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Do you think Diego de la Vega could be leading a double life?

Oh Dios, was she having suspicions as to his identity? Was it her way to test her theory?

Thanks to the darkness, she couldn't see him blanch. For want of a clearer indication that she was on the right track, he chose to play dumb.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about, Victoria."

She nested her head further into his shoulder. After a pause she elaborated:

"I mean... I know he's a grown man, and– and... and he's free of any ties or moral obligations to anyone... except to his father, that is... Oh Dios, Don Alejandro! The poor man will be appalled!"

Well, appalled maybe was a bit too strong a word, Zorro thought. Of course he wouldn't be too happy to discover that his son had lied to him for so many years, had hidden such an important fact from him, and he'd probably worry sick each time Zorro were to ride as of then, but to say he'd be appalled at his son's lie! Surely he'd understand the need for it after a while, wouldn't he?

At least, Zorro hoped so.

Lost in her thoughts, Victoria went on:

"I know... I know Don Diego doesn't have to answer or to justify himself to anyone... well, except to the padre and to his father, of course... Still..."

What on earth had padre Benitez to do with all that? Well, of course lying was a sin, but surely...

"I'm not totally convinced..." she reflected aloud. "I mean, despite everything, I can't picture him being that sort of man..."

He sure had played his role perfectly, he thought. Inept, inert, idle and spineless Diego de la Vega...

But what exactly did suddenly give her a clue? As long as she didn't clearly voice her suspicion as to his identity, Zorro decided he'd carry on with the charade and pretend not to have the first idea about what she was talking about.

"I still don't know what you mean, mi querida."

She tore herself away from his arms, took a step back and, through the feebly moonlit darkness, she searched his face, or rather what little she could make out of it.

Apparently Zorro, who was usually very well informed of whatever was going on in the pueblo – and sometimes before it even happened – was this time totally unaware of the scene that took place downstairs a few hours earlier. Wondering why, she asked him in a serious voice:

"You didn't hear, did you?"

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After Victoria told him what happened earlier in the tavern, Zorro remained speechless for a few seconds. He really didn't know what to say.

She understood he had trouble taking in this piece of information. Don Diego of all men...! But for some reason, Zorro seemed to take it very much to heart.

"And what's the woman's name?" he asked "I mean... after all, it's very easy to pretend and claim... What proof is there?"

Typical of men, Victoria reflected. And apparently even Zorro sometimes wasn't better than his fellow male comrades. Knee-jerk male solidarity, probably. She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in him.

Anyway, he could be right after all. Except that the woman didn't claim anything, in fact. On the contrary, she had seemed rather eager to take her daughter away from the tavern's main room as soon as the girl started talking too much...

And Victoria told Zorro so.

He pressed his lips together in a thin line.

"Still," he said "this doesn't mean anything."

"But you didn't hear how spontaneous and natural she sounded..."

A bit lost at first, he quickly understood that Victoria was now talking about the girl and not her mother anymore. He tried to instil some humour to try to lighten the mood a bit – and Lord knows he needed it:

"Well, being natural is only natural for a natural child..."

Victoria shot him a glare so burning that it glowed through the darkness.

"It's hardly a matter of joke, Señor," she coolly told him.

Alright, not the right time for poorly chosen puns.

"You're right of course, I'm sorry," he apologised for his tasteless comment.

"You didn't see her either," she went on. "She... she... Come to think of that, she even looks like him!"

Victoria couldn't see him frown under his mask.

"The same dark hair..." she started to list, "the same handsome and refined facial features..."

Oh, she thinks I'm handsome?

"...and she even has his dimples!"

Zorro retreated further in the shadow, away from the moonlight.

"I mean," Victoria added, "that's definitely a sign, isn't it? Everyone knows that's hereditary. And Don Diego has dimples, he takes these after his father. Risendo had these too. And I've never seen any portrait of Don Alejandro's parents, but I'm sure one of them had dimples!"

At the painful memory of his long-lost kidnapped, estranged and recently deceased twin brother, Zorro had a sudden fit of melancholy.

Not noticing his unease, Victoria went on:

"That's definitely a de la Vega trait. A trait her mother doesn't have..."

Suddenly slightly alarmed, Zorro tried not to move the lower part of his face, not to smile, not to make any move with his lips and mouth. He even tried to puff out his cheeks a bit, in the hope that it would prevent his dimples from showing.

All the while, the gears in his mind were turning at full speed about the unexpected situation. But his reflexion was interrupted by the sound of voices coming from the plaza:

"He's escaped once again! That man isn't a fox, he's a slippery eel!"

Instinctively, they flattened themselves against the wall, one on each side of the window, holding their breath, not daring to move so much as a toe.

At the same time, Zorro realised something: Felipe had been sent to the tavern at the end of the afternoon, so the probability that he was there when the woman and her daughter arrived or at least that he heard about them and about the last juicy piece of gossip that fuelled the tavern's conversations was very high. He must have been very distressed about it. Oh God, why didn't he just come straight to him instead of mulling it over and over for the whole evening? But at least it explained his strange behaviour of the previous hours. No girl and no tequila involved. Mystery solved. But he'd have to talk to him in the morning.

After a never-ending while, the voices stopped and the cuartel's doors closed. Victoria let out a deep and long breath.

"I think that's safe, now," she whispered. "How comes they didn't find your horse?"

"Tornado is clever, he knows what to do, I've trained him... I'll walk half a mile outside the pueblo and I'll find him in one of our hiding places, don't worry. But before I go..."

"Yes...?" a hopeful Victoria encouraged him, expecting a kiss. She came closer to him, her head slightly tilted back.

But instead of lowering his lips to hers, he slid his hands inside the black sash he was wearing as a belt and asked her:

"Could you please do me a favour?"

Victoria's eyes bulged. What was he...?

But he swiftly took two folded sheets of paper out of his sash.

"I need you to keep it for some time and hide it. If I give it back to the de la Vegas, the alcalde might confiscate these again and I'll have to break in his office again!"

Victoria took the papers from him and promised, planting a quick kiss on his lips as a good-bye. As she remembered he named the de la Vegas, her curiosity got the better of her and she started unfolding the first document. The last thing Zorro saw before he left through the window was "DEED OF CONVEYANCE" written on top of the page in capital letters.

As he was riding back home, his puzzled mind was trying to deal with this last piece of information: "Deed of conveyance" and not "bill of sale". His father had told him he had sold these lands, yet it seemed he had simply given them! Why? And above all, why didn't he just tell him about that? Then he remembered another detail he hadn't paid attention to, since he saw the paper in Victoria's hands but didn't take the time to read it. Now his memory was unfolding it before his mind's eye, and he tried his best to focus on what little he saw of the document. He couldn't make out the details, but a name stood out from the rest of the text, written twice as big as the rest and right in the middle of the page; unfortunately, Zorro didn't look at the paper long enough to make it out nor to etch it in his memory.

Too bad, maybe it would have helped him answer his questions... He'd have to ask Victoria next time he'll visit her as Zorro.

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Victoria stared at the papers Zorro had just entrusted her with.

Part of her felt bad, telling her over and over that this was personal business, personal papers, personal correspondence – well, no, not correspondence, there was no letter with the documents. But still...

Yet another part of her – the weaker-willed part – got the upper hand and, on the pretence of worrying for her good friends and watching over their best interests, she began reading the deed. Oh, just to know what it was about, nothing else.

Oh, she noted a bit disappointed, it was strictly business-related: Don Alejandro was donating some vineyards he owned near San Diego to... to...

Victorias' eyes bulged for the second time in the space of a few minutes.

WHAT ???

To Leonor de la Vega y Ximénez ???

Oh.

Oh. Well, at least Don Alejandro already knew about the child.

That was a good thing.

Yes, at least that was something.

But on the other hand, Victoria reflected, that looked undeniably like a confirmation. Until this moment she had tried her best to keep an open and impartial mind, despite very convincing and compromising appearances. She had wanted to reserve her final judgement until she heard Don Diego out.

But this deed of conveyance was a blatant confirmation of what she didn't want to believe, of what she suspected against all hopes. Of what the whole pueblo now suspected.

And now that it was on the verge of becoming public knowledge, Don Diego wouldn't have any other choice but to finally marry the mother.

But perhaps that had been the plan all along?