Chapter Seven - The Morning After
Standing in the dark bedroom, lit only by a small lantern in the window, El Zorro stroked his baby daughter’s back, taking comfort from her oblivious sleep. He considered Vilaro for a while, saying, “Let me think.” Then he remembered that Tornado was still faithfully awaiting him outside the hacienda gate. He shut his eyes, shaking his head. “I have to deal with Tornado,” he said.
“Tornado!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “We have the Capitan knocked out on the floor of my room and you are worried about your horse?”
“He is my horse!” Zorro answered. He patted Esperanza’s back again and carefully returned her to her place on the bed. He leaned over her for a moment to make sure she remained asleep. “There, my muchacha,” he said softly. “You have the right idea, no worries, just sweet dreams.” He straightened up and came over to Elizabeth, who was still standing over Vilaro, her hand over her mouth.
“He’s going to wake up!” she exclaimed.
“Not for a while,” Zorro said. “I hit him pretty hard.”
“Do you think you hit him hard enough that he will forget what happened?” she asked hopefully.
Zorro shrugged.
A knocking began on the door. “Señora,” came Sergeant Garcia’s voice. “We heard noises in the hallway, is everything all right?”
Elizabeth pushed Zorro back, waving at the inert body on the floor.
“Doña Elizabeth, will you let me in?” Garcia asked. “Please?”
“Move him and get in the bed,” she whispered to Zorro. “I’m coming, Sergeant,” she called to the door.
Zorro pulled Vilaro by the boots, obscuring him between the bed and the richly curtained windows at the far side of the room. Then, yanking off his cape and shirt, he climbed – his boots still on his feet – into the bed. Esperanza wiggled at his feet. He ruffled his fingers through his hair to loosen it, and pulled the sheets up to his waist.
Elizabeth pulled on her robe, turning the collar up at the neck to cover any tell-tale red finger marks, and opened the door. Before her stood the groom-to-be in his night shirt, holding a candle. Corporal Reyes was beside him in similar attire.
“Sergeant!” she exclaimed.
Garcia peered into the room, squinting into the darkness. “We thought we heard noises in the hallway!” he said.
“And scuffling of some kind,” Reyes added.
“Oh...well...” Elizabeth said a little demurely. Garcia saw beyond her to the bed.
“Don Diego!” he exclaimed. “When did you arrive?”
Diego, bare-chested, answered, “Just a short while ago. You will forgive me for not getting up, Sergeant, but...” he gestured below him. “My señora met me in the hallway, you see, and we were very glad to see one another...”
Garcia’s eyes widened in embarrassment, the thought dawning on him that he had perhaps interrupted them at an inopportune moment. Elizabeth looked flushed, her hair askew, her robe pulled tightly around her.
“We thought maybe you were a prowler,” Reyes said, oblivious.
“No, my husband is quite welcome in my room,” Elizabeth corrected him, trying to shut the door.
The Sergeant backed up, pulling Reyes with him. “We are very sorry to disturb you,” he said to Elizabeth. “Good night, Don Diego, I am glad you are here!”
“Oh, I would not miss this,” Diego called from the bed.
Elizabeth shut the door tightly and locked it. Then she hurried back to the bed, as Diego got out from under the covers and got his feet on the floor again.
“I cannot believe you put your muddy boots in my bed!” she exclaimed.
“I did not have time to take them off!” he answered, indignant. Then he frowned. “Are you saying it is not our bed? When I have so been looking forward to....”
“Oh, Diego,” she interrupted, “how can you think about sex at a time like this?!”
“Darling I have been thinking about nothing but sex for the last three weeks!” he replied, putting his black shirt back on and tucking it into his sash.
“The Capitan has seen your identity!” she exclaimed, exasperated.
“I know that, you do not need to keep saying it!” he said, coming over to her. He took her by the arms. “It will be all right.”
“How can you know that? This is the worst thing that has ever happened to us! He could put you in jail! He could hang you!”
“Elizabeth, we have had many things worse than this happen to us. The worst thing that ever happened to us was when you almost died.”
She looked down. “I did not like it when you were poisoned. Or knocked out. Or when you broke your ribs, either,” she said quietly.
He raised his hands. “See?” He looked around for his cape and hat.
“But this is awful. This could end up being worse! We got through those things.”
“We will get through this, too,” he told her reassuringly, sliding his arms through his cape sleeves.
Vilaro moaned.
Esperanza snuffled.
Zorro and Elizabeth looked at each other.
“All right,” Zorro said, taking her by the arms again. “We shall have to establish a story that we will stick with no matter what he says.”
She nodded, anxious to cooperate.
“I shall return him to his room, and make sure nothing is out of place. When he wakes up he will be at least confused, for he will be in his clothes and will probably remember that he was drinking heavily last night. There will be no evidence of what happened with me. And I will be here, with you, as Diego. No matter what he says, we insist he must have been sleepwalking and dreaming. He saw me come in when he was sleepwalking, and he somehow dreamed it was an encounter with El Zorro.”
Elizabeth nodded. “It does strain credibility, that he would see Zorro and me together, here....” then she frowned. “What do we say about the lump on his head?”
Zorro thought for a moment. “He fell out of bed?”
“Maybe he should be found on the floor with something nearby so it looks like he hit his head?”
Zorro grinned. “You are starting to think like Bernardo, darling!”
She thumped his chest with her hand. “I am not Bernardo!”
“Si, you had better not be, when I return!” he laughed, holding her hand to his chest.
“But Diego,” she said, anxious again, “Your clothes.”
He looked down at what he was wearing. “That is a problem,” he agreed. “But I have already seen Bernardo, and I will find him again in a few minutes. Did he not bring my clothes with him from Rancho de la Vega?”
“I think he was expecting you to bring everything when you came, I do not think he imagined you would arrive quite this way.” She ran her hand down his arm, her palm stroking the black silk.
“Then he will have to go back to get things for me, and return Tornado to his cave. I have been seen here now, so I must be here in the morning. You will have to tell everyone I wanted to sleep very late after my long journey.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I suppose we could both stay in the room until he arrives,” Zorro ventured, leaning towards her.
Vilaro moaned again, more loudly.
“Darling I have to move him or it will be necessary to knock him out again,” Zorro said, stepping back. He reached for his hat and mask, and pulled his gloves onto his hands. “I had better put everything back on to do this, in case I am caught again.”
She watched as he finished dressing and once again stood before her in black from head to foot, his mask over his eyes.
“Stay here,” he admonished, knowing her impulsiveness. “I will re-situate him and then go find Bernardo, and lead him to Tornado.”
“Poor Bernardo,” Elizabeth said. “Lolita is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, he was so looking forward to seeing her.”
“He will lose less than a day,” Zorro said. He bowed to her. “I shall relieve you now of this sorry specimen of the Spanish military.”
“Diego,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder as he turned to get the Capitan.
He turned around and smiled down at her, taking her hand in his. “Let me do this, sweet señora. I have already caused one large mess tonight by pausing to steal a kiss from you. I fear what might happen with another delay.”
She smiled and stepped away from him, watching as he took Vilaro by the feet and dragged him to the door. Then he bent over and with a grunt hauled him up and over his shoulder. “Never tell your friends that your husband does not help with removing the trash,” he said to her. With a short salute he went out the door.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, sitting heavily on the edge of the bed. She looked at Esperanza, who was still on her tummy where her Daddy had placed her, sleeping peacefully. “Oh, Esperanza,” Elizabeth said, touching her daughter's back lightly. “What a family you landed in.”
Minutes passed. Then an hour. Elizabeth lay in bed shivering, partly from the chill of being out of bed and mostly without a robe for a quarter of an hour, and partly from fear of what was happening and what would happen given the incident in the hallway with Vilaro. It was impossible to anticipate what he would remember when he awoke. The plan Diego had concocted was defensible, but who knew what the Capitan would do?
She warmed up slowly. She kept sitting up to check on Esperanza, under a blanket beside her, to find that her daughter was staying sensibly asleep. Finally she drifted off, her tiredness overcoming her worry.
She awoke feeling warm breath at her cheek. She opened her eyes to see Diego leaning over her. He was still in his black shirt and trousers.
“Oh!” she whispered, reaching for his neck and pulling him down onto her.
He covered her face with kisses and then whispered, “I must give these clothes to Bernardo, darling, he is at the door. We had quite a time finding Tornado but we have him in a good hiding place now.”
Elizabeth released him reluctantly and waited as he stripped, handed the clothes over, re-shut the heavy door and locked it, and returned to her. “It’s cold in here!” he exclaimed, slipping between the sheets. He sat up long enough to move Esperanza to slightly to the right of center at foot of the bed. He made sure she was covered with her blanket and stroked her cheek lightly. Then he turned his attentions to his beloved.
“Oh, this is better,” he said, feeling Elizabeth’s warmth in the bed. They were both still for a moment. He leaned onto his side, his hand coming to her face. “Everything is taken care of,” he told her. “Vilaro is in his room on the floor. Benicio is in his room, tied up on the floor. Tornado will be on his way home shortly. And I...” he leaned over her, “am where I have wanted to be for many weeks.”
She accepted his embrace, putting her face into his shoulder. “I have missed you so much,” she said, beginning to cry.
“Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry,” he began kissing her face anew, his lips covering her tears.
“Are you all right, are you truly all right?” she asked, her hand sliding down his side and touching his hip.
“That feels good,” he whispered, continuing to kiss her.
“Diego, tell me you are all right,” she wept.
He looked down into her eyes. “I am all right,” he assured her. “You saw me haul the Capitan out of here!”
“I know,” she wept, “But now I have you here with me and I...”
“Liz,” he interrupted her, giving her more kisses. “Listen to me. It will work out somehow. Vilaro will not be a problem. And I am fine. Truly. You would know if I wasn’t, wouldn’t you?”
“Si,” she agreed. She stroked his chest with her hand. “Oh, Diego,” she continued crying. “I am so afraid.”
He pulled her fully against him and held her as she sobbed into his shoulder. He stroked her back and finger-combed her hair and kissed her head gently. If he had learned nothing else about his beloved in their fifteen months of married life, he had learned that she could be comforted. “Do not be afraid, little kitten,” he said softly.
“I have my fox back,” she wept, holding onto him tightly.
“Si, your fox has come home. Home is wherever you and our fox-kitten are,” he whispered to her, resuming kissing her.
Clementia awoke at around 7:00 and got up with excitement. It was the day before her wedding. Demetrio was here, as were all of her most important young friends, and by nightfall the last absent member of the wedding party, Diego, would arrive. Other guests from Los Angeles would be arriving all day long. She bathed hastily and, with the help of Martina and young Lupe, she dressed and pinched her cheeks. By 8:00 she was downstairs in the kitchen with Conchita, reviewing the status of the wedding cake and preparations for breakfast. “In the dining area,” she kept repeating as Conchita valiantly tried to work around her. “We must lay out a lovely buffet for everyone as they are rising. Fruit, tortillas, make sure there are eggs...”
“I suggest that you serve the breakfast on the patio,” Conchita said firmly, moving about the kitchen. She had been up since dawn and had good reason for making her suggestion.
“No, the sala will do,” Clementia said. “We want to save the courtyard for the dinner this evening.”
Conchita put her hands on her hips. “Señorita,” she said, “I will say this only once. You will want to serve the breakfast on the patio!”
“What for?” Clementia asked stubbornly.
Conchita gave an exasperated sigh. “I am from the de la Vega household, and I tell you that you will wish you had put it in the courtyard before this morning is over!” she exclaimed, picking up her wooden spoon to begin stirring more cake batter.
“That makes no sense at all,” Clementia retorted. “It is my wedding eve and I wish you to put it in the sala!”
Finally Conchita, who was kind but also famous for her unwillingness to tolerate extended bossing around, looked the señorita in the eye and, with her wooden spoon, pointed at the door. “Then I shall put it in the sala!” she exclaimed. “And you will remove yourself from my kitchen!”
Clementia took the hint and retired to the patio while the moving about of food was managed by the servants. She returned just as her Sergeant appeared on the stairs.
“Demetrio!” she sighed happily, going over to him.
“Good morning, my almost-señora!” Garcia smiled, straightening his uniform and then bending over to give her a kiss. He put his arms around her and hugged her. “Did you sleep well?”
“Si, but then I retired long before you did!” she smiled back.
“It was a night for much laughter and good wine,” Garcia agreed, seeing the table laid out beyond her. “And do you know that Don Diego arrived last night?”
“No! Did he?” Clementia asked, taking his arm and leading him towards the spread.
“Si...I think he was very glad to see....” he stopped in mid-sentence as the full array of what was available on the table revealed itself. “And we have more wonderful things to look forward to this morning,” he said, his eyes wide and happy.
Martina and Lupe appeared on the stairs, and also went straight for the plates stacked on the far side of the table.
“I did not imagine we would have a feast for breakfast!” Garcia exclaimed, continuing to review what was before him – a plate of pastries, tortillas, eggs with salsa, an enormous platter of fruit, slices of bacon, hard and crusty bread. At that moment he heard what seemed like a strange thumping noise from the ceiling. He looked up, frowning. The women were all picking up plates and did not notice it. He looked at Clementia, frowning. The thumping noise slowed down. He shook his head, thinking he had heard nothing, and went back to perusing the food.
“Oooo, look at these wonderful apples,” Martina said, picking one up. She turned to Clementia. “Have you seen Benicio this morning?”
Doña Corinna appeared from upstairs at this point, followed by Consuelo. The household was definitely waking up and was definitely hungry. Everyone looked fresh.
“It is the day before your big day!” Martina said to Clementia, who at the same time said, “I have not seen my brother yet, but he was up late with the Capitan and the other men!”
“We all climbed the stairs at the same late hour,” Sergeant Garcia agreed, beginning to pile his plate up with food. Then he heard the thumping noise again. He looked up at the ceiling again.
Consuelo heard it and looked up, too. Clementia, seeing them look up, looked up also. The sound was unmistakable, rhythmic, sustained. Doña Leonora looked up, frowning. “What could that be?” she asked.
Clementia considered the hallway and whose rooms were where in the wing above. She cleared her throat and clattered her plate against another. “Has anyone seen Elizabeth this morning?” she asked.
Martina, Consuelo and Doña Corinna all said “no.”
“I suppose she is with Don Dieg....” Garcia started, but then stopped. All eyes returned to the ceiling. The thumping continued. They all looked at each other. Doña Corinna’s eyes widened and she put her plate down. “Come, Lupe, we must go out to see if your father has arrived.”
“But he is not due until this after...” the girl protested as her mother took her arm and led her out the door.
“Isn’t their little girl with them?” Doña Leonora said, still looking at the ceiling, scandalized.
“Oh, Mamma, Esperanza was born in May, she is barely seven months old, she cannot tell...what they...” Clementia started, but did not finish.
“But...” Leonora sputtered, horrified. “This is not...proper!” The thumping continued unabated.
“What is not proper?” Clementia asked. “Besides that perhaps we should have given them a different room instead of the one over the sala! They have not seen one another in three weeks, what are we to expect?!”
Suddenly Conchita’s cryptic remark about being from the de la Vega household began to make sense.
“That is a very old bed up there,” Doña Leonora murmured.
Consuelo, shaken by what she was hearing, dropped her plate. The sound clattered across the room. Everyone bent over to help pick up the shards. The sounds from above continued unabated.
“I think perhaps we should ask Conchita to move the breakfast onto the patio,” Clementia said. “It is such a lovely morning, after all.”
“Si...” Sergeant Garcia said, putting more bacon on his plate. “Everyone seems to think so.”
Clementia waved everyone away and then went into the kitchen again. Conchita raised the wooden spoon in her direction but Clementia stopped her, saying, “We must move the breakfast to the patio!”
Conchita waved the spoon at her. “Next time you will listen to me!” she scolded. “I am from the de la Vega household!”
Clementia turned and flounced away, passing Bernardo as he entered the kitchen with the heavy saddlebag.
“Ha!” Conchita said to him. “You cannot hear me so I will tell you this: I tried to warn her about what it is like to try to do anything in the room under the room where Don Diego and Doña Elizabeth sleep. You should be glad you are deaf, Bernardo, for your master and your mistress can be very noisy with their attentions to one another! If I did not know better I would say that your master learned his ways with his wife from a gypsy! Ai!”
As he exited the room, nodding politely, Bernardo smiled to himself. His master and his mistress, he knew, were very happy at this moment.
Some 45 minutes later, most of the family and visitors were sitting in the patio sipping coffee when the young de la Vegas appeared, Diego carrying the freshly-bathed Esperanza. The entire family looked very relaxed. Greetings were exchanged, and Clementia took the baby immediately. Consuelo blushed when she looked into Diego’s eyes, which in turn caused him to wink at her. Elizabeth caught the exchange and gave her husband a withering glance.
“We had a late morning,” she announced to everyone, going to the table for some food.
“Si, we....can see that,” Doña Leonora observed.
No one dared mention that they had heard it as well.
“Did you sleep late my pretty angel?” Clementia asked Esperanza.
Sergeant Garcia looked around. “It is very strange, is it not, that we have not seen Capitan Vilaro this morning?”
“Perhaps he is still sleeping through the remains of your party last night,” Diego suggested, following his wife to the breakfast table. “Elizabeth told me it went rather late!” He scooped a few eggs onto her plate, followed by some to his own. Then he took a pastry and some fruit.
Elizabeth added more eggs and several rashers of bacon to her plate, filling it. Diego watched her pile it on and smiled to himself. “You are hungry this morning,” he whispered playfully in her ear.
She glared at him, still annoyed at his flirtation with Consuelo. But there was no hiding it, they both knew her perpetual weakness for food after intense amorous encounters. She took her plate and returned to the table, sitting beside Clementia and Esperanza. There was no seat beside her, so Diego sat down at the next table with Sergeant Garcia, who was still eating.
After several swallows, Diego said “Conchita is a marvelous cook, isn’t she?” to no one in particular.
“Oh, si,” Doña Corinna agreed. “You are lucky that Alejandro agreed to this loan,” she told Doña Leonora. “Pilar would not be equal to this.”
“It was my idea!” Clementia said, bouncing Esperanza.
“De la Vega!” came a loud, male voice from the doorway to the sala.
Everyone looked around to see Capitan Vilaro standing there, pointing at Diego. Diego put his fork down slowly. Elizabeth looked over at her husband, frightened. Everyone was shocked, for the fastidious Vilaro was half in uniform but looked as if he had slept in his clothes. His jacket was missing, his shirt was half out of his trousers, his feet were bare, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had his hand on the back of his head. He looked awful.
“Capitan!” Garcia exclaimed, jumping up and going over to him. “What is the matter?”
“I have been attacked!” the Capitan said, standing there very unsteady. Garcia took him by the arm.
“Attacked!” Doña Leonora exclaimed. “In our hacienda?”
“Si, by El Zorro!” Vilaro declared. “Where were you, de la Vega?!”
Everyone looked at Diego, who sat very straight and still in his seat. They all looked back at Vilaro.
“What do you mean, where was he?” Garcia asked. “El Zorro was not here last night.”
“He was here! I saw him! But then I....” Vilaro felt his head again. “He knocked me out...I....cannot remember...” he began to falter in his words and lose his balance. Garcia tried to steady him.
Elizabeth stood up. “Clementia, I think the Capitan may need a doctor,” she said.
Vilaro looked around the table. “Benicio,” he muttered. “Get Benicio.”
“We have not seen him this morning, Capitan,” Garcia explained.
“Check his room, you idiot!” Vilaro exclaimed. He sat down heavily in an iron chair.
Diego rose quickly and said, “I will go up and check on Benicio.” As he passed Elizabeth he shook his head ever so slightly.
One of the women brought a glass of water to the commandante and he took it, sipping and then coughing. “I awoke on the floor of my room, I was knocked out,” he said. “My head...” he winced.
Elizabeth tilted her head slightly. “Could you have fallen from your bed?” she asked, planting the seed.
“I....no, I encountered El Zorro in the hallway...” he said, trying to reconstruct what happened. He looked at her. She was part of this somehow. “You....” he started.
Then a shout from a window above took everyone’s attention. “Benicio is tied up!” Diego called from the windowsill. “I shall release him!”
A minute later Diego emerged from the sala doorway with Benicio, who walked stiffly and had red marks around his face and mouth.
“El Zorro was here last night,” Benicio said. “He tied me up and left me in my room.”
“I told you he was here!” Vilaro exclaimed. The sound of his own agitated voice made him wince. “Did he hit you on the head?”
“No,” Bocca answered.
“What did he do?” Clementia asked.
“He....” Benicio stopped, remembering the warning about being on good behavior. “He advised me to be a good brother,” he told his sister. “And then he tied me up and left me in my room.” He looked at Diego. “Thank you, Don Diego, for finding me.”
“It was my idea!” Vilaro spewed.
“I think you need to rest and recover from your fall, Commandante,” Doña Leonora advised.
“I did not have a fall!” he exclaimed, wincing again.
“Of course you didn’t,” Garcia agreed. He nodded at Corporal Reyes, who had finally appeared in the courtyard. “Corporal, will you help me get the Commandante back to his room?”
“Si, Sergeant,” Reyes answered, coming to Vilaro’s other side.
“I am not...I do not need assistance!” Vilaro snarled, but then on attempting to pull himself up he sat back down again.
“That looks like quite a knot on your head,” Reyes observed.
“He hit me with something!” Vilaro explained, as the two men helped him away.
Everyone stood there for a moment as they disappeared. Benicio looked over at the spread of food. “Breakfast!” he said, going over to it.
Diego sat back down, resuming his cup of coffee. He glanced at his wife and gave her a tiny shrug.
Garcia and Reyes re-appeared in a few minutes. “He thinks he was knocked out by El Zorro, but I think he hit his head on the table beside his bed,” the Sergeant said softly. “He keeps talking about you, Don Diego, I do not know why.”
Diego shrugged. “He must have fallen out of bed before I arrived last night, Sergeant,” he said. “We did not hear anything unusual after you mistakenly knocked on our door.”
“Si, I did mistakenly knock on your door,” the Sergeant agreed. He sat beside his fiancé and looked at her. “What an unusual morning it has been,” he mused. “I cannot imagine what the rest of the day may hold.”
She smiled at him. “It is the morning before our wedding day and everyone we love is here,” she said. “Even my brother.”
“Si,” Garcia said, looking over at Benicio as he put food on his plate. “Even your brother.”
Diego sat back and relaxed.
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