FicWad

"Father..."

"Not now, Diego."

Oh, no no no no no, Diego thought as his father was jerkily loading powder in one of his pistols. The man was shaking with rage, and half the powder spread over the marble plate of the sala's pedestal table.

"Father, I don't think this is–"

"I said later, Diego!"

He was now loading a bullet in the barrel. Diego noticed he already had another pistol in his belt.

"Father, forgive me for stating this so abruptly, but I'm afraid you're getting a little too old for–"

"You're afraid of everything, Diego!" Don Alejandro sharply pointed out.

Then he seemed to regret his hurtful comment and told him in a kinder tone of voice:

"Diego, I know you're not a man of action and I won't ask you to come with me. Lord knows I worry enough for Leonor, I don't want to have to worry for you too, my son. If... if anything were to happen to you..."

He paused, swallowing hard.

"Father, I have the exact same worry about you running after–"

"I can't..." Don Alejandro interrupted him, "I can't just stay... not when my daughter... Don't worry for me Diego, I'll be alright, I know what I'm doing."

"Father, I don't think you're–"

But Don Alejandro surprised him by taking him gently by the shoulders and looking at him in a serious manner.

"Diego," he said, "I know you won't come with me. That's alright: I need you to look after Araceli and comfort her. Please."

"I don't need comforting, Alejandro, I need my daughter," said a slightly shaky but rather assertive voice coming from the corridor as Señora Valdès entered the room. "Alive. Safe and sound."

"I'm going to find her, Araceli. To find them," he promised, slipping his second pistol in his belt. "I'll bring her back home."

"Alejandro, don't do anything foolish! I know you don't want to hear that, but you're too old for this! Let's call upon your alcalde, upon the army!"

"Hmph!" Don Alejandro snorted, "the alcalde... you obviously don't know him, of course..."

"Still," she insisted, "what do you think you're doing? Concepcion told me it happened a good twenty minutes ago. They're far away by now, and we wouldn't know where to begin the search!"

Her voice sounded calm, even though a bit forcedly so, but she was restlessly wringing her hands.

"She's right, Father, and even if you find them, how would you proceed? You won't help or save anyone by getting yourself killed!"

"He's right, Alejandro," she said "listen to us."

"Oh," he barked at her, "and what do you suggest? That we should pay? You really think they'll release her then?"

"No," she immediately answered. "They know she can recognise them, recognise their voices, even though she's still very young. Believe me, I'd gladly give all the money I have, my house, my business and even down to the last piece of clothing I'm wearing to get my daughter back, but I doubt it would do any good..."

"So, what?" he yelled. "What do you suggest?"

"Father, please," Diego intervened, "there's no need to shout at the señora..."

She sighed, closing her eyes, lowering her head, frowning a bit.

"I don't know," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Perhaps... perhaps go to that canyon tonight and try to... to buy time. Time enough for the soldiers to find them... to... Perhaps we could tell them it takes more time to get eight thousands pesos in cash... that we need a proof that she's still–" she paused. "...that she is uninjured, that she is treated well..."

Don Alejandro sighed.

"You sound just like Diego," he said. "Always overthinking everything..."

"Then Don Diego must be a wise man," she commented, "but that's hardly the matter here. I worry for Leonor and I don't want to worry for you on top of that."

"Oh, you worry for her, really?" he angrily asked. "Not enough to want to run after those scoundrels! I love Leonor, enough to go after them, and I'll get her!"

Araceli was already on edge, and this time she truly lost her temper:

"How dare you suggest I could love my daughter less than you do? I forbid you–"

She was too outraged and too frightened to think coherently anymore, Diego could see that. Oh, dear, he had just found out his father had had a secret bastard child he had hidden from him for years, with a woman he didn't even know, and he was now finding himself in the middle of a nasty fight between the two distraught parents!

"Please, please, Father, Señora, I don't think that's the right time for this. Father, I really think Señora Valdès's suggestion deserves consideration."

She sighed, closing her eyes once again. Then she turned to Diego's father:

"I'm sorry Alejandro, I'm afraid I got carried away and didn't really mean what I said."

"That's alright, my dear," he replied, "I believe I can't really think straight right now. I certainly didn't mean to doubt your motherly love... I apologise."

In the awkward silence that followed, Diego really felt out of place. And when his father hesitantly reached to grab Señora Valdès's hand and squeezed it lightly, he felt something not really pleasant in his guts. Part of him, probably the one that remembered his mother, felt a bit ill-at-ease before this modest display of intimacy, even though it remained very seemly.

On the other hand, that was the ideal pretext to slip away and go down to the cave, now that his father was held in check. He was about to take his leave from them when someone imperatively knocked on the front door.

"De la Vega!" a voice shouted from outside, "open that door!"

The alcalde!

With all these emotions, startling revelations and now the worry about both the little girl and his father's usual rashness, Diego had completely forgotten about those damn papers. He went to the vestibule to open the front door.

"Alcalde!" he said, "to what do we owe–"

But he stopped short: de Soto had come accompanied by a good twenty soldiers, among who was a very uneasy sergeant Mendoza. Madre de Dios, he really wanted those papers!

"Diego," he negligently said, totally disregarding him as he brushed him aside to step inside, "is your father home?"

"Ignacio, this is not exactly the right time for that–"

But de Soto had already entered the sala, followed by some of his soldiers.

"Oh," he murmured, "I see..."

What he saw was the woman from the tavern – yes, the exact same one who arrived by the stagecoach with her child and who triggered the current shocked gossips in the pueblo. And in front of that woman was a very irritated Don Alejandro, according to the red colour of his face, his short breath and his shaking clenched fists. The man was angered.

De Soto then only had to notice the flustered state Don Diego appeared to be in and the woman's obvious distress to put the pieces together: Diego de la Vega was currently receiving the biggest telling-off of his whole life. And it wasn't difficult to guess why.

But at least, de Soto noted with unusual thoughtfulness, they had the delicacy not to settle this thorny and ugly business in front of the child. The girl was nowhere to be seen.

Oh dear Lord, de Soto thought not without some amusement, old Don Alejandro must be absolutely furious!

Well, he couldn't really blame him: the man seemed to be so self-righteous and uptight that it must have been a real shock to discover that Don Diego wasn't exactly the prim-and-proper daddy's boy he believed him to be, as well as to discover that his son finally had it in him! And well, with an unexpected bastard grandchild now turning up... Surely this wasn't how he envisioned the fulfilment of his constant wish that his son provided him with those grandbabies he had been nagging him with over the last year or so.

Yes, Ignacio de Soto couldn't blame Don Alejandro's anger.

But as the alcalde took a better look at the woman, he couldn't really come to blame Diego either... This lady was quite appealing in fact, and she must have been even more so six or seven years earlier!

Hum. Yes. Well... Although he would really like to sit back and enjoy the show of Diego de la Vega getting the dressing down of his life by his father, Ignacio de Soto had come here with a purpose:

"Well, Señores, I guess you know why I'm here. I've come to retrieve the documents this rascal Zorro stole last night in my–"

"Alcalde," Don Alejandro interrupted him in a testy voice, "now is really not the time for your antics!"

Flabbergast at his unexpected and offensive rudeness, de Soto remained speechless.

What? How did he dare...? Alright, the man was troubled by what he had just learned, but there was no need to take it out on him! After all, he wasn't the one who seduced a young girl, got her pregnant and just about one year later left and put an ocean between them. Because according to the child's age, this whole affair must have happened when Diego was in Spain.

Yes, Ignacio felt outraged. And this was a blatant lack of respect for his position as alcalde. He was about to tell Don Alejandro so in a few choice words when the woman came to him and said:

"Quite the contrary, the alcalde's timing couldn't be better."

And she launched into a very fast explanation about child abduction, blackmail and a threatened maid. From what Ignacio could make of this, the little girl had just been kidnapped for ransom and her mother was understandably frightened for her.

Then Don Diego and his father both entered the conversation, but the alcalde's mind simply froze at Don Alejandro saying 'my daughter'.

'My daughter'. What exactly did he mean by that? Uh?

Oh, and here he'd just said it again. 'My daughter'.

And suddenly Ignacio's eyes grew wide. Oh! Don Alejandro? Don Alejandro and not Don Diego?

Wow... That was... that was quite something.

"Please Señor alcalde," the woman was pleading, laying her hands on his forearm and squeezing it, "please bring my daughter back!"

There are priorities in life, Ignacio decided, and this woman's daughter's life prevailed over any tax avoidance her grandfather – no! her father! – could be plotting. Plus de Soto had still in mind that he had had to kill one of Don Alejandro's sons a few weeks ago, so if he could do something to prevent the loss of another of his children...

He even agreed to the woman's and Diego's request to take Don Alejandro with them in the search party.

"Gracias Ignacio," Don Diego told him, relieved that at least his father wouldn't launch into a solitary crusade. He knew Don Alejandro overestimated his own strength and dexterity, living with the memory of his successful youth in the army and completely forgetting about his age. Or at least refusing to acknowledge the effects the passing of time had had on his skills and abilities.

Diego took Mendoza aside and discreetly asked him:

"Please, Sergeant, look after my father. Keep an eye on him, will you?"

"Si Don Diego," the sergeant replied with a knowing wink. "I won't let him out of my sight."

"Gracias," Diego thanked him, "I'm afraid he'd try something rash and foolish..."

"Oh," Araceli told him, "you too..."

He looked at her. She knew him well, he realised. She truly knew his father, or at least part of him.

Diego took a better look at her. Despite her natural olive complexion she was now looking very pallid. She pensively rose a shaky hand to her mouth and started biting her nails.

Don Alejandro came closer to her and took her by the shoulders. She avoided his serious gaze and turned her head to the side.

"Look at me," he told her. "Araceli, look at me."

She slowly complied, wincing. "We will find her," he added.

"You don't even know where to begin with," she stated. "What are you going to do? Search the desert at random? We'd far better set a trap for them... I thought... I expected the alcalde to suggest something like that... Tonight we could go to this canyon, hide and wait for one of them to show up to fetch the ransom. And then we follow him discreetly until he leads us to her!"

"Perhaps we will," Don Alejandro said, "if we don't find her earlier, but I can't just stay here all day long and wait for the night to fall."

Then he turned to his son:

"Diego, I know you must have a good thousand questions, but I don't have time to answer them now. Araceli will be able to enlighten you on many of your interrogations, though. I know I can rely on you to look after her and support her, my son."

After that he went outside and headed for the stable to get Dulcinae saddled.

Meanwhile, the alcalde was getting his troops ready. Keeping in mind the initial reason for his visit to the de la Vega hacienda, he told three of his soldiers to stay there and search the hacienda for the missing documents, beginning with the study, but going through all rooms if necessary, even down to the bedrooms. Diego sighed. When de Soto had something on his mind...

What was on Diego's mind, though, was to go down to the cave and begin his own search for the girl and her abductors. But once he found himself one-on-one with Señora Valdès a very awkward silence settled between them.

"Do you..." he began, "if there's anything you need..."

"All I need is my daughter!" she answered briskly. "Sorry, Don Diego, I didn't..."

She forced a strained smile on her face.

"Well," she went on, "as your father said, there are certainly many questions you wish to ask me..."

He looked at her.

"As a matter of fact, right now I have only one," he said, thinking about the content of the message the kidnappers had Concepcion repeat to Don Alejandro. "Who else knew that your daughter is also my father's?"