The Secret of Zorro
The Kitten and the Fox
Chapters Three and Four
by Ella Christian @1999-2001
Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com


Chapter Three - Semel Insanivimus Omnes

Diego de la Vega's formal courtship of Elizabeth Matteo began after the two fathers announced their matchmaking handshake at a family dinner at the Matteo hacienda. A week had passed since Zorro's final visit to Elizabeth. Each day she grew more pale and sad. By the time the dinner took place, she knew what was coming, and she could only smile wanly at all the men and accept their toasts. Seeing this plunged Diego into despair.

After the meal, Diego took her by the hand and led her outside for a walk in the evening air. New gardens were being planted at Elizabeth's direction. They walked in silence between the rows of freshly sewn seeds. 

"If this truly isn't what you want," he said, breaking the silence, "we don't have to go through with it."

"Yes, we do," she said dully. "We are Spanish and this is an arranged marriage. We have no choice."

"But we aren't in Spain!" he said, pressing her hand into his arm. "Let's sit over here." He led her to a small stone bench at the garden's edge. "This isn't like you," he went on, keeping her hand in his. 

She said nothing. 

"Elizabeth, tell me," he said. "Tell me if this isn't what you want."

"I can't have what I want," she said.

"Well, it is all over you."

"Don't misunderstand, Diego," she said, "it isn't that I don't like you. You are a good man. You'll make a good husband. My father is right when he says there's no better match."

"I'm not marrying your father," he said. He waited, and then added, "Your heart is with someone else."

She made no reply, but looked down, tears forming in her eyes.

He lifted her chin so she looked up at him, said, "I will do whatever I must to try to win you."

She patted his hand where it rested over hers. "Don't be foolish. I know I'm won."

"But I don't," he said.

"Don't let this matter to you, Diego," she said.

"It matters," he answered.

***

As in all small communities, word spread rapidly of the engagement, everyone noting that it was the fathers who arranged the marriage. Naturally, the discussions turned to the subject of Zorro. Elizabeth told no one of his sad, secret visit to her room before the engagement was announced, so most of the speculation focused on Don Diego and how he could take up courtship of a woman generally regarded as "of interest" to El Zorro. The irony of the situation was crushing to Diego. 

The couple did not set a date immediately, at Don Carlos's insistence. While Alejandro suspected it was a delaying tactic around the dowry, Carlos was adamant that Diego take the time he needed to set his business affairs in order and also to court Elizabeth properly. Though she would not discuss it, Carlos could see that his daughter was in distress, and he wanted Diego to tend to this prior to the wedding. Alejandro, on the other hand, was pressing for an early wedding. The decision having been made, he wanted the business transaction complete, his son established, and an heir for the de la Vega name as soon as possible. Two weeks after the official announcement, he sat Diego down for clear instruction.

"Now," he said, "I know Carlos is anxious that you court her elegantly, Diego, and I know you are spending time with her."

Diego listened, saying nothing. He pulled out a cigar and lit it.

"Here is the thing. Elizabeth knows what she has to do. So I expect you to get her down the aisle quickly. There's no point in dragging this out, my son."

"She doesn't really want this marriage, Father," Diego said quietly.

"Has she said that to you?" Alejandro asked, alarmed at the prospect of the arrangement falling through. "Things seemed to be going so well!"

"She doesn't need to say it. I can tell." He paused, then added, "It is Zorro she wants."

"Zorro!" Alejandro exclaimed. "Must we re-visit this?"

"I am only telling you what I know."

"Diego, you will be amazed at how women will adjust to things," Alejandro said. "For all the trouble they can cause, they are amazingly flexible. She'll get used to the arrangement. Here, let me tell you something. This is the secret to keeping a woman as happy as is humanly possible, and I stress 'as humanly possible' because you must not let yourself think you can keep a woman happy all the time. They are too changeable in their moods. But here is the secret: pay attention to her."

Diego waited. "That's it?" he asked.

"That's it," said his father.'

Diego thought back on past relationships. "Well, I suppose that is easier said than done. They do have a great need for ... time."

"It is very hard on a man," Alejandro agreed. "But if you learn it now, you will have a better life and so will she."

Diego took a puff on his cigar. There was nothing he could think of that he would rather do than devote time and attention to this woman. The problem was in the limitations of how he could know her, and how she could know him, given the constraints surrounding his secret identity. "You know, Father," he said, "You are full of contradictory advice."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you tell me to pay attention to Elizabeth, but you also tell me to hide my true personality from her by keeping the secret of Zorro."

"And why is that a contradiction?"

"Father, I cannot live half a life with her!" he exclaimed, suddenly exasperated. "She deserves more than that! And so do I."

"But Diego, you cannot..."

"You yourself thought I had turned into a weak and worthless dandy until you found out about Zorro!"

"That is what you led me to think!" Alejandro cried.

Diego nodded. "But I hardly want a relationship with my wife built around that! What do you expect her to think? And what do you expect me to do with her all day long, read poetry to her?"

"Yes, that is what women like!" Alejandro said. 

Diego rolled his eyes. "You do not know Elizabeth!" he said.

"You do all the things a young couple should do. What do you do with her now? You ride with her, you take her to dinner, you tell her stories, you laugh at her jokes, you tell her she is beautiful...what place does Zorro have in all this?"

Diego shook his head. "You're making it sound like a fairy tale!" he said. "She's intelligent! She's educated! Granted, her Spanish is still a little thin, but it isn't her first language! She's beautiful, she has passion, she's so full of life, she deserves to be with someone who is her equal and can do exactly what you say, which is give her attention, and love!"

Alejandro looked at his son in amazement. "You're in love with her, aren't you?" he asked.

Diego turned his back. "I want what is best for her," he said quietly.

"You're in love with her!"

"I want what is best for her," he repeated, "and that includes being with a man she live with fully, without secrets. Don't you understand what you're asking me to do here?"

"Diego, this will be less of a strain than you think," Alejandro said.

"You don't know her," he repeated. "And I am beginning to wonder if you know me."

Now Alejandro became exasperated. "This is the second time we have argued about this," he said, "and there won't be a third. Your feelings about her will change over time, Diego, I promise you that. You want her now, because you aren't married yet, but once you have her she will become something different to you."

Diego could not imagine that.

"Zorro's work," his father continued, "will not change, and you must continue to protect the secret, for the sake of justice and the people, and also for Elizabeth's sake! It is too risky in too many ways. You will find a way to work around it, I feel certain."

"Usually I agree with you, Father, but on this matter I think you are wrong."

"Diego, I require you to give me your solemn word that you will not compromise Zorro with this marriage."

"If I do not compromise Zorro, I compromise Elizabeth. And myself. How can you ask that of me?"

"It is not a compromise to stay several steps ahead of your wife! Now, give me your word!"

"I can't promise it. I am trying what you ask. It is very hard."

"Promise me!" 

Diego swallowed. He knew how intractable his father could be, and he knew he would never give in on this matter. "I promise you," he said, "that I will do all I can to protect the secret of Zorro."

"Good!" Alejandro said. "That does it! Now. Let's go down for supper, and then we can to over to the Matteos for a brandy and you can serenade Elizabeth."

Diego watched as his father went upstairs to change clothes, passing Bernardo who was coming down at the same time. "Serenade her," Diego muttered. He looked at his cigar, and then stubbed it out. "I can't win," he said to Bernardo. "I've found a woman finer than any I ever met or imagined , but I can't let her know who I am without breaking a promise my father just extracted! And the who I am is who she wants, but now I can't ever give him to her!"

Bernardo looked at him sympathetically. He pointed at Diego and then acted out dancing, holding a beautiful girl.

"Take her dancing," Diego said. "Father says serenade her, you want me to dance with her. And what do you think she wants, Bernardo?"

Bernardo hesitated, and then made the sign of the "Z."

"That's right," Diego said. "And how Zorro wants her."

***

Elizabeth, for her part, struggled mightily with her own misery. She could not bring herself to talk frankly with her father about her feelings, she knew too well both her duty and also the commitment he felt to tying the Matteo family to the de la Vegas. She could see, too, that for all their bickering, Carlos and Alejandro were becoming great friends. She would do nothing to weaken or strain the bond growing between them. For the first time in the year since her mother died, she regularly heard excitement and delight in her father's voice. 

How it all made her miss her mother, who always had a good and well-placed word in times of crisis. She lay on her bed on the very evening Diego and his father were, across the arroyos, arguing about her, and closed her eyes to summon her mother's spirit. 
"What do I do, Mommie?" she asked, reverting into English. "Diego is so kind, and so gentle, but it is Zorro that I love."

A breeze rustled her curtains, and she could imagine her mother softly entering the room with her light, firm step. "Tell me, Elizabeth, why it troubles you so to marry such a fine man as Diego de la Vega. Are you so proud and so foolish and so blind to believe that he cannot be all that you need in a husband?"

"But he's...he doesn't make me feel the way Zorro does."

"Elizabeth," her mother whispered, leaning over her, "Zorro is made up. He lives in everyone's imagination. He isn't real."

"But he is real, Mommie, I have touched him. He held me, he kissed me!"

"Someone kissed you," her mother said, "but he was only a man. Don't lose Diego over a legend, my sweet."

"I can't help how I feel!" Elizabeth insisted.

"Elizabeth," her mother said, "trust him."

Elizabeth sat up and, opening her eyes, looked around. The room was empty, the light breeze and low evening light in the window. "Trust him?" she said. "Trust...Diego? Trust...Zorro?"

Then as if from a high and lonely mountain, she heard a whisper again, "Trust him."

***

That night, Diego and Alejandro appeared at Casa Matteo well after the darkness fell, for brandy and cigars. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen when they arrived, so Diego proceeded to join the older men rather than sit in the courtyard with her, which was his custom. When half an hour passed and she still had not appeared, he asked Carlos, "Where is Elizabeth? Usually she has come down by now?"

"Oh," Carlos said, "I think she's still up in her room, Diego. Go up and find her."

Diego frowned. "But that would hardly be proper."

"You're about to marry her, boy, I think it's all right for you to show up on her doorstep!"

Diego looked at his father, who waved him on, so he excused himself and went up the stairs. He then proceeded down the balcony and, stopping, knocked on a door. He waited. Nothing happened. He knocked again. "Elizabeth?" he said tentatively. He knocked again. "Elizabeth? It's Diego."

The next door opened and she peered out curiously.

"Oh!" he laughed, embarrassed. "I was off by one door." He approached her. "We arrived a while ago and you didn't come down...your father encouraged me to find you."

She stepped back and opened the door to her room. "Come in," she said.

He hesitated, but then walked in, looking around at the furniture. The bedspread was white, there was a heavy dresser, chairs, a doorway leading out to the outer balcony. He had been in this room before, but only briefly, and in darkness. He glanced at the small desk in the corner, to see a sheet of paper with "Z" written on it in various scripts and sizes.

"Let's sit outside," he suggested, going out the balcony door. She followed.

"What a lovely night," he said. He looked up at the stars.

"Yes," she said, "I've been out here watching the sky light up." She sat on the bench, and he joined her. "If we were in Boston, we would be sitting on a..." she searched for the Spanish words, " porch swing," she said in English.

"A porch swing?" he repeated her English. " I've never heard of that."

"It's hung from the ceiling on ropes, and it swings back and forth. Very soothing."

"I should like to try it some time," he said. Pointing, he then said, "There is Casseopia, and there," he lowered his arm, "Orion. Up there," he pointed directly above, "the Northern Cross. You see it?"

She looked up high. "Yes. I didn't know you knew the stars, Diego."

"One of the many things I studied in Spain," he said. "Look, there.." he pointed above the western horizon. "The evening star. They say if you make a wish on it, your wish will come true."

She looked out at the star, and then up into his face. "What is your wish, Diego?" she asked.

He looked at her, and said, "I wish us many years of happiness together, and many healthy children as beautiful as their mother." She stared at him for a moment, and then broke the gaze. "What do you wish?" he asked.

"I can hardly improve on yours," she said.

"But is your wish the same as mine?"

She looked at the star, and in her heart she wished for Zorro. Then, to Diego, she said, "I wish I were worthy of you."

Diego smiled rather sadly, for he had already read her mind. He touched her cheek with the tip of his finger. "Don't be hard on yourself," he said. "Perhaps your dream will come true in ways you cannot imagine." He paused, fearing he had said too much. Still he plunged on. "Perhaps we have more in common than you may realize," he added.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Every heart has its silent places," he told her. "The places where we put the things we share with no one."

"Are you saying you have secrets, Diego?" she asked, mischief creeping into her voice.

"I'm saying," he said, responding lightly to her flirtation, "that it will take us time to know one another, and that I think we both may be in for surprises."

"Good surprises?" she asked.

"Surely," he said. "Bad ones are possible, too, but we must hope our luck together is largely good."

She looked back out at the star, and felt his finger fall away from her face. "Happiness is such a dangerous wish," she said. "It is so unreliable."

"We make our own happiness," Diego said, "Just as we make our own trouble."

"Do you believe that? Do you believe nothing happens to us which is beyond what we choose?"

"Oh, no, of course I believe in accident and the unexpected. Those are the things that make life interesting. But I also think we chose more than we sometimes credit ourselves for, in terms of what we make of life....and in terms of who we love."

She shook her head. "I'm not sure we can choose that," she said. Then she remembered her mother's words, "trust him." She looked again at Diego, and saw how handsome he was, and the look of earnest hope on his face. "I don't want to let you down," she said.

"Then you won't," he told her. "And somehow we will manage, with all of this."

After thinking a moment, she said, "Diego."

"Yes?"

"Let's get married soon."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, let's just go ahead, we might as well get on with it."

"But I imagined you'd want more time, your father seemed to think..."

"It won't make any difference," she said.

He was not sure he liked that answer, but he was happy with the energy in her voice. "Well, how soon?"

She thought. "A month," she said.

"A month?" he repeated. "Well, this is a surprise."

"You said we would have them."

"So I did, but..."

"I can get the trousseau ready in that time, you can arrange our trip...and," she giggled, "it will keep Daddy busy, organizing the dowry."

"Elizabeth, is this really what you want?" he asked, taking her hand. "Once we marry, there's no turning back, no matter what we find."

She looked at him quizzically. "Don't you want to go ahead? Now it is you who are hesitating."

"Oh, no hesitation,' he said, kissing her hand. "If a month is what you want, a month away it is."

"Good, then let's go tell Alejandro and Daddy," she said, standing up and leading him by the hand.

"Wait," he said, stopping her and taking her by the arm.

She stopped, and looking up at him, she waited.

"There's something I should do," he said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a golden ring. In it was a sparkling tear-shaped diamond in a setting of ruby chips. "This was my mother's," he said. "Now it will be yours." He slipped it onto her ring finger, to see that the fit was perfect. 

"Oh, Diego," she said, staring down at it. "It's...beautiful." She looked up at him.

"There's something else I should do," he said. He took her by the arms, bent over, and kissed her lips lightly.

She felt instantly confused, and froze, doing nothing to return his move. What instantly came into her consciousness was Zorro's lips, and the way they had poured hungrily over hers even as he held her against his strong chest.

There was an awkward pause, and then Diego gestured for her to go ahead of him. As she walked away, he shook his head, feeling his heart sink. He took a deep breath, and followed her.

***

In a vigorously negotiated compromise between Alejandro and Carlos, the wedding was set for six weeks away. Elizabeth spent most of her time preparing her trousseau, overseeing the creation of the wedding dress, planning the parties that would lead to the wedding, and packing things to be shipped back to the de la Vega hacienda where she would resume residence once she and Diego were married. This decision, too, was reached after lengthy debate between the fathers, as Carlos had assumed Diego would take up his own hacienda once the marriage was made. Alejandro, on the other hand, was resolute in his feeling that the de la Vegas had one hacienda and one rancho, which would be Diego's in due course. Elizabeth and Diego chose to steer clear of the debate, agreeing that where they lived was less important than keeping their neutrality in the ongoing and at times fiery debates between their fathers. 

Though the sadness never entirely left Elizabeth, her energy reasserted itself in the activities surrounding wedding preparations. This eased Don Carlos's worries greatly. Diego visited her every day, taking her on carriage rides into the hills or long evening walks, or horseback rides into the arroyos beyond the mountain pass. Apart from an occasional kiss on the cheek, or keeping her hand tucked in the crook of his arm, he showed no ardor, and asked nothing of her but her company. She came to enjoy his attention and relax in his presence, as she had when they first were getting to know one another. Laughter slowly crept back into her way of being with him and seeing life. They did not revisit the subject of her feelings again. Instead, Diego kept things in the moment and delighted her with his sleight-of-hand magic tricks, his singing, his long stories of growing up with his Indian boyhood friend, Windhawk, and his skill with horses.

Don Alejandro decided to throw a huge dinner party the night before the wedding. A rumor surfaced early that week, no one could trace from where though some evidence pointed to Sgt Garcia, that Zorro would appear to at the party to kidnap Elizabeth. Confronted privately by a visibly upset Diego, Garcia backpedaled furiously, with "All I said was that he seemed to like to carry off with her, and this would certainly be an auspicious time to do so. It was a joke, Don Diego, we all know Zorro does not do this."

"That's not what you were saying the first time he found her on the road," Diego said, genuinely angry. He could tell no one of his fear that this rumor would reach Elizabeth and shatter the sweet but delicate balance they'd managed to achieve over the last month thanks largely, he feared, to Zorro's exceptionally low profile. 

"Well you have to admit, he did seem to like her," Garcia said.

Diego restrained himself from socking the Sergeant. "She's easy to like," he said.

"She certainly is, she is lovely and you are a very lucky man, Don Diego," the Sergeant said. 

Empty-handed after his confrontation with Garcia, Diego cornered Bernardo to see if he knew whether or not Elizabeth was aware of this rumor. Bernardo shrugged, Diego pressed, and finally the mute nodded, that, indeed, he had heard Maria talking with Elizabeth about it. 

"How was she taking it?" Diego asked, after cursing.

Bernardo shrugged again, but then made his sign for Elizabeth, pointing at Diego and then the third finger of his own left hand, and pointed at the hillside overlooking the remains of the de la Vega flower gardens. 

"She's gone up there? Alone?" Diego asked. "I must speak to her, this is a hope she must not harbor."

Bernardo nodded. He then made a "Z" questioningly, and Diego said, "No, this is not a job for Zorro, my friend."

He found her under a grove of live oaks on the hill, gazing out across the vista, the breeze catching her hair. She was so lost in thought that when he sat down beside her, she started.

"Diego! You can appear so silently," she said.

"I was singing loudly to you as I came up the path," he said, "didn't you hear me?"

She looked at him in disbelief, and then realized he was teasing her. She pushed his arm playfully. "You are a jester sometimes."

"And you..." he took her in with his eyes, "you are so beautiful this afternoon, I am nearly blinded." This made her look down, though he could see the hint of a smile. He lifted her chin with his finger, and their eyes met. He lowered his head spontaneously and kissed her lips lightly but in a slightly lingering way. To his surprise, her hand came up to his face and she returned the kiss. Then they both leaned away, looking at each other, at a loss for what to say.

Diego recovered ahead of her, saying, "I have dreamed of this moment."

She looked away, and he reached over and stroked her hair with his hand.

"You touch me so seldom," she said.

"It's not because I don't want to," he replied.

She felt shaken and confused. She had come to the garden overlook to think about Zorro, to indulge in her hope that the rumor he would appear at the party was true. Perhaps he would reveal himself ...perhaps...he would spirit her away. Yet here was Diego, the man to become her husband a day hence, and the kiss he gave her was sweeter than she imagined possible.

"I don't know what to say," she said.

"Come here," he said, sliding his arm around her and pulling her close, so that her back leaned into his chest, her head resting against his shoulder. "Perhaps we just need some practice with this." He looked across the vista. "Look out there," he said. "This is our home. The wild places and the grasslands and the river. We'll make it whatever we want it to be."

She relaxed and let herself lean into him, shutting her eyes and feeling the breeze cool her face. She could feel his breathing, and smell the cologne he always wore. She had always thought of Diego as somehow soft, but this close to him, she felt his leanness, the muscle underneath the ruffled shirt. With her eyes closed, it felt almost the way it felt when she rode in front of Zorro the night he found her on the road.

She felt Diego's cheek beside hers, and then his lips on her neck. It was arousing, to both of them. His arms came more tightly around her, and he leaned back slowly, turning her to face him so they were lying side by side on the grassy hillside. Face to face now, embraced, he touched her cheek.

"I want to kiss you again," he said.

She ran her finger over his lips, and touched his moustache. "Then kiss me," she said, and he did, more deeply this time. It had fire in it, a passion she never sensed in him before. Her hand slid up his shirt, and she felt his heart pounding beneath his clothes.

The intimacy suddenly became too much, too confusing, and she pulled away and sat up. "I can't, Diego," she said. "I'm sorry."

He sat up too, unable to hide his disappointment. But he made no further move towards her, accepting her decision. They sat there in silence for some time.

"What did you come up here for?" she asked.

"Oh," he said, remembering what brought him out to find her. "I wanted to know if you had heard the rumor floating around, about a surprise, shall we say, guest? At the party?"

"Zorro," she said.

"I think someone made this up," he said. "I wanted to assure you there won't be any such visit."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because there would be no reason for Zorro to come. He doesn't...socialize." He thought about what to say next, and added, "and he doesn't have a reputation for stealing women who are...already committed."

"No, I don't suppose he does," Elizabeth said, remembering Zorro's wish for happiness for her. But how would he have known that she was about to be betrothed?

"Elizabeth, it isn't too late to call this off," Diego said to her. "I don't want you to be miserable."

"I won't be," she lied.

He got up and straightened his clothing. "I have to go back," he said. "I'll see you at dinner." With that he left her alone with her dreams and confusion.

***

The wedding eve dinner was noisy, festive, and lasted later than anyone planned. Elizabeth moved through the evening with a smile frozen on her face, and by the third of many courses Diego's misery was such that he began consuming wine without restraint. Alejandro was far too busy entertaining the other dons and their families to notice this, but others could see it and began to whisper. Bernardo saw what was happening and twice pulled his master aside to admonish him and discourage further indulgence.

"What difference does it make?" Diego asked, at the second confrontation. Bernardo had pulled him from the courtyard into the sala. "Look at her! It's like she's the walking dead! I tell you, this whole marriage is a mistake and will turn into a disaster." 

Bernardo nodded, pointing at a wine bottle and then at Diego.

"No, not because I'm drowning my sorrows in this!" Diego snapped. "It's because..." he sat down, suddenly overwhelmed. "She doesn't want me," he said softly, in utter defeat. "She'll go through with it, but..."

Bernardo pointed at him again, made the letter "Z" in the air, and pointed yet again at him.

"Yes, I'm Zorro, but what good does that do me? Or her?" he asked. "She doesn't know! And I can't tell her! Oh, God," he said, covering his face with his hand. "How can it come to this?" Suddenly he stood up. "I have to tell her," he said with sudden resolution.

Bernardo looked alarmed. He made the gesture of a beard and a fierce face, and pointed outside.

"Yes, I know it will make my father furious," Diego said. "But..." he stopped in mid-sentence as they both heard a shout and a commotion out in the courtyard. They ran to the window, to see robbers holding the guests at gunpoint.

"Diablo!" Diego whispered tersely. "Quick, blow out the candles in here."

Bernardo did so, and they watched from the darkness as the three bandits walked among the guests, Diablo demanding jewelry from the women and money pouches from the men. Bernardo had to restrain Diego physically when Diablo approached Elizabeth, burst out laughing, and then said something to her as she threw the ring Diego had given her into the pouch. They could not hear what he said, they could only see the look of anger and resignation on Elizabeth's face as she parted with the ring. They watched as he retrieved it from the pouch, and with great laughter shoved it onto his little finger, waving it in her face.

"I think Zorro will have to appear at this party after all," Diego said fiercely, coming back to his senses. With that, they opened the secret passage in the sala cupboard and raced upstairs.

***

Diablo was taking his time collecting his treasures, and was getting great pleasure from provoking so much terror among Los Angeles's finest. The jewelry he was acquiring was spectacular, and his gamble that Zorro was too much of a gentleman to crash his girlfriend's wedding party proved winning. He had only brought two additional men, he'd been so confident. As he looked around at the quaking guests and at Sgt Garcia and Cpl Reyes, tied up together on a bench in humiliation, he burst out laughing. It was at this moment that he faced Elizabeth Matteo.

"So where is your El Zorro now, Senorita?" he snarled, indicating her ring. She pulled it off her finger and dropped it into his pouch. "And where is that coward you're about to marry? I've been watching him tonight and he must be off puking, he's been drinking so much. Probably terrified of the wedding night? Maybe I should warm you up a bit for him? Take care of basics?"

At this point, Alejandro bounded forward. "Enough!" he cried.

"What do you think, old man?" asked Diablo, pointing his pistol at Diego's father. "Do you think you can stop me? Will it ruin the dowry, to spoil your son's wedding night? Was that part of your deal? Your boy gets a virgin?"

One of the ladies at the party fell into a dead faint, overcome by such talk on top of surrendering her diamond necklace and wedding rings. This caused a flurry of activity and in the distraction a pistol went off. 

Diablo turned around to see that one of his men had shot his gun into the air. "Idiot!" he exclaimed. "Wasting shots!"

From nowhere, a dark-clad figure bolted into the middle of the courtyard and everyone scattered as a bullwhip slashed across the patio, disarming the second bandit. 

"Zorro!" Alejandro cried, stepping back.

"I am sorry to crash your party, Senor, but it appears you can use the help," Zorro said, his sword drawn. Several of the men subdued Diablo's bandits, but to everyone's horror, Diablo himself had grabbed Elizabeth and was now holding his pistol to her head.

"Don't think I won't pull the trigger," he said to Zorro, backing towards the hacienda courtyard gate, pulling Elizabeth with him. She was struggling unsuccessfully in his grip.

"Your quarrel is not with her, let her go," Zorro said, slowly following, his sword making slow circles in the air. "I warn you, Diablo, you will regret it with your life if any harm comes to her. Any harm."

"What a fool you must take me for," Diablo laughed, continuing to pull Elizabeth away. "Now, drop your sword, senor, or you will be signing this little treasure's death warrant. I mean it!"

Zorro dropped his sword.

"The whip, too. Throw it down."

Zorro pulled the whip from his sash and tossed it aside. 

"Now then," Diablo said, at the gate. "If you value her life, you will not follow me!" With that, he pulled her through the gate and shoved it shut. Beyond the walls they could hear a horse's hooves. They quickly became faint.

Zorro retrieved his sword and whip, and looked over at Carlos Matteo.

"Save her!" Elizabeth's father cried.

Zorro nodded, and bounded across the courtyard and up over the wall. Again the sound of a horse's hooves echoed across the walls of the hacienda as El Zorro raced into the night. Garcia and Reyes, by now released from their bonds, took custody of the two remaining bandits. Everyone else ran out the gate to look in the direction that Diablo, Elizabeth and Zorro had gone.

"Do you think he'll catch them, Sergeant?" Reyes asked.

"Oh, si," Garcia answered, giving one o f the bandits a kick to encourage cooperation. "I just hope he catches them before Diablo can do Senorita Elizabeth any damage." He looked around. "Poor Don Diego, I suppose it is just as well that he is sleeping through all of this. There is something to be said for drunken stupor sometimes."

***

Thanks to Tornado's unmatchable speed, Zorro caught up to Diablo quickly and managed to draw out the one pistol shot the bandit had, to no consequence. He raced just behind Diablo, reluctant to jump onto him as he otherwise would do, for he feared hurting Elizabeth in the inevitable fall that would occur. 

Sizing up the situation, with Zorro on his tail, Diablo knew the girl was now a liability and that he would never escape with her on his horse. On the other hand, if he dumped her off, Zorro would probably give up the chase long enough to make sure she was all right. Realizing that, he shoved Elizabeth off his horse and continued riding hard, gaining speed without the extra weight.

As Diablo anticipated, Zorro yanked Tornado to a stop as soon as he saw Elizabeth fall. He jumped off the horse and ran to her. "Senorita!" he said, bending down over her.

She was coughing and gasping in the dust, the landing having knocked the wind out of her. "I'm... ....all...right..." she gasped, trying to sit up.

"Are you sure? Is anything broken?" he asked, his gloved hands running quickly down both of her arms and up from her ankles to her knees.

"No, really," she said, getting her breath. "I'm all right." She looked at him, on his knees beside her, his hand still on her calf. He looked down at where he touched her and removed his hand quickly.

"I think that once again you have been lucky," he said.

"Only because I have so faithful a protector," she said, her hand coming to his face.

He stood up rapidly, and offered his hand to help her up. She accepted it, and got to her feet. Again he released her quickly. "I would take you back to your hacienda," he said, "but they're coming for you already." They could see torchlights and hear horses approaching in the distance.

Elizabeth saw that they were still some way off.

"Besides," he said, whistling for his horse. "I still have a bandit to capture."

"Oh, please don't leave me here," she said, grabbing his arm. "Please don't leave me."

He looked down into her face, and she up into his. He saw what she was saying to him.

"Senorita, you are spoken for," he said softly.

"I'm not married yet," she said, her arms coming up around his neck.

He succumbed, lifting her up against him, pressing his lips over hers and feeling her mouth open. It set them both on fire. He kissed her deeply.

"I love you," she whispered, when he finally broke away. She was clinging to him with all her strength.

"Oh, senorita," he said sadly, slowly releasing her and holding her at arm's length. "You must not feel this way. Senor de la Vega is a far better soul than I."

She began to cry. "But I love you," she wept.

Torn between his own impulses and a promise he had made, Zorro shut his eyes in pain. Then he looked at her again. "Here, let me give you something," he said, and reaching behind his neck he pulled a gold chain and medallion over his head. "It is my wedding present to you," he said, putting it over her head and around her neck. "Wear it as protection, and know I will always watch out for you.""

She looked down at the gold piece on the golden chain, and then back up at him, her eyes still full of tears. "What is it?" she asked.

"Give de la Vega a chance," he said softly. "He may surprise you."

"Surprise me?" she said, thrown into new confusion. 

"Si, senorita." He kissed her cheek and backed away. "Remember, I will always watch out for you," he said, and with that he turned and ran towards Tornado, leaped onto his back, and with a salute he rode away.

***

Hours later, Elizabeth lay awake in her bed, again tortured by the memory of being in Zorro's arms. Despite the robbery and what Alejandro described as Diego's "indisposition," the wedding would go on as planned. She was so wrapped in her misery and longing that she gave little thought to the fact that Diego had not even checked to make sure she was unhurt, nor wished her goodnight, when she finally retired.

Some miles away in the cuartel, Diablo was stewing in a jail cell along with his two banditos. El Zorro had caught up with him and, absent the girl, had lept off his horse, knocked Diablo to the ground from a dead gallop, and wrestled him into submission. After tying the bandit's hands, he had yanked Elizabeth's ring off Diablo's finger. 

"This will be returned to it's owner," he said, "along with all the other jewelry." With that he had left Diablo in the darkness for half an hour while chasing his horse and thus the pouch with all the jewelry and money. 

When Zorro handed Diablo over to Sgt Garcia, who tried unsuccessfully to persuade the masked man to turn himself in as well, he gave the Sergeant a warning. "I expect every single piece to be returned to its proper owner," he said.

"Si, Senor Zorro," Garcia had replied. 

"If I hear of anything that is not returned, I will carve a new 'Z' on you, and it will not be on your clothes!" he said.

"Si, Senor Zorro!" Garcia answered, alarmed. 

With that, El Zorro had disappeared into the night. Once Garcia was able to go through the jewelry and return it, he was horrified to discover that Elizabeth's ring simply was not to be had. He spent many nights thereafter fearing that Zorro would appear to exact his punishment.



Chapter Four - Suaviter In Modo, Fortiter in Re

By all accounts afterwards, the wedding of Diego de la Vega and Elizabeth Matteo was one of the finest social events in the history of the pueblo of Los Angeles. In keeping with tradition, Diego did not see her that Saturday until she appeared in the church on her father's arm. Her gown of white Spanish lace was spectacular, and she wore gardenias in her hair. When Diego lifted her veil to kiss her after the pronouncement, he saw a golden chain glistening around her neck, and tears shining in her eyes. He knew instantly who the tears were for. He brushed his lips lightly over hers before taking her hand to return down the aisle as husband and wife. At the party afterwards, they both maintained smiles as they went about greeting the guests, and had two dances together before retiring in a carriage, heading for the tiny house on the de la Vega ranch that had been prepared for their wedding night. Alejandro had wanted Diego to go to the place where he and his bride, Matilde, had gone for their honeymoon, but Diego would have none of it. He already knew it would not be a happy night, and he blamed himself. He had kissed her, as Zorro, the night before their wedding. It doomed all the progress he had made as Diego, and he knew it.

***

The carriage ride was silent. They had interacted lightly and warmly in public. Now with no audience they were both gloomy. Diego knew, miserably, that the only way the marriage would be consummated would be if he insisted, which amounted to forcing her. Her grief over Zorro had clearly returned, and he had no way of breaking past it. Elizabeth, in her own misery, was afraid of what Diego would expect of her once they reached their destination. Until now she had always been able to trust his deference to her moods and wishes, but now he was her legally husband, and had his rights. She did not feel afraid of the act itself, but she couldn't bring herself to consider the intimacies of the marriage bed with Diego right now. She wanted only to see Zorro again. Her tears at the wedding had been born of the realization, near the end of the ceremony, that he would not intercede.

They stopped at the little house, which had been festively decorated that morning and was now lit with dozens of tiny candles shimmering in the windows. Smoke rose out of the chimney, a small fire had been set in the fireplace to ward off the night chill. Diego knew this was Bernardo's touch, and that his servant was probably still nearby but discreetly making his way back to the hacienda. He stepped out of the carriage, walked around, and helped her out, still in her wedding dress. He gestured for her to go ahead, making no move to lift her up and carry her over the threshold.

She entered the house, finding the candlelight flickering all over the walls. Gardenias were everywhere. The huge bed was lavishly made with linen sheets and a green silk brocade spread. 

Diego entered behind her, shut the door, and sank wearily into one of the two chairs beside the fireplace, his long legs spread wide, his boot heels dug into the floor. 

Elizabeth, not knowing what to do, came over to sit in the other chair, and watched him stare into the fire. Despite his rather famous hangover, he had been completely elegant all day long. Now she could see the exhaustion of a performance well-given.

"Such a beautiful setting," she murmured.

"After such a day of theater," he finished. He looked over at her. "Aren't you going to change?"

The look she gave him in response caused him to wave his hand with some annoyance, though his exhaustion remained his primary shroud. "Oh, don't worry," he said. Then he sat up, and collected himself. "You will never find me in your bed unless you make it known that I'm welcome there." With that he stood up, bent over and kissed her hair, the scent of gardenias filling his nostrils. "I'll sleep outside tonight," he said. "We'll leave on our trip tomorrow, and I'll leave word with Bernardo to open the west rooms in the house for us once we return."

The chain around her neck glimmered in the firelight as he leaned over her. "What is this?" he asked, touching it.

"A wedding gift," she answered, putting her hand over it.

"From...? I haven't seen you wear it before."

"It was given to me last night, while you were indisposed."

"Ah," said Diego. "Well, it's very beautiful. It becomes you."

"I'm glad you like it," she said, "because I will always wear it."

"I see," he said, stepping away from her.

Elizabeth felt so muddled that her only wish was to go to sleep for a hundred years. Despite her rejection, Diego already was plotting a way to preserve their dignity without making demands of her, she realized. Clearly he guessed where the chain had come from. And being in those rooms on the far side of the house, rather than in his room in the center, would give them sufficient privacy to sleep separately if they so wished. This was so generous that, had it not been for that one long kiss on the garden hillside, and feeling his heart pounding under her hand, she would have been sure he did not want her at all.

"Diego," she said. He stopped at the door. She gestured at the bed. "The servants..."

He knew immediately what she referred to and paused, absorbing it. "I'll burn the sheets in the morning," he said. "They will think I did it to keep what happened between us our own."

***

Their honeymoon trip was nothing short of a disaster. Bernardo arrived the next morning in a large carriage and, according to the plan, drove them to San Juan Capistrano to an Inn beside the mission. Elizabeth was talkative enough on the trip, observing new sights and commenting on them, that Diego had a surge of hope that they would find a rapprochement that would lead to intimacies once they got away from Los Angeles. His hopes were dashed when they entered their large suite and Elizabeth, looking about, said, "oh, good," on seeing two rooms. Then she looked at him sadly and said, "I'm sorry, I just can't."

"Am I to have Zorro for a rival for the rest of my life?" he asked her.

She simply turned away from him and began unpacking her things, sniffling back her tears. 

"Oh, Elizabeth!" he had said, touching her by the shoulder. She shrugged him off, a gesture so hurtful to him that he left the room without a word and went downstairs to the Tavern. 

Aware that gossip traveled rapidly up and down the Camino Real, they were more or less trapped in the room except for Diego's occasional withdrawals to the Tavern. They ate meals together there, and departed for periodic walks or rides around the mission and surrounding countryside. Elizabeth remained withdrawn, despite his occasional attempts to lighten the mood with stories about growing up among the Chumash Indian boys or attempts to cajole her into a better mood. After several leaden days he gave up.

She kept looking out the window, agonizing over the situation and wishing desperately for Zorro to appear despite the fact that she knew he was honorable and would not. She could not reconcile herself to the permanence of her vows to Diego, and some part of her felt that as long as the marriage was not consummated, it didn't really count. She even contemplated the prospect of annulment eventually, and as long as Diego did not claim his conjugal rights, an annulment through the Church was possible. She could not bring herself to talk about any of it, which only increased the mass of misery in her heart. Meanwhile, he looked at her over their meals, or across the room in their suite, wishing he were dead and cursing himself for the promise he had made to his father. He even considered approaching her as Zorro, but no matter how he considered the situation it resulted in either betrayal or rejection. 

After a week of this hell, they returned in dark silence to the de la Vega rancho, and spoke little of their time away together. At least in Los Angeles they could pursue their separate interests.

***

Hacienda life involves close quarters, and it became a subject of talk among the servants when so much nightly silence characterized the rooms of the young de la Vegas. No muffled laughter, no sounds of intimacy floated into the night air as the weeks went by. Some suggested they were simply not noisemakers, others speculated that the rumors about Elizabeth's relationship with Zorro were true. No one, of course, breathed a word to their masters about this, and it was assumed that Bernardo couldn't hear the talk. That he did, and reported it to Diego, was a matter the two men kept between them. Alejandro was so delighted that the wedding had taken place as planned, and that the two of them were now under his roof, that he let himself be lost in the distractions of running the ranch and investing the money Elizabeth's dowry had brought the family. 

As Diego had hoped, his father had allowed them the far end of the house, assuming they wanted the privacy if for reasons different than the reality Diego found himself in. They made their sleeping arrangements in a suite of rooms that allowed Elizabeth the larger room and more sumptuous bed, while Diego slept -- on the nights he was there at all -- in an adjacent sitting room on a daybed. Elizabeth didn't question him about his frequent disappearances, assuming that he was getting his needs met in some way she did not want to hear about. She simply could not bring herself to accept him into her bed.

Meanwhile, Zorro began to appear more frequently in nightly encounters with bandits, making daring interventions in the cause of justice. He foiled two stagecoach robberies, retrieved a missing child from the hills, and twice managed to get Sgt Garcia out of hot water in mishaps connected to two attempted escapes from the garrison. One night he entertained himself with another spree of slicing "Z"s into the lancers' trousers and hoisting them along a string in front of the jail. Diablo languished there, awaiting an escort to Monterey where he would be tried. His banditos still on the loose managed on two occasions to slip past the guards to release their leader. In both instances Zorro stopped them and re-escorted Diablo back to the jail. 

Diego and Elizabeth both avoided the subject of Zorro, but through Maria and the other servants, as well as conversations with the women and storekeepers in the pueblo, Elizabeth was able to follow the news of his exploits. Her avid interest only fueled more speculation that Diego was suffering in the shadow of the masked man. Everyone observed Elizabeth frequently on the hillside above the garden, and it was said that she waited there for El Zorro. 

Without knowing it, Elizabeth was under Bernardo's watchful eye most of the time. It was the mute servant who kept Diego informed about her doings and withdrawals. It was only to Bernardo that Diego regularly confided the painful situation in which he found himself, gaining both sympathy and Bernardo's continued loyalty in supporting Zorro's efforts on behalf of the people. The one thing Bernardo was short on was advice. 

Nearly a month into what Diego came to refer to as "this accursed situation," Bernardo saw him ride into the stable and waved him over. He then pointed towards the hill, to indicate that Elizabeth was up there watching the horizon. Diego said thank you, and on impulse rode up to where she sat in the grass. He dismounted.

"We need to talk," he said.

"About what?"

"Surely you can't find this 'arrangement' any more tolerable than I do," he said.

"You seem to be dealing with it," she retorted. He had paid no attention to her at all in recent days, and had been gone every night for over a week.

"What do you mean?" he snapped.

"You can't think I don't know you leave every night," she said.

"What difference does it make?" he asked. "You don't want me with you."

"Well, you're doing what you need, in light of it," she said.

He let that sink in, and then said, "You think I'm with another woman?"

She looked down, pulling a blade of grass, and after a pause said, "Where else would you be?"

"You think I'm with another woman!?" he repeated, shouting and truly enraged. "You think that's where I go at night?"

She was shocked at his anger. She'd never seen it before and it spilled out a power in him that was foreign and frightened her. At the same time, it angered her that he would respond so indignantly to an accusation of the obvious.

"I would never have said anything," she told him.

"You just did!" he shouted. He got back onto his horse. "Elizabeth, you are a fool," he said. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."

She stood up. "I also know what I'm not dealing with!" she shouted back, becoming tearful.

"Do you mean 'what,' or 'who?'" he coldly answered, and taking a swift turn he spurred the horse down the hill.

Elizabeth sat back down and held her head in her hands, bursting into tears. She was suddenly convinced that her life was ruined, that she would never see Zorro again, and that Diego now firmly hated her, for refusing him and then insulting him by trying to make him feel guilty. How she longed for Zorro to ride up the hillside, lift her up gently, hold her close, take her away on Tornado to a safe place where ... where what? she thought. How could I live with a man who is outside the law? This question only deepened her misery. As she sat there she realized how ridiculous her hopes were, what a dead end they led to. She could not deny her feelings or the intense attraction she felt to the masked man. But in that moment on the hillside, she realized that this could not continue. She had incensed the one true ally she had. She realized that somehow she had to pull herself together and make peace with him, whatever it took.

Though she sought him everywhere, Elizabeth could not find him. He wasn't in the stable or at the house. She rode into town to learn he hadn't been seen there all day. The stir in town was talk that another break-out attempt would be made that night by Diablo, so the lancers were on high alert.

"You must be very careful, senora," Sgt Garcia told her, after assuring her he had not seen Diego anywhere. "To tell you the truth, I hope Zorro is around tonight. Diablo's gang is very strong and we can use all the help we can get. We have our swords and guns, but we need Zorro's cunning. I will be glad when we get this devil up to Monterey and they hang him! He is a horse thief and a robber, and probably a murderer too. Go home, senora, while it is still light."

All Elizabeth heard was, "I hope Zorro is around tonight." It re-raised her turmoil. Perhaps, she thought, if she could see him again, she could somehow put things to rest inside herself. So, she resolved to return after dark and hide in the garrison, in hope of confronting him.

***

Diego did not appear for dinner that evening, leaving Elizabeth more deeply remorseful about their argument and more resolved to see Zorro that night and make peace with her demons. She excused herself early, and quietly stole to the stable to saddle Cloud Dancer. Diego had given her the mare as a wedding present. In the early darkness, she made her way into the pueblo and the garrison, and hid in the loft of the lancers' stable, where she found a good view of the entire compound through the upper hay door. She waited there for several hours, watching the lancers go about their tasks, watching the guard change, and finally dozing off in the straw.

Unknown to her, Bernardo had followed her, noted her location, and was now on a desperate search to alert Diego that she was there. After several futile rides around the pueblo and checking several rooftops he knew Zorro sometimes used as hiding places, he finally gave up and entered the Tavern on the chance that Sgt Garcia might have seen Diego recently. There, to his consternation, he found his master sitting alone at a table with what was certainly not his first glass of wine. Bernardo approached him, both appalled and 

frantic, gesturing him to come outside.

"I'm staying here," Diego said. Bernardo insisted. Diego refused. Bernardo grabbed his arms and pulled at him. "Oh, all right," Diego said, then pointed at his glass and said to the serving girl, "don't touch that."

Bernardo pushed him outside and, checking to see no one was around, begin gesturing frantically.

"No, Zorro isn't going to the garrison tonight," Diego said. "Sgt Garcia can handle Diablo." 

Bernardo shook his head frantically, pointing at the garrison again.

"Slow down," Diego said. "If anything happens tonight it will be in a few hours."

Bernardo shook his head again, pointed at Diego, and then pointed at the third finger of his left hand. 

Diego's head began to clear. "Elizabeth?" he said.

Bernardo nodded and pointed at the garrison.

"Elizabeth is in the garrison?"

Bernardo nodded, and then held his fingers to his eyes, looked around, and made the sign of the "Z."

"You think she's looking for Zorro?"

The servant nodded.

Diego cursed. "Well, we have to get her out of here, she's in great danger if Diablo's men do come back tonight."

Bernardo pointed at him and made the gesture of drinking.

"I haven't had that much," Diego said. 

Bernardo made the "Z" sign again, looked around, and shrugged.

"Perhaps Zorro will have to appear after all," Diego agreed, "but not right away. Please, find Elizabeth and get her out of there."

Bernardo pointed at him, again questioningly.

"No," Diego said, "You do it. Now. Before Zorro arrives. I don't want to find her there. Please."

With that, Diego departed into the darkness, leaving Bernardo faced with retrieving Elizabeth from the heavily armed cuartel. He sighed, and made his way to the gate. He had to stand there for a half an hour, hoping it would open and he could slide in. Sure enough, as he had gambled, a patrol returned and the gates opened, and he slipped in. He knew she was somewhere in the stable.

***

Shortly after Bernardo entered the cuartel, all hell broke loose. Half a dozen bandits descended at a moment when the guard contingent was low, several of them in their barracks changing clothes. Bernardo saw the breaking action even as he found Elizabeth sleeping in the straw, though she sat up as the shouts and gunfire began. Realizing what was happening, she stared out the window into the darkness.

Bernardo grabbed her by the shoulders and she squealed, adding to the melee. They fell clumsily in the straw, struggling for a moment until she recognized him. "Bernardo! What are you doing here?" she whispered. He gave her his puzzled look, then waved at her to hide, pointing at the activities below. She looked back out, and her heart leapt. A figure in black had just bounded off the wall of the garrison, riding on a swinging rope into the heart of the fray.

"Zorro!" she exclaimed.

Bernardo pulled at her arm, but she pushed him away, watching as Zorro pulled his sword and fought valiantly against the outlaws, bringing in much-needed support to the bumbling lancers. She had never seen him in a sustained duel or fight before, and marveled at his speed, ferocity and resourcefulness as he threw barrels, leapt backwards over logs, and prevailed in the fighting with several men at once. Bernardo, also watching, saw something different -- timing that was slightly off, a sloppiness to the fencing, a certain recklessness. Zorro was badly outnumbered, which made things all the worse. Gravely worried, Bernardo pulled at her again.

"No!" she said, pushing him away. Footsteps pounded into the stable below them, and Elizabeth looked down to see two of the bandits in front of the stalls just under where they sat. She looked at Bernardo, pointed down, and held her finger to her lips. One of them was Diablo himself, and the other was loosening his leader's arm restraints. 

Out in the garrison yard, Zorro was on the staircase fighting back two bandits, one with a knife, the other with a sword. As Elizabeth watched, she saw in horror a third man lurking above where the others fought, holding a gun. She saw him take aim, and shouted, "Zorro, above you!" as loudly as she could. He glanced over at her, then looked up and jumped backwards in time to miss the bullet. More lancers appeared, and the odds began to shift. Diablo, having heard Elizabeth's shout above him, pointed at his companion to get whoever was in the hayloft. Elizabeth looked down to see Diablo head back out the door, and a smelly man climbing up the ladder towards her. She threw a handful of dust and straw at him. Then, another heavy pair of feet hit the stable floor as Sgt Garcia arrived with his rifle. "Halt!" he cried. He then grabbed at the legs of the man climbing the ladder, and yanked so hard that the man fell down on top of him, pulling the ladder with him. Garcia rolled over, pinning the fellow with his mighty bulk. Seeing that things were under some control below, Elizabeth looked back out into the courtyard, to see that the lancers were prevailing in the fight, and she saw a glimpse of Zorro's cape flying as he disappeared back over a wall. 

What she had missed, but Bernardo had seen, was Zorro's slip in footing after he dodged the bullet, tumbling over the side of the staircase and landing heavily on his left side after an eight-foot fall. He struggled, up, staggered, looked to see that the fight was going in favor of the lancers, and forced himself up the rampart to leap away. Bernardo, unlike Elizabeth, knew something was horribly wrong.

It took close to half an hour for the ladder to be fixed sufficiently to retrieve Elizabeth and Bernardo. When the mute seemed oddly anxious to leave, Sgt Garcia dismissed him and then took his time sizing up the damage, lamenting Diablo's escape, marveling at the four men dead by Zorro's sword, and lecturing Elizabeth for her dire foolishness in being on hand at all. The last bandit, on whom Garcia had rolled, was in the jail with a broken arm and a terrible headache. After all this was taken care of, Garcia personally escorted Elizabeth home, continuing his lecture. As they approached the hacienda, Elizabeth, by this time weary and at her limit with the good sergeant, realized something was wrong. The house was lit up and several people were stirring in the courtyard. She assumed it was over her absence, and dreaded facing Diego with her latest mischief. But when they entered the gate, Maria was waiting and said, "Oh, senora, come quickly. Don Diego is badly hurt."

Elizabeth rushed behind Maria, who led her upstairs to Diego's old room. There, she found him unconscious in his bed, surrounded by the doctor, who was finishing examining him, Alejandro, and Bernardo. They all looked very grave.

"My God, what happened?" she asked, coming to her father-in-law's side.

"He fell off his horse and down a ravine," Don Alejandro replied. "Where have you been?"

"He's badly bruised, has a collapsed lung, and at least two broken ribs," the doctor interrupted. "Probably a concussion, too."

"Will he be all right?" Elizabeth asked, horrified.

"Probably, if he wakes up soon," the doctor answered. "If he doesn't, you'll need a priest, not me." He looked at Alejandro. "Diego, falling off a horse," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Where did you find him?" Elizabeth asked, "when did this happen?" She had visions of him lying alone for hours as the darkness fell.

"Bernardo found him an hour ago," Alejandro said. "We have no idea how long he was unconscious at that point." He leaned over his son. "Diego. Diego, can you hear me?"

The doctor, stating there was nothing more he could do, instructed them to keep cool compresses on the bruises and stay with him until he woke up. Then he left. Alejandro dismissed Bernardo with thanks, and he and Elizabeth stood, with Maria nearby, beside Diego where he lay motionless.

"I don't want to know where you were tonight," Alejandro said tersely.

"I went into town..." she mumbled. "I had no idea...I didn't know where he was..."

"Everyone knows you two quarreled today. You might as well have done it in the town plaza!"

Tears formed in Elizabeth's eyes. She was devastated at her multiple failures and desperate for Diego to awaken. Alejandro saw her upset, and relented. He knew, as she did not, how Diego had been injured. Bernardo had made this clear when he pulled his master into the house from where he had found him, at the mouth of Tornado's cave. 

"Let me stay with him for a while, Alejandro," Elizabeth said. "I know you're tired. I'm sorry I disappointed you. I seem to make nothing but mistakes and bad judgements, but I'm here now, and I want to be with him."

Alejandro agreed to leave her with him, but told Maria to stay nearby. "Bernardo will be at the door if you need anything," he said, excusing himself. 

She leaned over, clutching his hand. "Diego," she begged. "Please, Diego, wake up." She said to Maria, "go get some cold water for me." The servant left, and Elizabeth leaned closer to him. "Diego," she pleaded. "I'm sorry. Come back." 

He remained motionless, unresponsive. Maria returned with the bucket of cold water, and Elizabeth dismissed her to the hallway with Bernardo. Once the servant was gone, Elizabeth pulled back the covers, intending to re-wash his bruises. "My God," she said. His left shoulder was already swollen and turning dark blue, and another dark bruised area was rising on his left side along his rib cage. This was alarming enough. But she saw more that shocked her. Just below his right collarbone was a long scar that looked like a sword slash, and near the top of his right arm was a round hole that looked the size a bullet might make. Another red scar crossed his belly just above the waistline. "My God," she said again, taking it all in. She traced the scar near his collarbone with her finger lightly. It was indeed a healed gash made with a sharp point. She stared at it in wonder. Then she picked up a cloth and dipped it into the cool water, and held it lightly to his left shoulder. "Diego," she said. He moaned. "Diego," she said again, and his eyes opened. He took a deep, pained breath, and his eyes slowly focused on her. In his haze, he remembered her voice warning him of the man on the roof. "You saved my life," he whispered. 

She shook her head, thinking he believed she had found him in the ravine. "Bernardo found you, " she said. "But I'm here, now. And I won't leave."

His head began to clear. He looked around and realized where he was. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"Bruises, broken ribs," she said. "And you hit your head."

"I can feel every bit of it," he said. He groaned again as she touched the dark place on his ribcage.

"You must have fallen onto rocks," she said. "Did the horse throw you?" She pulled the covers back to his shoulders.

Diego said nothing, not knowing what she had been told. What he remembered was the excruciating landing over the wall, struggling to get away, and barely making it back to the cave with Tornado before falling in a faint on the ground. That must have been when he hit his head. And Bernardo, he ascertained, must have found him there and, with his father's help, gotten him up into the house before calling the doctor.

"I'm not sure what happened," he told her.

"Bernardo found you at the bottom of a ravine, late tonight."

"Ah," he said. It was hard to breathe.

"I need to let your father know you've awakened," she said. She summoned Maria to go let Don Alejandro know Diego was awake and alert, but in pain. "Tell him he doesn't need to come, only that Diego is all right."

"This is 'all right?'" he asked her weakly as she shut the door.

She smiled, seeing that he had not lost his sense of humor. "Compared to the way I found you, yes," she said. 

He lay there a moment, absorbing the pain. 

"Are you warm enough?" she asked.

He said nothing, but looked at her. She climbed onto the bed and lay down at his right side on top of the covers, reaching her arm across him. They lay there for a moment.

"So this," he said drowsily, "is the length I must go to get you into my bed."

"Sleep," she told him. And so they fell asleep, as Bernardo peered in the door. Seeing them lying together, he slipped in and spread a light blanket over Elizabeth, and then departed.

***

It took over a week for Diego to regain his equilibrium and see his pain reduced sufficiently to slowly begin re-entering the household life. Elizabeth tended his bruises, read to him, and slept beside him on top of the covers each night. The doctor checked his lungs and ribs, pronounced him on the mend, and warned him to stay off of horses for at least another week. "And once you get back on, stay on," he warned. 

Well enough to move around, if stiffly, Diego resumed taking his meals with the family and began to take short walks on the patio. Elizabeth stayed nearby except for brief trips to the pueblo for shopping, and to report on his progress to all that asked. One day, having left before he awoke, she returned from town to find him alone in the courtyard in his robe, reading.

"You look so much better today," she said, sitting in a chair across from him.

"This is the first day I actually believe I'll feel like myself again, eventually."

"How are the bruises?" she asked.

He pulled his robe away, as well as the shirt, at his shoulder. "Starting to turn yellow," he smiled. "A good sign." 

Elizabeth looked at his bare left shoulder, smooth as satin if a very strange color. "Diego?" she said.

"Yes?" He closed the shirt and robe.

She pointed at his chest. "The scars," she said. He made no reply. "You have several scars." 

He shrugged. 

"I've seen them, in my tending to you," she said. He still said nothing. "One here," she retraced the sword slice near his collarbone, "one here," she noted the gash on his belly, "and here, what looks like a bullet hole."

"It isn't a bullet hole," he said.

"It looks like one."

"Well, it isn't."

She stared at him. "I'll ask your father," she said.

"No, don't do that!" he said quickly. He waited a moment. "I was in a barroom brawl in Spain. My father doesn't know."

"A barroom brawl," she repeated, skeptical. 

"Yes, that's what young men get into sometimes!" he said.

"What was it about?"

"I can't even remember." He waited. Then he added, "it was probably a girl."

She kept looking at him, not buying any of it. "I think you're lying," she said. "I'm asking your father." She stood up.

"No!" Diego said. "It's, they're just...one was from fencing, and this one," he pointed to his waist "was an accident, and this," he pointed at his right arm, "really was in a tavern. I found myself between the bullet and the real target. You know how clumsy I am."

She thought about that. It seemed more plausible, but he could see that she was tucking it all away for further contemplation. He tried to get up, but moved too fast and had to sit back down.

"Let me help you," she said, coming to him. 

"It will pass," he told her. "I just forget I can't do things quickly yet."

"Diego," she said, sitting back down. "You're better now, and there's something I need to say."

He waited, feeling deep alarm.

"The day you fell, we had a terrible quarrel," she said.

"Yes, we did," he agreed.

"I...I want you to know I'm sorry, for what I said."

"Do you still believe it?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter," she began.

"It does to me," he interrupted.

"What I'm trying to say is, I want things to be different, between us," she pushed on. "I don't want you to go away every night. I don't want you to need to go away."

He weighed this. There was a silence. "What about Zorro?" he finally asked.

"Zorro is out of reach," she said. "I think he was trying to tell me that all along, but I..." she shook her head. "I want us to go on with our lives."

"That's what I want, too," he said. "But you must believe me, Elizabeth, there isn't another woman."

She leaned her head to the side. "I believe you," she said.

He knew she was lying, and knew he'd have to live with it.

***

Another week passed, and their routine proceeded as Diego continued to gain strength and move about with less stiffness and pain. One evening over dinner he declared himself well enough to try riding again, which set his father off. Elizabeth was upset, but her father-in-law was nearly livid, out of proportion, it seemed to her, with what Diego was saying. She looked at her husband baffled as Alejandro raged on, and Diego simply shook his head at her, indicating that they'd just have to wait this out.

"Promise me, Diego, that you won't get on a horse for at least another week!" Alejandro was insisting.

"Father, I feel well enough..." Diego tried to say.

"Promise me!" his father said, his voice rising. 

"Diego," Elizabeth said, trying to intervene, "how hard is it to wait another week?"

"That isn't the point," he snapped at her, pulling his napkin out of his lap and slapping it onto the table.

She sat there, her face reddening.

"Now look, you've upset Elizabeth too!" Alejandro cried. 

"It's all right, Father," she said, getting up and glancing at Diego. "I'll let you two work this out." With that she excused herself and went outside.

"You are not ready to get back out there!" Alejandro said, pointing his finger at his son.

"I just want to get back on a horse!" Diego said. "I didn't do this to myself on one, I'm probably safer there than anywhere else. Besides, it's not good for Tornado to go too long without being ridden. He begins to think he's wild again."

"Tornado!" Alejandro fumed. "You can let Bernardo deal with Tornado a while longer! You don't belong on anything more headstrong than that little mare you gave Elizabeth."

"Father, I fell off a staircase, not a horse!"

" I ought to make you promise me you won't climb any stairs, either," Alejandro said. 

"That would be difficult around here," Diego said.

"You should go find Elizabeth," Alejandro said, resigned. 

Diego looked at the door. "Yes, I suppose I should," he said. "But I think she's beginning to get a better picture of the family she married into."

With a "hhummphh" Alejandro got up and excused himself.

Diego went out into the courtyard, but did not see Elizabeth. He looked upstairs and saw the light on in his room, and made his way up the stairs. It wasn't so hard to do now, the steps, and his ribs didn't feel like they were about to explode by the time he got to the top. 

He opened the chamber door and saw Elizabeth standing at the fireplace, staring at the wall beside it. This was a gateway to the secret passages in the recesses of the house, leading to Zorro's lair. He waited, not wanting to create suspicion by making anything of her standing there and staring.

"Looking for something?" he asked.

"Space," she said. "There's nowhere in here for my dresses. I was thinking we could put a closet right here."

He came over to her, and put his hands on her shoulders from behind. "We can get another wardrobe. Or give you a dressing room. We can knock a hole in that wall," he pointed across the room. He peered around at her. "I'm sorry I was short with you," he said. "We can get a bit hot-blooded around here."

"So I'm finding," she said. "You and your father have lived here alone for too long."

"I couldn't agree more," he said, moving away and leaning against the footboard of the bed.

"Tired?" she asked.

"A little," he said. "But nothing like it's been." He raised his hands above his head and turned around. "See? I can actually move."

"How are your fingers?" she asked, coming towards him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how are your fingers?"

"They're...fine," he said, puzzled and wondering what she was up to.

"Good," she said, turning her back. "Tonight, you do this instead of Maria." She indicated her back. 

Before him was a line of at least thirty tiny buttons running down the back of her dress from the nape of her neck down to her waist. 

"Oh," he laughed. He unbuttoned them easily, and placed a hand on her shoulder when he finished. "How did I do?"

"She's faster," Elizabeth said.

"She's had more practice."

"We should change that," she said, and turning around to face him she slowly dropped the bodice.

He gazed, feeling he had suddenly stumbled into paradise. His hand came to her waist, his fingers now on her bare skin. "Are you sure?" he asked. 

Her answer came in her own hands, reaching up to begin undoing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. He shut his eyes for a moment, in a mix of ecstasy and disbelief. The disbelief won.

"Wait," he said, stopping her and pulling her hands away from him. He stepped back.

"But Diego," she began. 

He shook his head. "Let's just..." he looked around at the bed, and back to her. "Go get your gown and come back," he said. 

She was completely bewildered, and pulled her dress back up around her. 

"Here," he said, wrapping his robe around her. She stared at him, and then left the room. 

When she returned, he was already in the bed, bare-chested and under the covers. She entered tentatively, not knowing what to expect. He pulled aside the covers beside him and said, "Come here." She let his robe fall away, to show that she had put on her thin white gown, given to her by the women in the pueblo as a wedding gift. "Come here," he said again, running his hand across the sheet to warm it.

She did as he told, and sat beside him in the bed. 

"Blow out the candles," he said. She did. Then he lay on his left side, saying "ow," as he settled, and at the same time pulling her to him, her back pressed into his chest. 

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yes," he whispered, pulling her closer into a tight snuggle.

They lay there for a while, relaxing gradually, their breathing falling into a rhythm.

"Diego, it's all right..." she began softly.

"I know," he said, squeezing her, marveling at the feel of her softness. "Sleep," he whispered.

"But..." she said, "why wait now?"

"I want to be sure of you," he said. 

It was not difficult, to slide into the place of being beside him, closer than ever, and sleep she did. 

As the dawn was breaking, she felt him stir and was further awakened by his lips on her neck. Then with a kiss he lay across her, pulling her into his arms.

***

She was his at last. As he held her in the low morning light, he felt peace descend. With it came sleep.

Feeling his breathing lengthen and slow, tears began streaming down her face. "I don't deserve you," she thought to herself. But deep in her heart, she knew that her tears were really for Zorro.