CHAPTER 2
Diego was already tending to Padre Benitez, who had a cut on his forehead.
“Lie still, Padre Benitez. It doesn’t look serious, but Felipe will have the doctor here in a moment.”
“I’m quite all right, Diego. The church has taken the greater wound.”
The kindly padre was seated on one of the benches. They heard lancers galloping out of the pueblo outside.
Dr. Hernandez arrived, grumbling. “You are lucky you caught me here…I’m traveling from hacienda to hacienda these days.” A brief look at the cut and he announced it quite superficial. “You are lucky, Father; a little lower and it would be your eye.” He quickly wrapped a bandage around Padre Benitez’s head.
“What is going on that keeps you so busy, señor? Is there illness?” Don Alejandro asked.
“Only if you call spring and hot blood an illness,” Dr. Hernandez said, with a laugh. “You have no idea how lucky you are to have the one sensible son in the territory. I think Diego is the only young caballero I have not bandaged up in the last month with their ‘affairs of honor.’”
“And then, they end up in my tavern, telling wild tales of how they were injured,” Victoria said, with a lifted brow. “I do notice that none of them come in with the ladies in question, though.” This brought a chuckle from all of them.
“Come, Diego, let us go see what is being done about this outrage.” Don Alejandro turned to go.
Diego stood, lost in thought…how to slip away so Zorro could chase the thieves. Suddenly, he thought of the musket wound he’d received rescuing Toronado. His father would think Gilberto had wounded him in the duel, and it would give him an excuse to slip away later.
“Actually, Father, and with apologies to your good opinion, Dr. Hernandez, I thought I would have the good doctor look at this scratch of mine.” Diego indicated the blood on his right arm, which he held stiffly before him. “It is nothing, Father,” he said quickly, at Don Alejandro’s concerned look.
“Hmph!” Dr. Hernandez glared at him. “Make a liar out of me. Well, show me this scratch.”
Diego glanced quickly at Victoria and his father, both of whom would recognize a bullet wound. “Perhaps later, Dr. Hernandez, if you happen to pass by the hacienda.”
“Nonsense! You are here now; let me see it. If it is just a scratch, it won’t take long. Take off your shirt.”
Assuming an embarrassed air, Diego protested, “Dr. Hernandez, there is a lady present.”
“Diego! What is wrong with you?” Don Alejandro paused as a sudden thought hit him. He turned to Victoria, who stood beside him, looking worried and annoyed.
“What is wrong with Diego? Why won’t he let the doctor look at his arm?” she asked the elegant, silver-haired caballero.
“Don’t worry,” he assured her, with a smile. “He will, as soon as we leave.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Diego look at him sharply. He took Victoria’s arm. “You see, he won’t take his shirt off as long as you are here.”
“Don Alejandro, I grew up with two brothers. I have seen men without their shirts before!”
“Yes, well, you know Diego.” He glanced quickly at his tall son, who watched them, bemused. “All I know is he won’t take his shirt off until we leave.”
“Very well, but he is being silly.” She took Don Alejandro’s arm and turned to leave, but glanced back at Diego with an impish smile, very much amused. Diego stood there, looking abashed and shy.
“Felipe and I will meet you at the tavern when we are through, Father.”
“Hmph!” Don Alejandro chuckled and shook his head. “Diego and his secrets.” They walked across the plaza.
“Secrets?” Victoria asked, puzzled. “Diego has no secrets. He is the most uncomplicated man in the pueblo.”
“How little you know him, Victoria.” Don Alejandro bowed and indicated Victoria to precede him.
Victoria said nothing more, but walked with Don Alejandro into the tavern. She stored that comment away, though, for later thought. For although the people of the pueblo saw only her beauty, and perhaps her sense of justice, she also had a quick intelligence that everyone except for Diego seemed to ignore. To their own detriment, if they caught the sharp edge of her tongue. Indeed, it was often the cause of her loss of temper, to be treated as if she was a pretty face, and not capable of thinking and deciding for herself.
As they walked in, a group of people immediately surrounded Don Alejandro, expressing their outrage about the theft. Victoria knew it would be thirsty work, and went to make lemonade.
ZZZZZ
“The doctor was most impressed with how you bandaged my arm, Felipe; I think he was hinting he would like you as an apprentice.” Diego sat next to Felipe in the wooden wagon, his arm in a sling, trying not to wince at each bump. Felipe put down the reins to gesture, the mare plodding on towards home without even noticing.
“Yes, I think we can rely on the doctor’s discretion, and of course, Padre Benitez as well. They both assume it was ‘an affair of honor.’” Diego gestured grandly with a grin, then sobered. “As it was, in a way.”
Felipe made the sign for Don Alejandro.
“He wanted to stay in the pueblo to talk to the other caballeros about the robbery, which of course makes it much easier for me to return home to ‘rest.’” He winked at Felipe. “And he also wished to arrange for Gilberto to be buried.,” he added soberly. “And to see what will be done with Señora Risendo.”
Felipe nodded, then gestured again, impatiently.
Diego looked out over the fields and sighed. “You were watching.” It was not a question. He sat in silence for a while, finally looking back at Felipe. His son, he realized suddenly. The son of his heart, if not of his body. That was one good thing that had come out of his inability to say what he had intended to say at the pueblo. As he had spoken the words, only then had he realized how true they were. He and his father had discussed Felipe’s future, had assumed he would always be a part of their family. But he knew his father had always felt it was his decision about adoption. He had asked Felipe about adoption when he was younger, and he had seemed uncomfortable with it then. But not now, fortunately.
Felipe tapped his arm to get his attention. Did he hear you? he signed.
“I don’t know, Felipe. With the musket fire and the horses, he may have not been able to understand me. But I will tell him. I will have no more secrets between us! We were all almost killed, because of a secret kept for 32 years. We were caught in a web of silence, secrets, and lies, and it will not happen again.” Diego paused, thinking. “I also think it is time we told him you could hear.” He quickly raised his hand to forestall any arguments. “Father will understand why we kept it from him.” Diego could tell Felipe had his doubts about revealing any of their secrets. He was quite the worrier. “I will let you tell him in your own time. But as you are of an age to follow my footsteps to the University of Madrid, it should be soon.”
Felipe gathered up the reins again, then let them sag. What about Señorita Escalante? he signed.
Diego shook his head in exasperation. “You would make an excellent lawyer; you already know how to badger the witness. Too much time spent with my father, I imagine.” Diego spoke lightly, trying to avoid the question.
Felipe scowled at him.
“I am going to tell her…I am just not sure how.” He thought of the moment a short while back when, after saving her from bandits, he had almost told her everything. But he had not, afraid that the bandits would harm her to get the information. He had then given her his mother’s ring as a promise that, someday, they would be together, and had asked her to marry him. He had not even told Felipe about that. Recent events had made him realize how precious time was. “I will not allow both of us to waste our lives hiding from the truth!” He clenched his fist for emphasis. “Even if the truth is that she finds Diego de la Vega boring and ordinary.” He gestured toward his face. “Not at all whom she imagines behind the mask.”
Felipe gestured, smiling.
“I know she loves me, or rather, Zorro.” He paused. “Don’t you see, Felipe? That is the problem; she is not in love with me. I am caught by my own deception…by pretending to be the useless, lazy son, to protect my secret, I have ruined any chance of Victoria’s loving me for myself.” He spoke wistfully. “Zorro is what I do to fight injustice, and of course, there is much of me in Zorro. But Diego is who I am, and if she cannot love that, what hope is there for us?”
Felipe gestured emphatically, pointing at Diego, and acting as if he was putting on a mask, then putting his hand on his heart.
“You think I wear a mask as Diego, as much as Zorro? As Zorro, to hide my features; as Diego, to hide my heart?” Surprised, Diego thought a moment. Felipe was correct, of course; he hid behind the mask of the personality he had created. While the mask he wore as Zorro protected him, and freed him to do his work, the mask he wore as Diego confined him as much as it protected him. Who was the real Diego? He glanced at Felipe, who was looking at the road ahead, letting him think in peace. He had often been surprised by Felipe’s insight into people and their motives. “You see into my heart so clearly, Felipe. I wish that others did, as well.”
Felipe grinned and gestured, his expressive eyes speaking as much as his hands.
“Oh, you think she does love me, she just doesn’t know it. Well, that’s not very helpful.” Diego spoke wryly. “Meanwhile, Zorro has to ride after some thieves. And since the doctor was rather firm about not using this arm, that means I will have to take them without a fight.” He grinned at Felipe as they stopped in front of the hacienda.
END OF CHAPTER 2