Epilogue

Over the years that followed the walls of the De la Vega hacienda became covered with pictures. Six more healthy children were born to Diego and Victoria, and apart from them all being uncommonly intelligent, they each inherited a few specific features from their parents which at every display made Don Alejandro smile.

On the outside, the twins were practically identical. Victoria used to tease Diego that these two clearly witnessed about having been conceived by a fox: the reddish, fox-coloured hair they had inherited from their grandmother Doña Elena made a strange but beautiful contrast with their father´s blue eyes. Before they had turned fifteen they were already known as reputed beauties throughout the entire territory, and the worry about their possibly falling into the wrong hands never really left their father in those years.

Another thing they had inherited from him was his brilliant brain. At the age of four, they had figured out by themselves how to read and write, as well as basic arythmatics. Diego and Victoria thought it a shame to have them wait till the usual age before starting their official education, and so a governess was hired. Quick and eager to learn as they were, the governess and every instructor following had a hard time keeping up with their rapid progress, and Victoria was already dreaming about them going to university. Unfortunately, women´s emancipation had not gotten that far in the 1840´s. Diego enquired with every university throughout Europe and the Americas, but none of them was willing to accept his daughters as students, no matter how bright they were. Victoria was furious, and Diego - in a little less outspoken way - too. In protest, he taught them personally everything he knew, and he made sure to provide them with a competent teacher in any subject they wished to study.

Elena was the leader of the two, and the more quiet Annarita often let her be the one to make the decisions. As long as she agreed with them, that is, for if she did not, she could simply walk away and leave her sister stewing. Elena definitely had inherited the infamous De la Vega temper, but she was also a great lover of horses. She could tame any horse, and loved to go out riding with her father, always picking up new tricks from him on the way. She also had inherited her mother´s sense of business, and together with the man that finally captivated her heart she set up a profitable horse-ranch in northern Mexico, that soon became famous for the excellent horses it bred.

While Elena married a rather patriotic Mexican officer, Annarita preferred the pacifist ideals of her father. Her foremost interest lay in the medical sciences, and she thoroughly studied each and every one of her father´s books on that matter. Since going to university was out of the question, Diego arranged for her to become the assistant of the new doctor at Santa Paula, thus giving her the opportunity to continue her education in practice. Dr. De Rosas was a young caballero, recently graduated in the medical sciences from the new university in Mexico City, and the reports on his character, his knowledge and intelligence were highly favourable.

When Diego contacted him, the young man declared that he had no objection to a well-schooled assistant, even if she was female, as he said. However, the fact that his new assistant indeed was female led to a few unforeseen complications. When Diego accompanied his daughter to Santa Paula to introduce her to her new boss, it would have taken a fool to miss the instant shy blush on both his daughter´s and the young doctor´s face. And Diego was definitely not a fool. His protective father-heart would have very much preferred to take his little girl right back home again, but he realized just in time that his ´little girl´ was twenty-one years old and that he could not stop his children from growing up. He would have to have faith in her good sense and in the favourable reports on the new doctor. Still, he instantly planned on many, many trips to Santa Paula in the coming months, just to keep an eye on things.

He needn´t have worried though. Young Don David de Rosas was as much a gentleman as Diego himself. He and Annarita made a perfect medical team, and within two months, David realized there could never be another woman in his life than this smart, gentle and beautiful Annarita de la Vega. In their spare time he started courting her - first in secret, but when he grew more confident, even in public, and the people of Santa Paula smiled as much about their doctors´ romance as Los Angeles once had done about their black hero´s and his beloved taverness. And so, less than a year after he had introduced his ´little girl´ to him, Diego found Dr. De Rosas nervously asking for permission to marry his daughter. It was a very hard decision for him, to let his ´little girl´ go for good and leave her in the care of another man. But everything turned out to be allright, and - after big brother Felipe - they became the first ones to grant Diego and Victoria a couple of grandchildren, making the family picture gallery expand once again.

Young Alejandro, born when the twins were two years old, took greatly after the grandfather he was named after. A warrior, a fighter, always challenging and testing himself, he found himself in many precarious situations over the years. He spent a good deal of his youth learning how to control the infamous De la Vega temper, for he had a great sense of justice and could not see anyone being treated unfairly.

Carolina, born less than a year afterwards, was his secondant. They were even more inseparable than the twins: they did everything together and Carolina grew up as a real tom-boy. With her mother´s round face and her father´s blue eyes she had the looks of a little angel, but even though she was really smart, she had a hard time sitting still and studying from a book. She cheered Alejandro on when he got his first fencing-lessons from his father, but when she had talked her brother into teaching her everything Papa taught him and in that process nearly cut out his eye, Diego thought it safer to teach her himself - and then properly. It was one of the few things the girl managed to muster concentration for, and she became as good a fencer as her brother. Still, she was not allowed to follow Alejandro in his dream to join the army - and this time Diego and Victoria were not really sorry about women´s emancipation not having progressed far enough. Instead, Carolina took over her mother´s tavern, where she had ample opportunities to run around and chat, and very few obligations to sit still. She loved working with people, and especially the older local customers often smiled at her fighting spirit and her wit: she was considered a true daughter of her mother!

Two years later, another son was born: Alfonso. On the outside, he was practically a copy of his uncle Francisco, but his character and interests were much more like his father´s. Like his eldest sisters he was exceptionally bright. He loved to read and study, especially the sciences, and after graduating cum laude from the university of Madrid, he simply continued his scientific work and became what Diego´s studiemates at the time had predicted for him: an internationally acclaimed professor. Alfonso stayed in Europe for the rest of his life, though he had a regular and very good contact with his ever so proud parents in California.

A year and a half after Alfonso was born, Victoria gave birth to another set of twins. Unfortunately the eldest twin died at birth, and Victoria found it very hard at first to love little Mariana, who was born only a few minutes later. But Mariana soon turned out to be the easiest and ´sweetest´ of all of her children, and therefore easy to love. She was shy, quiet and modest, and loved nothing better than reading. At night however, she could spellbind her family with her wonderful tales. Forgotten was her shyness when her eyes lit up and her mouth spoke those four magical words: "Once upon a time..." Everyone would simply drop whatever they were doing and listen to the magical adventures Mariana made up, about knights dressed all in black, wearing a waving cape and a long sword, or about princesses covered in red roses, or about mean little cobolds in a faraway land under the sun. She never told the same story twice. But once she started writing them down, she became a beloved author, whose books were translated into many languages.

Two years after the tragedy with Mariana´s stillborn twinsister Victoria brought another daughter into the world. She was named Felicidad, a name well worthy of her, for she was a real sunbeam in the house. Wherever she came, whenever people saw her, everyone smiled at the quicksilvery little figure. She had a natural charm with which she easily took in even the grumpiest person in the pueblo, and she was sure to be liked wherever she went. She loved learning languages, and being fluent in French, English, Portuguese and even Russian, she was a great help to new foreign settlers in the area. She even managed to learn a few of the local Indian languages, which greatly benifited the Indians as she gladly served as interpreter and mediator between the government and the local tribes.

Six years later, as a surprise to everyone since Victoria had already reached her forties by then, the youngest De la Vega was conceived. It was a son, Daniel, who was born on his father´s birthday. He grew up to be a lover of the arts, and a gifted one, too. He could spend hours with his father painting, or playing the piano together. He was a very friendly boy, with dreamy brown eyes (together with his slender posture the only thing he seemed to have inherited from his mother; the rest of him being a faithful copy of his father) that allured girls to him from the very beginning. By the time he was six, as his eldest sisters had reached a marriageble age, he was the one who came home with a fiancee first: he and one of Felipe´s daughters had pledged their childhood troth to each other. The intrafamily betrothal caused some general merriment, but as Daniel and Maria Rosa outgrew their time of being childhood sweethearts, they maintained their status as a teenage-couple, and when Daniel returned from his art studies in Madrid, one of the first things he did upon his return in California was asking Maria Rosa for her hand in marriage. There was some legal hassle, since - according to the records - they were uncle and niece, but the lawyer Don Felipe managed to straighten that out, pointing out that in fact there was no blood-relation between them at all. Daniel de la Vega became one of the first great musicians and composers of the New World, and travelled all around the Americas and Europe to give recitals.

Don Felipe had left home when he was twenty years old: first to study at the prestigious university of Madrid, but for the second part of his law studies he preferred the newly founded university of Mexico City. After all: it was Mexico´s law he would have to work with upon his return to California.

Another good thing about studying in Mexico was that he was able to come home for Christmas. He found this very necessary, with new brothers and sisters being born regularly, and them growing up so very fast. And on his first Christmas home from Mexico City, he stunned the entire family by sitting down at the piano, accompanying himself in a Christmas carol. It was the second night of his visit, and he had not yet shared the success of his speaking-lessons with them. His voice had become a warm bariton, and especially those who had known him as a mute all these years felt tears of emotion gathering in their eyes. The poor little orphan boy they had taken in and cared for did not longer exist. He had conquered even his last handicap, promising him a far easier life than what they once had feared for him.

It appeared that indeed he was having an easier time with the ladies, for the year following he brought home a bride. The beautiful Alicia was the daughter of a well-to-do tradesman from Mexico City, and she was received into the De la Vega family with all the love and kindness that family was known for. Only Diego felt some worry and even a slight jealousy towards his first daughter-in-law. But when he noticed how much she cared for ´his´ Felipe, he managed to put aside any suspicions he had about her being after his money: it was obvious that she loved Felipe as much as he himself loved Victoria - if such should be possible of course.

However, Don Felipe and his Doña Alicia ´only´ got four daughters, so after Felipe being a very worthy and generous master of the hacienda, in time that responsibility was passed on to one of his younger brothers. By that time however, young Alejandro had been killed in battle, and Alfonso was all settled in Europe. Therefore the lot befell on Daniel and Felipe´s own daughter Maria Rosa to continue the De la Vega line at the hacienda (making it possible for Zorro´s greatgreatgrandson to resemble Diego de la Vega so much, which otherwise would have been quite impossible).

Grandfather Don Alejandro had the time of his life with so many grandchildren running around the hacienda. He was excessively fond and proud of each and every one of them, and all the time he could spare from leading the pueblo with Mendoza was spent with his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren (Felipe´s children, who were of much the same age as Diego´s youngest ones).

And sometimes, Don Alejandro just stood watching the wall covered with Diego´s pictures of his family. It was amazing. He and Elena had started off with only one son. One! And now look at how numerous his family had become! Somewhere, there had to be a logical explanation for this miracle. But he was pretty sure it was not to be found in basic arythmatics; no addition, subtraction, multiplication or division could make 1 + 1 turn into so many...

The End