FicWad

Diego and Leonor were a few tables away from Araceli who was still sitting and slowly sipping her drink. The two siblings were looking at their reflection in a mirror hanging on the tavern's wall at the foot of the stairs.

Victoria was watching them with a small smile: Diego was standing with his back to the room, and he had lifted Leonor in his arms so that the little girl could be at the level of the mirror. Watching their reflections they were playing 'spot the resemblance', it seemed.

"They don't look too bothered to find likenesses between them," Victoria commented to Doña Araceli while bringing her the biscuits she had ordered.

"Hmm?" Señora Valdès asked, putting down the sketchbook she had been looking at.

In a sharp movement, Victoria indicated the general direction of the stairs with her chin.

"Oh, yes!" Doña Araceli exclaimed. "Yes, they both take a bit after their father," she said with a fond smile.

Victoria put the plate down before the señora.

"Yes, there is much of Don Alejandro in your daughter... She's so clearly a de la Vega!"

"She's clearly a Ximénez too, believe me!" Araceli answered. "I passed onto her our unruly hair, our dark eyes, and – unfortunately – our crooked teeth! A hint of my complexion, too."

"Well," Victoria said politely, looking at the child, "the result of this mix is quite a success, I must say."

"Gracias Señorita," Araceli answered. "That's Alejandro's opinion too," she added with an impish smile, "but I'm not sure he's quite objective on that matter..."

Victoria laughed... Typical Don Alejandro! Proud of having made two beautiful children... Well, three, Victoria thought with a bit of sadness: Don Gilberto hadn't been bad looking either, quite the contrary... Poor Don Alejandro, probably still on his wife's and his estranged son's graves at this same moment...

Victoria pushed these sombre thoughts away. She didn't want to ruin the current mood. In order to go back to the pleasant banter they had just been having – and to quench her own curiosity – she then told Araceli:

"Don Alejandro is clearly very fond of her..." She paused a bit. "So, tell me Señora," she added eagerly and in a woman-to-woman tone of confidence along with a knowing smile, "how did he win you over?"

Araceli looked at her, a bit surprised but not offended.

"I'm not sure either of us won the other over..." she replied pensively, "and if so, I'm not sure who won whom..."

She paused, seemingly retreating into her memories. Then a sweet, dreamy, soft little smile grazed her lips, strangely mixed with a hint of amusement.

"He was making me laugh..." she finally softly admitted in a tone of confession. Her words came out with another sweetly bashful and slightly impish smile, a strange mix that made her both lower her head a bit and raise on her twinkly eyes, while a light rosy natural blush was creeping to her cheeks and forehead. Then she self-consciously nibbled a bit at her lower lip.

Make her laugh and you're half-way there, Victoria remembered the common saying. Well, apparently in Señora Valdès's case it could work.

Victoria smiled. Did Zorro make her laugh? Sometimes, but he was mainly making her tremble for him and sigh of frustration; she had even already cried because of him, but only a few times...

"So, humour was the key?" she asked her conspiratorially. "That's what swept you off your feet?" she added with a wink.

Doña Araceli's look became dreamy, and the impish smile on her lips even took a slightly moony note while the sparkle in her eyes flashed and the light rosy blush came back to her cheek.

"Well..." she said, "he was also very charming... and dashing..."

She smiled at Victoria who smiled back.

"...with something in his eyes... a twinkle..." Araceli went on as Victoria nodded in agreement, "And a devastating smile..." she added.

She blushed further as her grin grew broad and she let out a small nostalgic sigh. Yes, Victoria thought, Don Diego had this same smile too... Took it after his father.

"...It was making my toes curl every time... in the good sense, if you see what I mean..." Doña Araceli completed.

Oh yes, Victoria knew what she meant. Toes curling, butterflies lightly fluttering in the stomach and so one... So really, and contrary to what she had initially suspected, Señora Valdès hadn't been attracted to his money or to his social position, after all...

And Victoria really wished little Leonor would have this same smile later, because on both her father and her brother it looked truly irresistible. Not to mention how it enhanced their 'de la Vega' dimples...

"So I must confess..." Doña Araceli went on after this pause, barely daring look her in the eyes, "I guess I already had a thing for him, I was unknowingly a bit... sweet on him, over the two or three years we'd been knowing each other before getting really close..."

'Getting really close', that was how she called that, Victoria thought. Quite an understatement: you certainly needed some level of closeness, physically speaking, to end up with a baby inviting itself!

"Funny how you can see someone on a regular basis during months and months and not realise you really like him," Araceli reflected aloud. "Really, really like him, you know? Admittedly, I was already in a nice relationship at the time, and then in another... I guess it helped me not recognise the signs..."

Love, Victoria romantically thought.

"Attraction..." Doña Araceli stated. "Attraction is a strange thing. Totally independent from reason, beyond it, and beyond human will... Two people rub shoulders regularly, and suddenly one realises he's attracted to the other. Or sometimes, it's mutual since the beginning. Other times, it becomes mutual with some nudge... and sometimes it's purely one-sided and will always remain so. And often it decreases and then ceases as inexplicably as it began. Attraction has its own illogical and unpredictable laws, I guess; and we, mere mortals, just have to accept it and make do with it. Life is a whirl which plays with us and with our emotions; and whereas there are many areas of our life we can take control over thanks to some efforts, emotions are beyond our will and control."

Pondering this, Victoria set her gaze on the two siblings who were still searching each other's face for similarities in her mirror. Diego had pulled a chair next to himself and Leonor was standing on it; the girl let out a giggle as they were both hiding the upper half of their faces with their hands to let only the lower half show, and they were peeking at it through their fingers.

Yes, Victoria noted, the resemblance here was obvious: two rather square jaws, two sets of dimples, two endearing smiles...

This sight pulled at something in Victoria's mind, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what. Something looked strangely familiar here, but something she didn't immediately associate with either Don Alejandro or Don Diego... She searched her memory, but the answer evaded her. Still, it felt really familiar, but...

Well, she reflected, putting this thought aside, whatever. Of course it felt familiar! It was Don Diego's face after all... She had known him for... well, forever!