The Secret of Zorro
Diego's Decision
Chapters Six and Seven
by Ella Christian @1999-2001
Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com


Chapter Six - Darkness...

The plan, such as it was, called for a summons to Zorro that was irresistible.  What better, Alejandro asked, as he and Bernardo began their ride south, than a damsel in distress?  

"He has always responded to helping people in need," the don went on.  "He will not refuse this.  I know Diego, and his resolve about this retiring Zorro will waver when we tell him she has run off in desperation because she is afraid she is married to the Sergeant.  Plus, Bernardo, we know how much he loves to ride Tornado...and how little of it he has done for the last four months!  Perhaps it will all stimulate him to rethink his decision."

And so they made their way to the west and south, riding towards the sinking sun.  As agreed, they rode some 100 yards apart from one another, so that Bernardo was well behind Alejandro.  Since the manservant was leading the saddled Tornado, they had to keep a plan in place that would protect them should they run into lancers or other curious souls.  Alejandro, seemingly riding alone, would be oblivious to the fact that Bernardo had Tornado.  Should someone spy them, the story would be that they heard hooves and Bernardo disappeared, only to return with, of all things, El Zorro's horse.

As it turned out, their plan went un-deployed, for they passed no one on the remote roads they took. It began to worry Alejandro that they had not encountered Diego yet, though he knew that something might have come up which caused his son to delay his departure from San Pedro.  When it was time to head more due south, Alejandro instructed Bernardo to join him.  It was not long after they had made their change of heading, the light almost gone, that they saw, ahead of them, a man lying unconscious on the road.  Tornado became quite agitated as they approached.  When Bernardo dismounted and approached, he realized to his horror that the still body on the cold ground was Diego.  He waved furiously at Alejandro.

"What?" Alejandro said, coming up to them.

Bernardo pointed, even as he got to his knees to try to revive his young master.  Tornado whinnied and gave a little buck, which upset Bernardo's horse.  

Alejandro dismounted and came over to where Bernardo was kneeling. 

"Diego!" he cried, falling to his knees beside his son.  "What has happened?"  He looked around.  "Get the canteen, let's see if we can wake him up with some water.  Diego!" He leaned over into Diego's face.  "Son!  Wake up!  Diego!"

Bernardo retrieved the water and re-joined Alejandro on the ground.  He sprinkled water on Diego's face.  It caused Diego to start and open his eyes.

"Diego," Alejandro said, "wake up."

"I'm...." Diego started, opening his eyes.  He could see his father's face looking worriedly down into his.  "Father..." he said.  He groaned.  "She knocked me out."

"Who knocked you out?" Alejandro asked, as he and Bernardo helped Diego sit up and prop himself against a boulder.  

Diego put his hand over his eyes, and then opened them again.  The double vision was far diminished, but not completely gone.  "I'm having some trouble...." he said.

"What is the matter?" Alejandro asked.

"My eyesight...." Diego said.  

Alejandro held up two fingers.  "How many?" he asked.

Diego looked at his hand, concentrating.  "Two," he said.

"Good," his father said.  

"Please tell me it is getting dark," Diego said, trying to get his bearings.

"It is...." Alejandro smiled.  "Bernardo, bring a blanket, he's cold.  Diego, what happened here?"

Diego sighed, his head still pounding.  "It would seem that Consuelo Perez is trying to retreat to Mexico."

"You found her!" Alejandro said.  "That is the reason we are out here in the first place."

"Oh, I found her all right," Diego said, grateful to put the blanket Bernardo handed him around his shoulders.  "Or perhaps I should say, she found me.  I was reduced to walking up the road because Apache threw a shoe.  When she rode up in her little buggy I thought I had found my ride home.  Little did I know...." he trailed off, wincing, as he ran his hand over the back of his head.

"She hit you with something?" Alejandro said.  "Where is Apache?"

"Si," Diego answered, "something very hard, I might add."  He looked around.  "And she seems to have taken Apache with her."

"Why did she do this?"

"I was not cooperating with her plan to take her to San Pedro and put her on the Maria Cruz bound for Mexico.  And father, she had a rather strange thing in the carriage...."  He stopped, for beyond Bernardo and Alejandro, he saw Tornado standing in the shadows.  "What is Tornado doing here?" he asked.

Alejandro looked over at the horse and back at his son.  "We thought you might want to ride him," he said.  "To find Consuelo."

"But Diego does not ride Tornado!" Diego protested.

"Si...." Alejandro said.  "That is why we brought El Zorro's clothing."

Diego stared at his father, and then at Bernardo.  He tried to sit up more straight, and groaned.  "You are asking a lot of El Zorro tonight," he said.  

"We felt that, all things considered, it might be best of this job were to be done by the fox," Alejandro told his son.

"The only job the fox wants is to go home to his wife," Diego stated.  He put his hand to the back of his head again.  The pain was searing. He withdrew his hand and saw a smear of partially-dried blood.  "That little...." he started, and then caught himself.  "She drew blood!"    He looked at his father again.  "She had a large sack of pesos hidden on the floorboards of that buggy," he said. 

"Pesos!?" Alejandro exclaimed.  "Elizabeth and Clementia said nothing about that!"

"Oh, is that who has sent you on this mission?" Diego asked.  

"They did not want us to send for Sergeant Garcia, for obvious reasons," Alejandro answered.  "A bag of pesos!  I wonder where she got that?"

"From Don Francisco, I would imagine," Diego said.  "And probably not with his blessing."

Alejandro groaned.  "That helps explain how especially agitated Clementia was this afternoon.  I wonder if Elizabeth knew.  Well, this is all the more reason for El Zorro to find her, Diego, if you are up to it."

"Let me see if I can stand up.  That would help," Diego said.  With his father on one side and Bernardo on the other, he slowly pulled himself to his feet.  He steadied himself for a moment.  His eyesight seemed to be fine now.  He took a deep breath.

"How do you feel?" his father asked.

"All right, I think," Diego said.  He took a couple of steps.  His head still hurt, but he was not woozy nor did he think his knees were going to buckle.  He walked slowly over to Tornado, and the horse nickered softly.  "Are you ready to take a little chase down to San Pedro?" Diego asked him.  Tornado snorted.

"Looks like he is ready, if you are," Alejandro said.

Bernardo, having retrieved El Zorro's things from his saddlebag, offered them to Diego.  Diego looked down at them for a long moment.

"I was not expecting to do this anymore," he said quietly.

"We know that," Alejandro said.

Diego looked at them.  There was a long pause.  "Perhaps we should simply go after Consuelo together, the three of us," he said.

"But we have Tornado here!" Alejandro said. "This is a job for El Zorro."

Diego sighed, accepting the things from Bernardo.  "Where is my sword?" he asked.

Bernardo pointed at Tornado.  The long sword, in its sheath, was tied to his saddle.

"Very well," Diego said.  "But this does not change my mind.  I will do this one thing, because the two of you have conspired successfully to trick me into it." His eyes went from his father to Bernardo and back.  "Do you think I can't figure out that is what you are up to?  Was Elizabeth in on it?"

"No!" Alejandro said, Bernardo shaking his head emphatically in agreement.

Diego looked down at the clothing again.  Bernardo was still holding his hat.  "All right," he said.  Let me change, and be on my way.  You will go back to Los Angeles and tell Don Francisco that you could not find Consuelo, and notify Sergeant Garcia.  He will get the lancers on their way, and in the mean time I will find her and make sure she is under house arrest when they reach San Pedro.  And Father, tell our poor Sergeant he is not married." 

"Well that is a relief," Alejandro said.  "Though I will be sorry to be the one to break that news to him."

Within a few minutes, El Zorro was once again astride his tall black stallion and ready to pursue the naughty seņorita. The sight made Alejandro's heart soar.  Bernardo smiled proudly.

"Are you sure your head is all right?" Alejandro asked.

"Si," answered Zorro, though it hurt where his hatband ran tightly over the bump on his head.  "You know what to do."  He paused, and then said, "Father, tell Elizabeth...tell her why I will not be home tonight. And you might want to add I was tricked into this!" 

Alejandro sighed, as his son made a wave and said, "Adios!"  With that, Tornado reared up briefly on his hind legs, and then wheeled around and headed down the road in a canter.

Alejandro looked at Bernardo.  "Well, at least we got him back into the clothes and onto the horse.  Now we have to hope that he will find himself more at home there than he realizes."

Bernardo nodded. Neither of them felt great triumph over the success of their scheme, for they both saw the reluctance in Diego's face as he accepted the clothes.  They returned to their own horses, and began the journey back to Los Angeles.

***

Clementia remained highly agitated after Don Carlos and Elizabeth bid her farewell at the gates of Rancho Bocca.  She knew her father was going to have her hide for telling Consuelo where the money was.  He had literally chased her out of the hacienda in fury, which in turn led to her fleeing to Elizabeth for help.  And her mother was going to have her hide if it turned out that Consuelo was returning into the household after this escapade. Leonora had been more than glad at the prospect of her niece being handed off to Sergeant Garcia, or anyone else for that matter.  As Elizabeth and Carlos rode away, Clementia sat on her horse for a moment trying to think if there was anything else she could do.  She knew Elizabeth was trying to help, but also that her friend was justifiably quite angry with her.  The business about Zorro's glove had been unfair and Clementia knew it.  She inwardly kicked herself for her own inability to resist accumulating and passing on good gossip.  Whatever did or did not go on between Elizabeth and El Zorro was none of her business, given that Elizabeth and Diego were making a public go of it with their marriage.  And they were having a baby, which Diego had seemed quite proud of during the toast the night before.  Whoever was the real father, Diego was obviously claiming the parental role and Elizabeth was publicly supporting it. 

It all made Clementia feel terribly alone.  Everyone was mad at her -- her parents, Elizabeth, Consuelo, Don Alejandro....the list seemed to be endless.  Then she thought of someone who always had a kind word and could be very funny, even in a crisis.  Demetrio Lopez Garcia.  She imagined he was as downcast as she was, given the uncertainty of his state of matrimony and his great appreciation of her vain cousin. He had danced with such elegance last night, the kind of light-footed elegance that belongs, mysteriously, only to the over-sized.  Now that Don Alejandro was safely dispatched to find Consuelo, she need not worry about the Sergeant going in pursuit.  She knew where to find him, for comfort and to offer some comfort in his state of limbo.  So, rather than dismounting and going in to face her parents, Clementia kicked her horse in the ribs and headed for the pueblo.       

***

"Daddy, I am quite worried that Diego has not come back," Elizabeth said to her father.  They were sitting in the courtyard of his hacienda, the evening meal just served.

"I am sure Alejandro and Bernardo have found him by now," Carlos said, cutting into his steak and taking a bite.  "He has probably gone with them to find Consuelo and bring her back."

"Perhaps...." Elizabeth mused.  She began eating too, though she did not feel hungry.

"Elizabeth...." her father said.

"Si?"

"Do you know that there are still many rumors about you and El Zorro?"

Elizabeth looked at him, startled.  They had never discussed this.  "Are there?" she asked.

"Si....it is even whispered that he is the father of your child."

She stared at him in astonishment for a moment.  "Diego is the father of my child," she said firmly.

Her father paused and then said, "You have no doubt of that?"

"Daddy!" she cried.  "If I say I know something like that, I know it!"

"Very well, don't be upset."

"How can I not be upset?! You have just suggested that I am having some kind of ....relationship with a man other than my husband!"

"You must admit there was a time when you were very taken by that bandito, sweetheart. And he was clearly enamoured of you. I wish you could have seen the look on his face when he watched Diablo carry you off. It was as if someone were tearing his heart out.  You could see it despite his mask.   People haven't forgotten.  And everyone knows you rode away with him after what happened in Monterey.   I cannot help but be sensitive to the talk.  I do a lot of business in the pueblo, the family honor is..."

"They say that El Zorro has moved to Monterey," Elizabeth interrupted him.

"Yes, I heard that last night," Carlos said.  "But it is also said that he has not been seen since the night he killed Diablo and carried you off on his horse."

Elizabeth dropped her fork onto her plate.  "I am so tired of this!" she cried.  "El Zorro has rescued me or saved my life four times!  He has done nothing to deserve these accusations! Nor have I! And from my own father!"

Carlos sighed, realizing he had set his feisty daughter off in a way he had not wished to. It was just that the rumors were so persistent, despite El Zorro's long absence from events in the community.  Falling back on his long diplomatic experience, he decided to re-direct the conversation.  "You and Diego...seem very happy together now," he observed.

"We are very happy together," she stated.  "Which is why I wish he would walk through those gates right now," she nodded at the front gate of the courtyard.  "Once El Zorro ridded the world of Diablo, Diego and I had a wonderful time in Monterey.  It was very quiet and...." her voice trembled slightly, "...very sweet, for both of us.  He takes far better care of me than you realize, Daddy."

"Then I shall never ask you about this matter again," Carlos vowed.

"Good," Elizabeth said fiercely, picking up her fork. Taking a bite of her dinner she eyed him.  "Mommie would dress you up one side and down the other for even asking me about that, you know."

He sighed.  "Si, I know," he said.  "I only wish she were here to do it. I never imagined I would miss being dressed down."

Elizabeth sighed, too, thinking of her beautiful mother, now dead these two years.  "I think she would have liked California," she said.

"She loved Boston, so...." Carlos said.  "I don't know that she would have wanted to leave.  But Elizabeth, she surely would have loved and approved of Diego, and your marriage into the de la Vega family."

Elizabeth smiled.  "Si, I think she and Diego would have enjoyed one another."  She let herself yearn for a moment, imagining the merriment that would have characterized the relationship between her dry-humored mother and her equally dry, quick-witted husband.  

They continued their meal quietly, the introduction of Catherine Sullivan Matteo's memory bringing peace between them. They spoke together of the sorrow they felt that she would never know her grandchild, nor would this baby have the pleasure of hearing a grandmother singing Irish and English lullabies over the crib.

"You will have to do that," Carlos told Elizabeth.  "In honor of your mother."

Elizabeth laughed.  "I plan to sing only silly songs to this baby," she said.  "I am going to leave the lullabies to her daddy."

"It is a good thing he can carry a tune, then!" Carlos said.  "That is more than I can say for either grandpapa!" He winked at her.  "It might be a boy, you know!"

"It's a little girl," Elizabeth said confidently, taking another bite of her dinner.

***

On the long road to San Pedro, El Zorro was fighting his blinding headache while searching for the buggy that held the wily Consuelo and her bag of golden pesos.  Tornado, having been mostly stuck in the box canyon for several months, was wild with delight and running to his heart's content, his familiar rider again on his back.  Zorro calculated that Consuelo would probably be very near to San Pedro by the time he over took her.  Unless she had been slowed by something unexpected, she might even have reached her goal.  Finally, as he crossed over a pass and stopped to look out across the harbor spread before him, he conceded that indeed she had made it ahead of him. This would complicate things.  

San Pedro, a very tiny community devoted entirely to supporting the shipping traffic that came up and down the Pacific coast, was home to perhaps 60 people plus the coming-and-going sailors, soldiers, longshoremen and merchants using this harbor.  Only slightly closer to Los Angeles than to San Juan Capistrano, the harbor had "a certain stinking charm," in Don Alejandro's words.  The "stinking" referred to the near-constant smell of fish that lingered in the air.  Buoy bells clanged in the distance, and Zorro could see the lights flickering in the two taverns, both with inns, at the edge of the docks.  It was quite likely that Consuelo had sought a room in one of the inns.  She might no doubt be entertaining some of the men in the Taverns, as well.       

He kicked Tornado's sides, making his way slowly down the dark hill towards the town.  Halfway down, he decided to hide his mount and continue on foot, so he led Tornado behind a boulder and said, "Stay here until you hear me whistle for you," to which his unusual steed snorted, shaking his head up and down.  "Good boy!" Zorro said.  "You have not forgotten!"

Despite his splitting headache, Zorro felt at home making his way down the path in darkness. With characteristic stealth, he slipped behind the first Tavern and made his way up a back stairwell to enter in the upstairs rear of the building.  Finding a door, he opened it to discover he was in the hallway of the guestrooms.  Fortunately no one was about, so he walked silently to the end of the hall to peer around the corner and down into the Tavern.  It was fairly quiet on this evening, a few people were still sitting about or standing at the bar, but there was no music playing.  He looked around carefully, to see no one resembling Consuelo in the room.  In fact excepting the barmaid there were no women at all.  He backed away and retraced his steps, out the door and back down to the ground.

He then made his way across the street, avoiding being spied by a somewhat drunken sailor who was stumbling back towards the docks. Out of nowhere he felt woozy, but he fought it back.  He was beginning to admit to himself that he probably had a concussion from the hard whack on the head Consuelo had given him.   At least he wasn't seeing double.  Approaching the second tavern, he peered into the side window and was rewarded with the sight of Consuelo sitting at a table with Capitan Solano himself.  Judging from the look on her face, Solano had already advised her that she was free of any obligation to Sergeant Garcia.  As Zorro watched, he saw, not to his surprise, that Consuelo was in her fetching mode, and what she was fetching was the sea captain.  Zorro considered this.  Part of him wanted to leave it at that, and head back up the hillside to his horse, and as soon thereafter as possible, the woman he loved.  But there was the matter of all that money, almost certainly stolen from Don Francisco Bocca.   

Excepting Solano, Consuelo, and a few sailors at the bar, the Tavern was relatively quiet.  Zorro decided to scope things out further, and went several doors down the short street to see what was in the stable.  Entering quietly, he saw Apache and Consuelo's buggy horses in stalls.  Consuelo's buggy was standing idle in the paddock.  He strode over to it and checked the floorboards, hoping that perhaps the money was still there.  He came up empty-handed.  She had taken it with her.  

Getting the girl home in darkness seemed foolish to him.  He wasn't feeling up to battling with her for the long 25 miles back up to Los Angeles.  He looked above him to see a hayloft, and climbed up the ladder to check it.  It was thickly piled with loose hay.  He was tempted to lie down and rest, but suspected that would be unwise. All he needed was for Zorro to be discovered sleeping in a hayloft in San Pedro.  He climbed back down and returned to the tavern window, to find Consuelo and the Capitan continuing to flirt grandly with one another.  His head started hurting again, and suddenly there were two Consuelos and two Capitans.  He blinked and shook his head.  There were still two of each, and El Zorro suddenly felt nauseous.  He put his hand to his head, to try to steady himself, and made his way dizzily across the street and behind the buildings, up towards the hill.  He saw someone coming towards him, and realized it was a boy of around 12.  

"Zorro!" the boy cried, seeing who was half-stumbling towards him.  It was his hero.  He could not believe his eyes.  He had dreamed of the day when he might see El Zorro.

Zorro stopped, and dropped to his knees in front of the boy.  He took the child by the arms.  "What is your name?" he asked.

"Felipe," the boy said in wonder.  "Are you really Zorro?"

"Si, I am really Zorro," came the answer.  "But I am Zorro in need of help, do you think you can help me?"

"Si, Senor Zorro!" the boy said.

"Then first you must be very quiet, all right?"

"Si, Senor Zorro," the boy whispered.  He frowned, for his hero seemed somehow weak.  "What is wrong?"

"Tell me, is there a curandera here, a woman who cares for the sick?"

"Si, up the hill, she is a half-breed woman with many herbs.  She cares for the sailors if they are injured."

"Can you take me to her?" he asked, pulling himself back to his feet, and keeping his hand on the boy's shoulder to steady himself.  The world was whirling all around him and he was fighting to keep from throwing up.

"Si," the boy said, accepting some of the masked man's weight.  They made their way up the rocky hill slowly, until they reached a small, isolated shack with lanterns glowing in the window.  Felipe knocked heartily. 

"Who is there?" came a woman's voice from within.

"It is Felipe, Seņora!  I have someone who needs your help!"

El Zorro was having great difficulty staying conscious, but he waited as the woman made her way to the door and opened it. Although still seeing double, he could tell she was quite handsome, in her early forties, with a no-nonsense look about her.  She sized up what stood in her door and squinted, staring first at Zorro, then to Felipe, than back to Zorro.

"You look as if you have been hit in the head, Seņor Zorro," she observed flatly.

He nodded.  "Si, and I am trying not to...."  with that he passed out, sliding to the ground on the woman's doorstep.

"Seņor Zorro!" Felipe cried, bending down over the bandit.

"Drag him in here," the woman said.  "We will see if we can bring him back."

"Is he dead?" Felipe blurted, trying to pull El Zorro into the room.

"No, but he is probably more badly injured than he realizes," the woman said.  "Come, Felipe, we will need to lift him onto this table.  You take his feet, I will pull up his shoulders and head..."

With an "ooof!" they managed to lay him across her table.  She leaned over him, and pulled his eyelids open under the mask.  "Hmmmm," she said.  "He has had quite a hit on the head."

"Are you going to take his mask off, curandera?" Felipe asked.

"Not if I can help it," the woman said.  "I have no wish to know the true identity of El Zorro.  I might not like what I find.   It is a great burden, Felipe, to be handed the secrets of others. Now, I want you to go outside and watch out for me, in case anyone else comes up the path.  No one must know who is here.  Go!"

Felipe took one more look at his unconscious hero, and then nodded, going outside into the darkness.

The curandera looked down into the masked face again, and then turned around and reached for several bottles on her shelf.  Mixing several herbs, she poured some water over them and made a paste.  Then she returned to him with it.  Touching his cheeks lightly with her fingers, she could see that he was over-warm.  "You have too much on, for this," she said.  She reached down and removed his gloves, first the right and then the left.  On seeing the left, her eyes widened slightly.

He moaned, feeling her touch.  "Elizabeth...." he said hoarsely, not coming out of his haze.   

"Ah, Seņor Zorro," she said.  "I did not wish to know who you are, but you tell me more than I wanted."  For in her hands his limp hand lay, revealing the gold wedding band on his third left finger.  She replaced his hand at his side.  "A great mystery is solved. You have borne your secret with great dignity, Don Diego," she said.  "And your Seņora..." she said.  "I fear she will be greatly worried when you do not arrive home tonight."

***

In the darkness beyond the shack, Felipe sat on a barrel looking out over the harbor and watching for any signs of approaching visitors.  He knew well that he had been entrusted with a great charge, to help keep El Zorro's presence hidden from the rest of the community.  He heard a footstep behind him and jumped. Turning around, he saw a huge black horse staring at him.  The horse shook his bridle and snorted.

"You...you are El Zorro's horse!" the boy exclaimed, looking at the black stallion.  "He is in there," the boy pointed at the curandera's house.  "She is helping him."

Tornado snorted again, and shook his head.  The boy approached him slowly and patted his soft nose when the horse lowered his head slightly.  "It will be all right, I am sure. They say this curandera can bring back the dead.  And he is not dead!"

Tornado stamped his foot twice.

"You are a fine horse," Felipe said.  "I do not want anyone to know you are here."  He took the bridle and began leading Tornado behind the shack.  "The shed back here, it will be a good place for you to wait for him, black horse."


Chapter Seven - ...And Light

"I do not wish to add insult to injury by saying this to you, Sergeant," Don Alejandro replied, "but you must surely understand that Seņorita Consuelo will not want to reconsider the situation."

Alejandro and Bernardo went straight to the pueblo after seeing El Zorro off to San Pedro.  Their purposes were advising Sergeant Garcia that his short-lived marriage was, in fact, non-existent, and sending the Sergeant after the wayward Consuelo.  They found him in the Tavern with Clementia Bocca, who was sitting with him trying to explain her cousin's foolishness when the men arrived.  

"You are being much too hard on yourself," Clementia was saying to him, patting his hand.  "Even if you are not married now, surely someday you will find a good woman who will want to support you in your important military work, Sergeant.  Everyone in this pueblo is indebted to you, for all the many good things you have done as our acting commandante."

"Si, perhaps...." Garcia said, watching as the latest wine bottle was opened and his glass was refilled.  "But somehow I am not sure all the gratitude translates into a good wife."  He took a long drink from his glass.

The Sergeant was visibly dismayed to learn that all his hopes were dashed.  "Well," he said philosophically, "I suppose it would be very difficult for any woman to want to live the life of a soldier.  Not that any woman would live the life of a soldier...."  

It was at this moment that Alejandro and Bernardo arrived, and broke the news to their fat friend.  
"Sergeant," Alejandro went on reluctantly.  "There is something else.  You may want to refrain from another drink when I tell you this."

Garcia looked at him apprehensively.  

"Consuelo has run away from home."

Garcia looked at Clementia.  "You said nothing to me about this," he said.

"I believe she has taken some money from Don Francisco in the process," Alejandro continued. 

Clementia gasped.  How did Don Alejandro know about the money?

"How do you know all this?" she asked.  "Did you find Diego?"

"Si," Alejandro said.  "On the road back from San Pedro.  He spent the afternoon with Capitan Solano."

"Where is he now?" the Sergeant asked.

"He decided to go straight home to Elizabeth," Alejandro answered.  "They are not much for being apart these days."

"I can understand that," the Sergeant nodded, thinking wistfully about the previous night when they had all witnessed Diego carrying Elizabeth up the stairs.  "Marriage is bringing out fine...and creative... things in Don Diego," he said.

"Si, we all think that," Clementia said.  "It can bring out the best in a person."

"Or the worst," Garcia sighed, taking another drink.  "Or nothing at all...." he continued.  He looked at Clementia sitting before him.  She was not the most beautiful woman in the pueblo, and she was notorious for her ability to gossip, but she had a good heart and, in the Sergeant's unspoken opinion, a fine bosom.  "Why have you never married, Seņorita Clementia?" he asked.

Alejandro and Bernardo glanced at each other.  Garcia was not taking their cue to call the lancers together and set out for San Pedro.

Clementia looked startled.  "Me?!" she exclaimed.  "Well, I am not so old that I may yet find a husband!"

Alejandro and Bernardo exchanged another glance. Clementia was 26, which was considered far beyond the prime of a woman seeking marriage in the pueblo.  

"I think that, more and more, arranged marriages are becoming a thing of the past," the Sergeant said.  "Not that the wedding of Don Diego and Seņora Elizabeth was a bad thing!" he added hastily for Alejandro's benefit.

"Sergeant, Don Carlos and I knew exactly what we were doing with those two," Alejandro said.  "Now, don't you think it might be time to assemble some lancers and make your way to San Pedro to find Consuelo and retrieve that money?"

Garcia snapped out of his philosophical mood and sat up.  "Si, I should find out what...." he looked at Clementia.  "Do you know what she took?  How much?"

Clementia could not help it, she teared up.  "Si..." she said, her receded chin trembling.

"Oh, no, it cannot be so bad that you need to cry, seņorita," he said gently, pulling a very dirty handkerchief out of his pocket.  

She looked at it, but Alejandro came to the rescue by offering her his clean one.  "Thank you," she said to both of them.  Then she looked at the Sergeant.  "It was....20,000 pesos!" She burst into tears.

"Twenty thousand!" Garcia repeated, astounded.  He looked at Don Alejandro.

"I had no idea it was that much!" the senior de la Vega said.  He looked at Bernardo.  No wonder she had knocked Diego out when he would not cooperate with her plan.  It was a small fortune.  "Did Elizabeth know about the money?" he asked Clementia.

Through her tears, Clementia nodded miserably.  

Garcia got up and sounded the alarm.  "Lancers!" he cried.  The several sitting around in the Tavern stood at attention.  "To San Pedro!" he cried. "Mount your horses!"  

Everyone in uniform began to scramble.  Garcia took Clementia's hand, and very elegantly kissed it.  "Seņorita, do not worry.  We will find your father's money, and we will find that rascal of a cousin of yours, too!"  He then looked at Don Alejandro.  "If I had known she was a thief, I never would have married her!" he announced.  With that, he headed out the door.

***

Escorted home by her father, Elizabeth arrived to a quiet house.  No Alejandro, no Bernardo, and most significantly, no Diego.  She looked for him in the stable, to find that Apache was not in his stall.  She looked in the downstairs rooms, and in their bedroom.  He was not there. And the black glove that had been sitting on her dressing table was gone.  She went into the secret room where Zorro's clothing and sword were kept, to find the sword rack and clothing pegs empty.    

"What is going on?" she asked herself, looking around the room.  She went down the two flights of stairs and into the dark passage that led to Tornado's cave.  The horse was not there, nor was he standing in the box canyon beyond the cave entrance.

It seemed obvious that Diego had reconsidered his decision.  But how had he returned from San Pedro, gotten his things, and left again so quickly?  Something about the whole picture struck Elizabeth as odd.  She heard the sounds of people walking above her, which meant that someone was returning horses to the stable.  She ran back upstairs, to find Alejandro and Bernardo in the sala.

"Where is Diego!" she burst.  "Zorro's things are gone!  So is Tornado!"

Bernardo nodded, and Alejandro came over to her.  "He is in San Pedro, as El Zorro," he said to her, taking her arms.  "Finding Consuelo and all the money you did not tell us she had taken!"

"Clementia made me promise not to tell," Elizabeth said.

Alejandro let go of her.  "It is a fine mess," he said.  "It's a good thing she did as little damage to Diego as she did," he winced immediately, not having meant to let that slip out.

"Damage?!" Elizabeth repeated.  "What damage?"  She looked at Bernardo and back to her father-in-law.

"She hit him on the head with something," Alejandro said.  "But we found him, he is all right, he put on the clothing and got on Tornado and went after her."

"Hit on the head!" Elizabeth exclaimed in alarm.  "And you let him ride away?"

"He was fine, he insisted he was fine!" Alejandro said.  

"Was he fine when you found him?" She looked from her husband's father to his servant and back.  Bernardo looked at the floor and then at Elizabeth, pointed at the ground, and then made a motion of putting his hands against one cheek, as if he were sleeping.

"He was unconscious!?" Elizabeth cried.  She turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Alejandro asked.  "It is after 8:00!"

"I'm going to find him!" she exclaimed.  "He could be hurt!"

"Elizabeth, I tell you, he was fine.  I would have known it if he were seriously injured, I would not have let him get on the horse and ride away.  Neither of us would have!"  Alejandro said.

"I think we are all so anxious that he continue as Zorro that we will let him do something reckless if it keeps him behind the mask!" Elizabeth said fiercely.  

"Risk sometimes comes with the job," Alejandro said.  "Please, my dear, you cannot go out into the night now."

"He might need me!" she said.  "I'm going!"

"Sergeant Garcia and the lancers are already on their way, he will have reinforcements soon," Alejandro said, trying to dissuade her.  He did not relish arriving in San Pedro at midnight, but he knew he could not let her make the journey alone.  "His plans was simply to put Consuelo into a situation of house arrest until the Sergeant gets there.  I'm sure by now he is on Tornado and on his way home to us, Elizabeth.  Please, wait."

Elizabeth was torn.  She knew Alejandro was probably right, and that Diego was in all likelihood on his way home by now.  But she had a bad feeling about the whole situation.  New twists kept appearing in the roadway, the latest being Consuelo's laying a log on Diego's head.  

"I can't wait," she said.  "If he is on the road he will see us and let us know we can turn back.  If he is not, he is in San Pedro and he may need me.  I'm going.  I'll take Padre, he is so much faster than Cloud Dancer."

Thus the debate around staying or leaving began.

***

In San Pedro, the curandera had managed to get Zorro sufficiently stabilized to move him, with Felipe's help, off of her table and onto the cot she kept for the visiting ill.  After moving him she again banished Felipe from the inside of the shack, fearing that Zorro would say more that might reveal his identity.  He was mumbling Elizabeth's name over and over when he approached consciousness, only to drop back into his dark hole without fully regaining his senses. Sometimes in his delirium he whispered "kitten."  The first time he said it the curandera looked at him in puzzlement, wondering if he were talking about a cat.  When it came out again she realized she was hearing a term of endearment, and that once again he was asking for his wife.   

She made sure his mask stayed on, but kept cold cloths on his head and noted with dismay that the knot on his skull was extremely large and still oozing blood.  "I don't know what you were hit with, Seņor, but it was a heavy thing very fiercely aimed," she said to him.  

He moaned, trying again to come into a state of consciousness.  "Elizabeth...." he mumbled again.   
He opened his eyes for a moment, and the face of the strange woman appeared before him.  "Where am I?" he whispered.

"You are in San Pedro," she told him.  "My name is Lolita.  I am the curandera the boy Felipe brought you to."

"Ahhhh," he half-groaned, his hand coming to the back of his head.  He realized the mask was still on his face.  He tried to sit up, but fell back in pain and wooziness.

"You have a concussion, Seņor," she told him.  "It is a bad one.  You will need to rest here for a few hours at least.  I can help you with it, but you must cooperate with me."

He looked at her.

"Do not worry," she said.  "I will not remove the mask, even if you are asleep.  I have not so far, why would I now?"

"Thank you, seņora," he said.  He lay there for a moment.  "The boy...."

"He is outside, keeping watch for me.  I do not believe I want anyone to know that I have El Zorro lying here."

He nodded, and felt the searing pain again.  It made him grimace.  "I have been hit in the head before," he said, "but never this....effectively."

"Here," she said, offering him a small vial of liquid she had prepared while he lay unconscious.  "I had to wait until you awoke, but if you drink this it will begin to help you feel better."

He looked at it, and then at her.  Then he nodded.  She held it to his lips, holding his head up slightly so he could swallow.  He took it in and swallowed, and then grimaced again.

She smiled.  "I did not want to tell you how bad it would taste."

"A good thing," he said, swallowing again.  

"You will go to sleep again soon, Seņor," she said.  "Let yourself drift.  You will feel better when you awaken."

"Seņora," he said, the sleep already rising in his voice.  "It is possible that others will come to look for me...." with that his eyes closed, and he fell back into unconsciousness.

"I know," she said to him as he slept.  "And I will know who to allow to enter."

***

It was well after midnight when Elizabeth, Alejandro and Bernardo rode into town.  Elizabeth's insistence on making the trip to San Pedro won out over all protest, largely by way of her packing a small bag of Diego's clothing, going to the stable, saddling Padre, and waving a determined adios to the two men even as they followed her about attempting to dissuade her.  Her departure left them with no choice but to follow, which they did.   They rode as fast as the darkness would allow, and made it to San Pedro in a little over two hours.  Approaching the first of the two small Inns in town, Alejandro made arrangements for rooms. He instructed Bernardo to scout out who else was in town and whether or not Consuelo was in custody with some authority.

When Bernardo came back empty-handed, Elizabeth became truly frantic.  They were all in Alejandro's room, trying to sort out what to do.

"Something terrible has happened, I just know it!" Elizabeth cried, pacing the room.  "He never got here!  Or something has happened to him!  Consuelo is nowhere to be found.  If he had found her he would have made sure we knew it.  What shall we do?  Think of something!"

Alejandro was at a loss.  Consuelo was registered at neither of the Inns, Bernardo had discovered.  He had overheard nothing, in wandering through both Taverns, to suggest she had even been there.  

"Did you check the stable?" Alejandro asked suddenly.  

Bernardo shook his head.  

That gave Elizabeth some hope.  "Go!" she said.  "Perhaps you will find Apache!  At least that will tell us she is somewhere in the area."

"Unless Apache found his way here after being released somewhere on the road," Alejandro pointed out.  "He is a horse who likes a stable."

"Go!" Elizabeth shooed at Bernardo.  The servant hastily departed.

Elizabeth looked at her father-in-law.  "This is terrifying," she said.

He sighed.  "He is all right, Elizabeth.  I have been through this more often and for longer than you.  El Zorro is very resourceful.  Whatever may have gone wrong, he is dealing with it."

"Even when he has been hit on the head?!" she exclaimed.  "I cannot believe you let him ride off like that!"

"He was fine," Alejandro insisted.  "I do not believe we can do anything more tonight, Elizabeth.  Let us get a decent night's sleep, and I am sure everything will become clear in the morning."

"I wonder if there is a doctor here in San Pedro," she said.  

"That would not be likely, unless it was a circuit rider.  Most of the medical help in a community like this comes from the Indians and from the priests who have some skill in healing arts."

"The missions!" Elizabeth said.  "Perhaps he is there, perhaps he has gone down to San Juan Capistrano.  He knows the priests there."

"He knows the priests everywhere, my dear, but not as El Zorro."

Elizabeth sat heavily on the bed, spontaneously running her hand over her stomach as of she was comforting her baby.  It was a gesture that made Alejandro's heart ache suddenly.  It was something Matilde used to do when she was expecting Diego.  Though he refused to reveal it to Elizabeth, the truth was that he was beginning to fear for his son. Something was indeed wrong.

A light knock sounded on the door.  Alejandro opened it and motioned Bernardo in.  The servant looked at both of them, pointed outside towards the stable, and nodded.  

"Apache is there?" Alejandro asked.

Bernardo nodded.  Then he gestured a buggy and two more horses.  

"And Consuelo's horses, too?" Elizabeth asked. 

 Bernardo nodded again.

"I knew it," Elizabeth said.  "She's here somewhere, and she's still on the loose.  Oh, no...." she began to cry.  "Something has happened to him, I know it."

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth," Alejandro said, taking her by the arms.  "Please try to lie down and get some sleep, we will find him.  Bernardo and I will ride back up the road to the place where we first discovered him, and we will backtrack all up and down the road until he turns up.  He will be all right, I am sure of it.  Stay here in my room, you will be completely safe here, this inn is a good one.  We will find him."

Elizabeth lay back on the bed, her exhaustion and worry taking over completely.  "Please find him," she said, as they put on their hats and headed back out the door.  Alone, she hugged herself and resumed her crying, saying "oh, no," to herself over and over.  "Oh, little baby," she cried.  "Your daddy...something has happened to your daddy...."

***

The night was a long one for Lolita.  She remained vigilant by El Zorro's bedside for over four hours, awaiting some sign that her potions and the vial of bitter liquid were doing their healing.  He slept fitfully, sometimes going into a state of deep unconsciousness, other times asking for Elizabeth.  Though she felt badly about leaving poor Felipe outside, she needed someone to keep watch and she could not afford for the boy to hear the masked man saying Seņora de la Vega's name over and over.  Like nearly everyone else in southern California, Lolita knew the rumors about El Zorro and the wife of the de la Vega heir.  Though she now understood the deep, impossible secret behind the rumors, she knew that Felipe could not be trusted with such information.  He was a good boy, but who could know what kind of a man he would become.  And if he did not learn the secret, he would only hear the name and think, as so many did, that this was yet another confirmation of the secret liaison everyone whispered about.   She felt she had no choice.  So she kept him outside, insisting that he keep watch and let he know if anyone approached.

***

It was just before sunrise that Elizabeth awoke with a start, to realize she was still alone in Alejandro's room.  She sat up suddenly, looking around, and instantly felt her heart begin to pound.  That she was still alone meant that they had not found Diego.  "Oh, no...." she whispered to herself, getting up.  She had never undressed, so she went to the window and looked outside.  The sun was still behind the hills, but rising.  Think, she told herself.  Think. If he needed help, where would Diego have gone?  As El Zorro?  Not to the authorities, certainly.  Not to the innkeepers, too much chance of them being in league with the military.  This town is much too small to have a doctor. She stood there looking at the hills as the sun inched higher.  It is the people who love El Zorro without apology, she told herself. Perhaps he has befriended a peon....or perhaps he has found his way to a healer.  The Indians have helped him before.

After retrieving the wrapped package of Diego's clothing that Bernardo had brought along from Los Angeles, she grabbed her shawl. Throwing it over her shoulders she made her way quietly out the doorway and down the stairs into the empty tavern, and from there onto the street.  A dozen fisherman were milling about and saw her exit.  A few looked a little curious, but no one said anything.  She approached one of them where he stood on the dock, preparing his boat for departure.

"Pardon me, Seņor," she said, "but are you from San Pedro?"

"Si," he answered, giving his nets a yank.

"Can you tell me, is there a healer here, a curandera?"

He put down his gear and looked at her.  "Are you ill?" he asked.  He looked at the bulge in her dress and then said, "Oh."

"I am not ill, but I do need some advice," she said demurely.  "And I would like to do it before the sun rises high and too many eyes are on me."

He nodded, going back to his work.  "There is a curandera, halfway up the hill in a little shack next to the three boulders," he nodded up the hill.  "Go behind the posada, you will see the path, Senora."

"Gracias," Elizabeth said.  She turned and headed for the pathway.  The man stopped to follow her with his eyes, wondering what was going on.  At 3:00 a.m. the fat Sergeant from Los Angeles had ridden into town with a dozen lancers and one of the important dons from the region.  Now here was the don's son's pretty young wife wandering about in search of a curandera.  He looked around at the still morning, but nothing else was stirring.  Still, something seemed amiss.

The path was steep, made of hard dirt mingled with rocks, so Elizabeth took her time as she climbed.  With each slow step she said a prayer for her husband. She had to stop twice to get her breath, which forced her to admit that she was starting to feel the added weight that the baby represented.  As if to confirm this, she felt the little life inside her flop over and do a somersault.  It made her smile, and place her hand on her belly in a calming gesture.  She still found the baby's movements both comforting and strange.  She leaned against a rock for a moment, and looked out across the harbor.  The sun was hitting the water in the distance, making it sparkle.  She could see the green Catalina Islands off the coast.  The Maria Cruz was still anchored in the harbor, looking heavily laden and ready to set sail.  She wondered if Consuelo had made it aboard.  Consuelo could rot in Hades for all she cared.  As she resumed her hike up the path she had to restrain herself from plotting terrible fates for Clementia's cousin.  Nothing matters but finding Diego, she kept telling herself.      

Ahead of her she saw a young boy sitting up against a rock, his sombrero half-covering his face.  He was sound asleep. As she approached he sat up with a start, and scrambled to his feet.  

"No, Seņora!" he said, stepping in front of her as she tried to pass him.

"Move, boy," she said, "I need to find the curandera.  Is she not in the shack ahead, by the three rocks?"

"Si, but you cannot go there," the boy told her.  "She is not to be disturbed."

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, looking down into his eyes.  "Tell me, has she found a man who was hurt?"

The boy paused.

Elizabeth took him by the shoulders.  "Tell me the truth," she said softly. "Is it El Zorro? Is he there with her?  Was he hit on the head?"

"I cannot say, Seņora," the boy answered, feeling great fear.

"Is he all right?!" Elizabeth asked, shaking his shoulders slightly.

"Ow, Seņora!" he said, trying to step away from her.

She lightened her grip.  "What is your name?" she asked him.

"Felipe, Seņora."

"Felipe, it is all right if you take me to the curandera's house, even if it is El Zorro there," she said.  "I will not hurt him, I only want to see if he is all right.  I am his friend.  You will be doing something kind for him and for me if you let me go to see him."

"But the curandera told me that I should let no one come near the house...." the boy said faintly.  He was clearly terrified but determined to stand his ground.

From the town below, a shout was heard.  They both looked down to see that the lancers emerging from the Tavern Inn across from the one where Elizabeth had stayed.  Sergeant Garcia's huge voice was ordering them to search everywhere.  Felipe looked back at Elizabeth.  

"You see?" she said.  "They are here looking for him and you must let me help him get away, before they come up here," she told him desperately.  "Please, Felipe."

The boy looked down at the stir in town and then up at the little shack.  "Let me go to talk to the curandera, Seņora," he said. 

Elizabeth let go of him, and followed him silently as he made his way further up the hill to the shack.  He stopped and looked around, and waved for her to wait.  Then he went and knocked on the curandera's door.

Elizabeth looked down again towards the town.  To her relief the Sergeant seemed to be concentrating on the docks and houses.  No one was showing any sign of finding their way up into the hills.  Then she heard a nicker, and saw Tornado peering around the rear corner of the shack at her.  

"Tornado!" she cried, running to him.  He snorted, recognizing her.  "Oh, he is here!" she said to the horse. 

The door opened and the dark-haired curandera with the piercing blue eyes saw her standing beside the horse.  "You can come in, Seņora," she said.  "But you had better let the horse stay where he is."

Elizabeth stepped into the curandera's house as the woman shooed Felipe back into the sunshine to continue his watch.  Elizabeth looked around in the large, dark room at the tables, cupboards, jars of strange powders and hanging herbs by the kitchen.  Then her eyes moved further and she started to see El Zorro lying on the bed, still in his black clothing and mask, but apparently unconscious.  Something between a sob and a shiver escaped from deep in her throat, but she felt she must not move or give any hint of her relationship with him to the curandera.  

"You have El Zorro!" she managed to say, her eyes never leaving him.

"Si, it is El Zorro," the woman replied.  "He has a bad concussion."

"Will he be all right?" Elizabeth asked.

Zorro's eyes opened and he saw her across the room.  He reached for her.

"Oh...." Elizabeth said desperately.

"Seņora," the curandera said, "it is all right.  Go to him.  I will go out and get fresh water."

Elizabeth nearly flew across the room to his side, grabbing his hand, not hearing the door close as the curandera left.  "Diego," she sobbed, kissing his hand.

"Shhhhhh," he said, grateful to see her, keeping her hand in his.  "My luck has held," he told her softly.  "This curandera knows what she is doing.  And now you are here."  He tried to lift her hand to his lips to kiss it, but she pulled it away to place her palm on his cheek and leaned over to kiss his lips lightly.  "Can you tell me how you are?" she asked.

"I don't know what she gave me," he said.  "I was in a very bad way when I arrived.  I have that boy out there to thank.  He may have saved my life."

"Felipe," Elizabeth said.  "He very nearly stopped me from getting in to see you!"

"Si," Diego smiled.  "He seems very loyal.  But he got me up here, and this woman has worked a miracle.  My double vision is gone; my head is no longer splitting.  I only need a few more hours to rest."

"I am not sure you have it," Elizabeth said.  "Sergeant Garcia is here going from building to building searching for Consuelo.  In a way I hope he does not find her, for if he does I am personally going to murder her bare-handed for doing this to you."

"No, darling, that is not a good solution," he smiled.  "Now you must go, if the Sergeant is making his search.  Besides, the curandera has to be wondering why you are here in the first place."

"I don't care," Elizabeth said.  "Let her wonder.  Let them all wonder.  I have clothes here for you.  We can take you home as Diego."

His eyes widened.  

"I do not think the secret is in jeopardy," she said, reaching gently behind his head to loosen the knot that held his mask on.  She pulled it away slowly, and before her on the pillow was his wonderful face.  The lines etched deeply across his forehead told her the scale of the pain he had been fighting.  "Oh, Diego," she said, trying to smooth away the lines with her light fingertips.

"Help me sit up," he said, trying to lift his shoulders and get his elbows beneath him.

"No," she said, pushing him back.  "You need to stay still for as long as you can.  I will leave the things here, when I go, in case you need to change quickly."

"But the curandera...."

"Diego, you have been lying here for hours.  Perhaps she already knows." She shook her head.  "We take things as they come, remember?"

He acquiesced, and lay there for a moment looking at her.  Then his hand moved across her skirt to rest on her belly where she sat beside him.  She smiled, her hand coming over his.  "We are both fine," she said.  "I think she likes midnight rides."  Then tears welled up in her eyes.  "Oh, Diego, you could have been killed."

"Shhhhhh," he said.  "Now it would have been quite the joke, if what finally did me in was a whack on the head from an angry woman.  And I wasn't even Zorro when it happened!"

Through her tears, Elizabeth laughed. Then she lay down next to him on the tiny bed, putting her arms around him as best she could.  "I don't want to leave you, now that I have found you," she said.

"I am feeling better by the second," he replied softly, breathing deep to smell her so close beside him.  " And Elizabeth, Tornado...."

"He is behind the house," she interrupted.

"We shall simply have to trust Felipe and this curandera."

"Does she have a name?"

"I think she told me, but I cannot remember," he answered.  Between whatever the curandera had given him, the sleep, and having Elizabeth near, he was genuinely starting to feel better.  He ran his hand gently over Elizabeth's dress and put his face into the hollow of her neck.  "I don't want you to go," he said.

They lay there for a few moments, and then there was a knock.  Elizabeth pulled herself up hastily and managed to get on her feet by the time the door opened.  Diego reached for the mask, but it was too late. 

The curandera stepped in with a bucket of water, and her eyes went from Elizabeth to Diego.  "It is all right, Don Diego," Lolita said.  "I already knew.  You kept asking for her..." she nodded at Elizabeth, "when you were at your lowest.  And when I took off your gloves I saw the wedding ring.  It was not hard to put together."

Diego looked down at his left hand and shut his eyes, shaking his head.  He had, in his haste and haze, forgotten to take it off and give it to Bernardo for safekeeping.

Elizabeth took his hand and kissed the ring, saying not a word.  He sat up slowly, and with her help pulled himself to his feet. "This feels all right," he said.

"We will trust you, Seņora," Elizabeth said.  "But can we know your name?"

"Lolita," came the answer.  "It all makes sense, now that I know."

Elizabeth smiled.  "Si. We live with a lot of talk, but we do have each other.  Both ways."

Diego went ahead and put the mask back on, and looked around for his hat and cape. 

"Please, darling...." Elizabeth started.

"No," he said, starting to move about.  Quite to his surprise he was having no difficulty.  He donned the cape, and pulled his sword belt on.  

"But Diego..."

He held up his hand.  "I know where Consuelo is. The Sergeant isn't going to find her where he is looking," he said.  He ran his hand over the back of his head and winced. 

"It is going to be sore for a while," Lolita said.  

"I have a favor to ask," said El Zorro.

"What is that, Senor?" she asked.

"May I leave these clothes here, and send my servant for them?" he asked.  "I am going to take my seņora back down into the town and then find the woman they are all looking for.  It will not do for us to appear carrying Don Diego's clothing."  He placed his hat slowly on his head and winced again.  "I may need to get a bigger hat for a while," he said to Elizabeth.

"Darling, how can you appear with me in San Pedro?" she asked.

"I have appeared with you nearly everywhere else!" he pointed out, pulling on his gloves.  Then he stopped and pulled the left one off again. 

"But how will we explain it?" she asked.

"We will say that I found you in the hills in search of your missing husband!" he replied, flashing his smile.

He removed his wedding band and handed it to Elizabeth.  "You keep this for me," he instructed.  "I will retrieve it soon enough."

"You had better!" she said, accepting it.  "I don't like seeing you take it off!"

"Look what has happened for my leaving it on!" he said, putting the glove back on.

Lolita, smiled as she listened to the banter between them.  "You are welcome to leave whatever you need to here, Seņor," she said to him. "How will I know your servant?"

"He is a short, very kindly looking fellow and he neither speaks nor...." El Zorro stopped, and glanced at Elizabeth.  "Actually, he does hear, but no one knows it."

"They will not know it from me, either, Seņor," she said.   

He went to her and took her hand, kissing it.  "I am greatly in your debt, Seņora Lolita, and I shall remain so for a very long time," he said to her.

"El Zorro is a friend to all the people, Seņor," she replied.  "I am very glad you found your way to my doorstep."

"As am I," he said.  He turned to Elizabeth.  "Go, darling," he said, nodding at the door. 

Elizabeth looked at Lolita, and went over to hug her.  "Thank you," she whispered in the curandera's ear.  "I hope we will meet again."

"Perhaps we shall, Seņora," Lolita replied. She slipped something into Elizabeth's hand, and quietly said, "Use this on his neck and his back....and wherever else you wish.  It will help him heal."  

Elizabeth accepted it wordlessly, but with a look of thanks.  

 "And Seņora," Lolita added more loudly, touching Elizabeth's stomach lightly. "The baby.  It is a girl."

"I know," Elizabeth smiled.  As she walked out the door she looked up at El Zorro triumphantly.  The last thing the curandera heard as they disappeared into the early morning sunshine was, "I told you!"