The Secret of Zorro
In Monterey
Chapters One through Three
by Ella Christian @1999-2001
Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com

CHAPTER ONE
Revelations

Bernardo, travelling with Don Alejandro, was ahead of the young de la Vegas by three days.  He found a small furnished house, with a stable and small corral on a cliff overlooking the bay.  It was somewhat isolated, which would meet with Diego's approval, but was only a short ride into town.  He knew the sea view would delight his mistress, and with Alejandro's blessing he let the place for two months on Diego's behalf.  It took him two full days to tidy the place, unpack the trunks, recruit a local half-breed woman called Elena to serve as housekeeper and cook, and stock the kitchen.  This left him with time to wander in the town and visit the fish market and the animal pens where cattle were shipped to Spain and horses were both imported and exported.  It was there, on his second visit to the docks, that a galleon arrived from Mexico. On it were horses including a white Andalusian filly, barely two years old and unbroken, that caught Bernardo's eye.  He knew Diego was not entirely happy with Cloud Dancer, a good animal with what Diego had learned was not enough speed and fire for his wife's riding skills.  Bernardo learned that the filly was due to be auctioned late in the week. He made note to himself to bring the horse to Diego's attention.

Diego and Elizabeth arrived in Monterey on the day appointed.  Alejandro and Bernardo exchanged glances as they came in the door of the town's Tavern. The couple was visibly different from when the foursome had split up several days earlier.  As had become his habit when observing his son's conjugal bliss, Alejandro rolled his eyes, snorted, and glanced at Bernardo. Bernardo took one look, grinned to himself, and stared at the floor.  Elizabeth was absolutely radiant. Diego had the relaxed look of a man who was living in paradise. They all hugged delightedly on reuniting.  After a glass of wine together, Bernardo led the couple to their temporary new home.

As Bernardo anticipated, Elizabeth was charmed by the house, with its terrace overlooking the Bay. This in turned pleased Diego, whose gratitude to his manservant was already boundless.

"I could not have found a better place myself, Bernardo," he said, as they unsaddled horses in the corral.   Elizabeth was already in the house, seeing about supper with Elena.  "In fact, I could not have found anything this good."

Bernardo grinned sheepishly, always glad for a compliment.  Then he gestured for Diego to listen, and pointed out the horses, then pointed towards town.

"Horses in town?" Diego said.

Bernardo indicated his wallet and money changing hands.

"An auction?"

Bernardo nodded.  Then he pointed to Elizabeth's gray mare, and then raised his hands above the mare's withers, and then pointed at Diego's white handkerchief.  

Diego frowned, trying to put this together.  "Horse?  Handkerchief?" he guessed.

Bernardo shook his head, pointed again at Elizabeth's horse, then indicated a larger height and four legs, and then pulled out Diego's handkerchief from his jacket and stroked it, pointed, and stroked it again.

"A horse? A white horse? Elizabeth's horse?" Diego was guessing.

Bernardo nodded, and kicked up a heel.

"Frisky...I see," Diego said.  He put a cigar in his mouth and lit it, watching the horses already in the corral. 

"A colt?" he asked.

Bernardo shook his head no.

"A filly," Diego said.  "Well, this just might be something that would make Elizabeth and Tornado happy.  Is she broken?"

Bernardo shook his head.

"Hmmmm.  Well, let's go see her tomorrow.  But don't let this on to Elizabeth, if this works out she'll have a nice surprise." He pondered this.  "Monterey may be even better for us than I imagined," he said.

***

The next morning, Diego left Elizabeth at home to continue settling in. With Bernardo, he went into town to join his father for the second of a series of meetings with the Governor about the San Gabriel land.  That finished, the three of them went to the livestock yards where Bernardo led them to the stall of the white filly.

"She's Andalusian," Alejandro observed instantly.  He could see this was a fine horse.

"Uh huh," Diego said, entering the stall and walking around the horse carefully, his arms folded, his cigar in his mouth.

"What is this about, Diego?" his father asked.  "We have plenty of horses."

"I'm thinking about a new horse for Elizabeth," he answered, touching the filly's face, and inspecting her teeth.  She looked a bit wild-eyed but tolerated him.  

"You just gave her a horse when you married her!" Alejandro pointed out.  "The gray mare is a perfectly good mount for her."

"I don't know," Diego said, continuing to walk slowly around the horse.  "Elizabeth is turning out to be a far better rider than I thought.  She's finding Cloud Dancer pretty dull." He lifted the filly's feet, one by one, studying her hooves.  She was unshod, and again she tolerated his handling skittishly. 

Two of the stockyard hands wandered over, seeing Diego in the stall.  One of them said, "She's fierce, Senor.  Don't let her trick you."

"She does tricks?" Diego asked, putting down the last hoof and stepping back.  As he did so, the filly kicked both back legs out, knocking through one of the stall rails.

"Si," said the yard hand, nodding.

Diego stepped out of the stall, taking his cigar out of his mouth.  "Guess you'll have to fix that," he said, nodding at the shattered rail.  The filly hovered sulkily in one corner, her ears laid back.

"Si," the yard hand said, and looking at his friend they turned and walked away.

"This horse looks like trouble to me," Alejandro said.

"You mean she looks expensive," Diego teased his father.

"I mean she looks like trouble!"

"Elizabeth can handle her," Diego said.  "We'll break her together, it will give us a project while we're here."

"You have a project, and it's getting that land!" Alejandro said.

"I'll do that, too," Diego said.  "But it will hardly occupy every day.  Come now, Father, you are spending all this money on a land deal, surely you can't object to a small extravagance for my new wife whom you wanted me to marry so much."

"Well if it weren't for her dowry I wouldn't be doing this land deal," Alejandro exclaimed, "and it's in your interest, and in the interest of the children you and Elizabeth will have."

The filly had come out of her corner, allowing Diego to stroke her neck.  "There, you aren't so bad," he said to her.  Then he said to his father, "I think those children are still a long way off."

"Think so?" Alejandro asked testily.  "Not if the amount of time you two spend together behind closed doors is any indication!  And in the middle of the day!" he huffed.  "It's undignified!"  He shook his head. 

"I'm going back to my Inn.  Buy the horse if you want."  With that he stalked off.

Diego watched after him, and then looked at Bernardo.  "Are we that obvious?" he asked Bernardo.

Bernardo raised an eyebrow.

"Well we're newlyweds!" Diego said.

Bernardo held up four fingers.  Diego pushed three down.

"One month, really, or six weeks now," he said.  "But nobody knows that, not that they should."  He sighed, then looked back to the horse.  "I have a new mistress for you, pretty one," he said.  He looked around, and saw the stockyard manager eyeing him some distance away.  Diego went over and pointed at the filly.  "I'd like to buy her," he said.

"Auction's Friday at noon," came the answer.

"I'd like to bypass that," Diego said.  "I'll make it worth your while."

"You'll need to talk to Don Joaquin Verdugo, the saddlesmith," the manager said.  "His horse, his auction."

"I see," said Diego.  "Well, thank you."  He headed away quickly, followed by Bernardo.  "What luck," he said under his breath, annoyed, as they exited onto the street. "I should have guessed it would be Don Joaquin's horse, he's the main importer here."

Bernardo looked at his master with some alarm.

"I know, I know," Diego said.  "Marta's father."

***

Joaquin Verdugo, long viewed as a somewhat suspect character in Monterey's social circle, was a self-made man.  He arrived in Monterey fifteen years before, with five spectacular horses and a six-year-old daughter, Marta.  The little girl was a gamin-like child with dark skin and hair, brown eyes, and a high-pitched, squeaky voice.  Though never confirmed by Verdugo, it was rumored that he came to California by way of Mexico, after a number of years as a gambler in New Orleans.  It was further rumored that Marta's mother was a Creole woman he kept as a common-law wife, and that some unnamed tragedy had killed her and caused his rush back into Spanish-speaking territory with the girl in tow.

Marta grew into a sensational-looking teenager. By age sixteen she was causing a stir in the town for her provocative beauty and even more provocative behavior among the young soldiers in the garrison.  It was when she was nineteen that she encountered El Zorro on a rainy night just south of town.  He had dragged her from a carriage trapped in mud just before it was swept into a swollen stream during winter rains.  He brought her home to her father, only to have her follow him back out into the terrible weather and trace his movements to a cave outside of town.  Thus began an acquaintance that led to passion and then grief for both of them -- hers for losing and his for ever getting involved in the first place.

The story in Monterey was that Zorro jilted her. Her heart was so broken that Diego de la Vega's subsequent and humble courtship of her fell into instant ruin.  Without ever revealing his true identity to her, Zorro had carried on what was rumored to be a torrid affair with the young woman for some weeks.  However, faced by the Governor with the opportunity to reveal himself in exchange for amnesty and Marta's hand in marriage, Zorro had taken a high road for justice and declined to reveal his identity.  Diego's subsequent efforts to comfort and win her had seemingly backfired. Her father suddenly and inexplicably banished Diego, and sent the girl away to a convent far to the east of San Francisco, at Nuestra Senora de la Soledad.  

Diego's version of this story, told only to Bernardo, did not exactly match the popular version.  He did not dispute the affair, but what could not be reported honorably to anyone, not even his father, was how -- as was sometimes Zorro's experience -- Marta had thrown herself at him, offered herself without reservation, and claimed to seek nothing in return.  He further could not honorably testify the truth that on their first encounter he discovered that she was already quite experienced in carnal matters.  In a moment of great desire and deep loneliness, Zorro had abandoned his characteristic restraint and recklessly entered into the liaison.  The price, of course, was far more greatly paid by the girl when the Governor's offer of amnesty came. Try though Zorro did, he could not persuade Marta that giving himself up was impossible. The deeper truth was, it gave him an excuse to get out of the relationship. She was, as Diego once remarked to Bernardo, "a woman who makes a man very tired."  Once the initial physical attraction wore off, she held no mystery for him.  So it was out of sheer guilt, compounded by pressure from his father, that Diego half-heartedly tried to win her after Zorro had abandoned her.  He was greatly relieved, at the time, when Don Joaquin interceded, freeing Diego to return to Los Angeles.   

Though not a proud episode in his life, all of it was well behind him when Zorro knocked Elizabeth Matteo off her feet on the de la Vega road.  However, he was now faced with one of those moments in life when things inconveniently come full circle.  He wanted the white filly for Elizabeth.  He could not get her without facing Joaquin Verdugo.

Working all this out with Bernardo, Diego wondered aloud if he could find another go-between to represent him at the auction.  "Joaquin knows my father, and he knows you," Diego said as they walked into the tavern.  "Who could do this for me in Monterey?"

They swung through the door, and as was always his habit Diego's eyes swept the room instinctively, to size up what lay before him.  His search landed on an unexpected and very familiar face, and he nudged Bernardo and said softly, "My prayers are answered."  He then strode across the room and said, "Corporal Reyes!  What brings you to Monterey?"

Reyes, who was half-asleep at his table, nearly jumped out of his skin.  "Don Diego!" he said, regathering himself.  Then he settled back into his usual lethargy and added, "I didn't know you were here."

"Yes, for a while, actually," Diego said eagerly.  He sat down, motioning for Bernardo to join them. "May I join you?" he asked.

Reyes eyed him, noting that he was already seated, and said, "Sure."

Diego ordered a round of drinks.  "So you're in Monterey for...?"

"Sergeant Garcia," Reyes answered.  As always, he was as maddeningly unforthcoming as Garcia was lugubrious with every detail.

"Oh, did he?" Diego asked.  "On a ...mission?"

"Si."

"And that mission would be...?"

"To watch out for him."

"For whom?"

"For Sergeant..." Reyes started, but was interrupted by a big voice calling across the room,

"Don Diego de la Vega, in Monterey!"

Diego looked to see Garcia himself entering.  He came over and joined his friends.  Diego had not seen him since the afternoon of the interview with Elizabeth, and knew he had to play this carefully in order to achieve his desired outcome.

"Yes, Sergeant, hello," Diego said, rising.  "I'm here with my father on business."

"Ah, I heard Don Alejandro was here," Garcia said, sitting down heavily.  "Actually," he lowered his voice, "we knew you were all here, we heard it from the friars in the missions on the way up the Camino."

Diego nodded.  "Good missions, all."

"Very good," Garcia agreed.  "Except maybe for the food."

"Ah, well," Diego said.  "But they have their own vineyards!"

"Si," Garcia said, more enthusiastically. "And, your wife?" he asked more tentatively.

"She's fine," Diego said.  "We let a little house overlooking the Bay."

"Oh, did you?" Garcia said.  "So you're staying in Monterey?"

"For a while," Diego nodded.

"Don Diego," Garcia began. Diego could see he was trying to head towards making amends, "I hope you don't think..."

"Sergeant, I have a favor to ask," Diego interrupted, hoping to give the Sergeant a way out without even having the conversation.  

Garcia, for once taking the cue, said, "Anything."

"There's something here in Monterey that I want to get for Elizabeth," he said, "but I need some help."

"Buy for her?" Garcia asked.

"Yes, it's not that I lack the money, but the situation..." At this moment, Bernardo kicked Diego under the table, and Diego looked to the door to see the stockyard master and Joaquin Verdugo enter.  They didn't notice him, heading straight for the bar.  Diego got up and turned his back to them.  "Sergeant," Diego said, "I'm sorry but I need to excuse myself.  I will find you later on, to explain this thing I need help with."  He laid down two silver coins on the table.  "Have the next two rounds on me," he said.  Then he left through the back door with Bernardo.

"He's sometimes very strange," remarked Corporal Reyes.  Looking down at the two bits, he added, "but generous."

***

Diego knew it was only a matter of time before Verdugo would learn he was in town and interested in the horse, as his father's presence was already being felt in the Governor's house. This in turn carried out into the rest of Monterey.  He and Elizabeth had a dinner invitation in a few nights, a Monterey society event that would draw out everyone in town.  It raised a question Diego did not like to contemplate.  When last he knew, Marta was still at the convent.  But what if she had managed to quit herself of it?  He suddenly wanted to kick himself for not having considered this prospect, and investigated, before he decided to come to Monterey.  The party would be Elizabeth's first social event in the capital. He wanted it to go well for her.  He wasn't sure, however, what he could count on besides the liking people generally took to the de la Vegas whenever they came into town.  The disaster with Marta had, if anything, made Diego a rather sympathetic character in the community, and he knew people would be anxious to meet his new wife and find out how he had fared in this match since being spurned by the Verdugos.

He got home in the late afternoon.  Finding Elizabeth lying down in their room, he sat down at the foot of the bed, reached under the covers and pulled her feet out to rest them on his lap.  Rubbing them gently, he told her that Garcia and Corporal Reyes were in town.  "How about that?" he asked.  "We seem to take half of Los Angeles with us wherever we go."

"Do you know how long they'll be here?" she asked.

"I doubt if they'll stay more than a few days."  He gently pinched the back of each of her ankles.  She had tiny feet.  He looked across at her with concern.  "Elizabeth, are you all right?  All this sleeping?"

"It's the sea air, I think," she said dreamily.  "It makes me want to go to sleep."

"But this started before we got here."

"We've been near the coast for days," she said.

"We live near the coast!"  He switched to her other foot.

"It's nothing, Diego.  We're Spanish, can't we have an afternoon siesta?"

He said no more on the subject, but he didn't like it.  She seemed thinner to him, and she'd had that back trouble riding up to Monterey.  He decided to insist that she see a doctor, but something told him not to take it up just now. 

"Do you know we have a big party invitation on Thursday night?" he asked her, starting on her toes. 

"A party?" she asked, sitting up.

"Yes, at the Governor's house, it will be quite grand.  I'm going to have the dressmaker come over tomorrow to see what she might have for you."

"But I have a beautiful dress," Elizabeth said, "I brought the green dress, the one you like?"

"I like them all, darling," he said.  "But this should be something very new."

"Fine," she said, settling back in the bed.

He let go of her foot and scooted up to sit beside her.  "Would you like some company?" he asked softly.

"Company? When?"

He laughed, shaking his head.  "I'm trying to flirt with you, Senora," he said. He kissed her lightly.

"Oh," she laughed, "you mean company here.  Now."

"Si.  Here.  Now."

"I'm not sure.  Flirt with me some more."

***

The next morning, Diego left before Elizabeth got up to meet his father for breakfast.  Alejandro's final meeting with the governor was set for that afternoon, and he wanted Diego prepared.  "You're going to take over from here," Alejandro told him.  "I have to go back to Los Angeles tomorrow, I've already been here for a week and I'm anxious to get home.  The deal will go through, I think.  Oh, you must get a fine dress for Elizabeth for that party on Thursday  night.  The governor is very anxious to meet her, I think he has heard that she's pretty."

"He heard right," Diego said.  "I'm going by the dressmaker after we eat, to send her over to see Elizabeth."

"Why can't Elizabeth come to her?"

Diego frowned.  "She hasn't been feeling well," he said.  "She sleeps all the time."

Alejandro considered that.  

"I want to send the doctor over to see her," Diego said.

Alejandro considered that, too.  Then he smiled at his son. "You're in for it," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, Diego, can't you see it?  She's pregnant!"

Diego stared at his father, thunderstruck.  "How can that be?" he asked.

"Well if you don't know then we really have a problem!"

Diego waved his hand. "That's not what I mean," he said.  "I just, don't understand how it could happen this fast."

"It only takes once, my son," Alejandro said.  "You've been married for over three months.  Your mother was pregnant three weeks after we got married.  Oh, what a year that was," he sighed.  Then he leaned over and said, "You should go ahead and get the doctor to confirm it, but be prepared."

"Prepared for what?"  Having thoroughly dismissed it some weeks ago, Diego was so stunned by this possibility that he was having a hard time sorting out the thoughts and emotions he was feeling.

"You won't be able to touch her from here on," Alejandro said.

"What?!" Diego cried.  Other diners turned and looked at him.  He calmed down, and said, "What?" again, more quietly.

"Women are delicate, Diego," he said.  "Once your mother told me she was expecting you I didn't touch her until you were two months old.  It was the worst year of my life.  The best year too, but definitely the worst."

"You didn't touch her?" Diego repeated.  He took that in.  "Well, now I know why I don't have siblings."

Alejandro scowled.  He then took in a deep breath, a new idea occurring to him that he didn't like.  "And if I'm right, we're going to have to contend again with all the rumors about Elizabeth and Zorro."

"Meaning?"

"There'll be talk that he's the father.  I told you she should have denied everything!"

Diego managed to get ahold of himself.  "Father, we don't know any of this for sure.  She hasn't said a word to me about this...this possibility. I think she would tell me sooner than you would figure it out."

"You're so besotted with her right now that you don't see it!" Alejandro said.  "But I'm telling you, she has the look of it.  I can't believe I didn't see it sooner.  She's lost weight, she's sleeping all the time, she's got that backache.  One morning soon you're going to wake up and find her throwing up into a chamber pot, and then you'll know for sure."

Diego realized he'd been leaving early every morning and usually wasn't around when she woke up. Until they'd left Los Angeles, mornings had been times they'd lain in bed together watching the sunrise, usually after making love.  Then they'd been in all the missions and therefore separated.  She had not been sick at the El Rey, though her mood swings and sleeping had seemed excessive. Since reaching Monterey they'd done their lovemaking in the afternoon or at night, as he did not want to awaken her early because of her chronic tiredness.  A baby?  Now?

"I need to go home and see her," he said.

"Not just now," Alejandro stopped him.  "We have this business to finish, and you need to see that dressmaker.  I also want to know if you're going to do anything about that horse."

"The horse?" Diego said. 

"Yes, that filly you want for Elizabeth!"

"Oh," he said, momentarily brought back to reality. " I was going to see if Sgt Garcia would help me buy her."

"Garcia?!"

"Yes, Father, the horse belongs to Joaquin Verdugo.  He'll never sell her to me outright."

"Verdugo, eh?" Alejandro said.  "Well, you did his daughter in.  I can't say I blame him."

"I didn't..." Diego started to defend himself, but then stopped, knowing it was no use.  "Do you know, by the way, if she is in town?" he asked.

"Marta?" Alejandro said.  "I can find out.  Now, Diego, we need to focus on the last step in this arrangement over the San Bernardino land..." with that he launched into a detailed description of how the last set of negotiations with the Governor had gone, what points needed to be held in the afternoon discussion, and where Diego would need to watch out as the deal went through.  Diego forced himself to concentrate despite the deluge of conflicting emotions and cares sweeping over him.

***

At mid-morning, finally able to detach himself from his father, Diego wanted to go in three directions at once, but ignored two in favor of returning immediately back to the house to find Elizabeth.  She was sitting on the terrace watching the sea, sipping a cup of coffee, her sketchbook on her lap, and reading a book on English gardens that her aunts in Boston had sent her.

"We need to talk," he said, sitting down next to her.

She put the book down.  "The dressmaker never came," she said.

"I haven't spoken to her yet," he said.

"Oh," she said, sounding disappointed.  "I suppose I can go and see her this afternoon."

"Darling," he said, taking her hand, "My father has a ... a theory."

"A theory?"

"Yes...about you."

"About me."

"Yes, he thinks...he's seen how you've been sleeping, and...he thinks...well, I know this is ridiculous, but he things you're going to have a baby."

"Why would that be ridiculous?" she asked.

"Is it true?" Diego asked.

"I don't know for sure," she said, coming around to sit on his lap.  She laid her head on his shoulder.

"Elizabeth!" he said.  "How could you not tell me this?"

"I'm not sure," she said.  "But I think it may be so."

He looked at her in wonder, and then put his hand on her belly.  "A baby?" he said. "How long have you known?"

She smiled, putting her hand over his.  "I'm three weeks late," she said.

"Three weeks?" He was still incredulous.

"Yes, I first realized it just as we were leaving home, but I kept thinking it was just the stress of the journey and all the change."  She shrugged. "And sometimes I'm late.  And then we had those wonderful days at the El Rey, and I just kept thinking it would come, and then we got here.  And it hasn't come."

He was, uncharacteristically, at a complete loss.

"What's the matter, my fox?" she asked.  "Have you finally been caught by a hound too fast for you?"

"A baby," he said again.  Then he kissed her.

"That was demure," she said. Then she bit his ear and whispered, "let's go to our bedroom."

"But we can't," he said.

"What do you mean, 'we can't'?"

"If you're pregnant, we can't," he said.

"Well we've been," she pointed out.  "Often!"

"But once we know..." he said.

"Diego, where on earth have you gotten that idea?"

"My father said..."

"Oh, your father.  All these Spanish men with their delicate, breakable women. Don't you understand women were built for this?"  She climbed out of his lap and took his hand.  "Come," she said.  He got up and followed her, somewhat reluctantly, to their bedroom.  She pulled the shutters shut.  " Lie down," she said.

"I have a meeting at two with my father and the Governor," he said.

"It's not even noon yet!  Lie down."  

He sat on the bed.  

"Diego, I don't know for sure that this is so," she reminded him.

"I hope it's true," he whispered as he kissed her. 

***

Diego rushed into the meeting with his father and the Governor a few minutes after 2:00, looking perfectly groomed but rattled.  

"Where've you been?" Alejandro asked under his breath.  Diego paused, and then opened his mouth to answer, but his father snapped, "oh, never mind!"

"We're glad you can join us, Diego!"  Governor Pena said heartily.  He was aging but still quite handsome, with silver hair and an aristocratic demeanor, which easily gave way, it was well-known, to lechery.  Widowed, he had courted women all up and down the coast of California, as a roving agent for the Crown. As he aged, his tastes went to increasingly younger women.  He had become Governor and settled in Monterey three years before, and had been on hand for Zorro's escapades with the Verdugo girl. Diego had always suspected that they had somehow conspired on trying to get Zorro to reveal his identity, but there was no proof of it.  "Please sit down," the Governor indicated for Diego to join them at the table.  "I am hearing that you've taken a beautiful young wife!" he said.  "Carlos Matteo's daughter, I believe?"

"Si," Diego smiled, still a little breathless from his hurry to the meeting.

"I met her when she was a little girl in Boston, on my way to California," the Governor said.  "By way of New York, of course, but Carlos and I are old friends, so I went to Boston, too.  She was around ten, then, a little imp running around at the consulate balls.  Brown hair, with a lot of red in it as I recall.  Her mother was a spectacular redhead, you know.  But Elizabeth...in fact, I remember her father chasing her up the stairs at a ball, she'd snuck down past her nanny, in her night dress!  Can you imagine!?"

"That sounds like her," Diego chuckled.

"Oh, she was a charmer, I can tell you," the Governor went on.  "She rattled on in English and then would switch to Spanish and back and forth until nobody knew what she was talking about!"

"She knew," Diego said, smiling to himself.	

"Enough!" Alejandro interrupted, exasperated.  "Can we get on with this?  You two can swap stories about Elizabeth another time."

"Well, I look forward to seeing her on Thursday night, Diego," the Governor said.  "And you can meet my new companion as well!"

Alejandro and Diego looked at him in surprise, this being the first they'd heard of a new liaison.

"Verrrrry serious," Governor Pena said, his eyes twinkling.  "She's the light of my life.  But you're right, Alejandro, let's get on with this."

They turned to the negotiation, which was punctuated by the Governor's praise of and complaints about the Crown and the limitations of his decision-making powers, all of which the de la Vegas knew to be preposterous.  This far from Spain, and the Governor could do whatever he pleased.

"We just have to make sure the property line is entirely clear," Pena said.  "Between the Mexicans and the Americans, we have to be very exacting on these matters.  Things are tense enough with the Mexican government as it is, and the Americans are starting to spill into California like water, very hard to police."

"Oh, it's mostly traders and Indian chasers," Alejandro said.

"Now, perhaps," Pena observed, "but ever since President Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, they've been coming west and claiming more and more territory.  I think it's only a matter of time before they start arriving in large groups, by land and by sea."  He sighed.  "California will not be Spanish forever."

"Well, I am returning to Los Angeles tomorrow," said Alejandro, "and as far as I know it is still Spanish! Once I get there I will re-trace the property lines again and confirm them with Diego, if that will satisfy you."

"Good, good," the Governor nodded.  "So you're definitely staying here, Diego?"

"Si," he answered, "We let a house overlooking the Bay.  We plan to stay until rainy season begins."

"Ah, almost to Christmas," the Governor said.

"Not that long!" Alejandro said, looking at his son.

"Monterey will spoil you, Diego," the Governor told him.  "It has me!"

All of this went on, circuitously, for nearly two hours.  By the time the meeting finally ended, the Governor was tippling sherry and Diego was nearly wild with frustration, attempting repeatedly to excuse himself to take care of other matters.  He finally managed to escape, with an invitation to his father for supper, and got out the door and into the street where Bernardo awaited.

"Unending!" he exclaimed.

Bernardo gestured, "which way?"

Diego looked around.  "The dressmaker, the doctor, and then let's try the Tavern for Sgt Garcia," he said.  "You go there and make sure Don Joaquin isn't around.  I'll be along shortly."

Bernardo nodded and departed, and Diego took a deep breath, trying to clear his head in view of all that the day had brought him thus far.  He set out for the dressmaker, Senora Ramirez, where, after going through a number of the dresses she had in the shop, he arranged for Elizabeth to pay a call the next morning.  Then he went to the office of the town doctor, hoping to arrange for a house call, but the doctor wasn't in and it would have to wait a few more days.  Going from there to the Tavern, Bernardo waved him away, indicating that both Joaquin Verdugo and the stockyard manager, Miguel Sanchez, were in the bar.

"Get Garcia out here," Diego gestured to him.

Bernardo rolled his eyes and made a drinking gesture.

"Get him," Diego again indicated, insistent.  Bernardo went back inside, while Diego hovered at the corner.  The auction was four days off and he knew he'd need every bit of it to coax and coach the Sergeant into being an effective bidder on the white filly.

Five minutes went by, and Diego was near-ready to burst into the bar regardless of who sat there when Garcia came barreling out the door, followed by Bernardo.  Diego stepped up immediately.  "Sergeant!" he said.

"Don Diego, the Little One is hounding me to death!" the Sgt exclaimed, "But I cannot tell why!"

"I can explain," Diego said, putting a hand on the soldier's shoulder.

"Good!" said the Sergeant, veering around back towards the Tavern door.

"No, no," Diego said, steering him back to the street.

"But Don Diego," he protested.

"Sergeant, I'm faced with an awkward situation in there," Diego explained, "and I need your help."   With that, he slowly led Garcia down the street, appealing to his sympathy over the unsuccessful courtship with Marta Verdugo, and his desire to purchase the beautiful white Andalusian filly out from under the nose of Don Joaquin.  As Diego had anticipated, the conspiracy both troubled and delighted Garcia, thus setting the stage for what Diego planned to be a clever success at Friday's auction.

***

That evening, Alejandro arrived for dinner and nearly the first words out of his mouth were, "Diego, remind me before I leave, there's something I need to tell you about the Governor," to which Diego nodded but then passed over in favor of offering his father a glass of Madeira.  He was quite pleased with his afternoon's work since escaping the meeting with the Governor. He had come home to find Elizabeth bustling about with her customary energy and more than ready to entertain her father-in-law on his last night in town.  They ate and drank heartily, told old stories about Zorro and about Alejandro's youth in Los Angeles, and by the time the men had their cigars, the talk unexpectedly turned to Diego's mother, Matilde.  By this time, Alejandro had had two brandies and was in a particularly loquacious mood.

"A finer woman never graced this earth," he sighed, taking a sip from his snifter.  "You'll pardon me, Elizabeth, but that was my experience.  She always knew what to say and what to do."

Given Diego's ongoing silence about her, Elizabeth was curious at this chance to learn more.  "Tell me about her," she said.

"He looks just like her," Alejandro said, nodding at Diego.  It was a statement Elizabeth found hard to fathom because she always felt Diego was a taller, larger-boned version of his compact father.  "Same hair, same eyes...she was willowy.  It never bothered me that she was slightly taller than me.  She had majesty.  My family always had land, but Matilde's people were from the aristocracy.  She had such grace. And she cared about people.  She was always trying to help, always going off to help some poor peon about something.  Oh, and she rode a horse like a queen.  That's where Diego gets his love for the horses.  I've never seen them as anything but a source of money and transportation.   But Matilde saw them as noble.  She always kept Andalusians around."

"What happened to her?"  Elizabeth asked.

Alejandro sighed again.  "Very tragic," he said.  "When Diego was almost twelve, we took a trip to Santa Barbara, to visit the mission there.  She had a pair of horses she wanted to give to the padres.  She took ill, some kind of fever, and there was no doctor, just the priests and some old Indians..." he shook his head.  "I never should have taken her on that trip, I should have taken those horses up there myself, but she'd raised them just for those priests and she wanted to give them instructions..." he shook his head again.  "She had a stubborn streak, that was the only thing that was wrong with her.  So stubborn, but so delicate.  Having him," he nodded at Diego, "nearly killed her.  She wasn't a strong woman like you, Elizabeth.  Not physically, anyway."

"Was Diego with you?" Elizabeth asked.

"No," Diego said.  

Alejandro shook his head.  "I buried her up there.  And had to go back to Los Angeles and explain to him, as if you can ever explain such a thing, that his mother wasn't coming home."

Elizabeth looked at Diego in the candlelight.  He was lost in thought, a grave look on his face.  She couldn't read it.  The only other time she had seen it was when they sat on the mountainside above San Miguel Arcangel, as the sun rose.

"But enough on this!" Alejandro said suddenly, breaking the mood.  "It was many years ago and life has gone on, and happily we have you in the family now, my dear." He got up. "I must return to the Inn and see that Bernardo has finished the packing, I need to return to Los Angeles and measure those damned property lines one more time."

Alejandro gave Elizabeth a kiss goodbye, and instructed her to keep Diego from too much mischief, making the sign of the "Z."  She promised to do so, and he walked out the door accompanied by his son.  

"Travel safely, Father," Diego said.  "Stay at the missions, don't wander off the Camino.  I'll make sure things go your way here.  And let me know if I'm...or Zorro...is needed in Los Angeles."

"I will," Alejandro said. Then he leaned over to his son and said, "I'm right, you know.  She has the glow."

Diego smiled.  "If it is true, you're going to be a grandpapa."

"Yes!" Alejandro beamed, enjoying the idea for the first time.  "Son of Zorro!  How about that!"

"We'll see," Diego laughed, patting his father's shoulder.  "Until November, then."  With that, they hugged and parted, and it wasn't until an hour later, lying in bed with his sleeping Elizabeth in his arms, that Diego remembered there'd been something his father had wanted to tell him.  But the opportunity had slipped away, and whatever it was would leave with Alejandro for Los Angeles at dawn.

Chapter Two
Old Acquaintance

The next morning, Elizabeth went into Monterey as scheduled, for her appointment with the dressmaker Senora Ramirez.  She arrived to find another young woman just finishing a fitting.  The girl was of medium height, thin and willowy, with long shining black hair, a dark complexion, and sparkling brown eyes.  She was very excited over the new dress she was trying on, and never stopped talking.  Elizabeth judged her to be around her own age. When Elizabeth entered, she continued her nonstop chatter in her little-girl voice as Senora Ramirez completed her measurements.

"It must be ready on Thursday afternoon," she was saying, smoothing the folds of red silk at her tiny waist. "I'll send someone to pick it up."

"Very well, Senorita," Senora Ramirez nodded, getting up from the floor.  She saw Elizabeth and said, "Ah, Senora, your husband was here yesterday, he picked out those four things for you to look at..."she gestured as several dresses hanging on a stand.

"Oh, you have a husband who shops for you!" exclaimed the Senorita.  "How lucky you are!"

"I didn't know he'd done it!" Elizabeth said, going over to the dresses to see Diego's suggestions.  This was a side to him she was only just discovering.  To no surprise, he had an imaginative yet classic taste.

"The silvery one is very beautiful," said the Senorita.

"Si," Elizabeth said, stroking the brocade.

"Are you coming to the governor's party?" the Senorita asked, stepping out of the new red dress and reaching for the olive-colored one she'd come in.

"Si," Elizabeth answered.  "And you are?"

"Oh, yes," said the Senorita.  "It will be a fine evening, of that I am sure!"

"Here, Senorita," said Senora Ramirez, handing the girl a sheet of paper with numbers on it.  "You can give this to your father...or...whomever it goes to."

The girl grabbed the bill with some anger.  "Rude!" she snapped.  She glanced at Elizabeth and smiled.  "See you tomorrow, Senora," she said.  And with that she walked out slamming the door.

"Madre Maria," Senora Ramirez sighed.  "She's so high strung.  The nuns didn't do her a bit of good.  Now then, Senora de la Vega, let's see what you like here...Don Diego has good taste, no?"

Elizabeth watched through the window as the senorita headed down the street, in the direction of the Governor's house.  "Who is she?" she asked.

"The Governor's latest paramour, among other things," Senora Ramirez answered.  "The girl aims high.  I fear she will miss her mark again, and this time it will be her downfall."

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked, stepping into the dress.

"Don Diego hasn't told you about her?" the Senora asked, starting to button the back of her dress.

"Well, I...." Elizabeth started.  Then it dawned on her.  "Oh, this is Marta," she said.

"Si, si," said the dressmaker, continuing to button.  "She was jilted by Zorro, you know, and then Don Diego tried to court her but her father put a stop to that -- forgive me, Senora, it was a messy thing -- and then she was sent off to Nuestra Senora de la Soledad for a year, and now she's back and practically living at the Governor's house!'

"Oh, my," said Elizabeth.  "You say she was jilted by Zorro?"

"Si," said the Senora.  "The Governor offered him amnesty in exchange for revealing who he was, and Marta's hand was the prize.  Some say he could not reveal himself, others say it was his way of getting out of any obligation to her!"  She began pinning the dress at Elizabeth's waist.  "El Zorro is not a man to be tied to one woman," she went on. 

"Why do you say that?" Elizabeth asked.  "Ouch!"

"Sorry, my dear," the older woman said, retrieving a pin that had gone in the wrong direction.  Then she lowered her voice and slowly said, "It's said that El Zorro has many little bastards among the Indian women!"

"What?!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Si...they say he has Indian lovers all up and down the Camino Real."

"Do they?" Elizabeth said, catching her breath as the bodice tightened under Senora Ramirez's strong and expert grip.  "And do you think that's true?" she gasped, the bodice far too tight.  "There are so many stories about El Zorro."

"Too tight?" the Senora asked, letting it out a little.  Elizabeth nodded, grateful to be able to take a breath.  "I think El Zorro is a man too full of great appetites not to act on them," the Senora went on.  "Haven't you heard?  He's almost seven feet tall and he carries a sword that weighs thirty pounds!"

Now Elizabeth laughed.  "Almost seven feet tall!" she said.  "I don't remember him being that tall when I met him."

"You've met El Zorro!" Senora Ramirez said, greatly impressed.  

"Yes," Elizabeth said, admiring the dress in the mirror.  

"Oh!" said the Senora.  "You're the one they talk about!"

Elizabeth looked at her, puzzled.  

"It is said that in Los Angeles there is a don's wife who is...."she stopped. 

"Who is what?" Elizabeth asked.

"Who is...favored by El Zorro."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.  "My husband is very dear to me," she said.

"Si, of course," the Senora said.  "We all know Don Diego is a fine man.  He tries very hard."

Elizabeth started to say something, but then stopped.  There was no killing the rumor.  She looked at the dress again.  "This is very lovely, this silver one.  Can you have it ready on Thursday?"

"Si, Senora, of course," said the dressmaker.  

That night, after they retired, Elizabeth regaled Diego with her imitation of Senora Ramirez, howling after repeating, "He is almost seven feet tall and carries a sword that weighs thirty pounds!"  Laughing and rolling in the bed she said, "Seven feet tall!  Oh, they have grand imaginations here in northern California!"  She sat up, her eyes squinting, and continued her imitation, dropping her voice and whispering, "It is said that El Zorro has many little bastards among the Indian women!" and fell into another fit of laughter.  "How many little bastards are there?"

Diego was taking all this in with a mix of amusement and annoyance, and decided to have a little fun of his own.  "Oh, half a dozen, at least," he said, lighting a cigar with a candle beside the bed.  

She stopped laughing and looked at him.  "You're joking, aren't you?"

He shrugged, taking a puff.

"Diego!" she said, staring at him.  "Tell me you're joking!"

He blew a long, slow line of smoke from his mouth into the air, and made a few smoke rings.  "Do you really want to know?" he asked, eyeing her sideways.

She held his gaze, but slumped a little.  "You're bluffing," she ventured.

He took another puff from his cigar.  "Think so?"

"You have to be," she said.

He folded his arms, chewing on the cigar.  Then he slowly took it out of his mouth, set it on the table by the bed, and reached for her.  She drew back, but he pulled her across his lap and laid his hand on her belly.  "The only little Zorro I know of would be right here," he said.

She laughed and kissed him.  "I knew you were bluffing!"

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did!  I knew!"

"Did not.  I had you worried."

"Did not."

He shook his head, returning to his cigar.  "I know I did."

She cocked her head.  "I met your old flame today."

He paused, then said lightly, "Oh?  So she's back in town?  The last I knew she was in a convent somewhere."

"Oh, she's back in town all right," Elizabeth said.  "She's the Governor's paramour."

This took Diego by surprise.  "Really?" he said.  "Well.  That explains what my father wanted to tell me."  He thought about it.  "She's going to get hurt again," he mused.

"Senora Ramirez says Zorro jilted her."

This truly annoyed Diego and he got up and pulled on his robe.  "She wasn't jilted!" he said, walking across the room.  "She was impossible!  She made things impossible!  She was in on the whole plan with the Governor from the start.  It was a trap.  They deserve each other!"  He stopped, and looked out the window.  "Why am I even telling you any of this?"

Elizabeth was startled by his sudden fit of passion.  "Did you love her?" she asked.

"Oh, what a question!" he cried, sitting down in the chair by the window.

"Did you love her?" she asked again.

"Why does it matter?" he asked.  Then, to himself, he asked, "why did I think we could have peace in Monterey?"

"I loved someone else once," she told him.  He looked at her, stopped cold.

"I didn't," he said.  "She was.... I had feelings for her, at first...but not..." he sighed.  "It wasn't like this," he said, waving back and forth between the two of them.  "It was never like it is with you." He waited.  She said nothing more.  "So who was he?" he finally asked.

"A whaling captain," she said.  "I was eighteen.  Nothing happened."

"I know that," he said.  "Where is he now?"

"His ship sank off Nantucket in a winter storm," she said.

Diego sat there.  "So much death," he said.  He got up, threw off his robe, and came back into the bed.  "Can we not talk about this anymore?' he asked.  "Can we just go on, with our lives?"

"Marta is in our lives, darling," she pointed out.  "We're going to see her Thursday night."

"True," he said, feeling extremely uncomfortable.  "But she has gone on with her life, and I have gone on with mine."  He touched her cheek.  "I am so glad, I have gone on with mine."

They got under the covers together, Elizabeth settling onto his shoulder.  

"The Governor," Diego snorted.  "Good grief.  He must be old enough to be her grandfather."

"He must have hidden treasures," Elizabeth giggled.  

"For her sake, I hope so!" he laughed, and before long the candle was blown out by a light breeze sweeping in their open window.

***

Two days passed, uneventfully, to Diego's relief.  His father safely dispatched to Los Angeles, he was free now to concentrate primarily on his own affairs.  Nothing more would happen with Governor Pena regarding the land deal until Alejandro forwarded confirmation of the property boundaries, which would be a good two weeks away between the time it would take him to return down the coast, do the surveying, and forward the information back to Monterey.  Diego continued to dodge Verdugo. He and Elizabeth entertained Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Reyes over a long, liquor-ridden evening during which Diego cooked steaks and, after Elizabeth retired, coached the Sergeant on the auction.  

Elizabeth remained busy with her dress fittings and household arrangements.  She seemed generally better, though she continued to look thin to Diego.  On Thursday morning, the doctor, a circuit rider who traveled back and forth along the Camino between San Francisco and Monterey, finally paid a call and made Diego wait out on the terrace while he closeted himself with Elizabeth for what seemed, to Diego, an inordinately and unnecessarily long interview and examination.  He paced back and forth, drawing Bernardo's attention, and took his impatience out on his servant by testily ordering him to go into town and scout out the latest on the Andalusian filly.  They both knew there was no need for this, but when Bernardo tried to inquire as to why the doctor was on hand to see Elizabeth, Diego was so sharp and dismissive that Bernardo gladly left the premises, vowing to himself not to come back until he was certain he'd be missed.

Finally the doctor emerged from the house, and slapped Diego on the back.  "I'll send you my bill," he said, clearly in a hurry to get to his next patient.  "Oh, and congratulations."

Diego rushed into the house to find Elizabeth sitting, fully dressed and with her ankles crossed and her arms folded over her waist, on their bed.  She had a perturbed look on her face.

"He said 'congratulations' to me!" Diego said excitedly, coming over to her.

"His bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired," she told him.

"But...are we?" he asked, sitting on the bed's edge next to her.

Her face softened and she smiled.  "It appears that we are," she said.

"Oh...my..." he said, filled with wonder, looking at her up and down. "When?  May? June?"

She took his hand, placing it on her dress over her belly.  "Meet your daughter, Diego de la Vega."

He scooted over beside her, cuddling her in the bed, his hand pressing into her dress softly.  "It could be a boy," he said.

"No, this is a girl," she said with certainty.  "Only a little girl could be made out of the sweet love we made at the mountain cabin.."

He kissed her cheek.  "So, five weeks ago.  That means May."

She nodded, closing her eyes.  "He says that if we're going back to Los Angeles, we should do it after Christmas and before Easter."

"But I wanted to get back before the rainy season starts."

"I suppose we could cut the corner some," she said, "but he said it will be easiest on me...and on her...if it's in the middle three months.  Less chance of anything going wrong."

This sobered Diego considerably, reminding him of the many stories of miscarriages, untimely births, and women dying in childbirth that he had grown up with and continued to hear.  He knew from experience that the world of delivering new babies into life was not an easy one.  Reacting, he hugged her and said, "Let's just stay here until after she...or he...is born."

"No!" she said.  "I want her to be born in Los Angeles, and I don't want that man to deliver her!  I don't want him..." she stopped.

"What did he do to you?" Diego asked.

"You don't want to know," she said.

"Yes, I do."

"He is not who I want on hand when I give birth," Elizabeth said stubbornly.  "I don't want to talk about it anymore."  With that she got up and left the room, leaving Diego sitting dumbfounded on the bed.  Then he thought of something.  He followed her into the kitchen.

"Did he..say anything about...he didn't tell me we couldn't..." he fumbled.

"Men!" she exclaimed.  "Well, you'll be happy to know that it didn't even come up," she said, putting a pot on the stove. "I'm going to make some soup."

Diego came up behind her, and said, "No, don't start cooking, Elena will be here soon."

"Nobody lets me cook around here!" she cried.

"Well, darling, it's not..."

"Not what?!"

"It's not...what you do best," he said humbly.

To Diego's shock, she threw the pot across the room and it clanged wildly into the wall.  Then she burst into tears.  "I hate this!" she cried.

"Elizabeth!" he exclaimed, in new bewilderment.  "What's the matter?"

"I'm...not...ready..." she cried.  "I didn't want this so soon!  I'll be a terrible mother.  And I'm going to lose my figure...and then I'll lose you..." she sobbed.

Diego, not knowing what to do, put his arms around her, saying, "Oh, darling, you'll be the best mother in the world..." which calmed her down enough to allow him to lead her into the sitting room, where they sat on the sofa, but then her crying renewed itself.  "Elizabeth," he said, trying to talk through her weeping, "this is a happy time for us."

"No it's not," she sobbed. "Everything's falling apart!  We just found each other and now it's all going to be ruined!"

As she wept on his shoulder inconsolably, Diego remembered his father's words, "You're in for it," and wondered if this was what he meant.  At least she wasn't throwing up every morning, he thought.  He held on to her, waiting for the crying to subside.  Finally, she was reduced to an occasional dry sob, air catching in her throat, and he rubbed the back of her neck gently.  "You'll be so beautiful tonight, in your silver gown," he said.

This made her begin to wail anew, at what Diego was to learn over and over in the weeks ahead would be, whatever it was, the thing he should not have said.  The problem, of course, was that he never knew what might set her off -- a compliment, a comment about the past or the future, a hope expressed or a suggestion made, sometimes all it took was a remark about the weather --- there was no predicting when the tears might well up in her beautiful ocean eyes and she would dash for the bedroom, sometimes locking him out for the night.

On this first day of their news, however, he simply kept holding on to her in the hope that this strange aberration in her behavior would pass quickly once she grew adjusted to the idea of impending motherhood.  Elena, the cook, came in and saw them sitting there, and Diego waved at her to go on into the kitchen, where she found the pot on the floor and a bashed place on the wall.

"San Jose," she murmured, picking up the pot and, after looking back in on Diego, who only shook his head, began to make the soup.

Diego managed to get Elizabeth back to the bedroom, and made her promise to try to sleep while he ran errands.  Having exhausted herself with the crying, she dozed off quickly while he sat beside her.  He then departed, to pick up her dress and his own new suit, and to try, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to find Bernardo in town.  He turned a corner with the dress package in hand and literally ran into Joaquin Verdugo.

"De la Vega!" Verdugo exclaimed.  "I heard you were in town. You have some nerve, bringing your new wife to Monterey."

Diego sighed.  "Hello, Joaquin," he said.  "It is the provincial capital, surely there's room here for any Californian who wishes to come."

"I meant it when I told you to stay away," Verdugo said threateningly.  

"But what is our quarrel now?" Diego asked.  "Your daughter has moved on, and so have I."

"My daughter is the Governor's woman now," Verdugo said, "and if you know what's good for you, you won't do anything to displease her, or that land deal your father is working on will sour!"

"This is not an appropriate conversation," Diego said.  With that, he bowed, and tried to pass.

Verdugo grabbed him by the arm.  "None of those subtle little de la Vega tricks," he said menacingly.  "I'm keeping an eye on you."

Diego met his full gaze and glared back with such strength that Verdugo let go of him, taken aback.  "Keep all the eyes on me you want," Diego said, and walked away.

As he returned home, Diego felt something nagging at him.  He'd never entirely liked Verdugo, but now he found him downright sleazy, and he felt all over again for poor Marta.  For Verdugo to refer to her as "the Governor's woman" reduced her status to little more than a madam, a thought that brought Diego a whole new wave of guilt.  Surely her relationship with Zorro had not been a gateway to that.

He came into the house, rather lost in these worries, and recruited Elena to help him unfold and hang Elizabeth's dress.  

"Oh, Senor, it is magnificent," Elena remarked, as they spread it across the library table.  "She will be so beautiful tonight."

"Si," he said.  "Is she still sleeping?"

"No, I think she's awake now."

"Has she...thrown anything else?" he asked cautiously.

Elena smiled.  "No, Don Diego, I think she is more herself now."

He went to their room and knocked on the door, and heard Elizabeth say, "Come in."  So he entered, to find her in her robe at her dressing table, putting her hair up curl by curl.  She looked at him through the mirror.

"Your dress is here," he told her.

"Diego..." she said, her fingers finishing a curl and then dropping to her lap.  "I'm sorry.  I don't know what came over me."

"It's all right," he said.  "I just...don't want you to feel so badly.  I know you wanted more time before we started a family, but..."

She turned around to him. "Oh, I don't feel badly that we're starting our family," she said. "I don't."  He came over to her, and bent down on his knees in front of her, his hands coming to her waist where she sat.  "I'm just afraid, is all," she went on.

"Of what?" he asked.

"Everything.  Pregnancy.  Birth.  Getting fat and ugly.  A wriggling, messy little animal that wants something all the time. Taking my attention away from you."

He smiled, shaking his head gently.  "I'm willing to share," he said.  "It's going to be all right," he said.  "You're not going to lose your beauty, or your figure."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you," he said.  "And I also know your mother didn't."

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Because the Governor knew your mother," he said.

"Well, I knew he knows my father, but I didn't know he knew her?"

"He says he did.  And he says she was exquisite when you were ten years old.  This governor wouldn't say that if it weren't true."  He stood up. "Now, come," he said, taking her hand, "I want you to see this dress."

With help from Elena, Elizabeth donned the dress.  Diego had retired to the terrace for a cigar. With her hair still only half-done, she stepped out to show the fit to her husband.

"Oh, look at you," he said as she came towards him.  "You are...more beautiful than the full silver moon."

She laughed.  "And you are a poet in need of a rhyme."  She whirled around, and the skirt picked up the wind.  Then she stopped and held her hand to her head.  "Oh, I guess I can't do that anymore," she said, wobbly.

He came and took her elbow. "Dizzy?"

"Yes," she said. "When we dance tonight you may need to keep the turns to a minimum."

He nodded, smiling.  "I still cannot believe it," he said.  Then he noticed her lopsided hairdo and chuckled.  "This must be the new look from the Continent."

"Don't you like it?" she asked pertly.  "It's the rage in Paris."

He swatted her behind.  "Go fix it," he said.  "We have to leave in an hour."

"Oh poor me," she said, waltzing away, "now my husband is spanking me because he doesn't like my hair style."

Diego chuckled as she went.  He took a long puff from his cigar as he looked out across the sparkling Bay.  A new galleon had just anchored, its great white sails shimmering in the afternoon breeze.  Life, for the moment, was sweet.

***

The evening glittered, as couples arrived at the Governor's home. They were greeted by Marta, in her dazzling red dress, and the handsome Governor, beaming over her. When Elizabeth and Diego arrived, Diego saw immediately that the two of them seemed genuinely affectionate with one another, which gave him hope for Marta.  He also noted Don Joaquin hovering in a darkened doorway, watching his daughter in action.

"Diego!" Marta cried as he entered, throwing her arms around him as if he were her long lost family.  "I'm so glad you are here...and who is this?" she asked, eyeing Elizabeth.  "Oh, it's you, from Senora Ramirez's shop!"

"Marta, may I present my wife, Elizabeth Matteo de la Vega," Diego said.

Marta sized up Elizabeth with new eyes.  "I see," she said.  "I heard you'd found someone who would have you, Diego."  

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said.

"We will talk later," Marta whispered in her ear.  Then she grabbed the Governor's arm. "Pedro," she said, "look, here is Diego de la Vega's wife."

Pena looked at Elizabeth and smiled broadly.  "Elizabeth!" he cried, taking her hand and kissing it.  "I haven't seen you since you were ten and running around parties in Boston in your nightgown!"  

Elizabeth blushed.  "I assure you my attire is more appropriate now," she said.

"Ah, you are so beautiful," Pena said, kissing her hand again.  "You must promise me a dance tonight.  How you've grown up!  Look at you!  You take after your beautiful mother, my dear, God rest her soul." He kissed her hand a third time, causing Marta's eyes to narrow.

"I think you've kissed my wife enough now, Governor," Diego said lightly.  "Come darling, let's join the other guests," he began to steer Elizabeth away.  

"You must save me a dance, Diego!" Marta called after him.  "We have so much catching up to do!"

As they entered the hall, looking around for anyone they knew, Elizabeth said, "I don't remember him at all."  

"Well, obviously you made a greater impression on him than he did on you," Diego said, nodding and smiling at the dons he passed.

"I think it was my mother who made the impression," Elizabeth said.

"Indeed."

The evening progressed in stages, first of drinking, then eating, then more drinking and dancing.  Elizabeth danced first with Diego, then with several of the dons, and then with the Governor, who spun her about a little too vigorously and caused her to excuse herself rather rapidly to the rest room.  Diego was dancing with Marta when this occurred. He watched helplessly, listening to Marta chatter on, as Elizabeth disappeared from the hall.

"Oh, Diego, he's so good to me!" Marta was saying, "he buys me beautiful dresses, he takes me on little trips, it is simply too divine!  He's not stuffy like you," she said, pouting and then laughing.  "I can say that to you, can't I?  We are still friends!"  She realized he wasn't listening to her, his eyes were fixed on the doorway through which Elizabeth had exited.  "Diego!" she said.  "You're not paying any attention to me!"

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to excuse myself."  He let go of her, but she held on. 

"Not until the dance ends!" she said.

"Marta, really," he said, "I think Elizabeth isn't feeling well."

"How you tend to her!" Marta said.  "You never did that with me!"

He kissed her hand.  "What chance was there?" he asked.

The calculation worked, for she beamed at him and then spied the Governor coming towards them, also having lost his dancing partner.  "Oh, Pedro," Diego heard her say as he managed to get away, "it has to be my turn now!"

Diego waited in the hallway for some time, and finally saw Elizabeth emerge from the toilet looking decidedly green.  

"Aren't you off dancing with Marta?" she asked weakly, sitting on a bench in the hallway.

"I was worried about you," he said.  "Do you want to go home?"

"No, I think this will pass," she said.  "He pinched my behind twice," she added.

Diego was annoyed.  "That would be enough to turn any honorable woman green," he said.  "And for the record, I won't have it.  If he tries anything again, come and get me."

"Oh, you can't do anything about it," she said.

"If he touches you again, Zorro will pay a call on him he'll never forget," Diego said.

"This has been my day to be poked and prodded," she said, taking his hand to get up, "by everyone except you."

"That can be arranged," he said.

She took a deep breath, and holding on to him she straightened and walked with him back into the hall.  

It was only soon thereafter that the dons were gathered to take their traditional cigars with the Governor in his rooms, leaving the side parlors to the women.  To Elizabeth's dread, Marta sidled up to her the instant the men departed, slid her arm through Elizabeth's and led her to a private terrace.  

"So," she said, "you are who Diego settled on!"

"Si," Elizabeth said slowly.

"I've been checking," she said conspiratorially.  "They say it was an arranged marriage!"

"Si," Elizabeth said.

"That's very different from when a young man decides to court a woman on his own," Marta said.  
"Si," Elizabeth said again.

"It can be so...loveless. He seems devoted to you...but... you do seem a bit, well, forgive me, but distant?"

Elizabeth frowned.  "I do?"

"Si...you know, Diego tried to court me once," Marta prattled on, her tiny little girl voice beginning to grate on Elizabeth's nerves.

"Si," Elizabeth said.

"I wouldn't have him," Marta said sweetly.  "Do you want to know why?"

"No?" Elizabeth said.

"I thought he was dull," Marta said.  "No imagination.  I always thought of Diego as the perfect brother," she went on, "But tell me, was I wrong?  Should I be married to him instead of you?"

Elizabeth stared at the girl in amazement.  "I barely know you," she said.

"Oh, but we can be like sisters now, since you married the man I thought of as my brother!" she laughed.  "Even though he wanted to marry me!"  She waited, but Elizabeth said nothing.  "Ah, you really don't want to talk about it," Marta said. 

"Not really," Elizabeth said.

Marta nodded sympathetically.  "I'm not at all surprised.  I think he likes horses more than he likes women.  The secret is safe with me," she whispered.

"That's a relief," Elizabeth said.

"And you..." Marta went on, her voice rising slightly.  "They say that El Zorro is an admirer of yours!"

"Do they?" Elizabeth asked.

"Si..." she nodded.  "He has rescued you a few times, no?  And they say...they say you did not want to marry Diego, because of your feelings for Zorro!"

Elizabeth could see that Sergeant Garcia had been drinking and talking in the Tavern in Monterey.  She waited, and as she expected, Marta went on.

"I was close to Zorro," Marta confided.  "Perhaps you and I are the only women who know what he's really like."

"Do you know what he's really like?" Elizabeth asked.  

"Oh, si," Marta said, "he is so strong, and passionate!"

Elizabeth bit her lip and looked down, restraining herself from stomping the woman's foot.  Then she got an idea. "But do you know what else they say about him?" she asked.

"What?!" asked Marta.

"They say he has many little bastards among the Indian women."

"No!" Marta exclaimed.

"Si," said Elizabeth.  "At least half a dozen.  All with different mothers."

Marta stared at her mournfully. "He cannot be trusted," she said.

"Well, thank heaven you have Governor Pena now," Elizabeth said.

"Oh, yes," Marta said, "Pedro is very passionate."

"More passionate than El Zorro?" Elizabeth asked.

"Easier to find!" Marta answered.  

"Ah," said Elizabeth.  "All the better for you."

"Si," Marta said, "and he loves me.  Do you know, he is going to buy me a horse tomorrow!"

"How lovely," Elizabeth said.

"Si, I am not supposed to know, but it's one of the horses my father just imported from Spain.  She's a fine white Andalusian."

"An Andalusian?" Elizabeth said, thinking of Tornado.

"Si, very beautiful.  Pedro will spend a fortune to get her, I think, and it will all end up with my father!" she giggled.  

"Marta, how long will the dons be gone?" Elizabeth asked.

"Oh, it is usually many hours," the girl said.  "They start talking about politics and the whole night goes by."  She took Elizabeth's hand, squeezing it.  "We have so much time to get to know one another now!"

Thus in some misery, Elizabeth resigned herself to a long wait in the worst company she could imagine in all of Monterey.  Possibly in all of California.  Possibly in the entire world.

***

Once she and Diego got home, Elizabeth had to ask, "What got into you, with her?" as they prepared to retire. "I spent two hours, two long, endless, miserable hours, listening to her talk nonstop about the Governor, and Zorro, and all those nuns, and you."

"Me?" Diego said.  "Now that's a surprise."

"Well, she thinks you'd be the perfect brother, but you come up short in the romance department."

"I see," he said.  "Well, that is the experience she had."

"That you come up short?" she laughed.  "I can't imagine."

"She never had the chance to find out," he said.  "From Diego, I mean."

"She didn't come up short with Zorro, did she," Elizabeth stated.

He sat on the edge of the bed. "Elizabeth, we can't talk about this!"

"I don't know why not, I've already been listening to it from your old consort for two hours!"

He fell backwards on the bed, staring at the ceiling.  "It was a mistake," he said.

"A mistake you seem to have made over and over!"

"It didn't go on that long.  It wasn't much."

"She makes it sound like it was."

"I guess it was, for her."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.  "Your modesty fails you at times, darling.  How did you manage to keep her from seeing who you were?  Did you put a blindfold on her?"

He covered his eyes with his hand.  "I really don't want to go over all this," he said.  "I don't want to know about your past relationships, why do you want to know about mine?"

"You mean there are others?" she asked. 

"It's all past, Elizabeth.  There's nobody but you now, if I live to be a hundred there will never be anyone but you, I don't even want to think about anyone else, and certainly not Marta Verdugo, who is..." he sighed, "exhausting.  I don't know what she told you tonight, but remember she exaggerates. And Elizabeth, she lies.  So just...forget about it?"

"Gladly," Elizabeth huffed, getting into the far side of the bed.  "Let's never speak of her again."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Diego remembered. He remembered all too well.  He remembered the excitement Marta generated.  He remembered the way she had followed him to the cave, the way she came on to him, and the way she urged him on.  He remembered the extraordinary relief he felt to be with a woman for the first time since he had returned to California from Spain. He also remembered how rapidly it all soured for him and how painful it all became for her.  

Now, as he faced Elizabeth, his sweetheart, the love of his life, the woman who not only stirred his passion but made his heart sing, he felt nothing but regret and misery over Marta.  Though he knew he was not alone in his culpability, Marta's trickery over trying to get him to reveal himself had, in his mind, freed him from any obligation to her.  Nonetheless he was miserable anew that anything at all had happened or that he had ever succumbed to Marta's charms.

He was hardly going to discuss any of it with his wife.

"So who else?" she asked.

"Give it up," he said, getting into the bed.

She flopped over, her back to him.

He reached for her.

"I don't feel like it!" she said, resisting.

"You can be mad at me if you want but don't stop me from getting to know our baby," he said.

She settled on her back and accepted his touch.  For all her momentary irritation with him she loved the connection this brought between him and the little life imbedded in her womb.  Falling asleep, she dreamed vividly, but later could remember none of it except for an exchange with Marta Verdugo, in which their conversation from earlier that night was repeated, but when Marta said, "I think he likes horses more than he likes women," Elizabeth answered, "you have no idea."

***

Diego was sleeping deeply when he was awakened by the feel of Elizabeth scrambling hurriedly out of the bed and then the sound of her retching into the porcelain bowl on her dressing table.  It was barely dawn.  He got up and came over to her.

"Elizabeth?"

She retched again, and again, until her shoulders were shaking with dry heaves.  He put his hand on her back to steady her.  She kept her head over the bowl.

"I thought maybe I'd get to avoid this," she said, her voice low.  "But I knew I was in trouble last night."

"You were sick last night?"

She nodded.  "I thought maybe it was just something I ate."

"Could it be?"

"No, I think this is your daughter making herself known," she said, and with that she bent over the bowl for another round of heaves.

Diego, helpless, watched her misery in the gray morning light.  He held her shoulders, trying to give her some support as she vomited.  

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked.  "Do you want something to drink?"

"Go back to bed," she told him, and then she retched again.  

He started to turn, hesitated, and stayed with her until she quieted.  Then he backed away and got into bed, still feeling helpless.  She hovered over the bowl a while longer. Then after swishing her mouth out with some water and a shot of whiskey she came back to the bed and crawled in, limp, and lay on her stomach.

"Isn't there anything I can do?" he asked.  "Should I..."

"No," she interrupted, her voice still dull.  She lay there and finally dozed off.  Seeing that she was calm, Diego closed his eyes and let himself fall back into what became a troubled half-sleep.  

When he awoke again, bright light was pouring through the pale curtains, and Elizabeth was gone.  He got up, and pulling on his robe, came out into the hallway.  "Elizabeth?" he called.

"In here," came her voice, from the kitchen.  He found her at the table, fully dressed, with color in her cheeks and looking well.  Before he could even ask, she said, "I'm much better.  I'm fine now," and waved a piece of bread at him before popping it in her mouth.  "See?"

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded.  It was her honest nod, not her lying nod.

"I have to go into town this morning," he said, "but I won't leave if you need me."

"I'm really fine," she said, continuing to eat.  "Getting sick...it's all part of it, Diego.  It passes."

He bent over and kissed her cheek.  "I hope it passes quickly."

Chapter Three
The Auction

Diego left the house an hour before the auction was due to begin.  As he was departing Elizabeth, who was at the desk writing a letter to her aunts in Boston, inquired as to where he was going.  "Business," he said vaguely.  She was wearing a dark blue dress with a low cut bodice.  "What a beautiful day," he said, not looking outside.

"Do you know there's an auction at noon?" she asked, her eyes still on her stationary, missing his admiration.
  
"Oh?"

"Yes, Marta Verdugo was jabbering about that too.  She says Governor Pena is going to buy a horse for her."

"Really?" 

"Yes, a white Andalusian.  It made me think of Tornado."

"A white Andalusian," he said.  "How about that.  Maybe I'll go check it out.  Noon, you say?"

"Yes," she looked up at him.  She followed his eyes, looked down, and then back at him. "Diego!" she said.

"Pure appreciation," he told her.  She smiled, shaking her head, and went back to her letter.

Making his way into town, Diego tried to put her out of his mind by pondering this news about the horse and wondering why he had not seen Bernardo in 24 hours.  It was completely uncharacteristic for his manservant to disappear, though Diego had to admit to himself that he'd given Bernardo reason enough with his irritable dismissal yesterday.  Now Diego needed him and he was nowhere to be found.  

At the garrison, where Diego was to meet Sergeant Garcia, the fat soldier greeted him with a downcast look.  "Are you sure you want me to do this, Don Diego?" he asked, worried.

"Well, we must at least try," Diego said.  "Are you having second thoughts?"

"No...but...well...to tell you the truth..."

"Please, Sergeant, tell me the truth."

The Sergeant took a deep breath, screwing up his courage.  "It is not that I don't want to be helpful," he said, "but I think it will look very strange for a poor old Sergeant who is known always to be, well, broke, to be making bids on such a fine horse."

Diego seemed to consider this.  "You know, perhaps you are right," he said.  "Perhaps it is really too selfish of me to ask this of you."

"Oh, it's not that I believe you are being selfish, Don Diego!  I think it is a fine thing that you want this beautiful horse for the Senora.  I just..." he shook his head sadly.  "I have to think of my reputation, such as it is."

"I understand," Diego said.  "Will you come anyway?  I would enjoy the company."

"Certainly, I can," Garcia said, falling into step.  "But where is the Little One?  Usually he is right with you."

"He's...busy with something else," Diego said.  His mind was ahead of them, anticipating how he would try to stay out of the bidding altogether until just before the final gavel.  It was just as well that Garcia had backed out. The good Sergeant he would not have been able to shift strategies and keep his mouth shut for most of the bidding, as would now be required.  Thank heaven, he thought, that Elizabeth had gotten wind of Pena's plan and mentioned it to him.  Then he felt a pang of guilt.  It was actually Marta he had to thank. And now he was about to snatch her present right out from under her pretty nose.

***

People were already milling about when he and Garcia arrived. Livestock auctions were always a major even in the provincial capital, drawing potential buyers from all over Alta California.  Looking around, Diego spied several friends he needed to greet. While talking with them he noticed Bernardo standing off to the side, leaning against a fence by the cattle pen, his arms folded and his eyes on Diego.  Diego excused himself and made his way over, taking him around a wall.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

Bernardo gestured about, here and there.

"Look," Diego said, putting his hand on his servant's shoulder.  "I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you yesterday.  I was acting more like my father than my father."

To this Bernardo nodded in complete agreement.

"But I'll tell you a secret," Diego said.  He looked around to be sure he could not be overheard.  "The reason I was in that state was that I was waiting for the doctor to finish with Elizabeth.  And do you know what, my friend?  She is going to have a baby!"

Bernardo's eyes widened and then he broke into a huge smile and hit Diego on the back, and reached inside Diego's pocket to pull out a cigar.

"Yes, yes, thank you for the congratulations, and you can keep the cigar," Diego laughed.  "Not that you can, but don't tell anyone yet.  Only my father knows.  Do you know, he figured it out before I did!"

Bernardo tapped the side of his head.

"Yes, he's smart," Diego agreed.  "We can hope this new baby gets my father's brains and my wife's looks."

Bernardo shook his head, pointed at Diego, and made a cradling motion with his arms.

"No, like Elizabeth, not me," he insisted.  "She thinks it will be a girl."

Bernardo smiled and nodded.

"You, too?" Diego asked.

Bernardo nodded, and as he did the first bell calling the auction into order rang.

"Listen," Diego said hurriedly, "I've learned that Governor Pena will be bidding on the filly, too.  I know, it's a major inconvenience.  But Garcia won't be working for me now, I'll do it myself.  Keep an eye on things for me."

Bernardo nodded and excused himself.  Diego returned to his group of friends for several more minutes, and was just about to be seated for the start of the proceedings when Bernardo sidled up to him.  Diego looked down and saw Bernardo hold three fingers out.

Diego frowned.  "What are you telling me?" he asked.

Bernardo nodded in the direction of the Governor's party and again held up three fingers.

"Three hundred pesos?" Diego whispered, feeling it was a low commitment to purchase a present for one's lover.  "That's what he's bidding?"

Bernard shook his head and raised his thumb upwards.

"Three...three thousand?" Diego said incredulously.

Bernardo nodded.

"Ay, carumba," Diego muttered.  "No horse is worth that!  Are you sure you heard right?"

Bernardo nodded again.

"Well," Diego said, "let that be a lesson to me for doubting the Governor's love!"  He sat down. Bernardo joined him on one side, Sergeant Garcia coming to sit beside him on the other.  As they waited through several herds of cattle and a few horses, Diego sat there, his mind darting.  He had his heart set on this horse for Elizabeth, but he knew his father would threaten to disown him if he spent such a huge sum on a horse Alejandro had already made clear he believed was unnecessary and extravagant.  He tried to search around in his mind for a way to put that much money together on his own, but at this point his finances were so co-mingled with his father's that it would be hard to do.  He had possession of a number of pieces of his mother's jewelry he knew he could sell, but the idea of that displeased him greatly as these were things he wanted Elizabeth -- and some day their children -- to have.  

He dismissed that idea.  After fleeting consideration he also concluded that Zorro would be of no help in this matter, all Zorro had was a mask, a sword, and a mission for justice.  Oh, and a horse.

Tornado? he thought.

He dismissed that idea as more absurd than selling the jewels.

Finally, the filly was brought into the auction ring.  Diego looked around to pinpoint where the Governor was sitting, across the aisle and slightly behind him.  This gave Pena the advantage in signaling the auctioneer, so Diego got up and made his way to the back of the seating area for a better vantage point and bidding position.  The bidding opened at 500 pesos, which left many present already out of the competition.  However, the horse was so spectacular that interest remained as to who would go home with her.

The auctioneer droned on, and the bidding rose quickly to over 800 pesos.  The Governor, thus far, had made no offer at all, which told Diego that Pena was taking a strategy similar to his own, of waiting until the last moment to claim the horse.  Joaquin Verdugo was holding the horse's halter in the ring, Diego noticed, and suddenly the whole picture struck him as odd.  If Verdugo knew, as he likely did, that Pena wanted the horse for Marta, why this elaborate auction?  Why not a direct sale?  What was going on here?

The bidding started to slow at 1,000 pesos, and at the point Pena raised to 1,100.  A don from Santa Barbara was still in the bidding and took it to 1,300, and after several more counters it went up to 1,500, with Pena's being the high bid.  Things quieted, and the auctioneer said, "Going once."

Diego called out,  "Two thousand pesos."  Bernardo watched as Verdugo glanced at Governor Pena, and a crafty smile was exchanged.  He frowned, and looked back to get Diego's attention, but his master was absorbed in the auction process and clearly intent on the horse.  Bernardo tried to get up, but Sergeant Garcia was dozing, and sat between him and the aisle.  

The Governor looked back at Diego, agitated.  "Two thousand two hundred," he called out.  A silence fell.  The auctioneer looked at Diego.

"Two thousand five hundred," Diego said.

Everyone gasped, for this crossed the threshold of any sum paid for a horse in Monterey.

Governor Pena waved at the auctioneer to wait for a moment, and got up and strode back to Diego.

"Give it up, de la Vega!" he said.  "I will not be outbid for that horse!"

"I fancy her, too," Diego said.

"It is a gift for Marta!" the Governor said.  "Surely you will respect that!"

"Love inspires us to great extravagances sometimes, does it not?" Diego smiled.

Pena turned and went back to his seat, sat down rather dramatically, and said, "Two thousand six hundred pesos!"

Another round of gasps rippled through the room.  Bernardo was attempting to climb over Sergeant Garcia, causing a slight stir.  

Diego felt a sinking feeling, for now getting the horse was a matter of honor.  "Two thousand seven hundred," he said. 

The Governor held up three fingers.

"Three thousand pesos!" the auctioneer said, pointing with a nod at Pena.  

Diego took a deep breath and said, "Three thousand one hundred.".

"Three thousand one hundred!" said the auctioneer. 

"Damn you de la Vega!" the Governor shouted. He got up and stormed out to the rising noise of the crowd.  Bernardo clambered over Garcia and began running for Diego, waving his hands.

"Going once, going twice, sold to Senor de la Vega for three thousand one hundred pesos!" the auctioneer shouted.

With that, Diego was swamped by a mix of congratulations and exclamations, making it impossible for Bernardo to reach him immediately.  Diego, through the muddle of people talking at him, watched as Verdugo calmly led the filly away.  It began to dawn on him that something was very wrong.

Finally Bernardo struggled through the cluster surrounding his master and began pulling at Diego's arm.  Diego saw him and nodded, but it took them some minutes to get away from the stir the purchase had created.  Bernardo kept pulling him towards the stockyard.

"Yes, I know, we have to get to the horse!" Diego said.  They made their way past the cattle fences to the filly's stall.  It was empty.

"Where is she?" he asked the stockyard manager, who stood nearby.

"No horse until you pay," came the reply.

"This is outrageous!" Diego said.  "Where is the auctioneer?"

"He's already gone, you can give me the money.  I represent Verdugo anyway."

"I'll deal directly with Senor Verdugo on this," he said.

"Good luck finding him," said the manager, shrugging and walking away.

Diego looked at Bernardo.  "They set me up, didn't they?"

Bernardo nodded sadly.  Then he pointed at the filly's stall and made a searching gesture.

"Yes, we need to find her," Diego said.  "I have a feeling that even if I'd paid up immediately, I would not be walking away with that horse.  Something is very wrong."

Bernardo pointed at the horse stall again, and then reached into his pocket indicating money, and then wound his fingers around and around in a circle.

"Oh, so you think they do this over and over with her?" Diego asked.

Bernardo nodded, and then held up three fingers.  

"That's the three thousand!" Diego said.  "They plan to make three thousand several times over by reselling her and moving on!"

Bernardo nodded again.

"I wonder where else this has happened."

Bernardo pointed south.

"Yes, probably in Mexico," Diego said.  "Verdugo has relatives there.  I wonder what Governor Pena's cut in all of this is?"

Bernardo pointed at the stall again, and then made a sign for a woman.

"Ah, you think he gets the horse, for Marta?"

Bernardo nodded.

"Could be..." Diego said.  "But I have a legal right to that horse, I bought her in a public auction.  And we can't let them keep doing this all up and down the coast."

Bernardo smiled, and made the sign of the "Z."  Diego nodded.

"I think a little call to the Governor's mansion tonight might be worthwhile," Diego said, smiling.

***

When he got home in the late afternoon, Diego discovered a note from Elizabeth, saying that she had gone into town.  That seemed like a good sign, suggesting she was feeling well, but he was dismayed to find her away.  He occupied himself around the house for the rest of the afternoon, but as the sun began to set and she still hadn't returned, he began to worry.  Elena arrived to make supper, and had no information on where Elizabeth had gone or when she expected to come back.  

"I'll go into town and find her," Diego said, giving Elena the rest of the night off.  "We can eat in town."

With that he returned to Monterey, and searched in every shop and Tavern that was still open, finding no sign of her.  Asking around, no one had seen her.  Diego rode back to the house, summoning Bernardo and explaining that Elizabeth was nowhere to be found.  "She's probably with one of the women, but I don't even know where to start in looking for her," he said.  "It seems silly to start going from house to house.  She'd be..." he smiled, "pretty upset with me if I did that."

Bernardo nodded agreement.

"Maybe we should just wait and not worry," Diego said.  They looked at each other, and then both shook their heads.  Then Bernardo smiled, and made the sign of the Z.  "Ah," said Diego, "yes.  Zorro can find her...after he makes his little call on the Governor."

***

Waiting until nightfall, Diego donned his black clothes, laughing with Bernardo over the strangeness of doing this in the house and without any secret passageway from which to escape.  "All I need," he said, placing the mask over his eyes, "is for someone to see Zorro climbing out of Elizabeth's bedroom window in the middle of the night," he said.  

Bernardo pinched his fingers open and shut.  

"That's right, tongues would wag," Diego said.  "But we won't let it happen, will we?"

Bernardo shook his head. 

"Let's go to the stable," Diego said.  "Check to see if anyone's around."

They proceeded to the stable, where Diego surveyed the horses that occupied the stalls.  There were two carriage horses that more or less came with the house rental, plus a gelding available for riding.  "Now I need Tornado," he said, "but I suppose this brown fellow will do."  He mounted, and the horse just stood there.  Bernardo could not suppress his amusement, seeing Zorro sitting on this sturdy but motionless, bored-looking creature.  Diego shook his head.  "Perhaps he won't do after all," he said, and dismounted.  He looked at his other choices -- Elizabeth's gray mare or his own palomino gelding, Apache.  "Somehow it doesn't seem right to ride Diego's horse," he said.  "But then, it really wouldn't do to ride Elizabeth's."

He gestured at Apache.  "I guess I will have to borrow my horse from myself," he said.  "Saddle him up."  He patted Apache's nose.  "You're going to get a workout tonight, my friend," he said.

***

Across town, while Zorro was solving the problem of what mount to use in the absence of Tornado, a waiting game was underway.  It had begun innocently enough in the mid-afternoon, when Elizabeth was walking towards the general store to look for ink, and ran into Marta Verdugo in an alley.   

"You traitor!" Marta sniped.

Elizabeth looked at her in astonishment.  "Excuse me?"

"Your husband bought the filly right out from under Pedro!" Marta hissed.

"What?  What filly?" Elizabeth asked.

"The white Andalusian," Marta said.  "What did you do, go home and tell him you wanted her, after I told you about her?"

"No, I..." Elizabeth started, remembering her mentioning the auction to Diego.  "He bought her?"

"Yes, for three thousand one hundred pesos!" Marta said.

Elizabeth was speechless.  "Three thousand...I didn't know," she said.  "I didn't even know he went to the auction, I haven't seen him since he left this morning."

"I think you are a liar!" Marta whispered.

Elizabeth felt someone come up behind her, and looked to see Marta's father.

"When is your husband going to bring me my money?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Elizabeth said.

"Well, maybe I should help him make up his mind," Verdugo said, coming around behind her.

Elizabeth felt something sharp at her back.  "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Persuading you to come with us," Verdugo said softly, pushing what Elizabeth suspected was a very sharp knife further into her back.

Marta watched all this with increasing dismay.  "Father, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Shut up!" he said.

"But this is not right, Elizabeth hasn't done anything..." she started, and with that her father slapped her so hard she fell back against the wall of the building lining the alley.  

"You're coming, too," Verdugo said, grabbing her arm and making her walk beside Elizabeth.

"Where are we going?" Elizabeth asked, as they started slowly up the alley and onto the street. She looked at Marta, who seemed stunned.  "Are you all right?"

"No," came the answer.

The three of them made their way along the street.  Ahead, she saw Sergeant Garcia walking into a tavern, but there was no way to get his attention.

They proceeded to the Governor's house, and entered to find it empty.  Verdugo immediately gagged Elizabeth, and then led them to a room off the kitchen and down a passageway and into the stable, which was centered in the compound away from any other buildings except the deserted house.  He pointed at a small room beside a stall.  "Get in there," he told Elizabeth.  She walked in, and sat down on a bale of hay.  She noted that there was a high, narrow window, but it only opened onto a stall.

"You, just sit down," he said to Marta, keeping her outside the small room.  

"This is despicable!" Marta said.  "If Pedro knew you were doing this..."

"Shut up!" came her father's reply.  Verdugo leaned over and tied his daughter's hands and then put a bandana around her mouth, gagging her. 

"De la Vega won't know where to start looking," Verdugo said scornfully.  "He's helpless with anything that isn't books or music or horses.  You two are just going to have to stay put until he decides to find me and pay me."  He looked at his daughter fiercely.  "You will cooperate with this!" he said.

Verdugo left, after putting a lock on the door of the room. The two women sat there for a while.  Then Elizabeth, standing up, realized there was a horse in the stall beside her.  She climbed up onto the bale of hay and looked through the tiny window, and across from her was the beautiful white filly.  She saw Marta sitting beside the stall, and managed to grunt enough for her to turn around and see Elizabeth's face in the window.  Marta tried to say something through her gag, and Elizabeth gave her a puzzled look and shrugged.  She sat back down.

***

Much later, across town, El Zorro rode quietly on back roads, coming up to the Governor's house from behind.  It was now after 9:00 and everything was dark, which served his purposes.  He entered the house through the kitchen, his hand on his sword.  Voices were going in the dining room.

"...and move her up to my ranch in San Jose," the Governor was saying.  "We can do it at dawn."

"I think we should sell her one more time," said Verdugo. "We still don't have de la Vega's money."

"I tell you, it's easy money," Pena said.  "Don Alejandro wants this land deal. Besides, the de la Vegas are honorable.  They'll pay for the horse."  

Zorro was about to barge in on them when he heard something that stopped him.

"And Diego will want his little wife," Verdugo said.

"I don't like what you did with that girl," Governor Pena said.  "It was unnecessary!  What a risk!  And Marta, too.  I wholly disapprove.  What a blunder!  Now we'll have to figure out a way to keep me from being implicated."

"Marta can be managed," Verdugo said.  "It's de la Vega's wife that will get us our money.  Once we have it we can just leave her somewhere on the road to San Jose," Verdugo suggested.  "She'd get picked up and find her way back."

"Very risky," the Governor said.  "Thievery and now kidnapping. She's a decent woman.  You idiot!"

Zorro took all this in, and stepped back into the kitchen.  They had Elizabeth?  He looked around.  She could be anywhere.  He walked back into the hall and strode into the dining room, his sword drawn.  

"Your conspiracy is about to collapse," he said, waving the sword at the two of them frozen in their seats.
 
"What are you doing here?" the Governor asked.

"Attempting to right a wrong, concerning that white filly he keeps selling," came the answer, with a nod in Verdugo's direction. "And to free Senora de la Vega," he added. 

"Her husband owes me money!" Verdugo said.

"That does not justify kidnapping, senor," said Zorro, coming closer to Verdugo with his sword.

Verdugo grabbed the candelabra on the table and tried to throw it at Zorro, who dodged it and put his sword at the man's throat.  "Where is she?" he asked.  He jumped back just as Pena came up behind him, trying clumsily to crash a chair over his head.  Thus the chair landed on Verdugo, who was knocked out and fell to the floor.

"Good job!" said Zorro, turning his sword point to the governor's throat.  "I am very disappointed in your leadership, senor," he said.

"Well, at least you can approve of my taste in women," the Governor replied.

Zorro stepped back.  "I hope you are being particularly good to Senorita Verdugo," he said.

The Governor took this opportunity to grab at a knife on the table, but Zorro was too fast for him and knocked it away with his sword.  "I suggest you take me to Senora de la Vega," he said.

"I don't know where she is," he answered.  

Zorro slashed through the candles in the second candelabra.  "Think hard," he said, as the candles shook but remained, sliced in half, upright and burning.  "Would you like to be next?" he asked. 

"Truly, Senor, I do not know!" said the Governor quickly.  "But my first guess would be in the stable.  Through the passageway in the kitchen."

Zorro made Pena enter the kitchen where he tied the Governor up and gagged him.  "Take this time to consider what you've been doing," Zorro told him.  "And remember, there are many ways for the Viceroy to learn how you are behaving."  He then turned down the passageway and followed it to the stable, where he found Marta sitting on the bale of hay in front of the filly's stall.  He approached her and untied her gag, then began untying her hands.

"Zorro!"  Marta exclaimed.

"Senorita," he nodded.

"I've missed you so much!" she whispered, and threw herself at him, pressing her face towards his. She partially succeeded in kissing him.

Zorro pulled back. "It is long over, Marta," he said to her, holding her arms, his masked face very close to hers. 

"Please," she whispered.  "I need you. I must..."

"Where is Senora de la Vega?" 

"She isn't here," Marta lied.  "They took her away."

He looked around, and approached the small room where Elizabeth was locked.  He rattled the door.  Then he jumped up on the first rung of the stall fence and saw, through the tiny window, Elizabeth sitting on the bale of hay looking up at him.  He looked back at Marta.  "She's not here?" he said.  "Then she has a twin in the tack room." 
 
"So you are going to rescue Don Diego's wife again," Marta said, miserable.  

"She does seem to find her way into trouble," Zorro said.  "I am also going to liberate this white horse," he added, seeing the filly in the stall.  "It's high time she end up with someone who will treat her properly."

"She belongs to my father!" Marta hissed.

"Who seems to have stolen her in Mexico," Zorro said, going to examine the lock on the door of the room Elizabeth was trapped in.

"Zorro, please..." Marta pleaded desperately.  "It's not too late for us..."

He took a shovel by the tack room door and clobbered the lock with it several times.  It finally broke, and he entered the small room and, to Marta's amazement, pushed the door shut behind him with his booted foot.  She heard him say something she could not make out in a low voice, and then silence. Swiftly, she stepped up onto the fence rail in order to see through the small window and into the tack room.   Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw.  Zorro had Elizabeth de la Vega wrapped fiercely in his arms and was kissing her with a passion and tenderness that Marta knew he had never felt for her, even in their most intimate moments.  And Elizabeth de la Vega, Don Diego's wife, was returning his ardor.  

Marta's foot slipped and she fell onto the floor with a thud.  Another minute passed.  Then Elizabeth came out of the room, straightening her hair.  She was followed by Zorro, who went to the filly's stall and opened the door, taking the horse by the halter.  

"Senora," he said to Elizabeth, handing her the halter, "I believe this horse belongs to you."

"To me?" Elizabeth said.  

"Si, your husband was trying to buy her for you."

Elizabeth looked up at the masked man.  "He was?"

"Si, at the auction today.  But it appears that she wasn't really for sale, since no one owned her to begin with!"

Elizabeth looked from Zorro to the filly and back.  "I don't know what to say," she said.

"She was supposed to be mine," Marta said, staring at the two of them. 

"In this I believe both the Governor and your father are to blame," Zorro told her.  He looked back at Elizabeth with unmistakable devotion.  "Senora, if you will allow me, I will see you back to your home. I can only imagine that your husband is anxiously awaiting you."

"Did he send you?" Elizabeth asked.  

Zorro smiled.  "I act on no one's bidding but my own, Senora," he said, lifting her hand to his lips and pressing them into her skin. "But if I were your husband, and you weren't home at this hour, I would surely be anxious."  

Marta stared at this exchange with misery, jealousy, and the absolute certainty that all of Sergeant Garcia's speculations about these two were true.  

Zorro looked at her. "Senorita," he said,  "I suggest that you find a new life."  Then his hand went to Elizabeth's back, and he nudged her towards the door.  Marta watched, seeing his gloved hand stay at the small of her back, protective and steady.  She watched them go, and felt a boulder of hatred in her heart.  She thought to herself, 'I know their secret, and I will destroy him with it.'