The Gentrys: Cinco

by Linda Conrad

  "You're really leaving?" Abby choked. "I can't believe my brother is going to let you go. I know how much he cares about you."

  "Yes, well, he's even sending me away on the ranch's corporate jet." Meredith tried to smile but knew she'd failed miserably. "And, yes, I believe he does care, Abby. But I care about him, too. I won't force him to face down his flying hang-ups in the name of love."

  "I just don't understand love, then, I guess." Abby shook her head sadly.

  Meredith could see that her new young friend hurt in sympathy for them. "Well, I've discovered love is a totally different way of sharing a friendship, Abby. Love can bring tremendous joy, but better than that, it allows a person to think and worry about someone other than herself." She hesitated, then finished her thought. "That can be a big relief for a change. But the very best part of love is knowing someone else believes in you … cares about what happens to you and what you want in life."

  Abby sighed heavily. "I still don't understand why it has to hurt so much."

  Cinco wanted to smash something—anything. Restless, he paced the floor of his office like a caged animal.

  First thing in the morning he would drive the woman he loved more than life to the airstrip so she could leave his world forever. How could he do such a thing? Where would he get the strength to see her go?

  From somewhere in his mind, a niggling idea had grown to monstrous proportions over the last twenty-four hours. He'd thought a lot about how risky love can be. When you really gave your heart into someone else's safekeeping, the frightening possibility existed that they could just disappear with it at any moment.

  But this wasn't just anyone. This was Meredith. He'd already trusted her with his very life. She would never hurt him; he was positive. It just wasn't in her.

  The light turned on in his brain at last. She was his best chance to capture the happiness that had so far eluded him. She was his destiny. His future. The part of his soul that had been missing.

  Finally he'd made the decision to risk everything for her. She was the one chance worth taking.

  Empowered with his new insight, Cinco set about putting into motion a plan that he hoped would allow them to be together. He had a lot of work to do and not much time to do it.

  When Meredith came down for breakfast on the morning of her departure, Lupe told her that Cinco had eaten much earlier and left the house saying he had a lot to do. Meredith dragged through her breakfast, disappointed that she wouldn't have this last homey meal with the man she loved.

  As the time drew near when they'd agreed to meet for the drive to the airstrip, she straightened her spine and climbed the stairs to her bedroom one last time. Looking around at the familiar, decades-old architecture juxtaposed with the new furnishings, she clenched her fists against the need to stay here always. The Gentry Ranch had become more of a home to her than anyplace she'd ever known. How could she bear to leave home and never come back?

  But more than that, how could she walk away from the one man she'd ever loved? The only one who would be in her heart forever. There could never be anyone else. Cinco was too special, and what they'd shared meant too much.

  Before the idea of staying tempted her beyond reason, she harshly reminded herself that she loved him enough to leave him. She wouldn't put him through the ordeal of having to accept her love of flying. Deep within her heart, Meredith knew that she'd gladly give up flying in order to stay with him. But she also knew Cinco would never allow her to do that. It would hurt him too much to think he'd caused her that kind of hardship.

  She shook her head to ward off the heartache, closed her duffel and turned to look around the room one last time. Abby was right. Who knew love could hurt this much?

  In her pain, Meredith almost missed the soft knock on her open door. She turned to see her heart standing in the doorway, with an almost idiotic grin on his face. "You ready to leave, darlin'?" he asked hesitantly.

  Not able to speak a word because he looked so gorgeous, she nodded and started for her bag. He'd worn what looked to be a brand-new pair of ironed jeans, polished snakeskin boots and a saddle-colored pullover that matched his eyes exactly. The damned man would show up looking good enough to eat—right when she was about to spend the rest of her life starving to death without the sight of him.

  "Here, let me," he picked up her duffel and lightly touched her elbow with his other hand.

  Her knees wobbled and he gently tightened his hold on her arm. Meredith suddenly felt like someone being led to an execution. And maybe she was. After all, life without Cinco would be like a living death, wouldn't it?

  "I've already loaded the bulk of the stuff in the truck," he said. "But it'll take a few minutes for me to say goodbye to Lupe and Abby. You want to stay with me or wait in the cab?"

  "Excuse me?" she mumbled.

  What was he saying? She couldn't have heard him right.

  They'd descended the staircase before he repeated what he'd said. "Do you want to wait in the truck while I say my goodbyes?"

  "Where are you going?" she asked hesitantly.

  Cinco stopped walking then and turned to look at her. The time had come to face the biggest test of his life. What would her reaction be?

  He steeled himself and took a deep breath. "I'm coming with you, of course, sugar. You don't think I'd just let you go off on your own without me … after everything we've been through?"

  He waited a beat to let what he'd said sink in. It might've been the longest moment he'd ever spent.

  "Coming with me … on the plane?" she stammered.

  "Sure enough, on the plane. How else would we get to our new home in Seattle?" he teased, then held his breath.

  "But I thought you were afraid of flying … hated the very thought of it?"

  "Well now, darlin', I do worry about my loved ones flying, but I'm just a natural-born worrier, you know that." He forced his mouth into a wide grin. "But you love me anyway, right?"

  Her mouth gaped open and he could feel her begin to tremble. He tried to be glib one more time.

  "It was trusting someone else that I was afraid of, sugar, not flying. Just how do you think I got out to that line shack so quickly the other night? A helicopter was the fastest way for me to ride to your rescue. Knights in shining armor don't worry about their method of transportation."

  Meredith looked dazed, but held her head high. "I'd wondered about that." She gazed deeply into his eyes. "So now that you trust me you're planning on coming with me to Seattle … leaving the ranch and your home and letting me go on flying?"

  The time had arrived to be serious. He'd soon find out whether his life would have any meaning from now on or if he was doomed to spend it living without his soul.

  "Meredith, my love," he began and took her in his arms. "Nothing means a thing to me without you. How could I stay on this ranch or anywhere that doesn't include you? I'd go around the world on a donkey if it meant we'd be together. Please tell me you'll let me come with you."

  "But … what about the ranch? Who will manage it?"

  He took his first breath since he'd started this and smiled inside. She hadn't said no.

  "I've arranged for the family's lawyer, Ray Adler, to do most of the paperwork and the negotiations. Abby and Jake can handle the rest," he told her. "And I'm really looking forward to being able to work full-time on the security business with Kyle. Seattle is as good a place as any."

  Meredith covered her mouth with her hand and gasped softly behind it. "Let me get this straight," she finally managed. "You're willing to drop everything … home, family, business … just to be with me?"

  "I love you more than any of that, my darlin'. It might take me a lifetime to prove it to you. But please, God, give me the chance to try. Don't throw away what we have."

  Meredith did something then that he would remember for the rest of his entire lifetime … and beyond that into eternity. She smiled at him.

  But her next word drove a sharp wedge straight into his heart,
leaving him aching and exposed.

  "No," she flatly declared.

  His heart thumped in his chest. "Meredith, love, please don't do this to us."

  She smiled again. "I mean, no we are not leaving the ranch for anyone else to run. We're going to stay right here. You can run your business like before and I can help by either taking helicopter shifts or flying the ranch's corporate jet. We're going to make this place a home for the next generation of Gentrys."

  Swallowing hard, he choked out a response. "You want to give up your captain's job and the big city and become a rancher's wife?" Cinco was stunned but warming to the idea.

  "If that's a proposal, I accept," she exclaimed, and threw her arms around his neck. "I love the Gentry Ranch, Cinco … almost as much as I love you."

  He kissed her then and noticed both their tears mingling together into one salty stream—knowing that this was what he'd been wanting for them all along.

  Joy, laughter, tears and hope joining them together—supporting them as they journeyed through life as one entity. Wherever they were from now on—they would be home.

  After all, Meredith had become his home.

  * * * * *