The Secret of Zorro
In Monterey
Chapters Four and Five
by Ella Christian @1999-2001
Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com


CHAPTER FOUR
Marta's Plot

The morning after the scene at the Governor's house and the acquisition of the white filly, Elizabeth was up early, once again miserable with morning sickness.  This time it did not pass quickly.  She finally left the room altogether to lie in the second bedroom with the porcelain bowl in the bed beside her.  Diego checked on her several times, but it wasn't until after 7:00 that he finally found her asleep, looking exhausted and terrible.  He was closing the door when she said, "Diego," and he came back in.

"Sweetheart," he said.  

"This is awful," she said.

"I can see that," he answered, sitting beside her.  "Isn't there anything we can do?  Do you want me to call the doctor?"

She shook her head. 

"Then let me ask Elena if she knows if any of the Indian women have remedies for this."

She nodded.  "Diego," she said.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for finding me last night.  And thank you for the horse."

"Oh," he smiled.  "I just hope we can keep her.  I don't really know who she belongs to."

"But it was a sweet thing to do."

He touched her cheek.  "You need a better horse than Cloud Dancer."

Elizabeth smiled.  "Cloud Dancer is a nice horse, but she doesn't live up to her name."

"It's nice to see you smile."

"I think I can go back to sleep now." 

He kissed her cheek.  "Sleep all day if you need to."

***

Diego summoned Bernardo and went into town, anticipating a meeting at the bank.  On the way, Diego described to Bernardo what had happened at the Governor's house, how Zorro had paid a call and retrieved Elizabeth and the horse.  He explained that he wasn't sure what would happen next, since the Governor was not publicly implicated in the scam around the horse, and only Zorro knew of his involvement.   Sergeant Garcia was saddling his horse outside the Presidio when they arrived.  The Sergeant frowned on seeing Diego.  

"Sergeant," Diego said, nodding.

"Hello, Don Diego."

"Sergeant, is something the matter?"

"Oh, no..." the Sergeant drifted off.

Diego walked up to him.  "Why do I suspect you aren't telling me the truth?" he asked.

Garcia looked at him miserably.  "I am going back to Los Angeles today," he said.

"But isn't that good?  You're going home!"

"Si."

Corporal Reyes walked up, with his horse.  "Hello, Don Diego," he said, also looking long-faced.

"What is wrong with you two!?" Diego asked.  "Did you lose your earnings in a poker game last night?"

"Oh, no, we have no earnings to lose," said the Corporal.

"Well then what is wrong?" 

The Sergeant took a long sigh.  Then he shook his head.  "I cannot say it, Don Diego," he said.  

"Zorro was here last night," said Corporal Reyes.

"Zorro!" Diego exclaimed.  "In Monterey!"

"Si, he stole the white horse that you bought yesterday."

"But she's in my stable," Diego said.  "That must be how she got there!  Zorro!"  He shook his head, marveling.  "I did not hear a thing."  

Garcia and Reyes exchanged glances.

"Senor Verdugo has disappeared," the Sergeant added.  "Apparently the horse was stolen in the first place.  That is what his daughter says."

"But then why are you so sad?" Diego asked.  "A mystery has been solved!  And I have the horse, for Elizabeth!"

Garcia and Reyes looked at each other uncomfortably.

"What is it?!" Diego nearly shouted.

"Well, it's just that..." Reyes started.  Garcia shook his head.  "It's just that..." Reyes said again.

"What?"

"It's just that Senorita Verdugo says that she saw something."

"Saw what?"

"Something sort of like what Sergeant Garcia saw...or thought he saw, up in the mountains that time."

Diego frowned.  "Up in the mountains?  Which mountains? I'm sorry, but I'm lost."

"It is like this, Don Diego," Garcia said.  "I do not wish to insult you or your wife, but Marta Verdugo came into the Tavern last night and told us that she saw El Zorro with Senora Elizabeth last night."

"With Elizabeth!" Diego exclaimed.

"Si...weren't you aware that she wasn't in your house?"

"I retired quite early last night, Sergeant.  She left me a note that she went into town, and I assumed she was having dinner with friends, so I didn't think about it.  She was there this morning when I left, but she was still asleep so I haven't talked with her."

Garcia and Reyes exchanged another baleful look.  "She was with Zorro," said Reyes.

"Are we going to go through this again?!" Diego said indignantly.

"Well, he does seem to show up wherever she is..." Garcia said.  "And Senorita Verdugo, she was very sure she saw him...oh, Don Diego, you are not going to like this...but the Senorita was very sure she saw them...kissing...."

"Kissing!" Diego exclaimed.  "This is outrageous!"

"It is just as well you heard it from me," said Garcia, "because it is all over town.  As you know, Senorita Verdugo is quite a talker."

"Yes, I do know that," Diego said.  "And she was spreading this last night?"

"Si, before midnight, at the Tavern."

Diego shook his head.  "I warn you, Sergeant, if you spread this in Los Angeles I shall write a letter to the Viceroy himself and you can kiss your pension goodbye!"  He pointed at Reyes.  "That goes for you too!"

"Si, Don Diego," they both said, staring at the ground.  

"I will take all of this up with Elizabeth," he went on, "and I am sure there's a good explanation.  I do not want to be ungentlemanly, but Marta Verdugo is hardly a reliable witness!"

The Sergeant and the Corporal both mounted their horses.  "We are sorry, Don Diego."

"Remember what I told you!" Diego said.

They nodded, and turned their horses to leave.  Diego looked at Bernardo, who had observed all this without any reaction, given his mask of feigned deafness.  Diego looked at him with a mix of disgust and chagrin.  Bernardo frowned, puzzled..

"In the tack room, where Elizabeth was last night," Diego explained. "There was a window.  Marta must have climbed up and looked in."

Bernardo shook his head, still not understanding.

"First I unloosed Marta's gag and bonds, then I broke the lock on the room where Elizabeth was, and went in," he explained.  "And once I was in there I shut the door because I wanted to see if she was all right.  Marta must have climbed up to see in."

Bernardo was still quizzical.  

Diego shook his head.  "I kissed Elizabeth!" he said.  

Bernardo rolled his eyes. 

 "She's my wife!" he exclaimed indignantly.  "I was worried about her, and I'd been thinking about her all day!"

Bernardo nodded at that.

"Don't start!" Diego said, annoyed.  He shook his head.  "First the Sergeant, now Marta...I suppose I just have to stay away from Elizabeth, as Zorro."

Bernardo kissed his hand, and then slapped it.

"Well, yes, at least I can't kiss her." 

Bernardo nodded.  

Diego looked around.  "I have that appointment at the bank, then I think I should find Marta and see what she's telling people.  Obviously she's not telling anyone about the Governor and her father's little caper with the horse. Go back to the house, keep an eye on Elizabeth.  I don't want her to go out by herself right now, until I understand what is going on."

***

Diego encountered Marta in the Tavern at lunchtime.  She was already drinking, a bad sign, he knew.  He sat down at her table. 

"Marta," he asked.  "Are you all right?"

"Si, Diego, but did you hear, my father has left town."

"Si, I heard that.  Personally I think you may be better off without him.  But are you all right?  Is the Governor still taking care of you?"

"I suppose," she said, taking another drink of her wine. "My life is turning out...badly."

"Here, let me take you back to his house," Diego said, rising and trying to take her hand.

"No, Diego, there's something I must tell you first," she said.  "I must tell you this as your friend, even though you will hate me for it."

"I would never hate you, Marta."

"You might, when I tell you the truth about your wife."

"My wife?"

"I know you are smitten with her, Diego, but she is not really interested in you.  You might as well know."

"But...what makes you say that?"

"I saw her with El Zorro last night!"

Diego stared at her.  "With El Zorro?"

"Si.  I am sure they have a secret relationship."  She took another drink.

"Marta!" he said.

"Diego, I know what I'm saying, remember, I was with Zorro once."

Diego stared at her.  "I know that," he said quietly.  "It isn't that I think Zorro would not be taken with Elizabeth." He shrugged.  "There have always been these rumors..."

"Oh, you love her," Marta said.

He shrugged, looking helpless.  "How can I not?"

"He is evil, Diego," she said.  "You must find a way to kill him!"

"Kill him?  Kill El Zorro? Me?"

"Si. You are the last person anyone would suspect of such a thing."

"Well, that is probably true," he agreed.

"Perhaps we can lure him somehow, and then together we can destroy him!  We both have reason enough."

"Oh, I don't know, Marta," he said.  "El Zorro is a fighter, and I...I am just a man who loves his wife!"

"But I am a fighter, Diego," she said.  "And I would gladly see him dead, for breaking my heart and for stealing your wife, too."  She put her hand over his.  "We can do this.  It will be a service to all California, to rid the place of that bandito."

"I don't know what to say..." Diego said.  "I must speak with Elizabeth, and find out if this thing you say is true."

"She'll deny it!" Marta said urgently.  "She'll never admit it to you!  Think, Diego.  Think about the time she was up in the mountains for almost three days with El Zorro!"

"Oh, Sergeant Garcia must have told you about that."

"Si...three days, Diego!  What did she tell you she was doing up there for that long?"

"Well, she said she was waiting, for me, for the lancers."

Marta rolled her eyes.  "And you believed her?  Oh, men can be so trusting!  Well, I know El Zorro and I can tell you this: if he was there with her for that long, they were together!"

"Together?"

"Si!  Zorro is a man of great passion..." she slowed down, thinking of the Fox.  "He...he stays nowhere for long.  If he stayed there with her, it was because he needed her."  She thought more. "And because she wanted him there!" she added.  "Because, I know this, he is a man who responds to women.  So you see, I hate to say this, but I believe she gave him reason to want to stay."

Diego took all this in. 

"And, Diego, haven't there been other times, when you don't know where she goes?"

Diego considered this. "Certainly there are times when she is doing one thing and I am doing another."

"In the daytime?  At night?"

"Well, both," he admitted.  "Sometimes I have to go out at night, but when I come in, she's there.  Usually."

"Ah ha!" she said.  "And in the day?"

"Oh, in the day? She goes out..." he said. "But surely they would not meet...in the daytime?"

"Diego, I know how fine a man you are, and this may be hard for you to understand, but sometimes...I must be delicate here, but there are people who...who will engage in their...their special relationships even as the sun shines."

"No!" Diego said, appalled. 

"Si," she said.  

"In daylight?" he said, incredulous.

"Si," she said, taking another long drink from her wineglass.

"But I cannot imagine that," he said.

"I know," she said, patting his hand.  "That is one of the reasons I did not want to marry you."

Diego took a deep breath.  "Well, I know you feel I lack imagination, Marta."

"Si," she said.  She was getting extremely drunk.

Diego looked around.  The Tavern was beginning to fill up with patrons, and her condition would only worsen as the afternoon wore on.  "Marta," he said, "let me take you home.  You can take a siesta, and we can talk again later about all of this.  Whatever we decide to do, we must be alert, don't you agree?"

"I'm very alert," she said, her words slurring.

He got up, paid the bill, and lifting her, led her out with his arm around her.  They walked down the street to the Governor's house, and Diego knocked on the door. A maid answered.

"Senorita Verdugo needs some help," Diego said.  

Behind the maid, Governor Pena himself appeared.  "What the devil...?" he said, looking at Diego holding Marta up.

"Hello, darling," she said, seeing him.

"What's the meaning of this?  Have you taken her out and gotten her drunk, de la Vega?" the Governor asked.

"No, I think she did that all by herself," Diego said, handing her over.  "I found her in this state in the Tavern and thought she should be brought home to sleep it off."

"Well, thank you...I think," said the Governor, looking at her.

"Don't forget our plan," she whispered to Diego, waving.

"I won't," Diego said.

"What plan?" asked the Governor.

"We're going to kill Zorro!" Marta said.

"Kill him!" the Governor said, trying to keep his consort on her feet. "That is harder to do than it looks, I can tell you."

"Si," Marta said, and then she passed out.

The Governor looked at Diego.  "She doesn't hold her liquor very well," he said.  "Excuse us."

Diego nodded, as the door slowly closed.

***

Diego made it to his banking appointment, confirming all of the arrangements his father had made prior to returning to Los Angeles.  At least the land deal was holding together, despite all the intrigue with the Governor, Zorro and the Verdugos.  Sending Bernardo on an errand to the store, Diego returned home in time for the mid-afternoon siesta.  To his dismay, he found Elizabeth still in bed.  She was dressed, so appeared to have tried to get on with her day, but had lost the battle.

"Oh, no" he said, coming in to her where she lay.

"I can't even stand up without getting dizzy and throwing up," she said.  "And it isn't just morning sickness anymore, it's all day long sickness.  Diego, I can't spend the next seven months like this."  She took a breath and gulped trying to control a sudden urge to heave.

"We have to do something," he said.

"What? This is what happens.  I talked with Elena about it, she has four children and she has three sisters who all have children.  She says everyone is different.  All but one of them got sick at some point."  She coughed, but nothing came up. "She says it could go away in a day, or it could last until the day the baby is born.  I don't think I can live that long!"

"Well, darling, I hate seeing you go through this, but I don't think it will kill you!"

"I wish it would."

"Elizabeth!"  He sat down in the chair next to the bed.  "Did Elena say anything about the Indian women, any remedies they might have?"

"I asked about it.  She said even they can't control it. " She shook her head miserably.  "I hate this."  He put his hand on hers, but she pulled it away.  "This is your fault," she said.

"My fault?"

"If it weren't for you, this wouldn't be happening!"

"I don't remember you resisting what led to it," he said.  

"Well I should have.  I would have, if I'd known what I was in for."

Instead of taking this bait, Diego managed to keep his humor.  "Well, I suppose we could go back to the way it was in the first few weeks..."

"It doesn't matter now," she said, "it's too late now."  She lay on her stomach on the bed.  " I miss my mother.  I wish she were here."

"So do I," Diego said, stroking her back.  

She lay there a while.  "That feels good," she said.  "I think it helps.  I don't feel so sick now."

"Then, we have to remember, when you feel bad, we make you lie on your tummy and I'll rub your back."

"Okay," she said into the pillow.  

He continued to stroke her, and watched as the color started to return to her cheeks.  "Would you like to hear what happened to me today?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"Oh, that's fine interest!"

"What happened to you today?" she asked.

"Thank you," he said.  "I got the bank deal squared away, which my Father will be happy to hear when I write to him tonight."

"Good."

"And I got recruited into a plot to kill myself."

There was a pause.  Then Elizabeth said, "What?"

"That's right.  Marta has decided she wants to kill Zorro and she thinks Diego is going to help her."

"You were with Marta today?"

"Is that the first thing you can notice about this story?"

She sat up, causing his hand to fall away.  "Were you with Marta today?"

"Elizabeth, you're acting jealous!"

"I'm not jealous!"  He waited.  "She can't kill Zorro! She can't even get near him," she said.  Then she said, "oh, no," and lay back down on her stomach.  He resumed rubbing her back.  "I guess that isn't really true," she said, calming.  "She got near him last night."

"A little too near, I'm afraid," Diego said.

"What does that mean?"

"She must have managed to get up on the rail beside the tack room last night, when we were embraced."

"She saw us?"

"From what she says, it sounds like she did."

 "Oh, my," she said.  "I thought you were going to take me then and there."

"I was ready to."

"I know!"  She thought about it.  "The poor woman.  Seeing us.  It must have just killed her.  She's still in love with Zorro."

"She's in love with her idea of Zorro," he said.

"I think it would be horrible to be in love with someone you cannot be with..." she said.  "Especially if you have tasted it."

Diego's hand stopped on her back.  "Will you never stop reminding me?"

"I wasn't saying it to remind you, I was saying it because...I have some sympathy for Marta."

"I thought you didn't like her!"

"I don't...but I understand her." She turned over, looking up at him.  "Remember, I was in love with Zorro once, too.  He held me in his arms and kissed me, and all it did was make me want to be with him."

"Yes, to the point where you didn't even want your own husband!"

"You can't understand," she said.  

"I guess not."

"We should try to help her somehow."

"Help her?"

"Yes, Diego, find some way to help her get past all this.  If she wants to kill Zorro, she's hardly over him."

"I'm not sure I want to help her with that project!"

"No, of course not.  Do you think I want to be a widow before I am a mother to this little Zorro child?"  She touched his arm.  "I just think we should try, somehow, to help her see that she can have a good life without..."

"...Zorro," they both said at the same time, and laughed.  Then Elizabeth said, "oh, no," and with a moan turned back over on her stomach.

"We can't spend the next seven months with me lying here and you rubbing my back," she said, after the nausea passed.  "Eventually I won't even be able to lie on my stomach at all.  Then what will we do?"

"We'll think of something," he said.  As he stroked her back, they both thought about how she would change in the months ahead.  It made Elizabeth teary, and it made Diego curious and excited.   He leaned towards her, and heard her suppress a sob.

"Oh, what now?" he asked softly.  "What can be the matter now?"

"I'm afraid you won't want me anymore," she said.

"Why?" he asked, baffled.

"Because of how I'll look as the baby gets bigger."

"Elizabeth, can you not trust me, can you not trust the attraction I feel for you, any more than that?" he asked.

"It isn't about trust!" she said.

"All right, I'm sorry, it isn't about trust.  But darling, I...can't even think what I can say to reassure you, it doesn't matter to me if you're big or small, and I..."

"What?"

"I don't know how to say what I want to say.   My father told me that from the moment he found out my mother was pregnant, he didn't touch her until two months after I was born."

Elizabeth turned over and looked at him, wide-eyed. 

"I know!" he said.  "But...we don't have to do that.  I don't want to do that."  He touched her cheek gently.  "You don't want to do that."

"Oh," she whispered, another wave of nausea coming over her.  He turned her onto her stomach again.  

"Just rest, darling," he said.  

"What are we going to do about Marta and her plot to kill Zorro?"

For the second time in the conversation, Diego said, "We'll think of something."

"I suppose we could just go back to Los Angeles."

"No, I don't want to do that just yet," he said.  "I want some more distance between Diablo and my wife."

"What do you mean?"

"He isn't through with Zorro," Diego said.  "I know that for certain.  And he knows Zorro keeps an eye on you. It's not a risk I would have taken before, but now I have you and... our...child...to think about."

"It's a girl," she said.  

He shook his head.  "I guess I must reconcile myself to this, at least until she...or he...is born."

"Don't you want a little girl?"

"Elizabeth, I want a baby who looks just like you and is healthy, it doesn't matter to me if it's a boy or a girl."

"She's going to look like you," she said with certainty.  "Diego, we haven't talked about when we should tell people, about this baby.  Are you going to tell your father in your letter?  Can I tell mine?"

"Not yet, darling.  Let's wait until everything is further along.  I don't want the word to get back to any of Zorro's enemies, it just puts you in greater danger when we are so far from home.  Plus..." he leaned over and kissed the back of her neck, whispering, "I like that only we know for a while.  It's our wonderful secret."

"Elena knows.  That stupid doctor knows."

"Si, and Bernardo knows."

"You told Bernardo!?"

"It's not like he can repeat it!"

"Well, Elena won't say anything, I'm sure.  So the only question is if the doctor will tell."

"He shouldn't.  If he does, he'll never hear the end of it from me."

***

Within days, rumors began to circulate.  Marta Verdugo's reports of Zorro's amorous exchange with Elizabeth produced fresh gossip that Zorro was Elizabeth's paramour.  Diego and Elizabeth went about their business, ignoring the talk though knowing it persisted.  They were at least relieved that the doctor was not revealing their new secret.

Diego spent close to a week trying to trace the true owner of the Andalusian filly now housed in his stable, through the ship captain who transported her from San Diego and points south.   The records were obviously fabricated, and it became increasingly apparent that unless Diego personally took her back to Mexico and retraced her transport there, the answers would never be clear.  Leaving was of course out of the question, and he did not trust the ship captain to handle it himself on Diego's behalf.  He knew that if he sent the horse back to Mexico she would never be seen in California again.  So he came home one day, led Elizabeth to the stable and said, "I've given up trying to find her owner.  She's yours."

Elizabeth hugged him and then stroked the filly's nose.  "All white," she said.  "I'll call her Blanca.  Oh, Diego, I think she will make a good mate for Tornado."

"Indeed," he said.  "And fitting!  Tornado and I both find our mates within six months of each other."  He gave her a squeeze, happy to find her feeling well.  "When I first looked at her I thought we could break her while we were here, but I suppose that will have to wait now."

"Why?"

"Darling, we can hardly have you riding an untrained horse while you're carrying this baby."

"Why not?"

He was startled, and sputtered, "Because...something could happen!  You could fall!"

"I could fall off of Cloud Dancer, too."

"Don't think that hasn't occurred to me!   I've been thinking we should go home in a carriage when the time comes."

"A carriage! I'm not going to sit in a carriage all the way down the Camino Real!"

"And I'm not going to let you do something that could put you or our child in danger!"

"I know what I can handle!"

"And that baby is mine as well as yours, and I will have a say in it!"

They fell into an angry silence.

"There's no reason not to start breaking her now," Elizabeth said.

"I wanted to make her really and completely your horse.  If I'm the one sitting on her that won't happen."

"I'll be the one sitting on her!"

"No, you won't."

Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh.  "This is ridiculous."

"I couldn't agree more."

"But Diego..."

He held up his hand.  

"Don't do that, you're not in charge of me!"

He sighed. "Some would say I am, as your husband."

She opened her mouth to protest further.

"Whether I'm in charge of you or not, I'm taking charge of this situation," he interrupted her, "and you are not going to break or ride this horse until after you've given birth and are up and around and feeling very well.  She's too young and unpredictable.  We can get her used to halters and ropes, and give her lunging, but we'll wait another year to break her for riding."

"It will be harder then."

Diego patted the filly's shoulder.  "Maybe a little, but if we just get her more domesticated and used to things going onto her face and back, she'll respond all right when the time comes."

"Well I'm not going back to Los Angeles in a carriage," she said.  "I rode up here on Cloud Dancer and I'm riding back on Cloud Dancer."

"All right," Diego conceded, "as long as you're feeling all right."

"And I'm not sleeping alone in those hard mission beds all the way home," she added.

"There's no where else to stay on some portions of the Camino," Diego protested.

"I'll sleep outside on the ground first," Elizabeth said.

"Why must you be so stubborn!" he cried.

"I'm not being stubborn, I'm doing exactly what you say you've been doing when you tell me I can't ride Blanca, which is thinking about my health and the health of this baby!  If you're going to pamper me and treat me like I'm made of porcelain, Diego, then by God I'm going to let you, and if you can't think of it, I'm going to make you!  Those cold rooms and mission beds were horrible and made my back hurt."

They fell silent again.  

"Let's go get supper," she said to him, turning back towards the house.	

He grabbed her hand.  "Let's not fight," he said.

"Promise me we won't be separated and in those awful beds on the way home."

"But I can't promise, I don't know for sure where we can stay if we don't use the missions!"

"Then you could get Bernardo to start looking into it."

Diego sighed.  He knew that on this she would prevail, and though his pride and stubbornness made him protest, he knew he would prefer her outcome to his anyway.  "All right," he said.  "Once we know when we are leaving I shall send some letters out to the padres and see if I can persuade them to allow us better quarters on the way home.  How is that? "

"That is more like it."

"Good," Diego said, leading her out of the stable and towards the house.

***

That night, Marta Verdugo paid a call while they were eating supper.  

"Diego," she said in her tiny voice, "I need to talk with you."  She looked at Elizabeth with a condescending and knowing gaze.

"Good evening, Marta," Elizabeth said.  "Won't you join us?"

"Oh, I've already eaten," she said, "I just need to talk with Diego.  You don't mind, Elizabeth, if I steal him for a moment?"

Elizabeth shook her head, resigned.  Diego excused himself and accompanied Marta onto the terrace.  

 "I've heard that Zorro is going to ride tonight!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, really?" Diego said.  "Where?  Why?"

"They say Diablo is on the move to the north, and Zorro has vowed to capture him once and for all."

"Diablo.  If he is coming to Monterey, that cannot be good for any of us."

"Si!  But think, Diego, perhaps he can do away with Zorro!  He can do our job for us!  They say he passed through San Luis Obispo yesterday, so he is somewhere near Santa Cruz tonight."

"Santa Cruz," Diego mused.  "That is very close indeed."  He looked at her.  "Marta, I truly think this plan of yours to do away with Zorro is...too much.  He does do some good, you know.  Diablo is a terrible criminal.  It would be good if Zorro were to get rid of him."

"How can you say that?" she hissed.  "Of all people!  Zorro has ruined your honor, and your wife's!"

"Marta, Elizabeth and I are committed to this marriage," he said rather sternly.  

"Then you don't deny the rumor!" Marta said.  

"I don't dignify it with any comment at all, as I find it beneath contempt." Diego said.  "Now, Marta, I think you need to leave, because I want to finish my supper, and I want to go to sleep early.  If Zorro is going to ride against Diablo tonight, he will have to do it without me."

Marta departed abruptly, vowing that she would find Diablo herself if she had to.  Diego returned to the table.  	

"What was that about?"  Elizabeth asked.

Diego shook his head.  "She says Diablo is headed north.  I don't like it."

"How would she know?"

"Don't underestimate her sources, between the governor and her father, wherever he is.  For all I know, he's in league with Diablo." He paused.  "For all I know, she's in league with Diablo."

"I doubt that," Elizabeth said.

 He took a bite of stew, but found that suddenly he wasn't hungry.    He put his spoon down.  "She said that the rumor is that Zorro will ride tonight, to find Diablo.  I wonder where that came from?"

"Maybe they're trying to flush Zorro out."

"Could be.  She also said that she would find Diablo herself, if she had to, in order to encourage him to destroy Zorro."

"Diego, this is getting out of hand.  And she's in danger, if she goes out looking for that bandito.  He's a bad man.  He won't care if she's trying to be on his side about something."

Diego nodded.  "Perhaps Zorro is going to ride tonight."

She looked at him.  "You may need to save her."

"Si, from Diablo and herself."

Her hand came over his.  "Ride safely, my love," she said.  "The nights are so long when you're not here."

Diego smiled at her.  "At least it's not a cold, narrow bed in a mission."  He kissed her hand.  "I'll be beside you at dawn," he said.  Then he called Bernardo.  "Saddle Apache," he said.  "Zorro has work to do."

Chapter Five
Crossroads

Everything about this picture was off and worrisome.  As Zorro charged south on the Camino Real, he turned it over and over in his mind.  Leaving Elizabeth alone in Monterey felt all wrong.  Despite his departing instructions to Bernardo, to keep near her at all times, it weighed on him that she was so vulnerable in the isolated house by the sea.  He wished he had taken her into town to stay with Dona Estrada or some other of the ladies whom she'd befriended, or even to have Elena stay overnight to keep her company.  

Then there was Apache.  While a fine horse, he lacked Tornado's speed and intelligence. It would not do for this horse to be recognized as the one de la Vega rode.  And then there was Marta, who complicated the picture in more ways than El Zorro wanted to think about.  He cursed the day he met her, and double-cursed the reckless liaison that was now haunting him in the worst of ways.  It was compromising the safety of the woman he truly and deeply loved.

Last but hardly least, there was Diablo.  The bandit was proving meaner, wilier, and more elusive than Zorro had bargained for when this enmity began.  He had not anticipated Diablo's move north, and Zorro knew this was an enemy who would not go down easily.  Why, Zorro kept asking, was he coming north?  Was it because he so fancied Elizabeth?  Was it simply to close in on stages and shipping in the capital?  Was he in league with someone here?

Ten miles into his ride, Zorro paused to let his horse breath.  If Marta's information was correct, Diablo was somewhere in the hills around San Lucas.  That was another 15 miles south.  It did not make sense that such a bandit would let his whereabouts slip so specifically.  Then Zorro cursed yet again, realizing he had been sent on a wild goose chase.  Diablo was already further north, he suddenly realized.  He turned heel to race back to Monterey and the house by the sea.

***

In that very house, as Zorro was starting his return ride, a commotion was ensuing.  Bernardo had dutifully posted himself in the hallway near the door of Elizabeth's room, taking his master's parting admonition to stand watch over her literally.  She had retired as soon as Diego left, knowing Bernardo was at her door.  An hour later, Bernardo heard a peculiar sound from outside, near the front door.  Picking up his sword, he went to the door and stood there listening.  Another wound came through, of what sounded like a muffled female voice trying to cry out.  Alarmed, Bernardo opened the door and looked down to see Marta Verdugo lying on the doorstep, bound and gagged.  She looked up at him and shut her eyes in exasperation, having expected Diego.  Then from nowhere two pairs of rough hands grabbed Bernardo and yanked him through the doorway.  Two men shoved him to the ground and tied him up while Marta resumed squealing through her gag.

Diablo, with a third bandit, walked up out of the shadows and surveyed the situation.  Bernardo's eyes widened.  The man with Diablo was the stockyard manager who had represented Joaquin Verdugo on the sale of Blanca. 

"Miguel, go get the little Senora," he said to the man next to him.  He strolled over to Marta and, grabbing one of her arms, yanked her to her feet.  "Looks like your message to de la Vega worked, senorita," he said.  Marta's eyes widened, and then narrowed.  "Yes!" he said.  "You were both set up!  And so was El Zorro, if his sources in Monterey were as good as they are in Los Angeles.  They're both down there in San Lucas thinking they're going to spring something on me.  Ha ha ha!"

Marta tried to say something through her gag and he rolled his eyes and shoved her aside, saying, "you are far less promising bait than the girl inside."

No one was emerging from the front door, despite Diablo's expectations of seeing Elizabeth dragged into the starlight in her nightgown.

"Go in and see what's going on," he said to his second bandit.  

The man nodded and disappeared indoors.  Going down the hallway and into the bedroom, he found his amigo on the floor unconscious, a heavy candlestick on the floor next to his head.  The bedroom was otherwise empty.

Cursing and then shouting out, he ran to Diablo.  "She got out the back door!" he cried.  "Miguel is knocked out!"

"Mother of God!" Diablo cried.  "Bumbling fools!" He ran into the house, and in the kitchen found the back door open.  His banditos followed.  "She's gone to the stable," he said, pointing.  "Bring the Verdugo girl, I'll get the pretty senora."

"What about Miguel?" one of them asked, thinking of his unconscious compatriot.

"To hell with Miguel!" Diablo shouted.  "He let that little slip of a thing best him, leave him here for the lancers!"  He strode out the back door and across the small courtyard to the stable.  As he approached the door he was nearly knocked over by Cloud Dancer, racing out with Elizabeth on her back.

Diablo shouted, cursed, and yelled at his remaining men.  "Get the horses!  She's gotten away!"  Running back around the house, he joined the others.  Marta was shoved onto one bandit's horse.  "Meet me at the Perdita crossroad," Diablo ordered the rider.  To the other he said, "Come with me!" 

With that, they rode out after Elizabeth.

***

Half a mile ahead of them, Elizabeth was urging her galloping mare towards the Camino Real.  She knew she could not stay ahead of the bandits forever, given Cloud Dancer's ponderous gait, but perhaps with her lead she would find Zorro before they caught up with her.  "Please, oh please, Diego," she whispered.  "Please realize they've tricked you and turn around.  Please don't take any shortcuts."

Several miles to the south, El Zorro was riding northward, his heart pounding for fear of what could be happening in the house by the Bay.  Approaching a crossroad, he remembered a shortcut that bypassed a section of the Camino which veered deeper inland for several miles.  He swerved left and took the shorter road, thus assuring that he and Elizabeth would pass each other four miles apart, riding in opposite directions.

***

Elizabeth continued her southward run, grateful that what Cloud Dancer lacked in speed she surely made up for in stamina.  How far, Elizabeth tried to remember, was the first mission?  Surely the padres would take her in and protect her, if she did not run into Zorro first.  Then she heard hooves behind her and , looking around, saw Diablo coming up behind her in a hard gallop.  He was gaining.

What to do?  What to do?  she thought.  There was no sign or sound of anyone ahead.  She knew Diablo was above nothing, including jumping off his own horse to knock her off Cloud Dancer in a tumble to the ground.  How might that hurt the new life inside her?

Elizabeth yanked Cloud Dancer's bit, starting to slow the horse down.  She knew she was in danger no matter what she did, but the idea of falling off a running horse seemed too great a risk to take given that she already knew she was about to be captured.

Diablo came up beside her as she slowed.  "A wise choice, senora!" he exclaimed.  "You have saved us both a hard fall!  Pull up and get off!"

Elizabeth did as she was told, sliding off the bare back of the mare in the darkness.  The second bandit rode up, and soon after, the third, with Marta still gagged and bound at her wrists riding behind him.

"Well, well, well," said Diablo, walking around Elizabeth where she stood.  "All dressed up and nowhere to go." He pulled her to him and gave her a long, wet, disgusting kiss on the lips.  Marta's eyes widened in horror, afraid of what would come next.  

Elizabeth fought to get her face away from Diablo's, shoving him away despite his grip.  She felt utterly violated.  

"Oh, you are so rude, senora!" he said.  He looked around.  "We'll make a camp, but not here," he told his men.  "Tie her hands and gag her," he said, pushing Elizabeth aside.  "Then get her back on her horse.  We'll ride inland."

Zorro galloped into the courtyard of the house by the sea, and immediately saw the stable door open and Cloud Dancer's stall empty.  Blanca was still in her stall, pacing nervously.  "Bridle gone, but saddle here," he observed, his upset increasing.  It meant that Elizabeth had left in a great hurry.  But for where?

He went through the open kitchen door and to the bedroom.  "Bernardo!" he shouted.  "Then, entering the bedroom he saw the bandit Miguel lying motionless on the floor.  Recognizing him as the stockyard manager, he cursed.  It meant that Verdugo was almost certainly in league with Diablo.  He picked up the candlestick, and bent over the man.  

"Sweetheart, you did some damage," Zorro said quietly, dropping the candlestick back to the floor.  It grieved him to think that it had come to this.  But where was she now?  He went back out and through the open front door, to find Bernardo lying on his side on the ground.  He untied the gag and bonds.  "Where is Elizabeth!?" he asked.

With a look of terrible worry, Bernardo waved three fingers and then motioned riding out on horses.  He pointed in the direction they'd gone.

"Three bandits?" Zorro said.  "Riding south?  Did they have Elizabeth, or were they chasing her?"

Bernardo nodded at the latter.

"Chasing her south?"

He nodded again.

"Was Diablo there?"

Bernardo nodded again.

"All right," said Zorro, "I'll go after them.  You go to the garrison and get the lancers to come.  I may need help."

Bernardo nodded, and it was only after Zorro turned to leave that he grabbed him by the cape.

"What?!" Zorro cried, angry to be slowed down further.

Bernardo made the sign of a woman, followed by fingers indicating a quacking duck, and again pointed south and nodded.  

Zorro frowned, and then shut his eyes in realization.  "They have Marta, too?" he asked.

Bernardo nodded.

"I'll find them both," Zorro said.  "Now, hurry!  Get the lancers!"

Leaping back onto Apache, Zorro rode back into the night.

***

To the south, Diablo had Elizabeth in tow on her mare, as the party of three banditos and the two captive women headed inland.  They reached an abandoned shack above a hill on the dark road, and Diablo made them all dismount.  Elizabeth was shaking, from cold and fear.  After the horrible kiss, she knew what Diablo intended and the thought made her want to die.

"Make a fire in there," Diablo instructed one man.  To the other he said, "Tie the horses in the back."  As the activity proceeded, he rode around the house twice and concluded the isolation was sufficient.  The girl had tasted like honey to him.  He wanted more, the others could do what they wanted with Verdugo's tiresome daughter.  But de la Vega's wife, the Zorro girl, was his alone.  He smiled to himself, anticipating the satisfactions that lay ahead.

***

Zorro rode hard.  And at the Perdito crossroad, where he had taken his shortcut, he dismounted to study the tracks in the pale moonlight.  Fresh tracks, heading inland.  He judged them to be less than half an hour ahead of him.  Four horses, and one of the sets of shoes had a notch that the de la Vega blacksmith always put into their horses' front left shoe.  It meant Cloud Dancer was there.  It gave him a curdling sensation deep down.  He remounted and followed the trail for around 15 minutes.  

By the time he spied the house on the hill, smoke was rising from a new fire in the chimney pipe and candles were lit in the windows.  He had to hand it to Diablo, his arrogance was boundless.  There wasn't even a guard posted at the door.

Zorro tethered Apache to a tree several hundred yards away and approached the shack, keeping in the shadows.  Peering in the window, he saw Marta and Elizabeth sitting side by side on a bench near the fire.  They were still gagged. Elizabeth was white as a sheet, all the color gone from her face.  He saw that she was wearing only her nightgown.  It caused the pain in his heart to rise to  new heights.  Diablo and his men were sitting at a table, drinking from several bottles and pounding their fists on the table in raucous laughter.  Zorro watched Diablo rise and look over the women.

"I need to warm up the Senora now," he said, "she is looking far too chilly!"  He looked at one of his men.  "You take the first watch."  To the other he said, "Do what you wish with the squeaky little senorita."   He went over to Elizabeth and ran the back of his hand down the side of her face.  She pulled away.

With that, the bandit on watch exited the front door.  The instant he was clear of the house, Zorro jumped him from behind and with one hard spin around and a fist in his jaw, leveled the unsuspecting man.  Zorro tied his hands quickly, and then again peered in a window.   Diablo was pushing Elizabeth towards the bed.  He set his pistol on the nightstand.  The other man was leading Marta towards the door.  Zorro stepped back as they exited, and again once they were clear of the house, in another act of ferocious speed, he kicked the bandit to the ground, punched him unconscious, and then bound and gagged him.  He got up and looked at Marta, who stood staring at him, and held his fingers to his lips.  

He ran back to the house, to see Diablo on his hands and knees over Elizabeth on the bed.  Her nightgown was ripped open, her breasts partially exposed.  Drawing his sword, Zorro burst into the room and put the point at Diablo's back.

"If you value your cajones, Diablo, you will back away from the Senora now," Zorro said.  Diablo rose, and got off the bed, turning to face his enemy.  Zorro aimed the swordpoint directly at the bulge in Diablo's trousers.  "I have never been more tempted to make a man a soprano," Zorro said, easing his way around the bandit to the bed and removing his cape, to drop it over Elizabeth where she lay.  He never took his eyes off Diablo until he glanced down at her to see that she was covered.

It was the opening Diablo sought, and he grabbed a log and threw it at Zorro, who ducked and then lunged, running his sword into Diablo's chest with all his might and then pulling it out again.  Elizabeth gasped.  Diablo's hand came over the hole the sword made. Blood came spilling out.  He staggered and fell heavily to the floor.

Marta stood in the doorway, watching as the bandit lay bleeding.  Then she looked at Zorro, who glanced at her briefly before turning to Elizabeth.  He bent over her and pulled her gag away.  "Are you all right, Senora?" he asked.

She nodded weakly, her eyes begging him to hold her.

He looked at Marta, and went over to take her gag off and untie her hands.  "And you, senorita, are you all right?" he asked.

"Si," she said, her eyes moving back and forth between him and Elizabeth.

He looked back at Elizabeth, who was still extremely pale.

"She must be very cold," Marta said, going over to Elizabeth.

"Si," Zorro said, also going to Elizabeth's side.   "Senora, are you still cold?" he asked.

She nodded, tears rising in her eyes.

He leaned over her, wrapping his cape more tightly around her where she lay.  His lips very close to her face, he asked,  "Can you talk?"  His voice was so low that Marta could not hear what he said.

"Yes," Elizabeth whimpered.  "He tried to...."

"I know," Zorro whispered.  "But he didn't, did he?"

She shook her head.

He shut his eyes in relief, and then gently helped her sit up on the bed.  He looked again at Marta.  "We must return to Monterey," he said.

Marta nodded, also tearing up.  "This is all my fault," she said.  "I wanted..." she stepped back, towards the door.  "I wanted you dead," she said.  "But I didn't think...." she turned and ran out the door.

Zorro looked at Elizabeth.  "I can't let her hurt herself," he said.

She nodded, shutting her eyes.

Zorro kissed her cheek and then went back out to follow Marta as she ran blindly down the dark hillside.  Catching her by the arm when she was well away from the house, he held her by the shoulders.  She was crying hysterically.  

"Marta!" he said.  "Marta!"  He shook her.  "Marta!  Stop it!"

"My life is ruined," she sobbed.

"Marta!" he shook her again.  Then, not knowing what else to do, he put his arms around her.

"Oh, God, oh God," she wept in his arms.

"Calm down," he said gently, holding her.  The memories were flooding back, triggered by their embrace.  He pushed them away. 

"My life is over," she sobbed.  "You have no idea how it is ruined."

"It isn't ruined," he said.  "It isn't."

"I didn't mean for anyone else to be hurt...." she wept.

"I know," he said.    

Finally she began to gain control of herself, wrapped in his arms.  "I miss you so much," she said.

At this he released her, his hands remaining on her arms.  "We cannot be together," he said to her.  "But I wish you no ill, Marta, I wish you happiness.  With someone who can meet all the needs in you that I cannot."

"You can meet my needs," she said bitterly.  "You love her," she said.

"She is a married woman," Zorro said quietly.

"I saw you kissing her!" Marta yelped.

"Shhhhh, shhhhh," Zorro said.  "It doesn't matter what you believe you saw, nor does it matter who I may love.  You must go on with your life."

"But you don't understand," she said, "I need...."  Her sentence was stopped by a scream and then a pistol shot in the house.  Zorro let go of Marta and raced back to the house, his heart in his throat.  Bursting through the door open he saw Diablo sprawled across the bed motionless.  Cowering against the wall, also on the bed, was Elizabeth.  A pistol was in her hand.  She scrambled off the bed, dropping the gun, and threw herself into Zorro's arms.

"I thought he was dead!" she sobbed.  "But he got up and came at me!  I didn't know what else to do!"

Zorro held her close, looking beyond her at the now-lifeless body on the bed.  She had picked up the pistol Diablo had set on the nightstand.  "Oh, sweetheart," he whispered.  "You did the only thing you could."  Still holding Elizabeth against him, he reached down and turned Diablo over, to see no new bullet hole, only the wound from the sword.  He smiled. "Elizabeth," he said. "You missed."

She leaned over the body.  "I missed?" she said.

He nodded.  "It was the sword that killed him, it just took a while." Staring down at the body he said, "I think it's over now, Diablo."  He looked up to see Marta step through the doorway, taking in the scene.  She saw his arm around Elizabeth, and stepped back outside.  This time he did not follow her.

"Elizabeth," he said.  "We have to go back to Monterey.  We have to get you out of here."

She nodded, still clinging to him.

He pulled the cape up around her.  "Will this keep you warm?  Can you ride Cloud Dancer?"

She nodded again, then she looked up at him.  "Diego..." she said.

He frowned and shook his head.

With that, she let go of him and stood on her own, pulling the cape more firmly around her.  "Then let's go," she said.

He took her by the arm and led her out, where Marta stood alone.

"What about them?" she asked, nodding at the other bandits.

"The lancers will find them," Zorro said, leading Elizabeth to Cloud Dancer.  He started to whistle, but then realized there was no Tornado to summon.  He further realized that it would not do to pull Apache from out of the shadows, for Marta would recognize the horse as Diego's mount.  Zorro went around and looked at the bandits' horses, still tied at the back of the shack.  They were exhausted, but one, the paint he had seen Diablo ride, looked young and fit.  He led that horse, along with Cloud Dancer, back around to where the women stood.

"She has her own horse," Marta said quickly.  "Let me ride with you."

Zorro went over to Elizabeth and helped her onto Cloud Dancer.  "Are you sure you can do this?" he asked softly.

She took the reins, nodding.  She was still wrapped in his cape.

He got into the saddle of Diablo's horse, and offered a hand to Marta, pulling her up behind him.  She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his back, shutting her eyes.  "Marta..." he said, trying to pry her hands off him.  She wasn't budging.  He sighed, looking over at Elizabeth.

She sized up the picture with narrowed eyes and a raised eyebrow. Then she turned Cloud Dancer towards the road. 

Zorro kicked the paint's side, following.

They had not gone far when they were met by a small band of lancers, led by the young Spanish commandante of the Monterey pueblo.  

"Commandante!" Zorro greeted them, keepig his distance.  "In a house on the Perdito road, three miles inland, you will find Diablo dead and two of his bandits tied up."

"Thank you, Senor Zorro!" the Commandante said, drawing his sword and coming towards the masked man.

"No!" Elizabeth cried.  "He saved our lives!"

"There is a reward on this one's head, too," the Commandante said.

Elizabeth rode between the soldier and Zorro.  "Surely," she said, "you will allow a man to keep his word, senor!"

"Madam?" he said.

"El Zorro has promised to see me home," she said.

"And me, too!" Marta chimed in.

Zorro swiftly turned and, before she could resist, slid Marta off his horse.  "I promised you safe passage back to the Governor," he said, "and these soldiers are better suited to that task than me."  He looked to Elizabeth, and then to the Commandante.  "But with your permission, I would like to see Senora de la Vega back to her house.  Consider it a trade for Diablo."

The Commandante looked at Elizabeth.  "Is this your wish, Senora?  He is a wanted outlaw."

"Si," she said.  "I know he is wanted."

The Commandante shrugged.  He waved at one of his men to pick up Marta, who was standing on the ground looking quite forlorn.

"Adios, senorita," Zorro said to her.  "Remember what I told you."

Marta stared up at him.  "Adios, mi amor," she said.

He wheeled the paint horse around, and he and Elizabeth rode into the darkness stride for stride.

***

They had not gone more than two miles when Zorro, who was slightly ahead of her, looked over his shoulder to see if Elizabeth was keeping up.  He slowed the paint immediately, for she had fallen slightly behind and was riding oddly, her head lowered.  She rode up to him and he stopped both horses, yanking his own mount's reins and grabbing Cloud Dancer's as Elizabeth came up.  

"Elizabeth?" he said quietly, fearing his voice would carry in the darkness.  A fog was moving in.

Her heard her sob and realized she was crying.  He got off his horse and came over to her, and reached up to ease her off Cloud Dancer and into his arms.  Her weeping escalated.  He held her against him.

"It's all right, it's all right now," he said softly to her.  "It's over."

"He tried to rape me," she sobbed.  "He kissed me, he touched me..."

Diego felt a surge of rage go through him, even though the man lay dead some miles behind them.  He stroked Elizabeth's head. "I will never let anything like that happen to you again," he said.  "Never."

"They came in while you were gone," she said, trying to get her breath.  "I tried to get away...but Cloud Dancer...oh, Diego..."

"Shhhhhh, shhhhhh," he said to her, "you mustn't say my name out here."

"And you!" she said, suddenly stepping back and hitting against his chest with her palms.  "Putting her on your horse with you!"

"Elizabeth, what could I do?" he asked.  "You had your own horse!"

"You could have put her on it!  I needed you!"

He pulled her back into his arms and her crying started again.  "Sweetheart, sweetheart," he said.  "I didn't want her there."

"You try too hard to keep everybody happy," she said through her tears.  "Sometimes you have to put us first."

"I put us first all the time," he said tenderly, rocking her in his arms. His eyes were scanning the terrain, for he was beginning to fear that lancers would soon come upon them.

"You put Marta first tonight," she wept.

"No I didn't," he whispered to her.  

She kept crying. Keeping his arm around her, he took the horses reins and led them off the road and into a small glen below the road.  Then his put his arms around her again, feeling they were more secure in their seclusion.

"Tell me you're all right," he said.

"I'm not all right!"

"But you were so brave and strong back there, darling, you knocked one man out with a candlestick and you fought Diablo off..."

"I missed!"

"But you faced him, and you got on your horse and rode away with your head held high.  Do you know how much that makes me admire you?  You are the most amazing woman in the world."

She sniffled.

"I'm not joking!" he said, looking down into her tear-streaked face.

She looked back at him, his dark mask covering the top half of his face, and reached up to touch his mouth.  "I would have died if he had managed what he was trying," she said, her voice still shaking.  "Me... our baby..." she shook her head, another sob welling up.

"But he didn't," he said.

She nodded.  "You got there just in time.  Oh, Diego, he stank.  And he got so close..." Then she suddenly began sobbing again, burying her head in his chest.  He pulled her against him, no longer caring who might approach.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," she said through her tears.

"But I wasn't there to protect you, I fell for a stupid ruse that gave them the opening they wanted..."

"Well I sent you off after her!" Elizabeth said.  "So it was my fault too."  She began to calm down again.  "Going after her was the right thing to do.  And you ended up saving both of us."  They stood there for a while holding on to each other.  "If I could go home and take a bath...and wash him off of me...and just smell you..." she said, rubbing her nose against his black shirt.

"Then let's get you home," he said softly, leading her towards the horses.  "And this time you ride with me," he added.  Tying Cloud Dancer's reins to his saddle, El Zorro boosted Elizabeth up onto the paint and then mounted.  He rearranged his cape around her and, putting one arm around her to hold her against him, he kicked the horse's side.  Thus they made their way home.

***

He had promised he would be beside her at dawn, and he was.  It was still pitch black at 4:00 a.m. when they finally re-entered their house.  To Diego's relief there was no sign of the fallen bandit in the bedroom, causing him once again to thank the heavens for Bernardo.  He drew a hot bath for her and sat beside her while she soaked.  When they lay down together in their bed at last, the first light began to hint in the sky.

"How are you now, sweetheart?" he asked her.

"Just shocked, and tired," she said softly.  She took his hand and placed it on her belly.  "That was the worst thing that ever happened to me," she said.  "Or almost happened to me."

"Nothing should have happened at all," he said.  "I never should have brought you here.  Perhaps my father was right all along."

"About what?  Not telling me about Zorro?"

"I don't know," he said.  "It's so dangerous, Elizabeth."

"It would be dangerous either way," she said.  "At least this way we are in it together."

"Si," he said.  "But I should have spared you all this...."

"The world is a safer place without Diablo," she said.

"la niņa is all right?" he asked, pressing his hand into her belly more deeply.

"I think she slept through the whole thing," Elizabeth said.  They lay there for a moment.  "I can't believe I missed," she said.  "He was right in front of me."

"Maybe the pistol misfired."

"Maybe.  But my hand was really shaking."

He squeezed her.  "I'm glad you missed," he said.

"I'm glad you didn't," she replied.  She soon fell asleep in his arms as the sun rose.

***

Though Elizabeth slept, Diego lay there painfully awake as the dawn broke. He felt horrified at what had happened.  She had very nearly been raped, and possibly killed. She was precious beyond anything he could imagine. And she was carrying their unborn child.  It was his own fault in so many ways he could not bear to catalogue it.  Ultimately, it traced back to Zorro, to the very existence of his alter ego.  He would not have left her alone if Zorro had not had a mission in trying to rescue the misguided Marta.  And were it not for Zorro, Diablo would have had no interest in her.

How can this go on? he asked himself.  He had not thought through the implications of creating Zorro, he had simply done it in an imaginative response to political oppression.  Now, nearly five years later, he knew the price.  In spite of it, he had taken a wife.  He thought back on the numerous moments over the last six months when he had made an uncharacteristic miscalculation or misjudgement rooted in his enchantment with Elizabeth.  She changed everything. She continued to change everything every single day.  It went without saying that if she complicated things, she also changed them exponentially for the better as far as he was concerned.

He reflected on the ways in which his secret identity held true danger to her.  For as long as Zorro existed, there would almost certainly be rumors about a secret relationship between the Fox and Elizabeth de la Vega.  Those who wished to get to the Fox would aim straight for Elizabeth, just as Diablo had done.  

And there was the baby.  Diego knew, despite his resistance, that his father was right.  The rumor that this child of Elizabeth's was made from Zorro's seed would never be far from the surface.  How could he possibly guarantee protection for either one of them in a world so filled with evil?  He felt a curdling sensation at the thought of any danger coming to this little life they had created together, still so secret now but soon enough to be crying and cooing in their arms.  

It was as if it hit him for the first time.  I am going to be a father.  And the sweet sleeping woman beside him would bring that baby into the world.

This is impossible, he thought to himself.  I cannot be Zorro and be a husband and a father. What was I thinking?

He pulled Elizabeth a little closer to him, and she responded with a slight wriggle and a sigh, not waking up.  She was the most important thing on earth to him.  Even more important than El Zorro.  She was his light, she was the woman who made him laugh, who confounded him utterly, who took all his loneliness away, who gave him a reason for being, body and soul.  And she was the mother of his child, and of the other children they would have together if God granted it.  How could he continue to put all of it in jeopardy? 

 Impossible.