The Secret of Zorro In Monterey Chapters Six and Seven by Ella Christian @1999-2001 Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com CHAPTER SIX On the Camino Real Diego and Elizabeth remained in Monterey for another several weeks. The days immediately following the final encounter with Diablo were mostly devoted to regaining their bearings and helping Elizabeth recover emotionally from the ordeal. Bernardo was dispatched sereptitiously to find Apache. Once he returned with the horse, Diego surveyed the animals in the stable and observed that they had doubled their Monterey horse herd since arriving with Apache and Cloud Dancer. Now they also had Blanca and Diablo's handsome paint gelding, a finer horse in daylight that even Diego had realized. He began calling the horse Padre, hoping to redeem the animal from his last keeper. It was during these weeks that Diego began the slow process of breaking Blanca. Initially, he lost the battle with Elizabeth over whether or not she should be involved in trying to ride the horse, though this was an ongoing source of tension between them. It was not until she was indeed thrown off the filly, landing hard enough that Diego rushed her to the doctor in terror, that she relented. Fortunately the fall did nothing to dislodge the tiny life she carried within. Her morning sickness came and went. She had days where she felt quite well -- it was on these days that she would insist on trying to mount the filly until she was thrown -- and others when she could barely get up, much less eat. Diego stayed home with her when she was ill and took her with him whenever she felt up to it, thus they explored the central coast of California on foot and on horseback. "At last," she would say to him, as they walked among tidepools at sunset, "you have brought me to the sea." They kept a limited social calendar, entertaining occasionally but rarely going out. Diego was particularly determined to avoid Marta and the Governor to the degree possible, though they could not help but run into one another from time to time in the pueblo. Marta was uncharacteristically quiet in these encounters, which Diego attributed to her continued sense of guilt about Elizabeth's near-disaster. In all, these weeks found them rarely apart and at last living fully like the newly-weds that they were. Elizabeth's recovery from the incident with Diablo went smoothly, between her own strength and Diego's patience with her. It took a week of simply sleeping with her pressed against him before she looked at him one night as they were getting into bed and said, "I need you." Thus their intimacies gently resumed. El Zorro, having ridded the territory of Diablo, was inactive. Diego continued to ponder the future, but said nothing to Elizabeth about his thoughts concerning retiring his alter ego forever. Elizabeth grew thinner, which worried him greatly despite Elena's reassurances that this was normal. "She will change," the servant assured him, gesturing a protruding belly in front of her. By early December, they had been in Monterey nearly two months. The land deal was done, and Alejandro de la Vega was the owner of a vast new spread of property north of the San Fernando valley, in the Santa Barbara mountains. Elizabeth was having fewer days of sickness and her energy was improving. Both of them began to refer more and more to Los Angeles. They realized they both wanted to go home. This set off a debate around when to leave. The rains had come early, in November, and they were torn between departing soon to avoid even worse weather, or waiting until after Christmas when Elizabeth would be well into her fourth month of pregnancy. "It think we should go ahead," she told him over dinner one evening. "I'm not sick much anymore, I'm three months along, everything seems fine. We should be home for Christmas." "I agree," Diego said, "but shouldn't we give it just a little longer? Wait until you haven't been sick for at least a week? I want you to gain back a little more weight, sweetheart, you are so thin..." "Diego, there will always be reasons to wait. Let's not, I want to be under our own roof and sleeping in our own bed on Christmas night." "You really feel you are up to the long ride? In what could be very bad weather?" "How bad can it be? Worse than a blizzard in Boston?" "I don't know about blizzards in Boston," he said, "but the winter rains here are cold and the wind is cutting and floods come from nowhere. And the mud is everywhere." "I love mud," she told him. "Good, because you will see a lot of it," he said. So it was decided they would leave on the 15th, allowing over a week for the journey which would still find them home on Christmas. If Elizabeth's belief that their baby was conceived at the mountain cabin in September, it would put her barely into her fourth month. Excepting Bernardo and Elena, they still had told no one about their great expectation, and somewhat miraculously, the secret had held. *** A few days before they were set to leave, Governor Pena invited them for a farewell supper to be held on the eve of their departure. Numerous other friends were invited and they could not graciously decline, so Elizabeth steeled herself for what she hoped would be the last encounter with Marta Verdugo for as long as she lived. The evening was elegant. Elizabeth was seated by the Governor, while Diego was far across the table between the young Commandante's quiet wife and a matron from San Jose. Marta was seated by the Commandante, and seemed to be concentrating rather flirtatiously on him. It therefore came as a surprise to everyone when, right before the main course, Governor Pena rose to propose a toast. Having everyone's attention, he said, "We have gathered here to wish our young friends the de la Vegas well, as they return home to Los Angeles. And to that end I shall propose a toast to them shortly. But first, I want to offer a toast..." he looked around the room, his eyes twinkling, "...to my lovely bride-to-be, Marta Verdugo." Everyone gasped, for this announcement was so long-awaited that it was no longer awaited. Everyone lifted their glass to Marta, and she sweetly smiled, accepting the tribute. For once, she simply kept her mouth shut. "We will be married on Christmas day," the Governor said, "and you are all invited. Diego and Elizabeth, I wish you would stay a little while longer so you could be with us on this special occasion." With that, he sat back down, and many congratulations were offered as the main course was served. Eventually, Pena rose again, his glass once again in the air. "Now for the toast I was supposed to give," he said. "Diego and Elizabeth, lovely Elizabeth, you have been with us here in Monterey for two months and you have brought grace and laughter with you, and we shall all miss it. May your journey home be safe, and may you return here to the capital often. You will always be welcome." He paused, and then added, "but if you don't mind, could you leave that Andalusian filly at home?" Everyone laughed, knowing Diego had bested the Governor on the horse. Again, glasses were raised and tingled as they met. Once everyone had drunk, Diego rose at his seat. "Thank you, governor, for such good wishes," he said. "Elizabeth and I will always remember our time here in Monterey, for the kindness you have all shown us. And of course, for my father's land deal!" Again everyone laughed, and a few people said "here's to Alejandro!" "Since this is a night when we are making special announcements, I think it is only right for us to share one with you," Diego went on. "And it is the biggest reason we will always remember this trip to Monterey, for here is where we have learned we are expecting our first child." He raised his glass. "To all of you." "And to the new baby!" the commandante added. Several people said "here! Here!" as glasses clinked. Diego looked across the table at Elizabeth, and realized instantly that he was in trouble. She was trying to accept the warm congratulations of those around her, but catching his eye she looked floored and quite put out. It was not the first, and certainly not the last, time that Diego de la Vega got out ahead of his beloved. He walked around the table and bent over her to kiss her cheek, hoping this public gesture would make things right. What he got in return was her lying smile. The final course was served, and the men then retired to the terrace for cigars and brandy. The women went to the parlor for their coffee. They alternately fluttered over Marta and Elizabeth, between the long-anticipated wedding and the new baby on the way. People began to leave, and Marta came over to Elizabeth. "I am happy for you," Elizabeth said, hoping to pre-empt what she feared was coming. "I know you have wanted this." Marta gave her a crooked smile. "It has been too long in coming, but I am..." she paused, and then said, "I am taking some good advice and going on with my life." She leaned towards Elizabeth. "Does Diego know you are carrying El Zorro's child?" she asked. Elizabeth's eyes narrowed. "You have no shame," she said. "Poor Diego," Marta said. "He will be a cuckold all his life, won't he?" "Marta," Elizabeth said, "you have no idea what Diego is made of, if that is what you think. I will be leaving now, and may I say I wish you well? And may I add what I really wish? Go to hell." Marta's jaw dropped open. Then, to Elizabeth's shock, Marta did a strange thing. She put her arms around Elizabeth and hugged her. Stone-cold to this inexplicable gesture, Elizabeth turned her back and walked out of the parlour, across the hall, and to the terrace where she sought out Diego. Seeing her, he made his farewells and they went to the door. "I should say goodnight to Marta," he said, looking for her. "No, you shouldn't," Elizabeth said. "But darling..." "I just told her to go to hell, Diego, I think that is probably enough said." They accepted their wraps from the servants. "What made you do that?" he asked, exasperated. The door opened and they found themselves alone in the night air, their carriage before them. He helped her in and walked around, taking the reins. "Elizabeth?" "I tried to congratulate her on her coming wedding, which she should be sorely grateful to be entering into, and she asked me if you knew I was carrying Zorro's baby. And I told her to go to hell, which I wish she would!" "Elizabeth!" he exclaimed, clucking the horse onward. "That was...unnecessary!" "So was you telling all those people I'm pregnant!" she cried. "Without discussing it with me!" "Hush, hush," he said. "I'm sorry, darling, it was just, it seemed like the right thing to do at the moment." "It was an awful thing to do!" she cried. "We agreed we wouldn't tell anyone and you just announced it to all of Monterey! And you trumped Marta's big moment in the process!" "You just told her to go to hell!" he said. "So why does that matter!" "It wasn't fair to her!" "Elizabeth, you are not making any sense tonight," he said. "I'm making plenty of sense, you're just so full of yourself and all those men slapping you on the back and telling you what a stud you are that you can't hear me!" "Oh, and will you tell me the women weren't all over you in there, telling you..." he paused, fumbling. "Telling me what?" "Whatever women say when they find out one is pregnant!" he said. "Ha!" she said. "I was right!" Diego shrugged. "You shouldn't have told Marta to go to hell." "She accused me of adultery!" "I thought she said you were carrying Zorro's baby. Which you are." "That's adultery, Diego, to anyone who doesn't know Zorro's real identity!" He pulled the horse to a halt and looked over at her. "Elizabeth, we're not adulterers. You're not, I'm not. Zorro's not." He shook his head. "Sometimes it's hard to keep track of how many people there are in this marriage." "At least four, at the moment!" she said. "You, me, Zorro, and Marta." "Can we get it back down to two?" he asked. "And can we please stop fighting?" "She insulted you. She called you a cuckold." "Oh, honey, I'm not a cuckold," he said, putting his arm around her and hugging her to him. "We know who I am. She doesn't. You mustn't let this bother you. We're going home soon, we're leaving all of them behind us forever." "I don't know how to do this," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. "Do what?" he asked. "Any of this. I don't know how to be a wife, I don't know how to be your wife, I don't know anything about babies, I can't even shoot a gun..." she was about to start crying. "I want to go home," she said. He gave the horse a flick of the reins, to start moving again. "We're going home, sweetheart," he said. "Things will be better once we get back to Los Angeles, I promise. Shhhhhhh, no more crying." "But I need to cry," she snuffled into his coat. "It makes me feel better." He laughed, kissing her head. "Then cry all you want," he said. "Can you reach into my pocket? My handkerchief is there, if you need it." "I do," she said, reaching inside his jacket and finding the kerchief. She blew her nose. "I hate her," she said, sniffling. "Oh, Elizabeth, you don't hate her." "I hate that you had someone else before me!" He stopped the horse again and put both of his arms around her. "Listen to me," he said. "No one else matters. No one. I can't undo the past, you can't ask me to try." "Yes I can!" "It will do no good," he said. "Some things are beyond our reach. But my love, you are my great treasure, you are my peace, Elizabeth, you need not ever give another thought to the past. You are my past, my present, my future. You are all that counts to me." He kissed her. "Do you believe me?" he asked. She sniffled again, and nodded. "Then let's get back to the house, and breath in one last night of this sea air, and get our sleep, and tomorrow morning let's start our way home," he said, urging the horse to resume. "Diego," she said. "What, darling?" "I love you." "Oh, sweetheart, I love you," he answered, again kissing her head. *** They began their journey early, under heavy cinder skies and in a morning fog. Elizabeth rode Cloud Dancer and Diego was on Padre; Bernardo rode Apache and led Blanca along behind him. Anticipating the housing problem, Diego had written ahead to the missions advising them about estimated arrival dates and requesting shared, comfortable accommodations for him and Elizabeth. "She is," he had explained, "in the family way." Thus it was that when they reached their first destination in San Lucas, doors were thrown open in welcome and they were ushered into the best rooms on the property, in a tiny house featuring a vast bed and heavy wooden doors for privacy. "If only we'd known on the way up," Elizabeth commented, looking around the room in wonder. "The priests revere nothing more than they revere motherhood, pending and actual," Diego said, lying down on the bed and stretching his legs out. She looked out the window. "They disapprove of what leads to it but revere motherhood," she observed. "How about that?" "Well, the blessed virgin skipped over what leads to it," Diego said. Elizabeth laughed. "I'm glad we didn't!" "Me, too," he laughed with her. "Come here, senora." She came and lay down next to him. "How is our little one?" he asked. "She made today's journey very well," Elizabeth said, feeling herself beginning to relax. "You know," he said, "I think I can actually tell, when I touch your tummy now. It feels a little bigger, there's more there." "Oh, my," he sighed, laying his head on her stomach. "Hello, little baby," he whispered. "I think your Daddy is tired, little baby," Elizabeth said, stroking her husband's hair. She felt him nod. "This wasn't so bad, Diego. If we can have this kind of day...and a place like this every night...getting home isn't going to be bad at all." "We can hope," he said. "We still have a long way to go." *** They awoke the next morning to the sound of torrential rain pouring on the roof. Diego got up early to build a fire, and left for close to an hour. When he returned, he was soaked from head to foot. "It's unbelievable out there," he told Elizabeth, who was still in bed. "I've discussed it with Bernardo and the padres, we aren't going anywhere today." He stood in front of the fire, trying to warm up, a towel in his hair. "What time is it?" she asked. "Around 6:30." "Oh, sweetheart, dry off and come back into the bed," she said. "I'll warm you up." He pulled off his wet clothes and draped them over the chairs by the fire, and did as she told him. "Diego, you're freezing!" she cried. "I tried to tell you, these are cold rains." "Come here," she said, pulling him to her. "What were you doing out there?" "Catching horses and moving them to the stable." "But we only have four horses, how could that take so long?" "The padres have horses, too, darling." "Of course," she said. "Does this mean we have the whole day to ourselves?" she asked. "We could devote ourselves to prayer and reflection," he suggested. "Go to all the services," she said. "All day long. Marching with piety through the rain." "Piety and devotion," he agreed. "And we can give alms." "I love the sound of the rain on the roof," she said. "Me too. Oh, little kitten," he sighed. He turned onto his side, bringing her with him, holding on to her. "Let's go back to sleep," she said, pressing against him. "Not just yet," he whispered. *** They awoke an hour later, still entangled. He stroked her hair, listening to the rain pound. "Are you hungry?" he asked. Elizabeth looked at him, realizing she was. "Yes," she said. "Very." He smiled. "Do you want me to go get something for us?" "Not if you have to leave." She looked across the room. "Maybe there's some bread in one of those saddlebags?" "Bernardo has all those things." "Maybe Bernardo would bring us something." "I'd have to go find him." She sighed, putting her head on his shoulder. "The fire needs stirring, too," he said, feeling no desire to move. A knocking began on their door and they both sat up hurriedly, the moment broken. Little did they know it was the first of what would be many years of sudden interruptions during tender, private moments. "Yes?" Diego called. The knocking continued. "It must be Bernardo," he said, getting up and reaching for his damp trousers. At least they were warmed from the fire. He pulled them on and opened the door. "Bernardo," Elizabeth heard him say. There was a pause. Then he asked, "how far?" There was another long pause, and Diego said, "All right, tell them I'm coming. But do something for me, bring some food for Senora Elizabeth?" He then shut the door. "What is it?" A collapsed wall on someone's barn a few miles down the road," he said. "The priests are gathering everyone to help, they think there's a man trapped and the water is rising." He saw her alarm. "I have to help, darling, I am able-bodied." "Are you going as Zorro?" He paused, wondering if he should say anything about his extended reflections on the dubious future of El Zorro. "The clothes," he said, deciding to delay. "They're in a trunk somewhere. I think I shall have to do this as Diego, and hope no one thinks I have suddenly gained a new capacity for action." "I want to come with you." "Oh, no," he said, pointing at her. "You stay right here. Bernardo will bring you something to eat, and I'll be back as soon as I can. I don't want you out in this weather." She opened her mouth to argue but he held up his hand. "Don't even bother," he said. "I will deploy Zorro long enough to tie you to the bed if I have to." "Diego!" she exclaimed. He came over to her. "Elizabeth, you have our little baby in there. Think about her. I have no idea what I will run into outside." A smile came over Elizabeth's face. "You called her her!" He sighed. "Now, will you promise me you'll stay inside while this weather is so bad? Wait until I come back?" "Si. Be careful, darling." He pulled on his jacket and opened the door, looking out. "Mud," he said, with some disgust. He looked back at her, and then went out the door and into the cold rain. *** Elizabeth, feeling great triumph over Diego's reference to "her," snuggled back under the covers and went back to sleep. When she awoke, in the early afternoon, a large plate of bread, cheese and fruit, and a pitcher of fresh water, were on the table near the door. The rain had stopped and rays of sun were pushing through, brightening the wet landscape beyond the window. Peering out she saw no one, and wondered what time it was. She decided to dress, and then ate some of the food Bernardo had silently brought in. She kept looking out the window, and finally went out to see if she could find someone and learn where Diego had gone. Warm afternoon sunshine swept across the glistening landscape as Elizabeth picked her way between puddles to the mission chapel. There, she found one lone friar. "Excuse me, but where is everyone?" she asked. "Oh, they are all down at the Chavez barn, Senora," came the answer. "Another wall collapsed and several men are trapped." "Trapped!" Elizabeth cried. "My husband is down there! Diego de la Vega? Is he all right, do you know?" The monk shrugged. "I don't know who, senora, but was was told to pray for four men." Elizabeth excused herself and glanced at the statue of the virgin Mary as she exited the building, breathing a prayer. She went to the stable, saddled Cloud Dancer as fast as her trembling fingers allowed, and rode down the muddy Camino Real. It did not take long for her to see the remains of the collapsed barn ahead and the frantic efforts of over a dozen men, most of them from the mission, pulling stones, boards, and chunks of stucco away. One person lay on the side of the road, a woman tending to him. Elizabeth jumped off her horse and ran over to them. It wasn't Diego, but a small dark man struggling to breathe. She ran to where the others were hauling rubble, looking about desperately. "Diego!" she shouted. She grabbed one of the monks. "My husband, is he here?" she cried. "Is he all right?" The monk frowned, and pointed to the center of the scene. "He's there," he said. "Oh, my God," Elizabeth cried, scrambling towards the action over mud and stones. Then she saw him. He was indeed at the center of what was happening, directing monks and hauling the rocks and boards as fast as he could. Her heart slowed its pounding. He was drenched and covered with mud, his hair was wet and down in his eyes, his shirt was torn, but he was in one piece and working with all his considerable might to help whoever was trapped beneath the rubble. "Sweet Jesus, thank you," she whispered. She saw him wave people away, and then he bent over and lifted someone up, and carried him across the mud to lay him by the road. Several monks swarmed around him. "That's the last one," she heard Diego say rather sorrowfully. He looked down at the muddy road, stepping back, shaking his head. Then raising his eyes he saw her to the side. He walked over to her slowly. "Oh, Diego," she said, coming to him and putting her arms around him despite his wretched state. "We managed to save two of them," he said. "But two were crushed, Elizabeth, there was nothing we could do, we couldn't get to them in time..." "You tried," she said. "I was so afraid it was you." Padre Adamo, the head of the San Lucas mission, walked over to them. "Thank you, Don Diego," he said. "We could not have saved these two men without you." He looked at Elizabeth. "Your husband is a stronger and braver man than any of us imagined," he told her. "He pulled that man out," he nodded at the one she had first passed on the road, "before the second wall collapsed. And he would not let us give up on this one," he nodded at the man just pulled from the rubble. He looked back at Diego. "God sent you to us," he said. "I'm glad we were here," Diego answered wearily. Padre Adamo excused himself to help tend to the injured men. Elizabeth saw, further down the road, a blanket covering two bodies. "Oh, Diego," she murmured once again. "Let's go back to the mission," he said, his arm around her. They walked to Cloud Dancer. "You ride, I'll walk," he said, helping her mount. "We can both ride her," Elizabeth said. "She's slow, but she's strong." He shook his head, leading the horse. "I want the walk." "But you're soaked," she said. "It will take an hour to walk back." "The sun is warm." She sensed the brokenness in him and submitted to the slow, muddy walk back to the mission. Once they were there, she spied Bernardo and instructed him to draw a hot bath for Diego and bring fresh clothing from the trunks. It wasn't until he was easing into the hot water that Diego spoke again. Elizabeth sat by the tub, and began washing his hair and back. "The barn wasn't built properly," he said. "It was a disaster waiting to happen, as soon as the earth moved or the water table rose." He shook his head. "I got to one of them, one of the ones who died. He kept asking..." his voice broke. "He kept asking for his wife." He could not contain himself, and for the first time Elizabeth saw her husband cry openly. Though at a loss, she tried to comfort him. "Diego, Diego," she said, "you tried, as hard as you could. You risked your own life, what more could you have done?" "I don't know," he said, trying to regain his composure. "You can't make everything right all the time," she whispered to him. He nodded. "I just felt...so helpless." Then he fell silent again. She continued to bathe him, getting the mud and grime off of him, rubbing the soap into his skin. For a long time she said nothing. Then, as she finished his feet, she said, "Just think, in a few months we'll have little baby to give baths to." That made Diego smile gently. "Si, she'll be so tiny," he said. "I can't wait to hold her." "You will be such a good Daddy," Elizabeth told him. "I can't even think what that will be like," he said. She made her purring noise in his ear. "My kitten is purring," he said softly. She stood up and offered him a towel, nodding. He rose up out of the water, accepting it, feeling the work and sorrow of the hours just ended falling away. "What can be making my kitten purr?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her lips lightly. "Siesta," she said, taking his hand. CHAPTER SEVEN A Christmas Story The journey down the Camino Real provided no further events until they reached the Santa Barbara mission. Two more huge rains had delayed them at various stops, putting them behind schedule. They arrived in Santa Barbara early in the evening of Christmas Eve. There, to Diego's dismay, the padres apologetically explained that their rooms were completely filled with scheduled and stranded travelers. They suggested an inn in the town. Diego, Bernardo and Elizabeth remounted their horses and proceeded to the inn, where they were again turned away. Desperate, Diego begged the innkeeper for a suggestion. "I don't know, senor, you could try the Seaspray Inn. It is another six miles south of town. But everyone has a full house at this time of year, and it is made worse with all the rain. Now, I have a good stable behind the inn, for your horses. If you want, I can give you and your senora a place in the loft there. You'll have to share the barn with another young couple who arrived earlier. But that is all I can offer you, your gold will do you no good when I already have so many people here." Diego admired the man's honesty, and absent other alternatives agreed to look at the stable. He knew Elizabeth would be frustrated, but staying warm and dry were the first priorities. He went back to his companions, noting that the sky was darkening, another storm headed in. "We don't have very good choices," he said to Elizabeth, who was looking quite tired. "We can go further down the Camino, there's an inn there but no guarantee there will be room for us." "Or?" she asked. "We can stay here, in the stable. He says it's not bad. There would be another couple there." She gave him a mournful look. He shrugged, returning her look with his own "what can I do?" "Let's go look at it," she said rather glumly, getting off her horse. He took her waist as she came down, and could feel her tiredness in how tense she was. Bernardo took the horses. They walked to the stable, and as the innkeeper had said, it was orderly and dry, with plenty of straw and several empty stalls. "Let's check the loft," he said, going to the ladder. He climbed up and looked around, then pulled himself up and stood. "It's actually rather pleasant," he called down to her. "No draught, good ventilation. The roof seems solid." He stuck his head down at her through the opening. "I think it will be fine. Even if it rains." "Are the other people up there?" she asked. He looked around again. "I don't see anyone," he answered. "Perhaps they've gone to buy food." He climbed back down the ladder and jumped the last few rungs to the floor. "We'll be fine up there, with lots of blankets," he said. Then, looking around, he laughed and hugged her. "What do you think?" he asked. "We'll spend Christmas Eve in a stable! All we need is a manger nearby!" "I'm glad I can't have the baby yet," Elizabeth said, her voice muffled in his jacket. He chuckled again and let go of her. "We'll go to the Tavern and have some lamb stew and a good glass of red wine, and then come up here and make a cozy bed in the straw." "I wanted to be home for Christmas," she sighed. "We're together," he said. "We'll have to let that be home enough." She nodded, and let him lead her back outside into the darkness, and the beginnings of a new rain storm. *** While Diego and Elizabeth ate, Bernardo busied himself with getting the four horses settled in the stable and laying out blankets in the loft for his master and the Senora. Always meticulous, he laid out a wide, heavy horse blanket, then another softer blanket over that, then a soft linen sheet, and over that another sheet and two more blankets. He was not sure what to do for pillows, so spent some time trying to shape piles of straw into pillows using old grain sacks. Finally satisfied with his work, he set a lantern on a wooden box next to the makeshift bed, and climbed back down the stairs. When he reached the ground, he turned around to be greeted by the sight of a bedraggled-looking young couple standing in the doorway. They were probably still teenagers, the boy might have been nineteen, the girl was younger. They wore the clothes of peons, but they weren't dirty. Bernardo smiled and nodded at them. The boy said, "Please senor, my wife..." The girl looked miserable. Bernardo shook his head, pointing to his mouth and ears. The boy ascertained that Bernardo was indicating deaf and dumb. He pointed at the girl, and then led her to the last empty stall and helped her sit down on a bale of hay. Bernardo stepped in to help, and as her wet wrap fell open his eyes widened, for she was very large with pregnancy. She suddenly leaned over and moaned. The boy looked at Bernardo. "We need help," he said, a desperate look on his face. Bernardo could not let on that he heard, but it was plain to anyone that the girl was nearing her time. Bernardo gestured for them to wait there, and with that he hurried to the Tavern. *** Diego and Elizabeth were finishing their meal in the noisy, smoky main room. The stew was good, the bread was fresh, and to Diego's delight the wine was French, from Burgundy. He had succeeded in getting Elizabeth to relax, and he could tell that she was feeling better after eating. Though she was sleepy, he had persuaded her to stay long enough for him to savor a cigar. They sat in a dark corner for an extra half hour, Diego puffing his cigar and enjoying a good guitarist while Elizabeth laid her head on his shoulder and dozed. The cigar was almost done when Bernardo entered. Diego saw him coming towards them and knew something was amiss from the look on his face. Bernardo gestured for him. Reluctantly, he awoke Elizabeth and told her he would be right back. "I have heard that before," she said. Bernardo backed into a narrow hallway where Diego joined him. "What is it?" Diego asked. Bernardo pointed at the stable. "Outside? The stable?" Bernardo nodded. Then he held his hand about 5'8" off the ground, and gestured a drooping moustache over his mouth. Then he indicated 5' and a woman's figure, adding a curve outward beyond his stomach. Then he pointed to the stable again. Diego's eyes widened. "A couple in the stable?" he said. "And she's pregnant?" Bernardo nodded, and then, after gesturing the pregnant female again, he grabbed his stomach in pain. "She's in labor?" Diego exclaimed. Bernardo winced, nodding. "Are you sure?" Bernardo indicated that he thought so, pretty sure. Diego looked over at Elizabeth where she sat, trying to keep her eyes open. "Well this is going to be a night to remember," he said. "Go back to the stable. Take them some blankets. I'll see if there's a doctor we can get to help." Bernardo nodded and left. Diego went to the innkeeper, who was also the tavern keeper and bartender. The man was very busy and doing a booming business, so it took a little while to get his attention. "Senor, excuse me," Diego finally planted himself firmly in front of the man as he headed to a table to deliver drinks. "Is there a doctor here in Santa Barbara?" The man looked at Diego quizzically. "Is something wrong?" he asked, glancing over at Elizabeth. "I believe there is a woman in the stable who is going to have a baby. Soon." "Oh, that peon girl," the man said dismissively, trying to pass Diego to make his delivery. "I warned you there would be others out there, senor!" He managed to slip past Diego. "You didn't say one of them was about to give birth!" Diego said, following him closely. The man shrugged, and began setting drinks before a table of noisy customers. Diego grabbed his arm. "A doctor!" he said. "Look, I don't know where you are from, but there isn't a doctor within a hundred miles!" the innkeeper replied. "You want a doctor? Go to Los Angeles or Monterey. Or San Diego! Ha ha!" He looked at the table of men before him. "The man wants a doctor!" he told them. "In Santa Barbara!" They all burst out laughing. Diego shook his head, and went back to Elizabeth. She could see he was in the middle of something. "What's going on?" she asked. He took her hand. "Darling, can you wait for me here? I need to check on something." "Yes...but what is it?" "Just give me a few minutes," he said, and kissing her head he grabbed his jacket and went out the door. Elizabeth yawned, following him out with her eyes. She wondered if she would ever get used to his unpredictable shifts in focus and the way he would suddenly get up and leave. She looked down at the table, and wondered if it would be completely ill-mannered to put her head down on it and go to sleep. She sighed, knowing that it would. *** When Diego got to the stable, he found Bernardo laying blankets in the stall. The peon boy was holding onto the girl on the hay bale. She looked stricken. "Help us, senor," the boy said. "My wife. She is going to have a baby tonight." "I can see that," Diego said. "Is her mother around?" The boy shook his head. "We are from Tecate, senor. We don't know anyone." Mexicans, Diego thought. He sighed, looking at Bernardo. "Surely there's a midwife here," he said. He looked at the girl. She was bent over and moaning. "What is your name?" he asked the boy. "Jose," came the answer. "But I am called Pepe. My wife, she is Maria." Diego could not suppress a smile, and glanced at Bernardo, who was also smiling. "Well, Pepe," he said, "I thnk we may have to get through this without much help. Is Maria in good health?" The boy nodded. "Is this your first baby?" he asked the girl. She looked up at him and nodded, and then grimaced as a contraction started to shoot through her. Pepe held her as she cried out. Diego turned to Bernardo. "Go back to the Inn, bring hot water, and get some clean towels. Steal them if you have to, I'll pay for them later. And get my knife, the long sharp one sheathed in my saddlebag. Clean it and bring it here." Bernardo nodded and left. Diego turned back to the couple. "There are some things I will need to do, in order to help you," he said. "I have seen this before, and once I helped deliver a baby. As long as things go smoothly we will be fine. We must help Maria lie down with her back up against the hay bale, like this?" he sat to demonstrate. "And Pepe, you will have to allow me to touch her." Pepe looked at his wife. She nodded. "All right," Diego said, and helped her reposition herself on the blanket. "That's good, right like that," he said. "Pepe, you sit here beside her, and when she has a pain you help her by holding her arm and back, like this?" he demonstrated. "You can stroke her tummy when the pain comes, it will help distract her." At that moment another pain overcame her and she again cried out. "Just wait, just wait," Diego said to her. "Take a deep breath. It will pass." She continue to cry out. Pepe tried to get her to breathe. The contraction passed. "Now, bend your knees, senora," Diego said. When she did, he reached up under her skirts, first to feel how much she was dilated and then to fell her belly. The baby was in the head-down position, and her opening was wide. "This will happen soon, Pepe," he said to the boy. "Stay here with her. She will continue to have the pains, more and more often. I need to find my wife. I'll be right back." Pepe nodded, settling beside Maria. Diego hurried back to the Tavern through the rain, and passed Bernardo with a kettle of water and a stack of towels in his arms. "Set it out, and put a couple of towels under her," Diego told him. "I'm getting Elizabeth." He entered the Tavern, and made his way to their table. "What is going on?" she asked. "We have a situation," he said. "You can come with me if you want, but you may not want to." "What is it?" "There's a young woman out in the stable who's about to have a baby and there's no doctor within a hundred miles," he explained. "I think I am going to have to be the midwife." "You?" she said. "Si, darling, I saw four Indian babies born with Windhawk, and I helped him deliver Little Feather." Elizabeth was stunned. She knew of Diego's boyhood friend, the Indian brave Windhawk, and of his wife and their young son Little Feather. But this was news. "You saw Soaring Bird give birth?" she asked. "Si," he said. "A story for another time. Now, do you want to come help me or not?" Elizabeth stared at him. "There is no end to what I don't know of you," she said. "Oh, there's an end," he said. "You just haven't gotten to it yet." He took her hand. "It is a wondrous thing, to see a new baby come into the world." She took a deep breath. "I guess it is a way to find out what I'm in for," she said, standing up. He tried to shelter her from the rain as they made the muddy walk to the stable. A loud scream carried across the courtyard from ahead of them, and Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. "I don't know if I can do this," she said. "The moment is now," Diego said, pushing her along. "Babies don't wait." He got her into the stable and, leaving her in the doorway, went on to Pepe and Maria. Reaching under Maria's skirt again, he realized the baby's head was already crowning. He pulled up her skirts above her knees. She was groaning in awful pain. "You have to push now, Maria, when you feel the next pain," he said. "As soon as the pain starts, you push as hard as you can, to help the baby come out, all right?" She nodded miserably. "It will be fine," he said, patting her knee. "I can already see the baby's head." Pepe peered over Diego's shoulder and his eyes widened, for indeed there was the top of a tiny human head in Maria's opening. Elizabeth slowly approached them from behind, and looked over them to see the same sight. The contraction started and with a terrible wail, Maria pushed. "Harder," Diego said, one hand on her huge belly and the other just below her opening where the baby's head was making only slight progress. Maria grunted desperately and continued to push. "All right, let go," Diego said, feeling the contraction relax in her belly. "Just take a deep breath, you'll have another pain soon, and this time you push again, as hard as you can, all right? Even harder this time?" She nodded, looking utterly spent. She groaned, her hands on her belly. "Did you get the knife?" he asked Bernardo. The servant held up Diego's gleaming hunting knife. Diego took it and handed it to Pepe. "Once the baby is born, you'll see a cord going from its belly button up into Maria. You cut the cord as close to the baby's tummy as you can, all right? Can you do that, Pepe?" The boy nodded, accepting the knife. Maria began another moan, which rose into a scream and Diego looked down to see the baby's head starting to emerge. "Push, Maria, push!" he cried. The girl screamed again, and pushed. "Good!" Diego said, "Keep pushing, the baby's head is coming out, one more push...I see the shoulders..." she screamed and pushed one more time, and with that Diego reached down with a towel and scooped the bloody little creature up, holding it in front of Pepe. "It's a girl!" he cried, laughing. "Go ahead, cut the cord," he said, his hands under the baby's buttocks. Pepe slid the knife through the umbilical cord. Diego held the baby higher in the air and she began to squeal. Laughing, he laid her on Maria's chest. "You have a daughter," he said gently. Maria looked down at the baby, then to Diego, and then to Pepe. Her eyes were shining, gazing at the new life. She took the baby in her arms, and then looked at Diego again. "Thank you, senor," she said. Diego looked down at the bedding, and saw the afterbirth beginning to slide out. "Another towel, Bernardo," he said, reaching. It was Elizabeth's hand that he touched, as the towel was handed to him. He looked up, and their eyes met. Then he saw her look past him to the bloody mess below Maria's buttocks. He turned, to swipe the girl up and then fold the towels in a heap, putting a clean one under her. Then he pulled her skirt back over her knees and got up. "Burn it all," he said to Bernardo, waving at the bloodied towels. "And when you are finished, bring them some food." He bent over again, looking down at the young family. "There are more towels and water," he said, "you will want to wash the baby," he said to them. He smiled. Maria was opening her blouse and putting the baby to her breast. Pepe looked up at him gratefully. "We cannot know how to thank you, senor," he said. Diego stepped back, suddenly feeling overcome. That, he thought, was an exceptionally easy birth. He stepped behind Elizabeth, and put his arms around her. They looked at the scene. "That will be us in a few months," he said. "Si," she said softly. "Look. She isn't ten minutes old, and she's already suckling." With her mother's help, the tiny babe was indeed pressing her face into the offered nipple, trying to suck. Elizabeth leaned into Diego. "You need to sleep," he said to her. "I want to watch this," she said, but her tiredness was overcoming her. "Let's let them have their privacy, and we can have ours," he whispered, putting his hand on her back and guiding her towards the ladder to the loft. "Go on up," he said. "I'll be right there." She began to climb the ladder. Diego turned back to Pepe and Maria. "My servant will bring you food," he said. "The senora and I will sleep up in the loft, but if you need anything, you call us." Pepe nodded, and then turned his attention back to his new family. Diego climbed up into the hayloft, to find Elizabeth lying on the bed Bernardo had prepared. She had lit the lantern and it was burning low. He lay down next to her, pulling the covers over them. She had taken off her dress but was wearing her slip. "I'd rather not sleep in my clothes," he said as an afterthought. "Take some of them off," she said. "Pepe and Maria might need something," he said, pulling off his jacket. "I'm so awake now I don't know if I can sleep, anyway." Elizabeth chuckled. "I can't believe they are Jose and Maria," she said. "It's a good thing they had a girl! Otherwise they would have to name him Jesus." Diego laughed softly, too, putting his arms around her. "He would not have been the first," he said. " Half the people in the Spanish-speaking world are Jose or Maria.." He kissed her cheek. She snuggled closer to him. "Oh, wait!" he said, sitting up. "What now?" she sighed. "I have something," he said, reaching for his jacket. "I was going to give you tonight." She sat up, too. "What?" she asked. He pulled a small box from an inner pocket and took something out of it, and took her left hand. "I retrieved this a long time ago, longer than you know," he said, sliding her golden ruby and diamond ring onto her finger above her wedding band. "I've been waiting for the right moment to return it to where it belongs and I decided to save it for Christmas morning..." "Oh, Diego, my ring!" she cried, looking at it sparkling on her finger in the lantern light. "I thought Diablo had sold it off or given it to some cheap..."she threw her arms around his neck. Then she let go of him and looked at it again. "My ring," she said, tearing up. "When I first put it on your finger you weren't so happy about it," he reminded her, smiling. "I was so stupid then," she said through her tears, her arms coming back around his neck. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart," he said, kissing her cheek again. "Merry Christmas, my love," she answered, gazing at her hand beyond his shoulder. Then she leaned back and looked at him. "I don't know how this Christmas could be any more wonderful," she said. He laughed softly, lying back down and pulling her into his arms. "I do," he said. "Oh, Diego," she giggled. "They'll hear us." "They're pretty distracted," he said. "But we're not quiet," she said. "Not usually," he agreed. "But perhaps tonight we can make an excep...." Elizabeth gasped suddenly. "What?" he said. "Something moved!" she said, sitting up and staring at him. "Where?" he asked, jerking up and looking around. "There it is again!" she said. And taking his hand she put it on her belly. Then they both felt it, a tiny flutter deep inside her, rippling to the surface. "It's our baby, Diego," she said with wonder. "Do you feel it?" He nodded. "Yes," he whispered, overcome anew. "There it is again!" she said. "Oh, it feels like sparrows inside me! Or little mice feet!" He pulled her back into his arms, lying back down with her, keeping his hand low on her soft tummy. "I think this Christmas just got more wonderful," he said softly in her ear. *** It was hours later, in the deep darkness, rain showering on the roof, that Diego awoke suddenly to feel Elizabeth shaking. "Sweetheart?" he whispered. At first he wondered if she were cold, but she was still snuggled in his arms and felt neither cold nor feverish to him. "Elizabeth?" Another long quiver shot through her, centered in her middle. "Are you sick?" "I'm scared," she said to him. "Of what?" "Having this baby," she said, shaking again. Diego wasn't sure what to say, and wondered if he'd done the right thing when she hesitated in the rain the night before. Perhaps it had been a mistake, encouraging her to witness childbirth. "Are you scared because of what you saw last night?" he asked. She nodded, another shudder going through her. "Come here," he said, pulling her more tightly into his arms, her head nestling on his shoulder. "Little baby will be fine, and so will you," he said softly. She shook again. "I don't know. The way she screamed...all that stuff that came out of her, it was so bloody..." "That's just part of it," he said. "It passes, don't you remember how they all looked just a few minutes after? They were all radiant, Maria was fine, the baby was nursing...remember?" She nodded. "It's just so real now, between that and feeling little baby move inside me," she murmured. Diego rustled his hand over her belly. "Little baby is growing some more," he said. "I can feel her getting bigger." Elizabeth shook again. "That's why I'm scared. She's sneaking up on me. Little baby is a little sneak." "Just a little fox," he whispered. "A little fox-kitten." Elizabeth quieted, and the shaking let up. They lay there for a while in the deep quiet. "I think I can go back to sleep now," she said. "Good. You're warm?" "Oh, yes. As long as you're here." "I'm here, darling. I'm not going anywhere." "You always say that and then you leave," she sighed. "Ten thousand soldiers couldn't budge me right now." "No, but ten might," she laughed, adding in a whisper, "El Zorro could handle ten." "El Zorro is doing what his heart most loves, tending to his one, just now," Diego said, feeling her settle beside him. "His two," Elizabeth corrected. "His two." With that, they slowly went back to sleep, as the soft cries of the newborn downstairs drifted up into the loft.