FicWad

"...and then, Papá gave me the reins of his horse and he let me steer it all the way to the pueblo!"

"WHAT!?" Araceli roared as almost all of Victoria's customers turned to her. "Alejandro, are you insane?" she then asked in a more controlled voice. "This mare is far too spirited for such a young child!"

"Don't worry," Don Alejandro told her to reassure her – and also to plead his cause! – "I was there, just behind her in the saddle, ready to grab the reins again..."

"Still," she retorted, "this horse is not suited for a beginner, even less a six-years-old!"

"Firstly," Alejandro objected, "she's not a beginner. Secondly, you're biased just because Dulcinea was a bit restive at first. And thirdly," he added, covering his daughter's ears with his hands, "I didn't let Leonor really control the mount, not fully: I was still steering Dulcinea with my legs," he said in a much lower voice.

They were sitting at a table in the tavern, Leonor in her mother's lap – or rather straddling her mother's thighs, in a lively illustration of the riding lesson her father had just given her. The girl was mimicking a rider on his horse, bouncing in Araceli's lap – "Ouch! My legs! Leonor, I'm not a horse!"

Araceli had insisted on her daughter learning to ride astride like men and not side-saddle like other women, just like herself had been taught by her own father: he found it far less dangerous, and Araceli agreed with him. And decorum be damned! It shocked people around her, but as Señor Ximénez had always told his daughters: "rather a few shocked consciences at the sight of a few inches of stocking, than a wheelchair for any of my daughters!"

Araceli had been adamant about that, and Alejandro just had to comply. But inwardly, part of him was secretly happy with teaching her just the way he did with Diego, the way his own father had taught him... and the only way he knew! And truth be told, he was not just a little proud of his daughter's skills, and recognised in her a worthy offspring of his, of his loins.

"Leonor!" Alejandro told her. "Instead of bruising your mother's thighs any longer, go to the counter and ask Señorita Escalante for a glass of orange juice..."

On his way to the tavern he had heard of Zorro's near escape from the church and wanted to have Araceli's end of the story rather than some distorted gossips. And he'd also rather discuss it away from Leonor's ears: he had noted that any mention of the outlaw tended to make the girl nervous. He had to admit that a giant black clad and faceless man could be scary for a child who wasn't used to him.

"I was... praying," Araceli said, "in the right aisle of the church. Then I saw him, and I cried out. I was... surprised. And afraid. And then the padre was there too, and he tried to explain to me..."

She paused, looking around, and then she resumed in a murmur so as not to be heard: "He asked me to let the man escape. There was a soldier, and he ran to the bandit. So I... I decided to trust the padre, since you trust him too, and I... delayed the soldier a bit. And apparently the man managed to escape. End of the story."

Discreetly, Alejandro reached to her hand and squeezed it to show her his approval of what she chose to do. Then he withdrew his hand and glanced at the counter: he didn't want them to give Leonor false hopes about her parents.

Araceli caught this glance: of course he didn't want Señorita Escalante to get the wrong idea about them and to mistake this purely friendly gesture for what it wasn't!

Alejandro noticed that Victoria was glancing at the entrance door every now and then, and each time with a bit of growing disappointment and a hint of edginess. Was she waiting for someone? Or just hoping a visit from her masked hero? But no, he certainly wouldn't enter through the main entrance in broad daylight for all eyes to see... especially right in front of the soldiers in the plaza and of the alcade's office.

Then he remembered that when he and Leonor entered the tavern a short quarter of an hour earlier Victoria's face had unmistakably brightened, and she had expectantly stared at the door a few more seconds after they came in. Then, her large grin faded a bit, and when he sat down at Doña Araceli's table she went to greet him – and his daughter – and to take their order.

Had she been expecting someone else in his wake? Had she been expecting... Diego?

Heh heh... Alejandro didn't know how things had been when his son escorted Victoria back the night before, he had been too tired to wait for him and had gone to bed before Diego returned... Perhaps he should have innocently enquired about it in the morning – so, did you and Victoria have a nice ride yesterday, son? what did you two chat about? did she enjoy the ride? how was the moonlight? At the idea of the atmosphere a nice moonlit night offered to a young man gallantly escorting the lady of his heart, a nice dreamy smile grazed Alejandro's lips and reached his eyes. But would his shrinking violet of a son dare suggest a moonlight stroll? Would hopeless Diego even think of it? It was common knowledge that the boy didn't have a romantic bone in his body, he then remembered with a small sigh.

Araceli caught Alejandro's lingering stare in Victoria's direction, and she didn't miss the dreamy look on his face or the pining sigh which followed. Oh yes, she thought a bit ruefully, he has it bad...!

She downed the rest of her wine. Bottoms up! Here's to you, dearest Alejandro. To your love life...

She made a face for a split second: this Madeira really tasted strangely more acrid, today. Weird...

But it suddenly seemed to sweeten when Leonor's happy little face smiled at her mother on her way back from the counter, and Araceli made room for her daughter to climb back in her lap.

"Back into the saddle, mi amor?" she offered, patting her own knees in a tempting invitation.

Leonor didn't need to be told twice and was soon straddling her mother's thighs again. Alejandro smiled at the beautiful sight of his daughter and her mother being cosy with each other, no matter what the others could think of their strange and unusual little family.

Then Leonor seized two imaginary reins and resumed 'riding'.

"Look, Papá, I'm going to jump the gate. Gee up!"

She giggled.

"She's really a natural at horse-riding," Alejandro told Araceli. "It's a nice change from Diego..." he added with a small disillusioned smile.

"Oh, stop saying that, Alejandro," Araceli slightly chided him in a rather reproachful tone of voice. "It hurts him, you know... It truly does, I could see it."

Did it, really? She didn't know Diego; if she did, she'd know that not much seemed to touch his passive son, to get at him. Or did it? Don Alejandro gave Araceli a surprised glance, but seemed to accept the small rebuke. She was right after all: true or not this was no way of speaking about one's own son to other people. Especially in the presence of the boy's little sister.

And within Victoria's earshot! Oh dear, for a split second he had forgotten about that! He glanced at her, hopeful that from where she was she didn't hear him: he wanted her to have a better opinion of Diego, to see him in a new light, and certainly not to hear a renewed confirmation of the boy's flaws!

Then he saw her suddenly straighten bolt upright when at the same time her face brightened cheerfully and her eyes lit up, as if something she had been waiting all day for had finally happened. Alejandro followed her gaze: Diego had just crossed the threshold, with Felipe in tow.

Don Alejandro barely stopped himself from rubbing his hands in glee. Victoria could rave on and on and as much as she wanted about Zorro, but she sure was glad to see his son.

Diego immediately spotted his father and Doña Araceli cosily seated together, one-on-one. Well, not really one-on-one: Leonor was there, too.

"Will you let me steer your horse on the way home, Papá?" she was asking their father.

"Wouldn't you rather ride back in Mamá's carriage?" Alejandro replied.

"No," she answered resolutely. "Oh, please, Papá, pleeeease!"

She tried her puppy eyes on him, but she didn't master it yet.

"No, because anyway I will probably go back home a bit late," Don Alejandro told her. "I have things to do here in the pueblo. You'll go home with Mamá. Or with Diego and Felipe if you–"

"DIEGO!" the little girl said, interrupting her father, "Did you ride here on horseback?"

Araceli laughed at her eagerness.

"Uh... yes I did," he answered.

"What's your horse's name? Will you let me ride it and steer?"

"Leonor, stop bothering Diego," Araceli told her.

The girl pouted a bit, and Alejandro smiled at them:

"She sure has a gift for horse-riding. She certainly didn't take after her mother in that area," he added in a teasing voice, an impish glint in his eyes, glancing mischievously in Señora Valdès's direction.

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny," Araceli sarcastically commented. "I'll have you know I've made much progress since then..."

"I agree, I agree," he told her, "but don't ruin the fun of my memories..."

She let out a gentle sigh and had a small self-derisory smile:

"You won't ever let me forget this, will you?" she asked him rhetorically.

He grinned.

"Not a chance, my dear."

And indeed, he fondly remembered...