The Secret of Zorro
Diego's Decision
Chapters One through Three
by Ella Christian @1999-2001
Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com


Chapter One - Homecoming

It was four days later that the little party finally pulled up to the de la Vega hacienda in Los Angeles, in the early afternoon.  The sun was shining.  Diego and Elizabeth looked at one another with pure relief as they rode in.   The rancho appeared before their eyes as heavenly vision after the long journey.

"Home," Elizabeth said.

"Home," Diego agreed.

Alejandro rushed out to welcome them as they dismounted in the stable yard, hugging his son and then giving Elizabeth a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  "Welcome!  How we have missed you!" he cried.  "It is far too quiet around here!  I will send a servant to Don Carlos immediately, to let him know you are home. We will have a special supper tonight to celebrate.  How was your journey?"

"Long," said Elizabeth.

"Eventful," said Diego.

"I want to hear all about it," Alejandro said, "but first you must rest, take your siestas.  Would you like hot baths drawn?"

"Si," Diego said.  He turned to Elizabeth.  "You're feeling all right?"

She nodded.  She had had more nausea on the final morning of the trip, but it passed quickly.  "I want to see if my gardens survived my absence," she said. "And I want to see my father."  She looked up at Diego.

"Rest first, darling," he told her.

She accepted his nudge towards the house, and the three of them walked into the courtyard.

"Maria!  Draw hot baths for them!" Alejandro called to the servant girl.

"Si, Don Alejandro," came the reply.

"What a blessed sight she is," Elizabeth said.

"Go on up," Diego told her.  "I'll be there shortly."

She nodded and went up the stairs.

Alejandro waited until she was out of sight.  "She looks exhausted," he said, eyeing his son.

"It was a longer, harder trip than either of us expected," Diego said, sitting wearily on the edge of the planter surrounding the fig tree.  Though he thought about it all the time, he had said nothing at all to Elizabeth about his emerging decision to retire El Zorro.  He looked at his father.  "You were right.  She is going to have a baby.  In May."

Alejandro burst into a smile.  "I told you!" he beamed, clapping his son on the back.  "This is wonderful news, Diego!  She doesn't show it yet."

"I can tell," Diego said.  

"Must you give me these details!?"

"You seem to ask for them!"  He paused, and then said, "She is very afraid.  About having it. About giving birth."  He tried to shrug off the shadow.  Every night since the one when he had delivered the Mexican baby in Santa Barbara he had awakened in darkness to feel Elizabeth shaking beside him. It often took him half an hour to help her calm down enough to go back to sleep each night.  Aside from the sleep disruption, her physical premonition weighed on him.  "What news of Los Angeles?" he asked, trying to get it off his mind.  "Is there peace and quiet in our pueblo?"

"For the moment," Alejandro replied.  "Word reached us that El Zorro ran Diablo through with his sword. I have no doubt that it was a good deed done for all of California."

Diego took a breath.  " And did you also hear that Diablo nearly raped Senora de la Vega before encountering that sword?"

Alejandro sobered.  "No, I had not heard that.  Is she all right?"

"It was too close a call," Diego said, looking up at his room.  "She wasn't hurt, but...this cannot continue."  He shook his head. " She was very brave.  She is so...."  He looked down, suddenly unable to continue.  

Alejandro waited.  The tone in Diego's voice told him everything he needed to know. 

 "It would help us if the next few months were completely dull, with nothing more exciting going on than her gardens growing," Diego said. 

"We'll have to make it so," Alejandro said.  "You look so tired, my son.  What else happened?"

With that, Diego recounted the events in Monterey and on the Camino Real to his father.   Upstairs, Elizabeth sank gratefully into a long, hot bath.

***

Alejandro de la Vega was no fool.  Though in their conversation Diego said nothing to him one way or the other about the future of El Zorro, he could read between the lines.  He could see how deeply shaken his son remained over what had happened to Elizabeth.  He could see the worry lines in Diego's forehead. He heard the tone of distress in his voice.  Even Diego's anticipation of the new baby seemed compromised by the sobering reality that was setting in.  

It was Diego's description of the events surrounding the collapsed barn that made Alejandro realize fully what was going on in his son's mind.  "I left her in our room at the mission to go and help," he said, "and I knew she would be all right there.  Two men died, but it was the first time in years that I was only myself in public.  I did not have to worry about her, and I did not worry about revealing myself, either.  I just did it."

So, when Diego finally excused himself to go upstairs and make sure Elizabeth was resting comfortably, Alejandro went to the stable and mounted his sturdy brown mare to make the journey himself over to see Carlos.  He needed to think.  Everything he was afraid would happen, first by telling Elizabeth about Zorro, and then by not instantly suppressing the rumors about her relationship with him, was happening.  He knew better than to waste time with himself, much less Diego, saying "I told you so."  And he could not talk with Elizabeth's father about this, for his good compadre was not privy to the secret of Zorro.  Yet there must, he reasoned as he began his ride, be something he could do.  He knew Diego.  For all of his dedication to Zorro's mission, Diego was first and foremost a man of honor who would do whatever was necessary to protect his family.  Now, Elizabeth was his family, and also the mother of their expected child.  Alejandro knew deep in his heart what Diego was thinking.  He wondered if Elizabeth did as well.  And he wondered about the fate of California without El Zorro.

***

Their siesta was exactly that.  Elizabeth slept for three blissful hours after she bathed.  Diego lay down beside her in their bed for a while but found himself anxious to check on his favorite horse, and thus disappeared through the secret passages without ever awakening her.  He spent an hour reacquainting himself with Tornado in the box canyon, went back upstairs for a quick soak in the tub, and re-entered the bedroom to find his wife still sound asleep.  He returned to his place beside her, relieved to find that she was in deep slumber.  This allowed him to doze off, too.  His last thoughts before losing consciousness revolved around a hope that, being home, nothing would haunt Elizabeth now.    

When Diego awoke, Elizabeth was still asleep beside him.  The light was gone, they had slept past the sunset.  He propped himself up on his elbow to look at her sleeping, something he always loved.  She was utterly unconscious, lying on her side facing him.  He reached over and ran his finger down her cheek.  Her eyes opened slowly and met his.  

"We have slept into the evening," he said softly. 

"I am not sure I will ever get up from this bed again," she said, still sleepy.

"But I thought you wanted to see your gardens," he teased her gently.

"They may have to come to me," she sighed.

"How do you feel?"

She considered the question, doing a slow inventory.  "Everything seems in order," she concluded.  

"Not sick?"

She shook her head.  "Nothing.  La nina is leaving me alone today."

"And you slept well?"

"Oh, very well."

He smiled at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Tonight you get to tell your father he is going to be a grandpapa."

"That's right," she said, smiling.  "He will be impossible, you know.  What did your father say?"

"He already knew, but having it confirmed delighted him, as you can imagine.  He is certain it will be a boy."

"It isn't a boy."

"Sweetheart...."

"She's a little girl," she sighed.  "I guess we should get up and dress for supper."

"Si," he said, sitting up in the bed.  He lit the candles on the bedstand and looked around.  "I must say it is good to be home."  He looked at her.  "I rode Tornado for a while this afternoon."

"Did you introduce him to Blanca?"

"No!" Diego laughed.  "He's a stallion, darling, he would probably go crazy if he got a whiff of her."

"Oh, she's not in heat. She's barely a two-year old."

"He might inspire it." He leaned over and put his lips to her ear.  "Just like I inspired you."

"Oh, so you think you had me in heat from the day we met?" she asked.

"I know I did," he said.  "From the moment I knocked you off your feet in the moonlight."

She put her head on his shoulder.  "It is true," she admitted.  Then she looked at him, her eyes twinkling.  "But it worked both ways."

"That is true, too," he agreed. "I got a whiff of you and I went crazy."

They laughed, and kissed.

"All right," Diego said, breaking away.  "We must get up, or we will not leave this room until morning and that would be very rude."

"Si," she agreed.  "And I really must tell Daddy."  She looked at him suddenly.  "Diego?" she asked.

"What, darling?" he asked, getting up. 

"No, come back for a minute," she said.

"Elizabeth, we cannot..."

"No, just come here, I want to ask you something."

He sat back down beside her on their bed.

"What will our daughter call you?" she asked.

He frowned.  "Call me?"

"Si. How will she address you?  You call your father 'Father,' which is so formal.  Are you expecting her to call you that?"

"Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?" he asked.   "She won't even be born for five months, and it will be a while after that before she says anything!"  He smiled.  "Except to cry, of course."

"But it's important," she said. 

It was one of those moments when Diego sensed that he was not going to say the right thing no matter what.  "What do you want her to call me?" he asked, hoping to steer clear of a crisis.

"Not 'Father,'" she said.  "Why are you so formal with him, anyway?"

Diego shrugged.  "When I was smaller I called him Papa, but he has been 'Father' for a very long time now."

"When did it change?"

Diego frowned.  "After my mother died," he answered.

She took his hand.  "I have an idea."

"What?" he asked.  Then he grinned.  "Do you want her to call me 'Don Diego?' Or 'El Zorro?' Or....'you, the tall man with the money!'"

She laughed.  "That is probably what you will get when she is 16!  No, I think it would be nice if she could call you 'Daddy.'"

"But darling that is so American, we are Spanish...."

She looked up at him pleadingly.  "But our fox-kitten is part American," she said.  "And it is what I call my father..."

He stroked her hand.  "If that is what you want, that is what it will be," he said. "But you will have to settle for her calling my father 'grandpapa,' he will never allow himself to have an English-sounding name! He would tolerate 'grandpere' before anything English."

She nodded, laughing.  "She will probably come up with her own names for her grandpapas," she said.  She felt happy now.  'Daddy' was something she wanted for her child.  "I'm ready to get up now," she said, putting her feet on the floor.  "I need to get something out of my trunk, Diego, open it for me."

Diego went across the room and pulled out her heavy trunk, shipped from Boston when she and Carlos made their long journey. He then lifted the lid, which always felt like lead on the rare occasions she asked him to open it for her.  He turned back to watch as she went to the closet, chose a dress, and pulled it over her slip. She looked at him, smiled playfully, and then danced lightly in a little circle before him, singing "thank you for bringing me home, and for opening my trunk, my handsome caballero." He smiled, shaking his head.  She had him wrapped around her little finger and they both knew it.  And he didn't mind a bit.

***

Carlos Matteo rode a fine young black gelding called Sirocco, whose lineage was more special than anyone except the de la Vegas knew.  When he cantered up to Rancho de la Vega that evening, he was greeted by his daughter standing alone at the gate.  She looked radiant and had something white draped over her arm.  

Carlos dismounted and came to her, lifting her up in his arms and swinging her in a circle.  "How I have missed you, my pretty angel!" he said.  

"I missed you, Daddy!" she answered, hugging him fiercely.  

He let go of her and looked at what was on her arm.  "Elizabeth!" he said.  "Why on earth have you brought this out?"  He took what she held, lifting it before him, and a long, white christening dress of fine Irish lace unfolded.

She smiled at him, saying not a word.  He looked at it and back to her.  "But this was your mother's, and then yours...." he said.  "I forgot you even brought it to Calif...." his voice trailed off.  He looked at her in wonder.

Elizabeth leaned her head slightly to the side, her smile widening. 

"Oh, my," he said, his voice thickening. "Are we to use this again before long?"

She nodded slowly.  "This summer, I believe," she said.  "We will have someone new to christen."

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth," he said, putting his arms around her.  "I cannot believe it. My little girl." He kissed her head.  "That scamp of a husband of yours certainly managed to rush this! You haven't been married a year!"

 "That scamp of a husband of mine got a lot of cooperation," she laughed into her father's lapel.  "Oh, Daddy, you are going to be a grandpapa!"

"And I suppose Alejandro is insufferable about it," Carlos said. "I can't believe he said nothing to me about it when he stopped by this afternoon!"

"He is very pleased," Elizabeth confirmed.  "And I am sure he wanted to leave the telling to me."

Diego walked through the gate to find the two embraced, and smiled broadly.  "Carlos!" he said.  "I see she has told you our news."

Carlos let go of his daughter and gave Diego a hug.  "Congratulations, son," he said.  "You have no idea the joy that awaits you."  He held up the christening gown.  "This will now have a third generation of Matteos to welcome into the Church!  I daresay it is becoming a holy relic."

"Actually I think it would be right to say three generations of Sullivans," Elizabeth corrected her father.

"Sullivans!" he snorted.  "Your mother left that name behind her when she married me!"

"I think its work is in the de la Vega family now," Diego said, touching the lacey gown.  "It is very beautiful."  He looked at Elizabeth. "You never told me you had this."

"I have many treasures in my trunk," she told him.

He grinned at her.  "That is true."

"All right, all right," Carlos said, maneuvering them through the front gate and into the courtyard.  "Let's find Alejandro and think about eating.  He had better have a particularly fine meal on the table tonight!  I suppose I shall have to listen to him lecturing me about how this baby is going to be raised on this rancho and I shall have to trade him my best cattle and fine silks in order to get visiting rights!"

It was on this night that the grandfathers-to-be first toasted the anticipated new arrival.  To Diego and Elizabeth's amusement, Carlos and Alejandro spent most of the evening bickering over who would host a 'welcome home' party, aimed also to celebrate their impending parenthood, for the young people.  It was finally decided via a chess game, though Diego tried to dissuade Carlos from the wager.  Alejandro won.

Chapter Two - Elizabeth's Punch

The late January fete was organized on the assumption that the weather would be chilly and that most of it would take place indoors.  However, as the day approached, the weather brightened and warmed, leading Alejandro to announce that they would use the courtyard.  Los Angeles's finest musicians were called upon to provide entertainment.  Diego persuaded several of his friends from the tavern to don their finest dancing clothes and provide Spanish flamenco for the entertainment.  Elizabeth, who was now feeling very well and had a real spring in her step, became very excited about the party. 

 It delighted Diego to see her plotting things out with his father, planning menus and overseeing decoration of the courtyard.  She ordered numerous cut flowers and flowering plants to hang about the courtyard, and insisted that Bernardo pull out the hanging lanterns from their storage place in the barn. She also gave the kitchen servants a special punch recipe she had brought all the way from Boston.  "I may not be a cook," she admitted to Maria, "but I guarantee this punch will put a smile on everyone's face."

When Diego teasingly told her he had never seen her so excited about anything, including their wedding, she simply replied, "This time I do not have to pretend to be happy!"

The day arrived. Elizabeth spent most of her time fussing over last-minute menu details and over her dress. She was also going to great length to shun Diego.  For someone almost five months into pregnancy she was still quite small, but her waistline was thickening enough that she could not get into the beautiful silver dress Diego had bought her in Monterey when she was so thin.  This made her fret and hire a seamstress to let the dress out, only to discover that letting it out would make it twice as hard to return the dress to its original size after the baby was born and she could get into it again.

It was around this that Diego made one of the comments that, while meant well, produced disaster.  "But darling," he told her the night before the party as they sat in the courtyard after dinner, "if you let it out perhaps it will still fit you after the baby is born."

"What do you mean?" she snapped instantly.

"Well, sometimes women...aren't the same size after they have babies as they were before..." he said, beginning to realize he was entering extremely dangerous territory.

"You mean you think I am going to stay this way?" she asked, her hands on her belly.

"It hardly shows, darling," he said.  "It doesn't show."

"It shows!" she said.  "You're always telling me how I'm changing.  'Little baby is a little bigger today' is your favorite wake-up sentence!"

Alejandro joined them from the sala, and realized he had walked into a tense conversation.  He looked at both of them, suddenly fallen silent, and said, "Perhaps I shall check the horses."

"Si," Diego said, getting up, "perhaps I shall help you."

"Oh, that is fine," Elizabeth said to him.  "Run off to the horses after you have insulted me!"

"I didn't insult you!" he said.  "I certainly didn't mean to!"  He looked at his father.  "I can't say anything right sometimes."

Alejandro sighed.  

"Fine, Diego, go and check the horses," Elizabeth said, getting up.  "Perhaps you would like to spend the night with them as well."  With that she turned her back and marched up the stairs to retire.

Diego looked at his father, after watching, and hearing, her slam their bedroom door.  "Did mother do this sort of thing?" he asked.

"She wasn't as temperamental as Elizabeth," Alejandro answered, staring up at the shut bedroom door.  Then he looked at his son. "But there were times when I ended up in the doghouse and I never knew how I got there."

Diego shook his head.  "I am never sure what to do at times like this.  Should I go to make sure she is all right, or leave her alone?"

"There is a lot of guesswork involved in a marriage," his father said, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. 

"So I am learning," Diego said.  He sighed.  "Let's go check the horses.  I am willing to bet she is going to stay mad at me for a while."

Alejandro smiled. "She will want to make up eventually," he said.  "You have that to look forward to."

"Si..." Diego said. At the moment it felt like a long way off.   He glanced at the bedroom door again, and then followed his father towards the stable.

***

The party was as well-attended as their wedding party. From the moment people began arriving, stories began circulating recalling the last such evening, in July, when Diablo had robbed the ladies of their jewels and kidnapped Elizabeth. 

"Do you think El Zorro will appear again tonight?" Senorita Clementia asked Dona Corinna as they helped themselves to their first bowl of punch.

"The rumor is that El Zorro has moved to Monterey!" Dona Corinna answered, taking a short, and then a longer drink of the punch. 

"Monterey!" Senorita Clementia exclaimed. She took a sip of her punch and then looked down at it in amazement. She waved across the courtyard at her cousin Consuelo to come over to the punch bowl.

"He hasn't been seen in Los Angeles in months!" Dona Corinna continued, helping herself to another glass. She saw Elizabeth nearby and waved at her. "What is in this, my dear?" she asked. "It is...a magic potion!"

"Si," Elizabeth smiled. She was wearing a velvety, forest-green dress she had brought from Boston. Her seamstress had let out the waist and re-sewn it at great pains that morning. "It is a secret recipe, from Ireland."

"It is most....enjoyable!" said Senorita Clementia.

Consuelo walked up to join the women. While Diego and Elizabeth were in Monterey, Clementia's uppity cousin had arrived in Los Angeles for an extended stay. Born in Madrid and reared in Mexico City, Consuelo was very pretty and prided herself on her dark, good looks as well as the fine clothes that her father, a successful importer of tobacco and fine fabrics, provided. Clementia's mother was sister to Consuelo's father, and had agreed to take the girl in after an unexplained disaster in Mexico. It was rumored that a man was killed in a duel over Consuelo. Then, so the story went, she spurned the man who won, thus bringing dishonor to her father. Not even Clementia could sort out the whole tale, which meant it simply could not be sorted. Consuelo's presence in the village was the cause of considerable stir among the men, for her beauty and haughtiness. Sergeant Garcia was hopelessly and famously smitten with her. Elizabeth had just met her that evening. She noticed instantly that Consuelo had an eye for Diego.

"Try this!" Clementia instructed her cousin, pouring a glass of punch. Consuelo took the glass and looked down at it suspiciously.

"Elizabeth, we must ask you if you know the whereabouts of El Zorro! I have heard that he is relocated to Monterey!" Dona Corinna said, just as Sergeant Garcia was walking up to them.

"Welcome, Sergeant," Elizabeth said, reaching over to pour a glass of punch for him. "I think you will enjoy this."

"Delighted, Senora Elizabeth," he said, though his eyes never left Consuelo, who was taking a tiny sip from her glass. Garcia accepted his glass and putting it to his lips immediately. His eyes widened. "Delightful!" he exclaimed. He took another drink, longer this time. "Senorita Consuela, are you enjoying this punch as much as I am?" he asked hopefully.

Consuelo was drinking her punch enthusiastically and simply glanced at him. Then her eyes wandered across the courtyard to where most of the men were standing. 

"About El Zorro..." Dona Corinna continued. 

Elizabeth turned and saw Diego across the courtyard, talking with his father, her father, and Juan Cerritos, the local tanner. She had not spoken to her husband all day, she had simply steered clear of him after a night of cold silence in their bedroom. He had tried to talk with her once he came in, quite late, but she would have none of it. Now, seeing him across the courtyard in his fine dark blue suit covered with golden brocade stitching, he suddenly looked more handsome to her than she had ever seen him in her life. She looked back at Dona Corinna. "Who?" she said. "What were you asking me?" Then she realized Consuelo was gazing at her husband.

"El Zorro!" the woman exclaimed. 

"This is quite memorable," said the beautiful Consuelo.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, attempting to re-direct Consuelo's attention away from her husband.

Sergeant Garcia was pouring more punch for himself, a giddy smile on his face. "Oh, let me pour you some more!" he said to her. After doing so, he handed a glass to Elizabeth. Doing so, he noticed her sparkling ruby engagement ring on her finger above her wedding ring. He gasped. "Senora!" he cried. "I looked everywhere for that ring, when Diablo robbed you!"

Elizabeth looked down at it, and then back up at the Sergeant. Dona Corinna grabbed Elizabeth's hand and looked at it. "That's right!" she exclaimed. "I remember when you threw this into Diablo's bag. Everyone thought it was lost!"

"It wasn't in the bag El Zorro gave me when he returned all of the other jewels!" Garcia said.

"Did El Zorro himself give it back to you?" Senorita Clementia asked.

Elizabeth looked around at all of them, and then looked back at Diego where he still stood in conversation with the men. He glanced her way and saw her surrounded, Dona Corinna looking at her hand. He turned his head slightly to the side, frowning slightly, a puzzled look on his face. Their eyes met. Elizabeth's heart melted. There was something so boyish and innocent about him when he was trying to figure something out, especially when it involved women or children. He could be so commanding, yet at times he was just a little boy himself, trying to understand what was going on. A look of longing for her came across his face. Elizabeth recognized it instantly. Suddenly she wanted to go to him, but she pulled her eyes away and looked at Dona Corinna.

"No, Diego gave it back to me," she said. "At Christmas. He said El Zorro returned it to him."

"Diego knows El Zorro?" Consuelo asked. "I would like to meet him."

"I know him, too!" Garcia volunteered, but then realized that introducing El Zorro to Consuelo might not be in his own best interest. "Of course, it is hard to find him, to make introductions. He is an outlaw, you know."

"Ah, he must have gotten the ring back in Monterey," Dona Corinna said, letting go of Elizabeth's hand. "El Zorro has moved there, you know. To Monterey."

"Has he?" Elizabeth asked. "I had not heard that."

"That is what they say," Consuelo sighed. "He hasn't been seen in Los Angeles since I arrived." 

"Well he was in Monterey when you were there!" Clementia exclaimed to Elizabeth. "Everyone knows he killed Diablo!"

"Everyone knows he took a fancy to you, Elizabeth," Consuelo added. "How is it that one woman can have such a handsome husband and such an admirer in El Zorro? My cousin has told me the whole story."

"I have no doubt of that," Elizabeth said, with a brief sideways glance at Clementia. Then she looked back over in Diego's direction, but he was gone. 

"But he has not come back!" Dona Corinna said. "Perhaps he feels he is more needed in the capital now."

"It is true," Sergeant Garcia chimed in. "We have not seen El Zorro here since...." he thought back. 

"Since we found him in the mountains with Senora Elizabeth," Corporal Reyes chimed in, from behind the Sergeant. He came forward and poured a glass of punch for himself. "I have heard this punch is special, Senora," he said to Elizabeth. He took a sip of it and then looked at her, astonished. "I have heard right."

"I am so glad you are enjoying it," Elizabeth said, looking around at all of them. "Can you excuse me for a moment?"

With that she backed away, only to discover that Alejandro was introducing the musicians and the dancing was about to begin. She looked across the courtyard but could not spy Diego's tall figure anywhere. She waited until Alejandro had done his introductions and the performance began. Then she took her father-in-law's arm. "Where has Diego gone?" she asked.

He looked at her, puzzled. "Gone? He was just here. I was just talking with him."

"He isn't here anywhere," she said.

"Yes he is, he's right over there," Alejandro said, spying his son across the courtyard surrounded by Dona Corinna, Senoritas Clementia and Consuelo, Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Reyes, all at the punch bowl. Consuelo was talking flirtatiously with him. 

"How did he...?" Elizabeth said. She then began working her way back to the punch bowl, finding it difficult to get past the many people watching the flamenco performance underway. Finally she had success, only to discover that Diego had moved on and was no longer standing among the growing group by the punch. 

"Where did Diego go?" she asked Clementia.

"Oh...he..." she looked around. Her face was quite flushed now. "I think he was going...somewhere...I think he was looking for you."

Elizabeth felt rising exasperation, and looked again around the crowd. At least his height made Diego an easy visual target, and this time she spied him working his way around towards the sala door. She followed. The music reached a crescendo and the dancers finished their stamping, and everyone applauded wildly. Then Alejandro stepped back to the center of the courtyard and waved everyone to be quiet. 

"We will commence to our own dancing now," he announced, "but first I want all of you to join me in a toast. Get your glasses, fill them up with wine or with this charming punch Elizabeth has made." There was a general stir of agreement regarding the punch. He waited for a few moments while everyone availed themselves of the beverages. "Now, where are Elizabeth and Diego?" He looked around. Diego stepped forward, and seeing Elizabeth near the stairs he went to her, took her hand, and led her over to where his father was standing. 

"I want all of you to join me in welcoming them home, after their long stay in Monterey," Alejandro said, "and also to join me in celebrating some wonderful news. Late this spring, our dear Elizabeth is going to make me and..." he raised his glass at Carlos Matteo, who stood nearby beaming, "my good friend Carlos grandpapas!" 

This brought about much cheering and clapping, as well as many glasses to many lips. Diego looked down at Elizabeth, who was already looking up at him. He smiled at her, bent down and kissed her lips lightly, then they looked back at all of their friends from the pueblo. Elizabeth suddenly felt as if her heart would burst, seeing their fellow Angelinos filled with joy over their return and their news. She knew that some percentage of the delight could be attributed to the punch, but the happiness surrounding them was genuine. 

Diego leaned over and whispered "meet me later in the stable yard, will you?" in her ear. She looked at him, and then nodded. Then they made their way among the crowd to receive the warm greetings everyone had for them. Eventually all the mingling separated them. It was half an hour later that Diego found her again. He took her by the hand, leading her away from the crowd and to the stable yard. Music was drifting into the night air and a great deal of dancing had commenced.

Once they were out of sight of everyone, Diego released her hand. For all his longing for her, he had become increasingly annoyed after feeling he had slept beside a cold rock overnight and then been victim to her avoidance game all day long. Now that he finally had her full attention he was torn between missing her and being extremely peeved.

"It seems we are always acting when we accept the warm congratulations of our friends," he observed, not bothering to mask his sarcasm.

She leaned against the paddock railing, looking out towards her garden. "You hurt my feelings a lot last night, with what you said."

"I didn't mean to!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "I was trying to be helpful!"

"It isn't helpful to be told I will lose my figure after I have this baby!"

"But that isn't what I said!" he cried. Then he took a deep breath. He could smell her scent and suddenly he felt miserable for being out of sorts with her. He stood behind her, very close, but without touching her. She was still holding the paddock railing, her head pressed into the fenceboard.

"I hate fighting with you," he said to the back of her head, the smell of her beautiful chestnut hair in his nostrils. "I hate it when I'm mad at you and you're mad at me. I miss you so much when we are like this." He was now talking softly, still not touching her but so close she could feel his warm breath on her ear. 

Her eyes closed. He was being seductive. 

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," his hand came lightly to her waist. "You are...you are so enchanting to me, Elizabeth, and you are so beautiful tonight...and part of why I am mad at you is that when you keep me at arm's length I am left so alone, I can't talk with you, I can't tell you how you take my breath away in your lovely green dress, I can't tell you how tiny..." his hands encircled her waist "your waist is even though you have our little baby there with you..." his hands tightened slightly, holding her.

"I don't want you to think I will become like Dona Corinna," Elizabeth said, her voice trembling. "Or the other ladies with their double chins."

Still behind her, he put his arms around her and pulled her against him. "Such a thought has never crossed my mind," he said, unable to suppress the laughter in his voice. He knew his wife at least that well.

She turned around and put her arms around his neck, and he lifted her off the ground in their embrace. He felt instant relief, just holding her. He felt her sigh and knew it was the same for her. "Don't be mad at me anymore, little kitten," he pleaded. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, I truly didn't mean to, I think you are...."

"I forgave you back when you said I was enchanting," she interrupted, her mouth near his. Then she lifted her mouth to his and kissed him, and he deeply kissed her back. He continued kissing her slowly across her cheek, his mouth moving down towards her jaw. Her arms tightened around his neck.

Locked in this tender embrace, they heard someone behind them clearing his throat. Diego released her to turn around and see Carlos Matteo standing there looking slightly embarrassed and rather, Diego noted, tipsy.

"Elizabeth..." her father said, elongating her name, saying in a singsong way emphasizing the second syllable.

Diego felt Elizabeth step to the side, staying behind her husband. He thought he heard her say, "uh oh."

"Si, Daddy?" she said meekly.

Diego frowned, looking over his shoulder at her. She put her hands on his waist, keeping behind him. He looked back at Carlos.

"Anita Elizabeth," her father said, his voice still singsong, "you have been a very bad girl."

Diego felt Elizabeth sidle again, still keeping Diego between her and her father. 

"Si, Daddy," she said again. She was definitely hiding behind her husband. From the courtyard there was a great gale of sudden laughter and then a clanging sound.

"What on earth?" Diego said.

"Uh oh," he heard Elizabeth say again, from behind him. It was definitely "uh oh."

"It is a little game they have started," Carlos explained, advancing another step and trying to see around Diego to Elizabeth.

"A game?" Diego repeated, stepping in front of him and reaching his hands behind him to make sure Elizabeth was still there. He had no idea what was going on but he was going to protect her from...whatever it was that was making her hide behind him. 

"I see you do not have the courage to face me with your mischief!" Carlos said to his daughter.

Diego turned around and looked at her. "What have you done?" he asked.

"Ah, Diego, I think you have not tried Elizabeth's punch!" Carlos observed. "It is actually her mother's punch, to be correct."

Elizabeth looked up at her husband. "I spiked it," she said. "The punch. It's a special recipe. I told you that."

"You didn't tell me," her father said, wagging a finger at her. 

"I'm sorry Daddy, I meant to," she said, peering around Diego. Then she looked up at her husband. "I guess I should have told Alejandro, too." She paused and then added, "please don't spank me."

Another gale of laughter came from the courtyard and another clang rang out from the bell.

"It is too late for Alejandro," Carlos said.

At this, Diego looked at Elizabeth and then headed for the courtyard. She and Carlos followed, Elizabeth hurrying ahead of her father. 

Diego passed through the archway from the stableyard into the courtyard, to be met with the sight of Sergeant Garcia lifting Don Alejandro high into the fig tree grasping for figs. 

"Almost, Sergeant, just a little higher," Alejandro was saying. He pulled a handful of something from the tree, waved it triumphantly, and everyone laughed and cheered. The bell clanged again, thanks to Corporal Reyes standing by the front gate and holding the rope to the large greeting bell. 

Sergeant Garcia, his face very red, put Alejandro down. "Some more punch, please?" The Sergeant requested. Consuelo supplied him with a full glass. He looked at her with longing and gratitude, and began to drink.

Alejandro had a happy grin on his face as he waved his handful of figs at his son after spying him across the courtyard.

"Figs?" Diego said. "Figs?" He looked across the entire scene to see everyone in a bright mood indeed. The music resumed. Diego looked at Elizabeth, who had joined him. "Please tell me this isn't going to make them all sick," he said to her.

"Oh, no," she assured him. "At least...not unless they've desperately overdone it. I didn't make enough for that!" She reached over to the nearby table holding the punch and poured a glass of it for him. "Would you like to try it?" she asked, offering it to him.

He looked down at it and then at her. "Someone needs to keep their wits about them in this situation," he said. "The entire pueblo is here and..." he looked around, "...feeling no pain!"

She kept it offered before him. "Just a sip," she said. "It's really very good."

"I notice you're not drinking it!" he said.

She took a sip from the glass. "Mmmmmmm," she said. She held it up to him again.

His eyes not leaving her, he took the glass and lifted it to his lips, and took a short sip. His eyes widened and he looked down at the glass and then at her. A smile formed on her lips, her eyes dancing at him. 

Another gale of laughter burst from the crowd and he looked over to see his father doing a delicate gavotte with Dona Corinna, while Don Carlos was dancing with Senorita Clementia. Sergeant Garcia, in a high state of ecstacy, was dancing with Consuelo. Then there was a change of partners and suddenly Carlos and Alejandro were partners, Clementia was dancing with Dona Corinna. Sergeant Garcia was still holding on elegantly to Consuelo.

"Good Lord," Diego said.

Elizabeth took the scene in and laughed.

"They have all taken leave of their senses," Diego said.

"That is why I call it Senseless Punch," Elizabeth giggled.

"Sweetheart, you have certainly guaranteed a night for all Los Angeles to remember," he said to her.

She smiled up at him and offered more punch, but he pushed her hand aside.

"Oh...." she said, disappointed.

"You're not reducing me to dancing with my father," Diego told her.

"You are no fun," she sighed.

He raised an eyebrow. "That," he said, lifting her into his arms and swinging her in a circle, "is not true."

Everyone looked their way and cheered as Diego whirled her about. He smiled broadly at the crowd and loudly said, "I hope you all can forgive us for retiring early, but we wish you to stay for as long as you like. Overnight if necessary!" With that, and to a round of applause, he carried her up the stairs and into their room, kicking the door shut behind him. Just before disappearing into the room, Elizabeth caught a glimpse of Consuelo staring up at them, her face betraying a mix of envy and dismay. 

The door kicked shut, he threw her onto their bed and immediately fell onto it, over her. 

"What are you doing?" she asked breathlessly. "We have so many guests!"

"Most of them will almost certainly still be our guests in the morning," he said. "And since you are giving them a night to remember, it seems only right that you, my frisky little kitten, be given a night to remember, too." He covered her mouth with his as the party music swept through their shutters from the courtyard below.

***

The scene the next morning, when Diego emerged from his room just after the sun burst above the horizon, was as unforgettable as the night that proceeded it. Bernardo greeted him at the foot of the stairs, looking exhausted. He waved his hand wearily across the courtyard. Corporal Reyes was slumped against the wall near the gate snoring loudly. Several other people, including the musicians, were scattered about the courtyard in various states of unconsciousness. Diego looked at Bernardo in amazement and followed his servant into the sala. There he found his father and Carlos sitting at the table drinking coffee and looking bleary-eyed. On the window bench, Dona Corinna and Don Miguel were slumped against each other in blissful sleep.

"Don't worry," Alejandro told his son, "you won't wake them. We have already tried." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the library. "Senorita Clementia and several of the other ladies are in there. All the guest rooms are full."

"Even in the west wing?" Diego asked incredulously. They had a very large house.

"Oh, si, si," Alejandro said. He frowned. "I don't remember seeing you after a certain point last night," he said, squinting his eyes in an effort to remember.

"Nor Elizabeth either," Carlos said slowly. 

"Where the one is..." Alejandro started,

"The other is, usually," the two fathers-in-law finished together.

Diego leaned on the table, ascertaining rightly that this was a private joke between the two men at his and Elizabeth's expense. "We slept quite nicely, thank you," he told them.

"It is a relief to know that some sleeping went on!" Alejandro remarked.

"Were you still here when the raffle started?" Carlos asked.

"Raffle?" Diego repeated.

Alejandro shook his head. "A big mistake."

"The senorita will not be amused," Carlos agreed. He shook his head. "My Catherine's punch can cause many smiles, but also great mischief."

Diego looked at Bernardo helplessly, but Bernardo simply held up his hands in a gesture that told Diego his servant wanted none of this. "What happened?" Diego asked.

"We raffled off Senorita Consuelo's hand in marriage," Alejandro confessed.

"You what?"

Carlos looked up at his son-in-law. "Sergeant Garcia won." 

"He was very happy," Alejandro said.

"The truth is, it was a set-up," Carlos added. Alejandro glared at him for this.

At this moment, as Diego looked between his father and his father-in-law dumbfounded, Elizabeth entered. She was wrapped in her robe, and went to her husband's side to lean against him. "Sergeant Garcia won what?" she asked innocently.

"Your Senseless Punch has had some...consequences," Diego told her. He looked at his father. "But there was no marriage...was there?"

The two men stared at him in silence. 

"But there was no priest here!" Diego exclaimed.

"Si, but Capitan Solano from the Maria Cruz was," Alejandro said mournfully. The great galleon was in San Pedro harbor and the Capitan usually stopped in on the de la Vegas when time permitted. Diego remembered greeting him briefly beside the punch bowl last night.

"He married them?" Elizabeth said. She looked at Diego. "Who married whom?"

"But it wasn't consummated, was it?" Diego asked his father.

"We don't think so," Carlos said cautiously. He looked at his daughter. "Sergeant Garcia and Consuelo Perez."

Elizabeth burst out laughing, making Alejandro and Carlos wince. "Impossible!" she cried. The sheer idea of the regal and chilling Consuelo with their kind, beloved fat Sergeant nearly doubled her over. "It wouldn't be legal anyway," she added, getting her breath. "Captains only marry people on their ships. We are nowhere near the Maria Cruz."

Diego was skeptical. "Is the Capitan still here?" he asked.

Alejandro shrugged. "It is hard to say who is here and who is not."

Senorita Clementia appeared in the doorway, looking unsteady. She saw them all and said, "I do not have a headache, but I feel as if I cannot stand on my own."

Diego went over to her and, taking her elbow, helped her come across the room to sit down at the table across from the fathers-in-law. 

"I had the strangest dream," she said. "That my cousin married Sergeant Garcia!"

Everyone exchanged glances. Elizabeth patted her friend's shoulder. "And where is Consuelo?" she asked.

At that moment, a blood-curdling scream came from the upstairs of the house, followed by a woman shouting, "Get out! Get out!"

Chapter Three - Counter-Punch

Hearing the scream, Diego sprinted out the door and into the courtyard.  Others there were stirring too, on hearing the commotion from upstairs.  On the long balcony on the second floor, Sergeant Garcia was emerging from a door, his boots in his hands, his uniform rather undone, and with a look of pure alarm on his face.  

"But, I...But I...." he was saying, looking back into the room.

"Get out!" came the voice again, and then the door slammed shut.  It was, of course, the voice of Senorita -- or perhaps it was Senora -- Consuelo.

"But I..." the Sergeant said again. Then he turned about to see the many pairs of eyes upon him, gazing up from the courtyard. 

Diego bounded up the stairs to join his friend on the balcony.  "Sergeant, are you all right?" he asked.

"Si, Don Diego...at least I think I am...." he looked at the door again, and then down at the group below. "But I feel I have found myself in a confounding situation," he confessed.  He looked down at his boots in his hand and then back at Diego, and shrugged helplessly.

Diego put his hand on the Sergeant's shoulder and began to steer him towards the stairs.  "Come," he said.  "Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast, and see if we can sort all this out."

"I think that would be a very good idea," said Garcia.  "Although I am not sure if I am equal to any sorting at the moment.  Since I am not sure exactly what has happened."

"We'll help you, Sergeant," Diego assured him.

Elizabeth, still in her robe, was at the bottom of the stairs awaiting them.  

"Senora," Garcia said, seeing her.  He gulped.

"Good morning, Sergeant," Elizabeth said.  "Our servants are preparing food for everyone, you must come in and join my father and Don Alejandro, and Diego and me..."

"Si, Senora," he said, as Diego steered him to the sala door.  He spied Reyes standing near the gate.  "Corporal," he said, trying to gather himself in spite of his disheveled state, "return to the cuartel and make sure everything is...as it should be."

"Si, Sergeant," Reyes said, trying to keep a straight face.

Diego waved at the Corporal to go on, and then led Garcia into the sala.

"I'll go...see how Consuelo is," Elizabeth volunteered to her husband.  

"Please...tell her I said...hello," Garcia said as he disappeared into the sala with Diego.

***

Elizabeth climbed the stairs, and summoning Maria she hurriedly stopped in her room to put on a dress.  After Maria had tied the last ribbon and hooked the last loop, Elizabeth returned to the balcony and knocked on Consuelo's door.  

"Go away!" came a shout from inside.

"No, no, it's Elizabeth...and I think Clementia is coming, too," Elizabeth said to the door.

There was a silence.  

"Consuelo, please let me in and let's get this straightened out," Elizabeth said to the door.

Clementia arrived, just behind Elizabeth, looking quite wilted but also wide-eyed.  She had remained in the sala long enough to hear from Alejandro and Carlos a confirmation of her "dream."

"She won't let me in," Elizabeth said.

Clementia knocked on the door.  "Cons!  Open up, it's me!" 

Silence greeted them again.  After a moment, the door opened a crack.  "He's not out there, is he?" came a voice from around the corner of the door.

"There is no 'he' out here at all, just the two of us," Elizabeth said, bypassing the fact that a number of people in the courtyard were still observing the drama.

The door opened slowly, letting light seep into the darkened room.  Elizabeth and Clementia stepped in.  Their eyes moved about, taking in the chaos before them.  Parts of clothes were strewn about, Sergeant Garcia's belt was on the back of a chair, Consuelo's dress was in the middle of the floor, the bedclothes were tossed wildly about.  Elizabeth and Clementia exchanged glances.  

"What happened?" Clementia asked.

From the side of the room behind the door, Consuelo emerged into the light.  She was in her slip, a robe she had found in the wardrobe wrapped around her.  "I'm not sure..." she said weakly.

Elizabeth went to her and, taking her arm, helped her to the chair to sit down. She recoiled at seeing Sergeant Garcia's belt, which Elizabeth quickly grabbed and handed to Clementia.  Clementia looked at it dumbly, realized what it was, and then put it behind her back and then dropped it.

"Do you want some water, or coffee?" Elizabeth asked.  "I can have some brought up."

Consuelo nodded.  Her hair was in her eyes.  She looked humiliated.

Elizabeth called out from the doorway to Maria, to bring up water and coffee.  Then she shut the door and sat down across from Consuelo.  

"I don't know exactly what happened," Consuelo began, looking from her cousin to Elizabeth and back again.

"What is the last thing you remember, if I may ask?" Elizabeth said.

"Well I remember the fig picking contest, and I remember you and Diego leaving..." she said, looking at Elizabeth enviously.  "And then there was some more dancing, and I think that was when my uncle started making lottery tickets."

"Your uncle?" Elizabeth said.

"He's always joking about marrying Consuelo off," Clementia offered.  This resulted in a foul glance from her cousin.

"That punch!" Consuelo cried at Elizabeth.  "It was that punch that made everyone so crazy!  Now I'm...I may be married to that...that fat man!"  She looked down again, crushed by her humiliation.

"We can get it all straightened out," Elizabeth said.  "We need to find Capitan Solano and see if what he did has any legal meaning. I don't think it does.  But Diego can find that."

"You should have been there to put a stop to it! Instead you were....well, we know where you were! AND what you were doing!"

Elizabeth sighed.   It was one thing to be accused of being El Zorro's consort.  It was quite another to be attacked for retiring early with her husband.  

"Now, Consuelo..." Clementia started, trying to be helpful. 

"Don't you 'now Consuelo' me!  They should have been here!  They were the only people in the entire situation who weren't out of their minds with that punch!" She turned on Elizabeth.  "Diego wasn't drinking it and neither were you! You could have put a stop to the whole thing!"

"Well, obviously we didn't," Elizabeth stated, refusing to be apologetic.  "But really, Consuelo, why are you so upset?  Nothing happened, did it?  I mean, didn't the Sergeant sleep on the floor or something?"

"When I woke up, he was on the bed next to me!" she cried.  "He took up nearly the whole bed!"

"But come now, he was fully clothed when he came out of this room," Elizabeth pointed out.

"That isn't the point!" Consuelo nearly screamed.

Clementia commenced to hushing her cousin, as Maria arrived to deliver the coffee.  She came in silently, set everything out, and nodded slightly to Elizabeth.  Elizabeth went to her and Maria quietly said, "Don Diego would like to see you downstairs."

"All right," Elizabeth said, dismissing her servant.  "Consuelo, Clementia, let me go see what Diego is learning.  I'll be back."

With that she made her way downstairs to the sala.  People were pulling themselves together and leaving the courtyard, seen off by Alejandro and Carlos.  For the most part, everyone's spirits were still high.  Several were joking rather mercilessly about Sergeant Garcia's Miracle.

Entering the sala, Elizabeth found Diego sitting at the table with Sergeant Garcia. The Sergeant was helping himself to some breakfast.  When Diego saw her enter, he came over to her.  

"Come with me into the library," Diego said, taking her arm.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, once they were in private.  

"What has Consuelo told you?" he asked.

Elizabeth shrugged.  "She doesn't seem to remember much.  She says she woke up in the bed with him, but I think he was fully clothed.  I don't think..." she paused and looked up at him slyly.  "I don't think they had the kind of night we had."

"I certainly hope not!" he said.  "The Sergeant claims not to remember much, either, after the, uh, wedding ceremony.  But he is quite smitten with her.  He says he 'wants to work things out.'"

"What does that mean?"

Diego shrugged.  "If the marriage really took place and if it is legal, he can claim his conjugal rights."

Elizabeth looked at him wide-eyed.  "You have got to be kidding," she said.

He shook his head.  

"Oh, my," she said.  "Does he know that?"

Diego nodded.

"Oh, my," she repeated.

***

Alejandro and Carlos saw to the remaining guests, making sure they were able to make their way onto their horses and into their carriages without incident. Sergeant Garcia, feeling some responsibility to his uniform, collected Reyes and explained to the de la Vegas and Carlos that he needed to return to the cuartel.  Diego saw him across the courtyard on his way out.  

"I certainly am glad I am acting commandante at the moment," Garcia observed, "for as it is I am not there  and wondering where I am.  If I were, I would be quite angry with myself.  But since I am only here, I cannot be there waiting for myself."

At the gate, having gotten his boots on, he turned to look upstairs at the closed door behind which Consuelo was still secluded.   "Ah, Don Diego," he said, "I think I may have had the finest night of my life last night."

"Do you remember something?" Diego asked, alarmed.

"No...." Garcia sighed, "but I can wish I did."

Diego patted the soldier's back lightly.  "Well, Sergeant, we will get to the bottom of this, I am sure.  In the meantime, you should make sure everything is secure at the pueblo.  We will make sure Consuelo gets home safely."

"Thank you, Don Diego," the Sergeant said.  He frowned.  "Do you think perhaps I should try to....?"

"No!" Diego interrupted quickly, and then added, gently, "let us talk with her, and see if we can find Capitan Solano.  We will find out....what we find out."

"Si, Don Diego. Con permisso, then."

"Ride safely, my friend," Diego said.  

Elizabeth joined him and waved as Garcia and Reyes rode off.  "I would like to be a flea on the horse's back to hear that conversation," she said.

"Somehow I don't think the Sergeant is going to do a lot of talking," Diego said, looking at her. 

"I'm in a lot of trouble, aren't I," Elizabeth said.

"It is hard not to trace this back to that punch you warned nobody about."

"Oh, Diego, I TOLD you it was special!"

"You didn't tell me it would reduce our fathers and all of our guests to acts of lunacy!"

"They were already pretty lunatic when you carried me up those steps!" she reminded him.

This put a dent in his aggravation.  "Well, I have to find out what the legal situation really is, with them," he nodded in the direction the Sergeant had ridden and then up towards Consuelo's door.

She smiled.  "Perhaps this is a job for El Zorro?"

He frowned.  "No, this is NOT a job for El Zorro!"

Something in his look and tone caught her attention.  "Why?"  she asked.

He looked around, to make sure no stray guests were about.  They were alone.  "Elizabeth," he said, "Zorro rode for justice, not to unravel the mysteries of drunken parties and accidental weddings."

"'Rode'?" she said, grabbing his elbow.

He sighed.  "Let's not do this right now."

"No!" she said, holding on to his arm.  "'Rode'?  What are you saying?"

"I said what I said."

She stared up into his face dumbfounded.  "I know you haven't...ridden as Zorro in some time, but I thought...it was because we were in Monterey, and there was no reason..." She continued to stare at him.  "But that isn't it, is it?" she said with dawning realization.

"No," he said, looking at the ground.  "That isn't it."

"You're stopping," she said softly.

He suddenly felt a huge well of emotion that surprised him.  "I have to," he said quietly.  He looked around again.  Then taking her hand, he led her through the gateway, across the stableyard, and beyond it to towards the gardens.  It was not until they were well away from the buildings and standing in the path that Elizabeth was surrounding with newly-tilled beds that he stopped.  

"Diego?" she said.

He wiped his eyes off.  "I have to stop," he said.  "I cannot let what happened to you in Monterey ever happen again, I cannot take the chance with your life, with the life of our baby... I can't, Elizabeth.  I don't know what made me think that Zorro could...could continue.  He can't.  It's too dangerous for you, for the family we are making together."  He shook his head. "It is first and foremost both of you.  But... I never imagined I would ever say this, but I am more inclined to keep myself out of harm's way now, too.  I want to live to see our children grow up and have children of their own."  He stroked her head gently.  "I don't want to make you a widow.  Perhaps it is mine, but black is not your color."

"How long have you been thinking about this?" she asked, ignoring his attempt at humor.

He looked away from her, out across the arroyo. 

"Diego...? How long?"

"Since the night I killed Diablo."

This dumbfounded her even more.  She couldn't say anything for a moment.  Then she said, "You have been carrying this around alone for two months?"

"I didn't know how to tell you."

 The light was moving higher in the sky, everything was glowing on the clear winter day.  Elizabeth took a deep breath of the clean, bright, cool air.  "I cannot believe you never said anything, you never said anything," she said.  "Isn't this the kind of thing we are supposed to talk about together?"

"I don't know," he said lamely, "I've never been married before."

"Oh!" she shouted.  "So it is fine to make such a huge decision and leave me out of it!"

Her sudden anger startled him and he stepped back.  

"Diego de la Vega, for a man so intelligent and so generous, you can be the most woodenheaded person on the planet!" she shouted.

"Don't," he said, trying to calm her.

"Don't 'don't' me!" she cried.  "You think it is fine to retire El Zorro with no discussion?  You can just make this decision independently, oh poor Elizabeth, she got into trouble because of El Zorro so now he will no longer exist?!"

He considered that for a moment, and then quietly said, "Yes, I believe I can make that decision. I created him.  I can let him die."

"No!" she angrily shouted.  Tears came into her voice.  "You can't do that!  I won't let you do that!  Zorro is...more than just...." she began to cry miserably.  "We all need Zorro.  The people need Zorro.  I need Zorro."

He put his arms around her, holding her and their baby inside her against him.  "Sweetheart, you know I am right."

"No I don't," she sobbed. "I don't know that you are right.  And I do know you are wrong to make this decision without me.  And you are wrong to hold it in for all this time..."

He put his lips on her head, kissing her shining chestnut hair.  "We needed that time in Monterey together, without any fighting, without any drama...just all those days of retiring together and waking up together, and walking beside the sea together..." he looked into her face.  "You know how unhappy you were when I would leave as Zorro, and be gone all night.  I can't do that to you any longer.  You need me with you and that is where I want to be."

"You can't make this decision without me," she wept, putting her head back into his shoulder.

"At least I thought you liked it better with me home every night!" he said, smiling into her hair.

"I do!" she cried.

"Then I have not made such a bad decision," he said.

 "Yes you have!" she wept.  "And you made it without me!"

"Oh, kitten," he said, hugging her tightly.  "I made it for you, and our family.  And for myself."

"I don't want to go through the rest of my life knowing I killed Zorro!" she shouted, shoving him away.

He looked around anxiously.  "Elizabeth!" he said.  

She looked around too.  "It's the wide open spaces, Diego!" she cried.

He came closer again.  "Voices carry, darling, you know that."

"Well what does it matter?" she asked.  "If you are making him go away then why not shout it from the rooftops?  'El Zorro is no more!'" She shook her head.  "The ladies last night were saying he has moved to Monterey.  I should have told them 'no, he committed suicide in Monterey, thanks to me.'"

He could not help it, he laughed, and hugged her to him again.  "No one is dead, sweetheart.  El Zorro was never anything but an imagined hero, a man with a mask....don't you think it is time for me to be just me?  To be a haciendada, a husband, a father, a leader in the community?  I have thought about it so much, truly I think it is better this way.  For all of us."

She leaned against him, letting herself be lost for a moment in his embrace.  "I don't know," she finally said.  "But I do not consider this subject closed."

He kissed her head. 

"Diego?" she asked.

"Si, sweetheart?"

"What will you do with Tornado, if you really do this?"

Diego laughed lightly.  "Let him live happily ever after with Blanca."

As they walked slowly back to the house in silence, Diego felt great turmoil but also great relief.  He had turned this decision over and over in his mind, slowly facing the truth.  Since Elizabeth had come into his life, he had lost the ability even to be the Zorro he had been.  His judgement failed him over and over, he had been duped twice, and had fallen for ruses that a schoolboy would see through.  He simply didn't want to leave home anymore, not without her.  And he had no intention of leaving her alone to chase down anyone, no matter how bad they were.  He wanted every night with her, every precious morning. He wanted to be there for the miracle of their baby's arrival.  Once the baby was born...he wanted no part of leaving Elizabeth alone with a newborn. The longer he lived with the decision, the more sure of it he was.  

Elizabeth felt no relief at all, only horrible turmoil, as they walked together.  She was clutching so much inside that she couldn't even sort out the tumbling emotions she felt.  As they re-entered the stableyard, she put her hand on her chest.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I can't stand this," she said, looking up at him.

"Are you in pain?" he asked, alarmed.

She looked up at him. "Diego, you can't do this."

He put his hands on her shoulders.  "I must," he said.  "I already have."

"No," she said, "you can't.  I mean it.  El Zorro's work is not finished.  Not with the people.  And not with me."

"Not with you?" he laughed.

She took his hands in hers.  "I can't live without Zorro," she said.

"And you don't," he told her.

She shook her head.  "That isn't what I mean.  I mean I really need El Zorro.  The man in the black, the one with the big silver sword and the mask."

He smiled at her.  "I won't throw the clothes away, darling," he said.  "I can get them out whenever you wish."

She shook her head again. "I will think about this so that I can say it to you properly.  But you can't do this.  I won't let you."

He could hear the edge of determination in her voice. "Do you know what?" he asked.

"What?"

"I think that right now we should see our friends Consuelo and Clementia home, and then go down to San Pedro to see if we can find Senor le Capitan and get Sergeant Garcia's little situation straightened out.  Would you like to ride down there with me?  You can take Padre, I will take Apache."

She considered.  "Let me think about it.  Perhaps a ride will do us both good."

***

Upstairs in the guest room where Clementia and Consuelo remained, Clementia Bocca was attempting to talk sense to her cousin.

"We'll get you out of this, it can't possibly be legal," she said.  Consuelo was lying on the bed in a state of near-hysteria.

"But what if I am really married to him!?" she wailed.

"You're not married to him!" Clementia exclaimed.  "It wasn't done when any of us were in our right minds!"

"What difference does that make?"

"Well...I don't know, but it has to make a difference!"

"Diego and Elizabeth were in their right minds!" Consuelo whined.

"But they weren't here," Clementia said.

"Yes they were!  Almost right here!" Consuelo continued piteously.  "Two doors down!"

"Connie, you can't resent Diego and Elizabeth wanting...to be together," she said.  "They're married!  They haven't been married all that long, and they're going to have a baby in a few months.  It's only natural that they....would want as much time together now as possible!"

"It was their party and they left!"she cried, feeling terribly sorry for herself.

"I think you are just upset that Diego already has a wife," Clementia said frankly.  

"He's so handsome," Consuelo said, still pitiful.  "Why couldn't he have married me?"

"You weren't here when he was available!" Clementia said simply.  "And he was available for a very long time, cousin!  We all thought about Diego."

"Why didn't you marry him?" Consuelo asked.

Clementia shrugged.  "I have known him since I was six!  He is more like a brother to me. We all admire him, but he isn't....he changed after he came back from Spain. He became so...dull."

"Oh can you not see how amazing he is?" Consuelo cried. "He is the most handsome and charming man I have ever met!"

 "Well it doesn't matter now, anyway," Clementia said.  "Elizabeth came along and their fathers arranged it all and that was that.  Everyone thinks its been very good for Diego.  He is very smitten with her.  Being married seems to be improving him a lot."

"But she doesn't even love him!" Consuelo cried.  "She loves that...Zorro!"

"Oh, for pity's sake, I never should have told you any of that," Clementia said.  "She loves Diego perfectly well, or at least as well as a woman can love a man in an arranged marriage."

"I'm just going to kill that fat Sergeant!" Consuelo moaned.  

"You're not going to kill anyone, especially the fat Sergeant!" Clementia said.  "He is a good man, Connie, despite his...size."

"Then you marry him!"

Clementia sighed.  "We need to go home, Consuelo.  Mother and Daddy will be worried if we don't get back soon."

"Where were they last night? They're supposed to be watching out for me!"

At this Clementia was at a loss.  Her father had, after all, come up with the idea of the lottery in the first place. "You try their patience a lot, cousin," she said.  "I think perhaps Elizabeth's punch brings out the truth in people."

"That didn't make it right to marry me off to....to him!"

She began picking up Consuelo's clothes, strewn about.  Seeing her do this caused Consuelo to begin crying anew.  Clementia sighed.  She knew the whole night had ended up being an elaborate joke on her cousin and the poor Sergeant.  Secretly she felt Consuelo deserved it, for she had been impossible from the moment she arrived in Los Angeles and the whole pueblo knew it.  She looked at the dress she was holding.  Unlike Clementia, who was on the plump side and had a rather weak chin, Consuelo was slender, quite beautiful and quite vain about it.  The idea of her with the scruffy, fat, frequently-intoxicated  Sergeant had been too hilarious for anyone at the party to resist.  In spite of herself, Clementia laughed. Then she had to duck, to avoid the heeled shoe flying in her direction.