By Tuesday evening, Cissy was utterly drained. She sat on her bed in the room where she’d grown up, picturing the changes that it had gone through, from toy-strewn to poster-plastered to its current understated femininity. When she’d returned from college, she had painted the walls a delicate plum, purchased a flowered bedspread and dug out curtains, now faded to pale pink, embroidered by her late grandmother. She would take none of these bits of home with her to Mexico, though. Instead, she would build a new home around the woman she would become there.
She wondered if that woman would think of Gil Valenzuela as often as she did now. The handy cowboy with his dark good looks was never far from her mind. His support buoyed and strengthened her as no one else’s did. When she was with Gil, she knew that she was doing the right thing in going to Mexico. When she was away from Gil, she wondered how she could ever leave him.
Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Oh, Father, give me strength and wisdom to perform Your will.”
She went on praying earnestly for God’s guidance until a tap came at her bedroom door. Wiping away tears that she hadn’t even realized were falling, Cissy ended her prayer and bade her mother enter. Sally looked at Cissy, and her face softened, but then she moved to stand by the window.
Then Sally suddenly crumpled. “You’re really going!” she blubbered. “I always knew you would.”
“Oh, Mom.” Cissy got up and went to her mother. “Don’t you see? I cannot refuse to obey God. Remember what happened to Jonah.”
Sally sniffed and tossed her head. “Afraid of getting swallowed by a fish, are you?”
Cissy felt great relief at the glimmer of a smile on her mother’s face. “I love you, Mama.”
“I love you, too. So much!” Sally wailed. “But you’re leaving in just a few days, and I’ve made the past weeks so difficult,” Sally admitted. “I’m sorry. Especially about throwing Gil at you. That wasn’t fair.”
“No, no,” Cissy soothed. “He’s become a good friend and a great help.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
Sally’s chin wobbled. “All the same, I won’t see you every day.”
“We’ll see each other at least as often as we did when I was in college.”
“Which wasn’t very often.”
“You can always come to Mexico,” Cissy pointed out.
Sally frowned. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to, won’t I?”
Cissy answered her with a hug. God truly did have everything under control. Reminded of Gil again, Cissy promised herself that she would hold on tight to the promise of God’s provision.