“Jenna! Is it really you?!” Diego whispered loudly. He did not want to attract attention.
“It’s me, Diego,” Jenna said as he helped her to her feet. She was brushing the dust off her clothes and trying to turn off the music. When she adjusted herself, she looked up at him to find him standing, smiling at her as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. Diego quickly led her off to a secluded area of the pueblo, away from prying eyes. All Jenna could manage to say, when he stopped, was, “I needed to come. I missed you so much.” Then the tears began trickling down her cheeks.
Diego pulled her into a warm hug and half twirled her around in joy. “How I have missed you as well. It has been difficult trying to explain to my father what happened to me without telling the entire story. He would think me crazy.” He pulled away slightly and looked down at Jenna. He felt like a tortured soul who had finally found peace. “I am so happy to see you, querida,” he said, and then kissed her soundly.
Jenna was smiling contentedly as she broke the kiss. It felt like life had once again begun. Then she remembered the encounter he’d had with Senorita Hoity-toity. The recollection caused Jenna to make an indignant face. “I saw how happy you looked a little while ago, Diego. Did I waste my time coming here?”
Diego looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”he asked.
Jenna could only attempt an impersonation of Diego’s old flame. She rolled her eyes and airily said, “Di-eeeeego!” It brought forth a laugh from Diego’s very depths. He nodded very slightly and tilted his head. Jenna obviously did a good enough imitation, and started giggling herself.
“I see. You were jealous?” Diego teased her and saw her starting to fuss and fume. “You are! Jenna there is no need. That is Rosarita Cortez. She used to live here when we were very young. She’s only visiting from Monterey, Jenna, and was offering an invitation to her uncle’s fiesta this evening,” he explained.
Jenna didn’t feel any better. “You couldn’t have missed those big brown eyes batting at you, Diego. I would bet anything she’d like to take you back with her to Monterey.”
“Well she did reminisce about childhood vows we’d made to each other. And my father was just remarking about what a match it would be. Perhaps I should honor them, eh?” he teased laughing.
Jenna looked at Diego as if he’d grown horns. Then her humorous sarcasm got the best of her. “Oh by all means do that, and on your wedding night just think about sharing a lifetime of that…that whiny voice. You keep that in mind, Diego, if, for some reason, you honestly would consider it. Make sure they carve it on your tombstone that that’s what killed you.” She saw Diego chuckling. Shaking her head, Jenna then asked, “Was she always like that?”
“Like what?” Diego asked perplexed.
“Oh please, Diego. As young children, did she always say your name like that when she wanted to talk to you? I mean I’ve never laid eyes on her till a short while ago and I consider it an irritating way to talk!”
“Jenna,” Diego said with some degree of admonishment in his voice, “I am only teasing. There is no cause for jealousy, believe me. Your face is all I have had in my mind for so long,” he continued, his voice becoming quieter, “I don’t think I would have noticed her if..” He couldn’t finish his thought. Diego just pursed his lips and shook his head.
“If she ran around buck naked?” Jenna finished for him.
“Jenna! I cannot imagine that for a second. Not around here, at least.” Then he looked at her intensely. “I could not imagine it at all. You seemed to have invaded my thoughts pretty thoroughly. Now you, I might be able to imagine..”
“Diego!” she chastized him, but humorously. “Shameful man. I think maybe I allowed you too much of my time. You’re rather bold.”
“And I wonder how I got that way?” he asked, knowingly and with humor lacing his voice. Then he kissed her again. And he would have continued showing Jenna how much he had missed her. But the realization that it was broad daylight and this kind of intimate behavior was not well received here in the pueblo. It would mark him as a man betrothed or a casanova.
Diego had to work to remember his place in this society. He was a de la Vega; known for proper behavior and manners, which he practiced both as Diego and as Zorro. His father, however, had been mislead recently into forming a vigilante group of dons and had come to regret it. And Diego suspected the Magistrado, Senor Galindo, of being at the bottom of such a nefarious plan. It had put his father in a bad light. So Diego kept himself in check. And as the fog lifted around his mind from the reunion with Jenna, Sergeant Garcia’s voice rang through loud and clear.
“Ah there you are, Don Diego. Shall we go…we-e-e-ellll, buenas dias, Senorita. We were just coming to the mission to see you. I see you have already found her, Don Diego.”
Diego continued looking into Jenna’s blue eyes, captivated, and a knowing smile on his face. “Si, Sergeant, I have already found her. And she is everything you described, Sergeant.”
The sergeant grunted out a laugh, and then a frown appeared on his face. “So you have met her before, Don Diego?”
“Si, Sergeant. This is the senorita who took care of me several months ago when I had fallen from my horse in the hills.”
“Oh, that I did not know about, Don Diego. I am sorry to hear that. And rather surprised, being the horseman you are. But now you can perhaps tell me the senorita’s name and where she is from?”
“Her name, Sergeant, is Senorita Jenna Goldenberg. And she is from Los Angeles,” Diego informed him.
The sergeant gasped, as if surprised. “You mean she told you that, Don Diego? Why yesterday she could not speak! She was as quiet as your man.”
“Sergeant, I was lost for a week. The senorita, here, took care of me till I could return home. I had learned her name then.”
“But how, Don Diego? She can not speak!” the sergeant asked, totally confused.
Diego grasped the situation. He knew he had to cover some tracks and fast. “The senorita does write, Sergeant. And when she helped me recover, she was very talkative.” Diego continued to keep his eyes on Jenna.
“Perhaps, Sergeant, she has a sore throat or some ailment that has affected her ability to speak. It does happen. Or perhaps something has scared her so much she cannot talk. I do not know. But surely in time she will recover. Now I think I should escort this young lady home. Con permiso.”
The sergeant had listened intently, smiling the whole time and nodding his head. But as soon as Diego and Jenna began walking towards Diego’s horse, Garcia spoke up again.
“Wait, Don Diego. The senorita..she has no papers. She..”
“I will vouch for her, Sergeant. Is not the word of a de la Vega worth something anymore? She will be at our hacienda, recovering her voice, if there’s anything more you need to know. Will that be good enough?” Diego had the knack of talking circles around the sergeant till his head spun. He simply gave up. There never seemed to be a time when Don Diego did not make sense. Yet for all his knowledge and reason, Sgt. Garcia always seemed to come away more confused.
Riding off, Diego remarked how close a call it was and that more caution will have to be exercised. No slip ups. Instead of going directly to the hacienda, though, Diego took Jenna on a personal tour. Having seen him as Zorro and knowing that secret, he thought she was entitled to see his secret cave where Tornado was kept.
“Oh he’s beautiful, Diego!” Jenna said, impressed by the horse’s friendliness, response, and how accustomed he was to Diego’s voice. “He’s fast too, right?”
“Well, he does manage to outrun the soldiers’ horses,” Diego answered with pride, but without boasting. As Jenna stroked the horse, Diego became rather quiet. Jenna knew his secret, and unless she was constantly under protection, she might be forced somehow to talk. Or she might accidentally say something that could compromise his identity as Zorro. He had to think of something.
Jenna looked over at him and noticed his face. There was something…wrong…no, he was bothered by something. With a final pat on Tornado’s neck, Jenna sauntered over to him. Without touching him, she looked directly at him.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked, her own eyebrows coming together in a frown.
Diego frowned slightly before relaxing into a smile. “Is it that obvious?” he asked. Jenna merely nodded, but smiled back. “I can’t seem to hide anything. Bernardo always notices when something is bothering me. Now you!” He leaned back against one of the boulders and crossed his arms. Pursing his lips, he then spoke his mind.
“Jenna, you know my secret. You know I am Zorro, and there’s a price on my head. It is one thing for Bernardo to know. He truly cannot speak. But you…under the right conditions, there are those that, if they thought you had any knowledge of Zorro, might just hurt you enough or threaten you enough to make you talk. You have to admit it is a serious possibility. Things have been going on here that are suspect. I am certain our new magistrado, Carlos Galindo, is behind the turn of events. I do not trust him. He twists the law, he convinces people like my father into schemes that are wrong, he is insulting.”
He turned and looked out over the landscape. Jenna walked over to where Diego stood. She merely listened as Diego continued. “I do not want anything to happen to you. If there is too much question about where you came from, or if they suspect you of anything, well suffice it to say it has happened that prominent ladies in our pueblo have found themselves jailed in order to force them to talk. I had enough trouble with Monastario, but Galindo, now, makes the last comandante seem like child’s play.”
“Diego,” Jenna asked point blank, “do you want me to leave?”
He swung around and heaved a sigh. “No Jenna. I am not asking you to leave. You may want to if things get any worse. But I promise you I will not let anything happen to you. I do think we should make you as invisible as possible.”
“Invisible? What do you mean?” she asked him frowning.
“I mean you should not be in a position where people can question you or make you talk. Once they have you in conversation, there is no guarantee that you will not let slip something that would cause further curiosity or suspicion,” Diego explained.
“Wait a minute!” Jenna suggested indignantly, “Are you trying to keep me hidden? You mean I can’t go out anywhere?”
“I did not say that, querida,” Diego defended himself.
“That’s true. But is that what you’re implying?” Her voice was starting to sound as if she was going to read him the riot act, and in Spanish! “Look, Diego, I came back to your time to find answers to many questions in my mind. The last time I saw you, I told you I loved you. And nothing could be truer. If I recall, you felt the same and even suggested I return with you then. Now it’s a whole other ballgame? I mean…” she stammered to correct her euphemism, “..too much is different now?”
“Si, Jenna. Many things are different now. I did not lie when I said I loved you. It still holds true. At the same time, is it enough to jeopardize your security? I simply question whether we should put it to the test.”
Jenna was still frowning and held his gaze. Thought after thought raced through her mind. “Say this; say that!”she heard. Finally she turned her head in the same direction Diego had a few minutes earlier and scanned the surroundings. She knew Diego made valid points; she could have walked right into a viper’s pit by coming through the caves to his time. But she loved him and had to find out if that was enough to keep them together or not.
Slowly turning, Jenna faced Diego again. “I understand what you’re saying, Diego. And I appreciate your concern. But would you at least let me try to adjust here? It’s the very reason I came through that cacophony of caves to reach you. I believed in us enough to see if I could give up my life as I have known it. Can’t you grant me the chance or don’t you have any faith in me?”she asked calmly and quietly.
Diego pursed his lips. He knew she had courage. And if there was the slimmest chance to keep his golden-haired lady by his side, he would agree to anything. He sighed and put his arms around her and just held her close. “I have faith in you, Jenna. I suppose I speak out of fear for your safety. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”
“Diego, I promise to be on my guard, okay? And don’t forget I’ve got experience in handling attackers.” Diego pulled back and looked down at her in question. Jenna returned his gaze with a twinkle in her eye, caught him off guard and deposited him on the ground. “Martial arts, remember? I took my final exam for black belt after you left.” She helped him up and they both started brushing away the dust from his clothes. “So, fair warning: don’t trifle with me,” she said with mock severity.
Diego gave her the warm, glowing smile she loved. And in the next instance found herself in the same position. Diego had given as good as he got. “Fair enough,” he said. “But what were you saying about letting your guard down?” Helping her up, both of them laughing, Diego then asked her huskily, “Are you sure I cannot ‘trifle’ with you some more?”
“You are so bad,” Jenna said, “I’ll bet your father would be shocked at your boldness.”
“Ah, but don’t forget: I am Zorro, the bold outlaw!” he answered.
“Oohh, and I’ll bet you’re rather bold with other senoritas?” Jenna asked, back in his arms again. <> “I wouldn’t know. Since meeting you I haven’t ‘trifled’ with any.” Diego answered, kissing her. “Ah Jenna, what am I going to do with you?”
Jenna laughed lightly and whispered, “Just keep me right where I am right now.”
Chapter Seven
Chapter Five
Table of Contents
