Chapter Five - Fidelis
Part One
After that dawn, two things changed for the young de la Vegas. One was that they abandoned their quarters on the west side of the house and permanently took Diego’s old room overlooking the courtyard. Every night Elizabeth gladly climbed into bed and fell asleep in her husband’s strong, willing arms. They awoke most mornings at dawn and made love gently, as Diego tried to learn her needs and lead her to a place of trusting and desiring him more fully. Their ease together increased noticeably to everyone in the household, their formality and strain giving way to playful affection. Diego summed it up one afternoon to Bernardo by noting that falling off that staircase was the best thing that ever happened to him and he didn’t know why he didn’t get drunk more often. This did not set well with Bernardo, who despite his silence let Diego know he didn’t think that was funny. What will happen with Zorro? he then asked his master through signs.
Diego shrugged. "He’s in retirement."
Bernardo pointed out into the landscape and with a broad sweep indicated all the people, then made the sign of the "Z".
"Surely justice can prevail for a while without Zorro!" Diego said, though he knew deep down that Zorro’s absence was increasingly being felt across the land.
The other change for Diego and Elizabeth was that, as with all other Californians, Zorro seemed to disappear from their lives. She no longer wandered alone up to the grassy hillside looking plaintively across the vista, lost in her own thoughts. Instead, she took up an active role in the household, planning meals, supervising shopping expeditions, inviting neighbors for dinner, overseeing repair work around the hacienda, and gardening. She began playing chess with Alejandro and proved to be a capable foe, and she tried to get Diego to teach her some of his magic tricks.
Sitting in the courtyard one evening, Diego and his father were having a cigar and started a chess game. Elizabeth had excused herself to go cut flowers from the overgrown and bedraggled beds she was trying to salvage and revive to the west of the house.
"I see that Elizabeth is attempting to bring your mother’s flower gardens back to life!" Alejandro remarked, after making his first move. He glanced at his son. " Things seem better between you two."
Diego made a move quickly, and said "ouch" as he felt a sharp pain in his side. The broken ribs still gave him trouble sometimes. "They are," he replied to his father’s latter comment.
Alejandro made his second move. "You nearly lost your luck that night," he said. "What went wrong?"
Diego studied the chessboard, and made another move. "Even Zorro can have a bad night," he said.
"Bernardo told me you’d been drinking."
Diego folded his arms. "When Diego has a bad night, Zorro has a bad night," he said. "It won’t happen again, Father."
"Well, it better not," Alejandro said, moving another chess piece and taking one of Diego’s knights.
Diego raised an eyebrow, his game plan foiled. He studied the board, replotting his strategy.
"It’s your move," his father said.
"I know, I know," he said, moving a bishop.
"Oh, Diego, concentrate!" His father fumed, moving a bishop of his own. "Check!"
Diego countered, moving a pawn in the way of the bishop’s attack.
"Zorro’s rest can’t last forever," Alejandro said. Diego looked at him sharply. "Diablo is starting to rob the stages again."
"I thought you didn’t want me out on Tornado," Diego said.
"I don’t! You can barely play a game of chess, much less outsmart a bandit!" his father answered, moving another knight.
Diego took the knight with a rook. "Now who isn’t concentrating?" he asked.
"You!" Alejandro said, moving his queen into position. "Checkmate!"
Diego stared at the board, realizing his wily father had trapped and strangled him in six moves. He sighed, chewing on his cigar. "You win."
"Yes, and my prize is for you to listen to me! You aren’t ready to go out there again yet, but you’ve got to begin preparing. I know it’s been good for your marriage to be home so much, I can’t imagine what that girl thought, with you out every night! Cutting Z’s in the lancers’ pants!"
Diego chuckled, and said, "You’re the one who told me not to tell her."
"Well of course you can’t tell her! Women cannot keep secrets."
"I believe this one can," Diego said thoughtfully, seeing Elizabeth enter the gate carrying a basket of wild roses. He stood up and walked over to her. "Beautiful," he said, as she held a rose up to him and he smelled it. She gave one to her father-in-law as well.
"I’ll put the rest inside," she said, casting a summoning gaze at Diego and leaving them.
"It is nice to have a woman’s touch in the household again," Alejandro said. "Though it makes me miss your mother."
"Si," Diego agreed, his eyes following his wife. "Will you excuse me, Father? It’s getting late."
"Oh, go," Alejandro waved dismissively. He remembered being young, even if he was no longer.
That night, Diego lay in bed trying to listen as Elizabeth chattered on about her day, more talkative than usual. He was tired, having ridden his gelding for the first time since his accident, and he wanted her to stop talking and simply come to him. Instead, as he unbuttoned her dress and then watched from the bed, she took the dress off, put on her gown, folded the dress, and laid it carefully on the chair, all the while talking on about what she had bought at the market, who she had seen in town, and what the latest gossip was. For the first time, he simply dozed off as she talked. He was, after all, only human.
"Diego!" he heard her say, and felt her shove his bad shoulder lightly.
"Ow!" he snapped awake. "Ow," he rubbed the shoulder. "What was that for?"
"You fell asleep on me!" she exclaimed, climbing into the bed.
"I’m sorry, darling, I’m just so tired," he said. "Why did you have to do that?"
"Am I such a bore?"
"No, no," he said, but she was climbing back out of the bed. "Oh, no," he said, more to himself than to her. He was simply not equipped at times for her moods. "Come back," he said.
"I’m going outside," she said.
"Why?" he asked, also getting up. "I’m coming with you."
"No you’re not," she said.
"Yes, I am," he said, leaning against the bedpost, watching her pull her robe around her.
"Don’t you dare follow me," she said, heading for the door. Diego jumped in front of her, pleased to find he could make the move quickly with little pain.
"You’re not leaving," he said.
"Yes I am."
He shook his head, leaning against the door. "I’m bigger than you and I’m not letting you out."
"Then go back to sleep!" she pouted, sitting down on the chair.
He shook his head again, and took her by the hand. "I’m awake now," he said.
She got up, marched past him, crawled into the bed and blew out the candle. "Then I’m going to sleep," she said, flopping back and burying herself under the covers.
He shook his head, laughing under his breath, and got into bed, too. He lay on his side a moment, considering the inert lump beside him. Then he slowly slid his hand under the cover, found her side, and started tickling her.
"Ow! No!" she yelped, pushing him away and laughing. "Ow!" she pushed again, without success.
"Ah, she’s very ticklish," he said, holding her down and continuing. Laughing and trying to wrestle with him, she tried to tickle him back, but he was too strong and had her pinned.
"Give," he said softly.
"Never," she said. "Oh, help," she laughed, getting her breath. "Ow, ow, help! Where is Zorro when you need him?"
Diego let go of her instantly, and she regretted the words but could not unsay them. He lay back in the bed, his hands behind his head, looking at the ceiling.
"I’m sorry," she said, "Diego, it just slipped out..."
He looked at her oddly, and not in hurt. The look made her feel only his annoyance, his sense that it was high time she give it up completely. "Goodnight," he said, and turned his back on her. It was the first night since their intimacies began that, although they shared the bed, they each slept very much alone.
When she awoke the next morning, he was already gone. She dressed and went downstairs, but no one had seen Diego. She went to the stable, to see that his bay gelding was still in his stall, dozing. She went back to the house, to find Don Alejandro in the courtyard having his morning coffee.
"Father, have you seen Diego?"
"No, not this morning, I assumed he was with you."
"He was gone when I got up. Is Bernardo around?"
"Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him either," Don Alejandro said. Then his eyebrows raised and he cursed.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, alarmed.
Alejandro caught himself, and said, "Oh, I forgot about something I need to do."
"Well, I need to go into town, maybe Diego is there," Elizabeth said.
"Good idea," Alejandro said, heading towards the house. "I’ll look for him here on the ranch."
Elizabeth headed back to the stable to saddle her mare. Don Alejandro went into the sitting room and, making sure no one was looking, opened the secret door into the back passageways that led to Zorro’s cave. As he passed through, he noticed that the black cape, mask, and hat, and Zorro’s sword, were nowhere to be seen. Cursing again, he hurried down the stairs, and on reaching the cave found that Tornado was gone. He cursed yet again, and went out the cave’s passageway into the open air. The small corral next to the entranceway was hidden by a wall of choked weeds and vines, which he pushed through messily and noisily. Finally on the other side, he saw Bernardo standing in the ring, watching Zorro on the horse’s back. Tornado was jittery and dancing, having been without his usual rider for over three weeks. Alejandro marched to the middle of the ring and began.
"Down! Now!" he said to his son.
"You can’t have it both ways," said Diego, trying to calm the horse and keep his breath as pain shot through his ribs.
"Diego, for God’s sake, this is too soon!"
"I’m just testing to see what’s possible," came the reply, as Tornado finally stood still. "I’m going to pay a little call on the Sergeant and see what he knows about Diablo’s whereabouts and when the next stage is due."
"Don’t ride that horse all the way to Los Angeles!" Alejandro cried.
"You think I should walk?"
Bernardo snorted in spite of himself.
"This isn’t funny!" Alejandro said to him. "Give it another week, Diego. Please."
Diego gave Tornado a kick, and the horse rose up on his back legs, pawing the air, then came back down.
"That didn’t hurt a bit," Diego said.
"You, or the horse?" Alejandro asked.
"Me! Adios, father, it’s time for Zorro to ride again." He kicked Tornado again, and the horse leaped towards the fence and in a great bound went over it and into the woods, his hooves pounding away into the distance. Then Alejandro cursed again.
Bernardo looked at him, gesturing "what?"
"Elizabeth is on that road, on her way to town in search of Diego!" he said.
Bernardo pointed at himself and then made a riding gesture, asking if Alejandro wanted him to follow.
"Yes, you had better," Alejandro said. "Zorro is in for a surprise."
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