FicWad

Zorro was quietly riding unnoticed around the pueblo in order to reach the backdoor of the church without being seen when he spotted Dulcinea fastened to the hitching post on the plaza. And right beside her was Esperanza.

Good, both his father and the girl's mother were there. He wouldn't need the padre, after all: he could hand little Leonor over to her parents. Directly.

And as a sign, Don Alejandro was slowly crossing the plaza to his mare.

Zorro changed direction and gently urged Tornado to the pueblo's main gate.

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Victoria was wiping a table on the porch of her tavern when she heard one of her patrons comment:

"Oh, here's Don Alejandro."

"Oh, really?" another customer asked. "I saw his horse but I didn't know where he was."

"Well, he's just come out of the church."

Victoria glanced at him: he must know that his son's paternity had become public knowledge by now... Perhaps she should go to him and see how he was doing?

Wait a minute... the church?

Oh... oh, he had probably gone to the padre to arrange for his son to...

Urgh... something slightly unpleasant suddenly rolled in her stomach. She hoped she wasn't going to be unwell; she hadn't slept very well the previous night. Perhaps she was coming down with something? In fact, she had been feeling rather down the whole day, as though something was constricting her chest, weighing on her lungs and heart. And yet she had been perfectly well just the day before!

"Zorro!" someone shouted, rousing her from her sour thoughts.

She sharply looked up from the table she had been wiping for a good minute and saw her hero mounted on Tornado, right under the pueblo's gate. But he wasn't exactly alone on his horse...

He was clutching little Leonor against his chest. What did that mean?

Victoria was puzzled as to what the child was doing with him, and she then turned her gaze to Don Alejandro to seek an explanation.

She saw his eyes widen, and he opened his mouth as if to say something but no sound came out of it. His whole attention seemed to be focused on the little girl Zorro was holding close against his chest.

When she spotted Don Alejandro in the middle of the plaza, the child wriggled again in Zorro's arms. He let go of her and she let herself slide down the saddle and the black stallion's side, landing on her knees.

Not paying attention to her fall or to her scratched knees, she was quickly back on her feet and rushed to Don Alejandro, tripping twice in her race.

"PAPÁ!" she cried out loud and clear, throwing herself in his arms with a sob.

The whole plaza went silent, with the few people there staring at the two of them with eyes as wide as saucers.

Papá?

Did she just call him–

What?!

Don Alejandro, for his part, didn't pay attention to the reaction around him: he had lifted her from the ground and was now standing in the middle of the plaza, clutching her close to his chest with his arms wrapped around her. He was holding her so tight that a leaf of paper couldn't have been slipped between them. Then he raised his head from where he had buried it in the crook of her neck and started to shower her face and hair with kisses.

"Mi cariño," he breathed, "oh, mi cariño, mi cariño," he repeated over and over.

Out of the blue, Victoria noticed that the child's black hair was much shorter – and messier – than it had been in the morning.

"Papá!" the little girl suddenly protested, "Papá, you're crushing me!"

He looked at her, as though he didn't understand what she just said, before it finally registered and he loosened his grip a bit. A very slight bit.

"Sorry, cariño," he softly told her.

Suddenly Victoria saw a flash of sky-blue something rush from the front of the church an throw itself at them.

"Leonor!" Señora Valdès cried out, joining Don Alejandro in hugging and kissing her daughter. "Oh, mi amor..." she said between wet kisses and sighs.

A few tears of relief were rolling on her cheeks but she didn't seem to care or even to take notice of it. She was clutching to her daughter as if she was trying to take her from Don Alejandro's arms and have her all to herself, but he didn’t let go of her and the three of them were therefore holding themselves very close, with the little girl as the link between the older man and the young mother. Again, they were both showering her with caresses, endearments and kisses.

All this had taken only a few seconds, but on the plaza it had seemed as though the time and the world had paused. The dozen people around was eagerly watching this unexpected family reunion, not completely believing what they were witnessing.

But it slowly dawned on Victoria, and probably on the others.

Don Alejandro...

Well... That was... unexpected, to say the least. Very much unexpected.

But why was this touching family gathering taking place so publicly in the middle of the plaza and what Zorro had to do with all this were two questions that none of the witnesses had the first clue about.

Suddenly Don Alejandro raised his head at the man who had brought his daughter back to him – yes, his daughter!

"Gracias Señor Zorro."

There was barely held back tears in his voice, and his eyes were shining with some dignified wetness.

"Mil gracias," he repeated breathily.

Zorro didn't say anything. He simply nodded gravely at him, answered with a salute and rode off before any soldier could show up.

Without even a glance at Victoria! She wondered if that meant anything. He didn't even address Don Alejandro either, at least not in the spoken form. Never before had he been so awfully silent...

Was something wrong with him?