`Well, what are you going to do now?' she asked the image.
With a shake of her head she reached out and opened a small drawer in the middle of the dresser. Gently fingering the rosary beads that lay tucked inside she sent a silent prayer to the Holy Mother asking for wisdom and guidance. Closing the drawer she turned and left the room.
As Tessa entered the kitchen she saw Marta stirring a pitcher of lemonade with her wooden spoon.
"Don't bother, Marta," she said dejectedly. "He's gone."
Marta stopped stirring and put the spoon on the counter. Looking at the sad face of her charge she asked, "What happened?"
"He knows," Tessa replied with a helpless shrug of her shoulders.
"Dr. Helm knows that you are the Queen of Swords?"
Tessa only nodded and sank into one of the kitchen chairs.
"How?" Marta asked as she joined her at the table.
Tessa ducked her head guiltily.
"When I went into town this morning, I had intended to tell him myself," Tessa explained quietly. "I lost my nerve and couldn't do it. As I was leaving his office I accidentally dropped one of the Queen's masks. He found it."
"And came here to confront you," Marta supplied.
"What do I do now, Marta?" the younger woman asked. "When he confronted me I wouldn't admit that it was me, but he knows Marta. He knew without me evening saying so."
"There's only one thing you can do, Tessita," Marta said. "You have to go settle things between the two of you. Is he willing to keep your secret?"
"Of course Marta!" she replied passionately. Then added a little less surely, "I mean, I think so…yes, I'm absolutely…pretty sure he will—"
"Tessa," Marta cut in with a sigh.
"Alright, I'm going into town," she relented. "It'll give me a chance to break in a new mask."
"You're going as the Queen?"
"Why would Maria Theresa Alvarado be going to visit the doctor at this time of the evening?" Tessa replied in answer.
As she dressed, Tessa's heart began to feel a bit lighter. After all, Dr. Helm *had* told her that he loved her. Well, maybe not in so many words, but when Camilla left he said he had stayed in Santa Elena because of her. Again she regretted leaving him there on that cliff overlooking the sea. Was she ready to say now what she was afraid to say then? And could he love Tessa as well as the Queen?
It was time to find out.
***
Robert Helm finally rode back into town and tethered his horse in the stables. After he'd watered and rubbed the animal down, he entered his office through the back door. No sooner had he entered and shrugged off his coat he heard movement in the front room. Making his way through the surgery and towards the front office he marveled that Tessa had made it there so fast.
However when he reached the office he did not find Tessa, or the Queen. It was Chencho, one of Montoya's soldiers, standing at attention by the now opened front door.
"Doesn't anyone knock around here?" he asked sarcastically.
Ignoring the doctor's retort, Chencho formally announced, "Colonel Montoya wants to see you in his office at once!"
"Is that a fact?" Helm replied sourly. He didn't need this tonight. His mind was already running in circles about his latest meeting with Tessa Alvarado. All he wanted to do now was get some sleep. Perhaps things would look better in the morning. "Why don't you go back and tell Montoya that my office is closed for the night and that I am officially off duty."
The soldier looked a bit nervous, no doubt imagining Montoya's reaction if he did not return with the doctor, and clarified, "It is not a request, doctor."
Helm clenched the jaw and made a sweeping gesture toward the door. "After you!"
He followed Chencho down the empty street and then up the stairs to Montoya's office. After the soldier had announced them Montoya dismissed him and rose to greet his guest.
"Dr. Helm," he said, indicating the vacant chair in front of his desk, "how kind of you to accept my invitation."
"Well actually I was about to turn in," Helm replied tiredly. Looking around him, he wondered how much of the people's money had gone into furnishing the room. The trappings of fortune met him everywhere he looked. Spying the expensive looking Oriental rug beneath his feet, he mused, `That's new. Must have brought it back with him from Monterrey.'
"Yes, you do look quite haggard, doctor," Montoya agreed with an expression of concern. "I noticed you were just returning to town. Where have you been at such a late hour?"
Helm laughed to himself. The colonel was always mining for information that he could use against others. He was not about to give him any unnecessary ammunition. "I had to ride out to the Salida ranch. One of the children was ill."
"Oh dear, I do hope everything is alright?"
"The boy will be fine, Colonel," Helm replied with a smile. "And I'm sure the Salidas would be pleased to know that you inquired about them." `Despite raising their taxes threefold last month.'
"My responsibility is to the people, Dr. Helm," Montoya explained as he rose from his desk and walked around to the front. "As a doctor, I am sure that is something you understand."
Helm didn't respond, just held the Colonel's piercing gaze.
"And it is as a gentleman with responsibility to the people of our fair town that I must ask you doctor, who is the Queen of Swords?"
Helm let out a bark of laughter. "How should I know?"
"Doctor, please, it is well known that you and the bandita are rather… close these days," Montoya said, his lips curling up in distaste. "She seems to rescue you on a regular basis. Need I remind you of the time I caught you both on the cliff top? Oh yes, that was the time that you threatened to shoot me!"
"The gun wasn't loaded," Helm replied dismissively.
"That time," he pointed out. "Are you telling me that after all this time, she has never revealed herself to you? Never removed her mask in a moment of, shall we say, passion?"
"This is absurd!" Helm exclaimed as he stood from the chair. "This little get together is over, Colonel. I'm going to bed now."
"Alone?" Montoya asked acidly. "If I were to follow you back to your office would I find the Queen waiting there?"
"If she was it certainly wouldn't be any of your business!" Helm said as he marched to the door.
"Ah but I'm afraid it is my business, doctor," Montoya insisted in a non-threatening voice. "Catching that vigilante is most certainly my business. And catch her I will. And it is you who will lead me to her. Whether you want to or not."
Helm didn't say a word. He just stalked out of the room without a backwards glance.
***
When Helm reached his office he was barely in control of his anger. So when he heard a noise coming from inside he strode through the door ready to verbally assault the intruder. Instead he entered his sleeping area to find Tessa sitting on the edge of his small cot. When she turned and saw him there, she stood up and took a few steps in his direction. Then in a move he'd thought never to see, she reached up and pushed the black mask up over her forehead. Standing there with her hands casually on her hips, she smiled nervously and said, "Good evening doctor."
The gesture of trust shot straight to his heart and in two long strides he was at her side, pulling her into his arms. "Tessa," he whispered before claiming her mouth. They spent several moments greeting each other accordingly, but his pleasure at seeing her was soon pushed aside by his fear for her safety. Breaking the kiss, he said, "Tessa, you mustn't come here any more…at least not dressed as the Queen."
At her look of confusion, he continued, "Montoya will not be put off forever. He thinks that I will lead him to you. And I will not be the reason for your capture."
"I can take care of myself," Tessa insisted, more upset with Montoya than with Helm's advice.
"I know you can," he replied, placing his hand on the side of her face. "Which is why I know that you will do the right thing."
Turning away from him, Tessa said, " There's something I have to know. Are you angry with me for lying to you?"
Helm took her shoulders gently in his hands and caressed them through the thin fabric of her blouse. "I know why you had to lie."
"That doesn't answer my question, doctor," Tessa reminded him. "Are you mad at me?"
Turning her around to face him he smiled and shook his head.
Visibly relieved by his admission, Tessa lightly grasped the sides of his face and guided his lips to hers for one more kiss. Then as she turned to leave, he stopped her with a hand on her arm.
"Be safe," he said and pulled the mask back down over her face.
"Always," she replied with a grin as she gracefully exited through the open bedroom window.
