveling with her seven month-old daughter Esperanza, arrived at San Juan Capistrano that the reality set in.  After a courtship of nearly ten months, Clementia was at last to be joined in holy matrimony to Sergeant Demetrio Lopez Garcia of the King's Army. 

******

It was in August, a month after the Torchlight Parade, that the courtship began to gain steam thanks to very unexpected circumstances.  The pueblo made its way through its sleepy summer in relative peace.  The excitement stirred up when Zorro foiled the hanging of Ishtar and his family of gypsies died down.  A happy event occurred one Sunday afternoon in late July when little Esperanza de la Vega was christened in a service attended by nearly everyone in the community.  Her godparents, Clementia Bocca and Sergeant Garcia, doted over her "as if she were their own," as Seņorita Martina Morales observed. Clementia viewed it as a major triumph when she succeeded in persuading the good Sergeant to hold the baby during the service.  He was a nervous wreck through the baptismal ceremony, but managed not to faint until after the service ended.  This of course brought about much commotion amongst the de la Vegas and Matteos as well as the Boccas, the lancers present, and the priests and laity of the congregation. The Sergeant was revived with a sturdy dash of holy water and escorted to the Tavern for the post-service reception.  There Diego, when he was not carrying his daughter about in her lovely white gown of Irish lace, congratulated Garcia repeatedly for his good deed in delaying his fainting until the service was ended, and offered him much-needed refreshment.  Garcia later confided to Clementia that "holding that tiny little thing was much harder than any battle I ever fought or any fox I ever chased."

Despite his public humiliation over the collapsed gallows and the escape of the gypsies, Capitan Roberto Vilaro was bringing, along with his obsession over Zorro, a long-absent sense of order to the garrison and surrounding community.  A disciplined man, he reinstated practices and procedures such as regular marching of the lancers, shooting and riding drills, clean uniforms, and spit and polish on all boots. All of this came as a great shock to the lancers, who were accustomed to Sergeant Garcia's "more relaxed style of command," as Diego put it in the Tavern one mid-August evening.  

"Si, Don Diego," Garcia agreed, "Capitan Vilaro is actually making us look and act like the military."  He sighed.  "I had forgotten how hard it is to be a soldier."  He sighed again.

Diego frowned at his friend.  "What is bothering you, Sergeant?" he asked.  "It is a good thing to have a strong and disciplined military, don't you agree?"

"Oh, si...si..." came the reply.  The Sergeant took another drink from his glass and then looked at Diego sideways.  "It is not wisdom about the strong and disciplined military that I need at the moment," he murmured.

"Then what is it?"

"It is..." Garcia looked around, and then lowering his voice said, "it is my strong and disciplined seņorita."

Diego grinned.  "Ohhhh....you mean Seņorita Clementia!"

Garcia nodded.  "She is very...." he paused, searching.

"....strong-willed?"

"Si, for starters."

"May I inquire," Diego asked, "what is she being strong-willed about?"

Garcia gulped.  "She is eager for me to....to..." he could not bring himself to say it.

"Propose?" Diego ventured.

The Sergeant winced.  

"But I thought you were quite smitten with her!"

"Oh, si, I am."

"Then what is stopping you?" Diego asked.  "She is from a good family, her father will agree to it I am sure...what is the matter?"

Sergeant Garcia looked down into his glass for a moment, and then looked at his friend.  "The life of a Sergeant is not a very good one, Don Diego," he said slowly.  "Especially the life of this Sergeant."  

"Oh, now," Diego scolded.  "You are secure in your post, and if you marry, the Capitan will surely allow you to live outside the barracks."

"Do you think so?"

"Why Sergeant, married people generally share the same household!" Diego assured him.  Then he looked around, lowered his voice, and smiled.  "Besides, you will want your privacy with your seņora, don't you think?"

Garcia pondered the question, frowned, and then his eyes widened.

Diego continued to grin, raising his eyebrows and putting a cigar between his teeth.  He nodded. "I am sure I am right," he said encouragingly.

So many things came into the Sergeant's mind at the same time that he could not sort them out. He therefore pushed them all away by taking several long swallows of his drink.

Diego stood up.  "Speaking of seņoras, it is time for me to go home to mine."  He leaned over, his hand on Garcia's shoulder.  "Just imagine it, Sergeant, you could be standing up at this moment saying you will go home to your seņora, too."  He gave the Sergeant an affectionate pat.  "It is good, to have a seņora to go home to."

"Oh, Don Diego, I do not think I should stand up for a little while," Garcia replied.

Diego laughed.  "I understand," he said.  "But think about it!"

"Si," Garcia sighed, looking back down to his wine.

******

Returning home, Diego entered the bedroom to find Esperanza in her cradle awake, looking around quietly.  Elizabeth was under the covers in their bed asleep.  He picked up the baby, who gave him a big smile.  "This picture is backwards!" he told her softly, kissing her cheek and then holding her against his shoulder.  "You are supposed to be asleep and Mommie is supposed to be awake giving me a big smile!"  

Esperanza hiccupped.  

"Ohhhh, I see what is keeping you awake," he whispered.  "Well let's just see if we can sit down in our chair and pat those hiccups out."  

He took off his jacket, having learned the hard way not to leave it on after she had eaten, and sat down in the chair to hold her and pat her back until her hiccups subsided.

Esperanza began to coo, her Daddy's arms and broad shoulder making her cozy and warm.

"Shhhhh," Diego whispered to her.  "Oh you are growing every day, Ranzita..."

The baby kept making happy little sounds.  Her hiccups cleared, but Diego was so enjoying holding her that he did not put her down.  After close to ten minutes, she began to fuss, signaling that tiredness was setting in.  Diego got up and took her out onto the dark balcony, swaying back and forth and humming to her until she fell asleep, her head finally still against his shoulder.

"There's my sweet girl," he said to her softly, bringing her back into the bedroom and laying her down carefully.  In the candlelight he watched her wiggle slightly and sigh, settling into her sleep.  He smiled.  He was unable, even after five months, to fully comprehend that he had a child.

"Thank you," came a soft, low voice from the bed.

He looked up to see Elizabeth half-sitting on her elbow, her hair around her shoulders, looking sleepy.  

"Did we wake you up?" he asked, getting to his feet.

Elizabeth lay back down.  He sat next to her, leaning over her on the bed.  "She went right to sleep after I fed her, and so did I," she answered.

"You must have been tired," he said, brushing her hair away from her face.  "You didn't even blow the candle out."

"Oh, dear," Elizabeth murmured.  "Not a good thing to forget."

"I thought perhaps you left it lit for me," Diego smiled, leaning over to kiss her cheek.  "I'll get it.  Just let me get my clothes off."  He got up and went to the wardrobe where he began undressing.

"Anything thing of import from the Tavern tonight?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not really...for all his vanity and his determination to catch Zorro, I think Capitan Vilaro is actually making some progress in the garrison. The lancers are looking more military all the time."

"Was he there tonight?"

"No, just our Sergeant," Diego answered, pulling his shirt off after dropping his cufflinks on the table.  "Who is..." he turned to his wife and smiled, "worrying greatly over his romance."

"Oh?" Elizabeth said.  "Is Clementia mad at him?"

"I think," Diego said, dropping his trousers on the back of the chair and coming to the bed, "that she is rather more ready to take the next step than he is."

"She is very ready to do that," Elizabeth confirmed, sliding over slightly to make room for him as he got under the covers with her.

"He thinks she wants him to propose."

"She does!"

He settled in next to her, putting his arm under her head, pulling her against him.  "Oh," he sighed.  "Wait."  He sat up and reached over her, to bring the candle towards him and blow it out.  Then they re-situated, cuddling up.

"Do you think he will? Propose?" Elizabeth asked.

Diego gave her a squeeze.  "I told him it was a very good thing, to have a seņora to come home to."

Elizabeth giggled.

****** 

The next morning Diego awoke to bright sunshine poking through the shutters.  He sat up suddenly and looked around, to realize that neither Elizabeth nor Esperanza were in the room.  Looking to his right, at Elizabeth's side of the bed, he saw a folded sheet of white stationary on her pillow.  He opened it to see her violet-colored script on the page.

My love you were so handsome and so lost in your deep sleep that I could not bear to awaken you.  We have gone to see Auntie Clementia at Rancho Bocca.  I meant to tell you we had a breakfast date last night but...I did not remember.  You are a delicious man my darling husband.  I shall be home soon.
Your Anita E.

Diego smiled.  Not home soon enough, he thought.  A series of knocks commenced on his door.  Diego took a deep breath, saying, "Come in."

Bernardo entered, waving for his master's attention.

"What?" Diego asked.

Bernardo pointed at him, and then indicated getting his feet to the floor.  He gestured dressing, and then waved at him to go outside.

"What is the hurry?" Diego asked, rubbing his scruffly chin.  "It is Saturday.  Seņora Elizabeth is already..."

Bernardo interrupted by pointing downstairs, then gesturing a fierce, bearded face and then a uniform and a face with a moustache.

"My father?  And Capitan Vilaro?" Diego asked.

Bernardo nodded, also making his gesture for Vilaro's aide, Lieutenant Nuņez.

Diego got out of bed, pulling his robe on.  "They're here? Downstairs?"

Bernardo nodded, waving down towards the sala.

"What about?" Diego asked.  

Bernardo indicated cash changing hands and shrugged.

"Money?" Diego said.  "Well, this should be interesting.  Go back down and let my father know I will be there shortly."  He looked into the mirror briefly.  "I really must shave."

******

"I fail to see the necessity of such an arrangement!" Alejandro fumed, pacing the sala while Capitan Vilaro stood patiently waiting.

"Don Alejandro, I rrrrealize it is an unusual rrrrrequest, but it is the only way we have of establishing a workable banking system in the pueblo," the Commandante replied.

"Banking is not an appropriate activity of the military!"  Alejandro exclaimed.

It was just as he was saying this that Diego entered, freshly shaved. Bernardo accompanied him.

"Diego!" his father cried.  "We have a situation!"

"Capitan, Lieutenant, welcome," Diego said with a smile, bowing briefly at the two visitors.  "Have you had coffee?  Father, surely we can be hospitable, even if we have a 'situation.'" He gestured at Bernardo to pour coffee.

"This is serious!" Alejandro said.  "They want all the dons in the pueblo to put up cash to establish a bank in the pueblo, to be run by the military!"

"Oh?" Diego said, watching as Bernardo poured the steaming coffee from the great silver pitcher.  "That would be highly unusual, wouldn't it?"

"It is the only institution with sufficient authorrrrity to ensure that the money would be prrrroperly handled," Vilaro said.  "Not much is being asked of each family, and it will be trrrracked and returned."

"Not much!" Alejandro repeated.  He looked at Diego.  "They are asking for 10,000 pesos from each family, in order to have 100,000 to start with!"

"Is there a guarantee as to when we would see our money returned?" Diego asked.

Vilaro shifted a little uncomfortably.  "That is a matter to be negotiated...." he said.  He accepted the cup from Bernardo and took a sip.

"Perhaps we can go outside and sit down?" Diego suggested.

"Oh, Diego, this is not a social event!" Alejandro said.

Diego shrugged.  "Let me ask you this," he said to the commandante, "Is Governor Peņa in favor of this?  I mean to say, has he directed this in each pueblo of California?  There is of course a private bank in Monterey, but nothing along the lines of what you are proposing for Los Angeles.  And nothing...." he shrugged again, "overseen by the military."

"The governor is interested in seeing the establishment of as much stability as possible in Alta Califorrrrnia," Vilaro replied.  "It is a matter of being preparrred, Don Diego."

"Prepared for what?" Diego asked.

"Why, the Mexicans!"

"Oh, I see," Diego said, raising his eyebrows.  "And the way to be prepared for the Mexicans is to have a great deal of our private money in the hands of the Spanish military?"

"That is exactly my point!" Alejandro exclaimed.  He turned to Vilaro.  "You see? It has taken my son all of five minutes to see through this...this ruse!  I do not mean disrespect, Capitan, but we are hardly going to hand over our carefully accumulated resources to a military that is in all likelihood going to be wearing a different uniform entirely before long!"

Vilaro waved this reasoning off.  "This is not about becoming a Mexican territory, believe me.  It is about crrreating internal economic strrrrength and sophistication in the pueblo."

"Perhaps we should try to do that through a private banking system," Diego mused.  "We must always go to Monterey for significant financial exchanges and arrangements now....it probably makes sense to go beyond the sort of informal bartering and record-keeping we do here and in San Pedro with the various merchants."  He looked at his father.  "Want to become a banker?"

"No!" Alejandro barked.  "And I do not want him to either!" he gestured at Vilaro.

Vilaro sighed, looking at Nuņez, a poker-faced fellow who said little.  "If I produce a letter from the Governor supporting this effort, will you consider it then?" he asked.

"If the Governor himself appears and looks me in the eye and asks for this, I will consider it!" Alejandro answered.

Diego, standing slightly behind his father, shrugged at the Capitan to indicate he could do no more.

"Verrrry well," Vilaro concluded.  "But perhaps you will change your mind if the other dons agree to this."

"I doubt that they will agree," Alejandro said.

Vilaro bowed.  "I shall take my leave for now."  He looked at Diego.  "Please give your seņora my best, Don Diego."

"Thank you, Capitan, I shall," Diego smiled.  He then nodded at Bernardo to see the soldiers out.  After they were gone, he looked at his father.  "He is right, concerning establishing a decent banking process in the community, you know," he said.

"Banking belongs in the hands of private businessmen, not the military.  And you know that," Alejandro said to his son. 

"The governor could be behind this, you know," Diego told him.

"Si, that is what I am afraid of!" He shook his head.  "What kind of a world are we handing to Esperanza, Diego?  I want her to grow up here, at Rancho de la Vega, a Spanish child in the new world."

Diego shook his head a little sadly, staring down into his coffee.  "I think you will get your wish for her to grow up here on the rancho, Father.  But a Spaniard?"  He sighed.  "I am not sure she is a Spaniard even now, for she was born in what is already 'officially' Mexican territory to a Spanish-American mother and a Spanish father who may be a Mexican!  What does that make her?  I am not even sure what we are!"  

******

"I do not know what to do to!" Clementia exclaimed.  "I have done everything short of proposing to him!"

Elizabeth bounced Esperanza a few more times, making the baby giggle.  "He will get to it," she assured her friend.  They were sitting in the courtyard of the Bocca hacienda, having their morning coffee and enjoying the sunshine.  At least, Elizabeth was enjoying it.  Clementia was in a state of extreme exasperation over her romance and Consuelo, sitting in the nearby shade, was suffering mightily for having to keep her distance from Esperanza's mother when she desperately wanted to hold the baby.

"Does he, do you know, ever say anything to Diego about it? About me? About us?" Clementia asked.

"All I know for certain is that Diego has given him encouragement about the virtues of marriage," Elizabeth answered.  "Do you want to see your auntie, Ranzita?"

The baby batted her hands up and down in her lap, smiling.

"Oh, I think you do!" Elizabeth said, offering her daughter to Clementia.  

"Hello, Ranza, what can we do about my Sergeant?" Clementia asked the little girl.  "Will you talk with him for me and tell him we must not grow old before he decides to propose?  Will you tell him that you would prefer to be a baby and not a ten year old at our wedding?"  She sat down at the iron table in the courtyard, adjusting Esperanza in her lap.

"I do not know why you want to marry him at all," Consuelo said from her post in the shade. 

"Hush, Consuelo, it is not for you to say who Clementia should love," Elizabeth said.  She was trying hard to be more charitable with Consuelo, though it was an effort.  "Instead of scolding her we should be congratulating the Sergeant on his wisdom in choosing a sweetheart."

Consuelo sighed, staring enviously at Clementia and the baby.   

"What should I say to my Sergeant, to persuade him?" Clementia was asking Esperanza.  "Should I make him hold you again, to inspire him?"

"All you did was inspire him to faint," Consuelo pointed out.

"He was very brave," Clementia said, making a face at the baby.  "He had never held her before.  Isn't that right, Ranzita?  He held you for the first time when you had your pretty white dress on!  The day you showed us who the prettiest girl in the pueblo was."

Elizabeth laughed, watching the two of them. 

She glanced over at Consuelo and observed the silent longing on the Mexican girl's face.  While she was not, in Elizabeth's opinion, fully rehabilitated, Consuelo had a newfound softness and occasional, if unreliable, humility.  Elizabeth credited Esperanza for that.  "Give Consuelo a turn," she said to Clementia, nodding at the baby.  "We need to get her out of the sun." 

Clementia made another face and went to her cousin in the shade, sitting beside her cousin and handing Esperanza over.  Consuelo's demeanor changed instantly, brightening as she received the child.       

A creak came from the gate and the three women looked over to see the wooden door swing open and a man stepped in.  Elizabeth frowned, not recognizing him.  He was in his early thirties, a black-haired, sleepy-eyed, handsome fellow with curling lips and a sultry air. He was wearing heavy riding boots and a buckskin suit that appeared dusty, as if he had been on a long journey.  He looked around slowly, sizing up who was before him.  His eyes rested on Elizabeth. She suddenly began to feel rather warm, as if the heat in the courtyard had instantly risen several degrees.

"Oh, my!" Consuelo murmured, looking over Esperanza's shoulder and seeing who it was.  Elizabeth looked at Consuelo to see that she appeared flushed. 

Clementia gasped on seeing him and jumped to her feet, running towards the man.  "Benicio!" she exclaimed.


Chapter Two - A Pair of Miracles

Elizabeth watched in astonishment as Clementia bounded across the courtyard and threw herself into the unknown man's arms.  She squealed gleefully as he hugged her, whirling her around in circles.  

"Little sister!" he exclaimed to Clementia, laughing. He had a deep, appealing voice.

Elizabeth looked at Consuelo questioningly.

"It is her brother," Consuelo explained, watching the pair.  

Looking around and realizing that she was no longer the center of attention, Esperanza began to cry.

Elizabeth went and took the baby, who felt overwarm to her.  She felt a drop of perspiration rise on her forehead.  "Goodness, has the sun heated us all up?" she said.

"It's him," Consuelo nodded at her cousin.

Elizabeth frowned, looking back at Benicio, who was setting his sister on the ground.

"Mamma will be so excited!" Clementia exclaimed, pulling her brother by the hand towards Elizabeth and Consuelo.

"Ah, my pretty cousin!" Benicio said, seeing Consuelo sitting in the shade.  

Nearly involuntarily Consuelo rose and seemed to melt into his arms for a long - overlong, Elizabeth thought -- hug.  Then he turned his dark, lazy, seductive eyes on Elizabeth.  She met his gaze and felt her temperature rise another half-degree.

"Who is this?" he asked, looking at Esperanza, who continued to fuss.

"This is Esperanza de la Vega," Clementia explained, taking and wiggling the baby's hand to try to distract her.   "And this is her mother, Elizabeth."

Benicio looked at the baby briefly but his eyes settled on Elizabeth. "You are new to Los Angeles since my last visit," he observed, his head tilting ever so slightly to the right.  "My home pueblo has become a better place."  He took her hand and kissed it gently.  She felt a prickly warmth run up her arm.  She stared at his dark head bent over her hand for a moment, then realized his lips were still on her skin and pulled her hand away. 

"This is Diego's wife!  And daughter!" Clementia beamed, threading her hand through her brother's arm.

"Diego has a wife?" Benicio said with a surprised chuckle.  He looked Elizabeth up and down.  Then he looked at Esperanza.  "And I see that he has a daughter."

Elizabeth looked at the baby, who was calming as quickly as she started fussing.  "She does look like him," she agreed.  Esperanza looked at Benicio and gave him a big smile.

"When you smile you look more like your mother!" he said to the baby.  He looked back at Elizabeth.  "Diego must done some good deed in secret, to have such fortune befall him."

Clementia swatted his arm playfully.  "Diego is always doing good deeds, you know that!"

"He has also been reading many books since he returned from Spain," Benicio mused, returning his gaze to Elizabeth.  "But I see that he has at last managed to leave the books in the library now and again."  He looked again at his cousin, where she had re-seated herself in the shade a few feet away.  "Why are you in Los Angeles, sweet cousin?  I last saw you in Mexico City...." he smiled at her.

"Oh, that is such a long story!" Clementia said, waving.  "We must get you into the house to see Mamma and Papa!"

"I am not sure if Papa will be so glad to see me," Benicio pointed out.  

"Then we will find Mamma first," Clementia said, dragging him towards the hacienda door.

"You will excuse us then," he said to Elizabeth, and then he looked over and winked at Consuelo.

"Con permisso."

Elizabeth and Consuelo watched as brother and sister departed.  

"Oh, dear," Consuelo muttered.

"How long has he been away?" Elizabeth asked, coming back to the shade.  Things suddenly felt cooler.  Esperanza was completely calm now.

"I am not sure," Consuelo answered, fanning herself.  "He has not been back since quite a while before I came here."

"He has not been here since I moved here, and that was....18 months ago," Elizabeth said.  "It is odd, no one has ever mentioned him.  Clementia has a brother?"

"Oh, si," Consuelo answered, taking a breath. 

"And Diego knows him?"

"We all know him," Consuelo said.  "He is...well known here in Los Angeles. And in Mexico City.  And probably...some other places as well."

"But I have never heard of him!" Elizabeth said.

"Uncle Francisco...." Consuelo shook her head.  "Benicio," she tried to explain, "always has a way of causing a stir."

At that moment a cry came from the house, and they knew that Doņa Leonora had just set eyes on her son.

******

"I cannot believe no one ever told me Clementia had a brother!" Elizabeth exclaimed over lunch.  Her father was present, along with Diego and Alejandro.  Esperanza was in her Grandpapa Carlos's lap while everyone was trying to eat.  The men had been discussing what Alejandro was now referring to as "Vilaro's banking scheme," as he had also approached Carlos about investing in a miltary-held bank for Los Angeles.

"Oh, Benicio!" Diego and Alejandro said at the same time.

Elizabeth and Carlos exchanged glances.

"Si, she has a brother all right," Alejandro said.

"Si," Diego agreed.

"But you have never mentioned him to me at all!  Neither has Clementia!  Or anyone else!" Elizabeth said indignantly.  She looked at her father.  "Did you know about him?"

Carlos shrugged.  "No, not me.  But I have not had much dealing with Francisco, aside from one little strip of land by the river."

Alejandro scowled, reminded of his friend's real estate adventures.  "I am surprised you have not started a bank of your own!" he stated.

Carlos smiled widely at Esperanza, ignoring the remark.

"Tell me about him!" Elizabeth demanded.  She looked at Diego, who looked at his father.

"What is there to tell?" Alejandro asked.

"I don't know; that is why I am asking!" Elizabeth exclaimed.  

"Calm down, darling, it is not worth getting excited over," Diego said to her.

"I would not be 'getting excited' if someone would just tell me what is going on, that there is such mystery around Benicio Bocca!" Elizabeth said.  "I am sitting there minding my own business and suddenly the heat in the courtyard rises and Clementia begins acting as if she were twelve years old around a man I have never heard of before, and even Consuelo gets all tongue-tied and overheated, and then I am dismissed from the Boccas with barely a goodbye, and now I am sitting here trying to find out something and you are all...." she waved her napkin, "not telling me anything!"

"Benicio is not easy to explain, my dear," Alejandro said.

"But...he's...." she started.

"He is a little older than Diego," Alejandro continued.  He looked at his son.  "Five or six years?"

Diego nodded.

"And he is, I suppose you could say he is the black sheep of the Bocca family."

"Definitely," Carlos said.

"How do you know?" Elizabeth asked.

Carlos gave another innocent shrug.

Elizabeth's exasperation mounted.  "Do I have to ride back to Rancho Bocca to find out what is so strange about him?" she asked.

"Did you think something was strange about him?" Diego asked.

"You are all being strange about him!" Elizabeth nearly shouted.

Esperanza's mood shifted and she began to cry.

"Oh, dear, now, my precious angel," Carlos said, picking her up and holding her against his shoulder.

"She is sleepy," Elizabeth said, getting up and going to retrieve her daughter.  "I will take her upstairs and see if she is hungry, and then put her down."  She looked each man in the eye.  "And then I will be back and you are going to tell me about ... Benicio!"

******

Diego came into the bedroom twenty minutes later, to find Elizabeth just setting Esperanza into her little bed.  She had outgrown her baby cradle and was now in a tiny bed, low to the floor, beside her parents' bed.

"I wanted to rock her, is she already asleep?" he asked, looking over Elizabeth's shoulder.

"Si," Elizabeth said softly.  She finished putting the baby down and then turned to Diego.  "I want to know what is going on," she said.

"There is nothing going on," he answered innocently.

"Benicio Bocca!" she said.

Diego frowned dismissively.  "It is nothing, he just comes and goes in the pueblo and whenever he shows up it usually means trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

Diego shrugged.  "The usual kind.  Women. Drink. Money. "  He frowned, reconsidering the source of the morning meeting with Capitan Vilaro.

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"Oh, it is probably nothing.  Just a coincidence."

"What?" she insisted.

He took her hand.  "Let's go back out, let's let her sleep."  He led her through the door and closed it quietly.  They stood on the balcony, looking across the courtyard and out across the hacienda yards towards Elizabeth's gardens.  "Shall we take a walk?" he asked her.  "Over by the pond, perhaps?"

She nodded, and let him lead her down the stairs and out through the gate.  Her father and his were mysteriously gone.

As they walked towards the pond east of the hacienda, Diego spoke.  "Benicio was a very well-liked boy growing up in the pueblo," he told her.  "I think everyone believed he would be our leader one day.  Or perhaps even, someday, the first California-born governor of our territory."

"That should be you," Elizabeth said, leaning against him suddenly.

"Oh, I am no politician!" Diego said, patting her shoulder affectionately after putting his arm around her.  "But we believed that Benicio was.  However, as he got older it began to appear that his interests were not...." he searched for a moment, "not so lofty."

"Did he go to Spain to study?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, he went to Mexico," Diego answered.  "He was back and forth a great deal.  I assume that is still where he goes, when he disappears."

"He disappears?"

"Si, for years at a time.  That is why you have never heard of him.  It has been many years since he was here."

"How many?"

Diego thought for a moment.  "Four, I suppose."

"You 'suppose'?"

"Si..." he had to think again.  "Yes, four."  They stopped at the water's edge, looking across the cattails and rippling pond.

"Four.  So, he has been here since you returned from Spain.  Since you became Zorro."

"Si."

Elizabeth waited.  No further information was offered.  "Diego!" she exclaimed.

"What, darling, what?"

"Must I cross-examine you in order to find out?"

"Find out what?"

"Whatever it is you are not telling me!  Was there a duel?  Did Benicio and Zorro have a feud?  What made him leave four years ago?"

"Well, it would be accurate to say that Zorro made him leave," Diego said.  "But it was not personal."  He looked down at her.  "It had to do with some gambling debts he accrued, which led to some debts in the tavern, and debts in the posada, and...."

"But his family is rich."

"Si, but Don Francisco has taken him out of his will."

Elizabeth looked at him, astonished.  This was an unheard of action in a family in Spanish California.  Everyone did whatever it took to sustain the land grants and keep them in the family.  "Is that why Clementia stands to inherit everything?"

Diego nodded.  

Elizabeth shook her head.  "I thought it was because there was no son, no male heir."

Diego shook his head "no."  

"That is quite a drama," Elizabeth said.

"Si....though I believe it is a greater drama to all of us than it is to Benicio."

"What do you mean?"

"He is...."

"Does he fight?" Elizabeth interrupted.  "Have you dueled with him?"

Diego looked around to make sure they were alone.  Then he looked at the ground thoughtfully.  "Si, he is all right with a sword.  He...fumbles around a little, but in the end he can do some damage."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.  "Did he do you some damage?"

Diego shrugged lightly.  "I am no worse for the wear."

"Diego!" she cried.

"Calm down!" he replied, pulling her against him lightly.  "You are so full of questions over something that happened years ago!"

"I want to know if you are in danger from this man!"

"No, of course not."

"What did he do to you?"

Diego sighed.  He pointed at his stomach.  Elizabeth looked at where he was pointing.  

"That scar? He gave you that scar?" A look of dread came over her face. "In a duel?"

"No," Diego said rather reluctantly.  "He....had a knife."

"A knife!"

"Si, he is rather better with knives than with swords.  Although he can handle both at the same time, given the opportunity."

"Oh," Elizabeth said unhappily, thinking first of the white scar on Diego's torso and then suddenly finding her thoughts invaded by a memory of Benicio's lips on the top of her hand.  She looked at Diego suddenly.  "But he doesn't know that you are Zorro, does he?!" she asked.

"No, no," he laughed.  "Nobody knows that, except you and Father....and..."

"Lolita," Elizabeth said at the same time, adding, "and Soaring Bird, and Windhawk..." she shook her head.  "Too many people know."

"They are all trustworthy, darling," he said, kissing her head.  

They looked in silence for a little while across the pond.  He pointed.  "Over there," he said, "is where Maria and I looked at the baby ducks many years ago."

Elizabeth smiled, leaning against him and putting her arms around his waist.  "I loved that story."  She looked up at him.  "Please don't get into anything with Benicio," she said.

"I won't as long as he behaves himself!" Diego assured her.

"But it doesn't sound as if he behaves himself very well.  In fact I am sure of it," she murmured.

Now Diego was the one who frowned.  "Why do you say that?"

"He knows well how to exude his charm," Elizabeth said.

Diego looked at her, startled.  "Did he try something with you?" he asked, holding her shoulders and facing her.

Elizabeth considered the way Benicio had entered the courtyard, and the way he had looked at the women.   "He made me feel very strange," she said.  "He even had a strange effect on Esperanza."

Diego shook his head, slightly amused.  "Even her," he said.  "I have seen it before, though not with a female quite so young!  I think you need to remember, darling, that he has a great deal of indifference to what society expects."

Elizabeth sighed.  "Poor Clementia.  I wonder if his arrival will advance or interfere with her mission with our fat Sergeant."

"I am sure Benicio will make it all more interesting," Diego replied. 

******

At the Bocca hacienda, a confrontation was underway.  Doņa Leonora was of course thrilled to see her only son for the first time in several years and made much of his re-entry into the household.  Don Francisco's arrival, from a vexing meeting with Capitan Vilaro in the Tavern, brought the celebration to a screaming halt.  Complicating things further was the presence of Sergeant Garcia, as always accompanied by Corporal Reyes. Garcia had escorted Don Francisco back to Rancho Bocca to call on his seņorita, and wanted to begin by asking her father for her hand.  He brought Reyes along because he could not think of a reason not to.  Neither man was prepared to find Benicio sitting in the sala with the women enjoying a hastily-prepared and festive luncheon.

"I am not about to put my money into Vilaro's hands! The nerve of him, asking me for 10,000 pesos over my simple little repast in the Tavern on a Saturday afternoon!" Don Francisco fumed as they entered the sala.  He looked at Garcia.  "What did you say you wanted to talk with me about?"  He then looked across the room to see the luncheon party underway.  It took him a moment to realize who was at the table.  Then he turned red.

Benicio stood up, apparently respectful.  That was when Sergeant Garcia first saw him.

"Benicio!" he exclaimed.  He looked at Clementia and then back at Benicio, and then to Don Francisco, who looked like he was about to explode.

"Demetrio, come in and join us!" Clementia said, coming over to the Sergeant.  "Welcome my brother home!"  She looked imploringly at her father.

"You....you!  You....you rascal! You scamp!  You...bandito!   What are you doing in my household!" Don Francisco cried at his son. "Are you behind this 'banking' scheme?  Are you?!" He lunged for his son across the table, causing food and dishes to fly.

"Father no!" Clementia cried, grabbing at his shoulder.

Doņa Leonora screamed, jumping away.  Benicio jerked back, avoiding his father, only to be stopped by Sergeant Garcia, who made his way around the table and grabbed his possibly future brother-in-law by the back of the collar.

Consuelo pulled at her aunt to get out of the way, as several servants rushed in.  A melee on the table ensued, as Don Francisco fell over the bench and onto the floor and Benicio, in shrugging the Sergeant off, managed to cause the Sergeant to fall backwards onto the table.  The leg of lamb on the platter flew up and then tumbled to the floor along with several glasses filled with wine.  Benicio straightened his jacket coolly.

Clementia, observing the chaos helplessly, looked over at her mother and exclaimed, "Family!"   She went over to help her Sergeant pull himself off the table, peeling rice off his uniform jacket.  Several servants helped Don Francisco to his feet.  As soon as the senior Bocca was righted he lunged for his son again, resulting in Corporal Reyes and two of the servants restraining him.  

"If you cannot get my money one way you will try it another, eh?" Don Francisco yelled.  

"Demetrio, what has brought you here on a Saturday afternoon?" Clementia asked, fussing over the Sergeant in his state of food-spattered disarray.

Garcia straightened himself out as best he could, completely flustered.  "I was...going to ask your father, and then you...to marry me," he explained, too surprised with the sudden brouhaha to be delicate.  Everything in the room went silent.  He looked down into her face.  "Please?"

Clementia's eyes rolled up into her head and she fainted.

The flurry of activity shifted from the altercation between father and son to reviving Clementia.  Doņa Leonora and Consuelo rushed to Clementia's side, Garcia having caught her as she collapsed.  Don Francisco and Benicio hurried to her as well.  After exchanging a glare they put their differences aside momentarily in order to make sure Clementia was all right.

"Marry her!" Don Francisco said to the Sergeant.  "It is about time you are asking that question, although if you were truly a gentleman you would have started with me!  Why didn't you ask me when we were riding here from Los Angeles?"

"I wanted to, I tried..." Garcia said, as he helped ease Clementia to the floor.  He stepped back once the women were patting her face with wet napkins.  "I could not get a word in, Don Francisco, for you were very anxious about your meeting with the Capitan."  He took a deep breath.  "Since she is...asleep at the moment, may I ask you now?  For her hand? In..." he gulped, "marriage?"

Clementia began to revive with a moan.

Don Francisco looked down at her on the floor.  She was 26 and had no other prospects.  He looked again at the fat Sergeant, who was clearly smitten with his daughter despite his numerous shortcomings.  It was not the son-in-law he had in mind, but given his daughter's advanced age he could hardly be choosey.  "You won't beat her, will you?" Don Francisco asked.

Garcia looked shocked.  "Why...no!  Why would I beat her?"

Don Francisco shrugged.  "Just want to make sure you won't.  All right.  You can marry her."

Garcia beamed, looking down at his seņora-to-be.  "Did you hear that?  He says I can marry you!"  With great effort he got down on one knee beside Clementia, who was now revived enough to sit up, leaning against her mother.  He took her hand in his.  "Will you? Marry me?  Please?"

Clementia looked into his kind and earnest face, and put her hand on his rounded cheek.  With a smile she said, "Si, Demetrio, I shall marry you.  I am glad you finally asked!"

He leaned over and kissed Clementia's cheek gently. 

Doņa Leonora fumbled for a handkerchief, and wiped a tear from her eye.  So did Corporal Reyes.

Benicio smiled down at the scene and said, "So now I am to have a soldier for a brother-in-law.  This could be useful."

Don Francisco took an angry step towards his son, only to be held back by the servant beside him.

"Help me up," Doņa Leonora said to her son.  He took her elbow and helped her up, while Reyes helped the Sergeant up and then the Sergeant helped Clementia.  Once everyone was on their feet, Doņa Leonora said, "we will take a siesta now, I believe everyone needs to recover from all of this excitement.  In the evening we will have a family gathering to celebrate this great day, in which Benicio has come home...." she glanced fiercely in her husband's direction, "...and in which Clementia has settled on a husband." She shook her head, and added to Don Francisco, "you will never again tell me that miracles do not happen.  Sometimes, my husband, they not only happen, they happen in pairs."

Chapter Three - Great Inspirations

It was evening before word reached the de la Vega hacienda, by way of Corporal Reyes, that major developments had occurred at Rancho Bocca that afternoon.  Elizabeth had already retired when the visiting Corporal appeared unexpectedly at the de la Vega gate asking for Don Diego. Bernardo let him in and there he found Diego and Alejandro sitting in the courtyard having some brandy and cigars over a game of chess.  

Reyes stood there for a moment, shifting his weight on his feet.

"Corporal?" Diego said.  "Would you...like to sit down?"

"No, Don Diego."

"A brandy, perhaps?" Alejandro asked, winking at his son.

"No I don't think so, Don Alejandro, but thank you," Reyes answered.  

"Where is Sergeant Garcia, you two usually travel like peas in a pod," Alejandro said.

"Oh, he, he isn't here, Don Alejandro," Reyes replied.  "He is still at Rancho Bocca, dealing with Benicio...I suppose...or...maybe not."

"We heard that Benicio has returned to Los Angeles," Diego affirmed. "He always seems to heat things up."

"Si, you could say that," Reyes agreed.  He continued to stand there.

Diego waited for a moment, and then finally said, "Corporal, what is it that you have come to Rancho de la Vega for?  If you do not wish to accept our hospitality you might at least tell us why you are here.  Is there some military matter we need to be aware of?"

"No, not military....  I was just...on my way back to the cuartel and I thought..." he glanced around, as if he were looking for someone.

Diego and Alejandro both frowned and looked around, too.  "Are you looking for someone?" Diego asked.

"Well, I just...." Reyes looked at the ground for a moment, and then looked up when he heard a light footstep. 

Diego and Alejandro watched as the corporal seemed to lift suddenly, briefly off the ground and a rare smile formed on his lips.  They looked around to see Maria step into the light.  She saw Reyes and smiled at him sweetly, then said, "All of the candles are replaced, Don Alejandro."

"Thank you, Maria," Alejandro said.

"And Seņora Elizabeth has Esperanza, Don Diego," she reported to Diego. 

"Si, Maria, thank you," Diego said, his eyes going from Maria to the corporal and back again.  "Corporal Reyes came by to....well, we are not sure just why he came by, but here he is," he added.

"Si," Maria said, curtsying to the soldier.  

Reyes looked at her longingly.

"Corporal, will you please tell us the excuse you used to get yourself over here so that we can send you on the moonlight walk with Maria that you really came for?" Diego said, taking a puff on his cigar.

Reyes gulped, and then said, "I thought you might want to know about Sergeant Garcia."

Diego frowned, taking his cigar out of his mouth.  "Sergeant Garcia?  What happened to him?"

"He fell on a table."

"Fell on a table?" Alejandro repeated.  "Is he all right?"

"Oh, si."

"Why did he fall on a table?" Diego asked.

"It was in the middle of a fight between Don Francisco and his son."

"A fight?" Diego said, standing up.

"Si, I don't think Don Francisco was very happy to see Benicio sitting at the table with Doņa Leonora and Seņoritas Clementia and Consuelo."

"Benicio has never been very good at giving notice about his visits," Alejandro observed.

"Is everything all right over there now?" Diego asked.

"Si," Reyes replied.  "They are having a party now."

"A party?" Diego said. "They go from fighting to a party? Did Benicio and Don Francisco make amends?"

"Oh, I don't know, the party is about the engagement."

"Engagement?" Diego said.

"Si, Sergeant Garcia asked Seņorita Clementia to marry him right after he fell on the table."

"Oh!" Diego laughed, sitting back down and raising his eyebrows at his father.  "And I suppose she accepted him, and her father too?"

"First she fainted, but then she said yes," Reyes answered, his eyes going again to Maria.

"Fainted?!" Alejandro said.  He rolled his eyes.  "What happened to the days when these matches were made by wise parents, without so much...drama!"

"It is hard to escape drama anymore," Diego said.  Looking at Reyes and Maria, Diego waved at them.  "Take your walk," he said.  A vision of Elizabeth sitting on their bed waiting for him suddenly flashed before his eyes.  He shifted in his seat.
  
Corporal Reyes bravely offered Maria his arm, and smiling shyly she accepted it.  They made their way beyond the gate.

Alejandro sighed. 

"It must have been quite an afternoon over there," Diego observed to his father.

"Si," Alejandro agreed.  "I am glad I was not there."  He shook his head.  "Benicio...."

"I think the big news is that the wedding is on," Diego said lightly.  "And the little news is that our corporal has discovered our maidservant." He winked at his father. "I suppose I should go and tell Elizabeth, or she will give me a lecture about not telling her right away."  He shrugged, and got his father's sympathetic nod.  "I do not want to be in the dog house tonight," he added with a grin.

Alejandro waved him off as he departed.

******

He found Elizabeth and Esperanza both on the bed making giggling sounds.

"Oh, what is this?" he asked, entering the room.  "My girls are having fun without me?"

"I'm trying to make our little miss go to sleep!" Elizabeth said playfully, poking the baby.  "She is a very wide awake baby tonight!"  She shook her hair in Esperanza's face, provoking another giggle.  "Are you my happy girl?  Are you my wide awake girl?"

Diego watched, smiling.  "You never do that with me," he said, feigning indignance.

"Do what?" Elizabeth asked, still playing with Esperanza.

"That," he said, nodding at her shaking her hair.

Elizabeth pulled at his arm until he was seated on the bed beside Esperanza, and then she pushed at his chest until he was lying back on the bed.  Then she showered her hair in his face.  "Like this?" she asked, using the same playful voice she had used with the baby.  "Are you my wide-awake boy? Are you my happy boy?"

Diego laughed, and with a swift move put his hand at the back of her neck and pulled her face to his, giving her a long, wet kiss.

Elizabeth pulled away slightly, half-laughing.  "You don't taste quite like Esperanza," she said, keeping her face close to his. 

"That would be good, since I just had a cigar," he chuckled.  He lifted his head enough to capture another kiss.  "How awake is she?" he asked.

"Very awake."

He sighed.  Then he sat up again.  "Well.  I have some news."

"What is that?"  She moved the baby to the middle of the bed so they could both play with her.

"Our Sergeant has at last proposed to Clementia, and it seems there will be a wedding," he reported, making a happy face at his daughter.

Elizabeth gasped in delight. "Oh!  When?!"

"I don't know about when the wedding will occur, but the proposal apparently happened this afternoon in the middle of a brawl between Benicio and Don Francisco."

"High drama at Rancho Bocca."

"Si, it is the sort of thing Benicio breeds."  He put his hand at her neck again, massaging gently.  

"That feels good," she said. "Oh, I am so happy for Clementia.  I hope the Sergeant doesn't have second thoughts." 

"I am sure he will...but we will help him through that."  He eyed Esperanza for a moment. "Is she fed?" he asked.

"Si."

"So...it might be possible, for instance, for someone else to watch out for her for a while."

"Diego, it is late."

"Elizabeth, we have servants."

His large, gentle hand at her neck felt warm and summoning.  She looked at Esperanza, who was still very bright-eyed.

"Don't you think we need to celebrate the triumph of love at Rancho Bocca?" Diego asked, his hands coming to her waist where she sat by him.  "I can call Maria and ask her to take Esperanza." He frowned.  "Actually, it may be Conchita I will have to call," he corrected himself, referring to their tireless cook.

"Where is Maria?" Elizabeth asked

He leaned over and kissed her neck gently.  "Maria is on a moonlight walk with Corporal Reyes."

Elizabeth looked at him in surprise. "Maria and Corporal Reyes?"  

He shrugged.  "Love is in the air," he said.  He looked down at Esperanza. "She sleeps through the night many nights now," he whispered.  "She can go to sleep downstairs in Maria's room.  Conchita will stay with her until Maria comes back in."

"Not sleep up here with us?" Elizabeth asked, sounding suddenly weak at the suggestion of being separated from her daughter.

"We can go down and get her later," he said soothingly, kissing her neck again.  "She is five months old, sweetheart, she will do just fine.  She loves Conchita."  He ran his fingers across her cheek.  

Elizabeth closed her eyes, receiving his touch.  He leaned towards her and kissed her lips gently.  

"El Zorro does not need to go out and do good deeds or break up any fights at Rancho Bocca?" Elizabeth asked.

"El Zorro is interested in doing good deeds right here at home tonight." He cupped her face in his hands.  "I will take Esperanza downstairs, if you will get ready for me...." he kissed her cheek, and then smiled.  "It will not take me long."

"What will not take you long?" she asked.  "Taking her downstairs, or what you want to do when you get back?"

He laughed, getting to his feet and scooping the baby into his arms.  "You are asking for trouble, seņora," he replied.  He looked into his daughter's eyes.  "I am stealing Mommie from you for a while, and you will just have to accept it," he told her.  

Esperanza cooed at him and then gave him a big smile, waving her hand in the air.

"Look, she is waving bye bye, Mommie," he said, heading for the door.

"Bye bye sweetheart," Elizabeth said after them, knowing that in fact Esperanza would begin crying the minute she was out the door.  He had barely closed it when the sound rose up.  However, the crying did little Esperanza no good in persuading her father to turn around and reunite the family.  Instead it grew fainter, which told Elizabeth that she had better change into her gown and warm up the sheets.

*****

The next morning was Sunday.  As was the custom in the pueblo, most families went to church.  Word was spreading that Sergeant Garcia had proposed to Clementia, and also that Benicio Bocca had re-appeared. Church was therefore well-attended. Everyone was eager to mingle afterwards and exchange news.  Yet there was, Padre Felipe noted as the processional began, a remarkably calm air in the congregation.  Rather than the usual prevalence of women in the parish, with a few of the menfolk scattered here and there, an exceptional number of entire families were present, husbands seated close to their wives.  As he faced the congregation to begin the service, Padre Felipe sensed another peculiar thing, though it took him most of the service to identify the common visual theme that ran through those gathered for communion.  He, of course, would say nothing.  But young Rufino, the eight year-old who had gained fame in the pueblo for his assistance to El Zorro with his slingshot the night the gallows collapsed, was not so discreet.  An altar boy, Rufino's ever-roving eyes had a great deal of time during the mass to scan the parishioners.  After the closing processional, he stood beside Padre Felipe as he greeted his congregation one by one at the door.  It was as Diego and Elizabeth were passing, Diego carrying Esperanza, that Rufino rather loudly observed, "so many of the ladies, Padre, they are wearing...things around their necks.  It is hot!  Is this something new, like having to cover their heads?"

Diego looked down at the boy and then at Elizabeth. She looked up at him, blushing and straightening the high collar at her neck.  He looked behind them, and ahead.  Then he looked at Padre Felipe.  "Well, I suppose there must be some explanation!" he smiled.

"I am sure it is just a coincidence of some kind, Rufino," Padre Felipe said gently to the boy.

"But look!  Even Doņa Elizabeth, who always shows her skin!" he pointed at Elizabeth, who was taking Esperanza from her husband.  

Elizabeth turned and glared at the boy, and then squinted at him as if to try to shut him up.

"What?" Rufino asked, looking up at the Padre and Diego.

"Rufino, you must learn that some things are better left...unsaid," the Padre advised his young charge.

"But what things?" he asked. "How do I know what is to be left unsaid and what is to be said?"

Diego sighed, patting the padre on the shoulder and following Elizabeth to the shade of the eucalyptus trees besides the church building, where refreshments were being served.  As he walked away he heard the good padre say, "We learn these things over time, Rufino, largely by staying quiet rather more frequently than you choose to."

Diego approached the table holding the fruit juice and cookies near the trunk of the pepper tree.  Sergeant Garcia was standing by, as Clementia poured juice into small glass cups for parishioners.  Clementia looked radiant and the Sergeant looked slightly lost.

"Ah, Sergeant, I have heard that you made your proposal and it was accepted," Diego said cheerfully, accepting a glass from Clementia and then raising it in a toast to the two of them.  

Elizabeth held one up too, though Esperanza knocked it from her hand. "Oh, dear," she said, leaning over to retrieve the glass.

"I'll get it, darling," Diego said, his hand on her waist to stop her.  

Elizabeth reached over to hug Clementia.  "I am so happy for you," she whispered.  "I know it is what you want."

"Si," Clementia whispered back.  Then she gave Esperanza a kiss.   She looked back to Elizabeth.  "Aren't you hot in that high-necked dress?" she asked, pouring another glass.

Elizabeth glanced at Diego and cleared her throat.  Then she felt warm all over.  She turned around to see Benicio, who had not been at the church service, approaching.

"Ah, Benicio," Diego said, extending his hand.  "It has been a long time."

"Diego," Benicio said, accepting the hand and shaking it.  He smiled slowly at Elizabeth.  "Seņora," he said, nodding at her.  He smiled more broadly at Esperanza, who began bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Let me have her," Diego said, taking the baby.  "What is making you so anxious, muchacha?" he asked her.  

She looked at Benicio and gave a squeal.

"Oh, Esperanza!" Elizabeth exclaimed, looking around.  Everyone was looking at them, for the sound was nearly unearthly.

"Shhhh, shhhh," Diego laughed, holding the baby up and putting her on his head.  She began to giggle and kick.  

"I think we should take her home," Elizabeth said.

"She will be all right," Diego replied.  He looked back at Benicio.  "What has brought you back to Los Angeles?" he asked.

Benicio, now standing beside Sergeant Garcia, surveyed the young father with his baby daughter on his head.  He cocked his head slightly left, considering the scene.  "I think that fatherhood becomes you, Diego," he observed.

"I am sure it is a vision no one could have foreseen," Diego laughed.  "Especially me!"  He paused, and then persisted.  "So, you were saying? Why you came home?"

Benicio shrugged.  "It is home," he answered.  Several of the unmarried young women of the pueblo had by now sidled up to where he stood and were gazing at him blissfully.

"Diego, I am going to help Clementia get some water," Elizabeth said to her husband, excusing herself.  

He nodded, returning his attention to Benicio.  Seņorita Martina Morales was on his right, trying to gain his full attention, while his cousin Consuelo stood to his left.  She was, Diego decided, looking decidedly flushed.  He frowned slightly and turned to see Elizabeth and Clementia walking away.  He suddenly could not take his eyes off of how Elizabeth's dress swayed when she walked.  

"Don Diego, I would like to talk with you," Sergeant Garcia was saying.

******

In the Tavern, Elizabeth and Clementia tried to pour water into two jugs, but both were giggling too hard to get the job done.

"Tell me, did he really propose in the middle of a brawl between your father and your brother?" Elizabeth asked.

"Si," Clementia answered, "but it was very heartfelt and sweet.  He even said, 'please?'  Twice!" She started giggling.

"And did you really faint?!" Elizabeth asked.

"Si, can you imagine? I was so shocked that he finally asked...and oh it was so hot in there..."

"I wonder why he said 'please,'" Elizabeth laughed. "Do you think he was afraid you would refuse him?" 

"I cannot imagine!" Clementia replied, looking at her friend.  "Oh, Elizabeth, it is so wonderful!  I cannot believe it!"  They caught their breath gradually.  "You will be in the wedding won't you?" Clementia asked.  "I want you to stand with me."  

"Oh, yes!" Elizabeth answered, hugging her friend in genuine delight.  

"My, you are so warm," Clementia said.  She stepped back slightly. "Aren't you burning up in that dress?"

Elizabeth's hand went to her throat, covered as it was with fabric and lace.  "I had to wear this today," she confessed.

"Had to? Why?" Clementia asked, trying to prime the water pump where they stood in the back of the tavern.  

"Well....it was necessary," Elizabeth said, uncharacteristically flustered.

Clementia stopped her pumping.  "But, on an August day?  That makes no sense."

Elizabeth sighed.  After looking around to make sure no one could see them, she pulled the collar down and revealed, at the bottom of her neck on her shoulder, a large, purple, mouth-sized mark on her skin.  She pulled the collar up again quickly.

"What is that!?" Clementia asked.

"It is what you have to look forward to when your Sergeant gets overenthusiastic!" Elizabeth exclaimed.  

Clementia stared for a moment, uncomprehending.

"It is a love bite!" Elizabeth explained in exasperation.

Clementia frowned, still unclear.  "Diego...bit you?" 

Elizabeth took a deep breath.  "Oh, Clementia, there are things we will need to discuss before your wedding night," she sighed.

"You mean...they bite you? But I never heard of that!"

"No, no, they don't bite...it is..." she sighed again.  "It is when they suck your skin.  It just causes..." she pointed at her collar, "this. Marks. Diego calls it a love bite."

Clementia took that in, floored.  "I think our conversation may need to be a long one," she murmured.

"Si," Elizabeth agreed.  

"Does it....hurt?" Clementia asked.

"A love bite?" Elizabeth said.  "Oh, no...it actually feels very good, it's just that it...." she pointed at her collar again.  "If you are going to give or receive them it is better to focus on places that are not usually exposed on a summer morning!"

In spite of herself, Clementia started giggling again. "Let me see it again, I want to see what I am in for."

Elizabeth was tickled too, but she shook her head.  "It is between Diego and me!" she exclaimed, pushing Clementia's hand from a playful reach towards her collar. "You know the funny thing is," Elizabeth managed to say between her giggles. "I am not the only one in church this morning who had to cover her neck!  What went on in Los Angeles last night?!"  

They dissolved into more laughter.

"I do not know, but it is high time for me to find out!" Clementia blurted.

"Si, si," Elizabeth gasped.  "Diego said to me last night, 'don't you think we should celebrate the triumph of love at Rancho Bocca?'"

Clementia laughed harder.  "Oh! My!  My Sergeant and I have inspired great things!"

"Si! Si!" Elizabeth laughed. "Great inspirations!"

"So..." Clementia said, trying to catch her breath, "is that how it happens? They suggest celebration and...then they bite you?"

They were both reduced to tears of laughter by now.  Elizabeth shook her head helplessly, holding her stomach. "I cannot get into this now, I can hardly talk!" she said.   "We must have this conversation..."

"When you can explain....how serious it all is!" Clementia finished for her.  They burst into laughter anew, falling all over each other and wiping tears from their eyes.
  
******

Beneath the pepper tree, another conversation was underway.  Benicio drew most of the young women away from the fruit juice and cookies, by strolling towards the well and picking up a guitar from a peon along the way.  Soon thereafter he was singing for an appreciative audience made up mostly of ladies.  Most of the men had already headed for the Tavern.  This left Sergeant Garcia and Diego, who now had Esperanza back on his arm, alone.

"What is on your mind, Sergeant?" Diego asked.  He took a tiny bit of a cookie and, breaking it down as far as he could, offered it to Esperanza.  She accepted it but rather than putting it in her mouth she threw it away and grabbed for more.

"Well...I...." the Sergeant fumbled.

Diego waited, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"I just would like at some point to have a conversation with you, you are my friend after all," Garcia said.

"Si, of course I am," Diego said.  He waited again, but the Sergeant could not get more out and stood there shifting his weight uncomfortably.  "Let me guess," Diego said.  "You would like to talk about the physical matters of love in a marriage."

"Si," Garcia admitted humbly.  "I think I just want both of us to live through the wedding night."

"You will live through it happily," Diego assured him, patting his shoulder.  "No muchacha, don't throw it," he told Esperanza as she flailed another piece of cookie.

Garcia's face remained uncomfortable.  "I will feel better if we can discuss this later, somewhere else..." his voice trailed off.

"Any time you wish, Sergeant," Diego said.  "Oh, Esperanza, how can you be so little and know how to be naughty already?"

Esperanza giggled at her father.

"She is getting very big," the Sergeant observed, waving his fingers at the baby.  

"She changes every day," Diego said, hoisting her up against his shoulder.  "And speaking of changing, I think it is time for me to take her and my seņora home for eating and...changing."

"Si, Don Diego."

"Oh, Sergeant," Diego added, as an apparent afterthought.  "Do you know much about Capitan Vilaro's plan with this bank he wishes to establish?"

"Bank?" Garcia repeated.  "Don Francisco said something about a bank, but I...." he trailed off helplessly.

"Ah," Diego said.  "That is all I needed to know."  He looked across the plaza, to see Elizabeth and Clementia on their way back and looking very merry.  Benicio, he noted, was still near the well, charming the ladies.  Alarming charm, Diego thought to himself.  He waved at Elizabeth and pointed to their carriage.  She nodded and waved back, pausing to say goodbye to Clementia.  

"I think we need to get Mommie home where she does not have to wear that particular dress," he told Esperanza.

Sergeant Garcia squinted at Elizabeth. "Is there something wrong with her dress?" he asked.

"Oh, no, nothing at all, I think she just prefers something more comfortable!" Diego said.  "Sunday dresses...you will learn these things, Sergeant."

Garcia nodded slowly.  "I suppose I shall," he said.

A flurry of laughter came from the gathering of ladies around Benicio.  Diego looked back over at them, thinking that perhaps it might be worth while for El Zorro to pay a nostalgic little evening call on Seņor Bocca the younger.