To Have and To Hold (complete)

Chapter 6

Louisa had indeed, as her father predicted, ran to the stables to get Fairylights, the palomino mare her father had given her last Christmas. It was a good thing that Mang Tino, her father’s trusted caretaker, knew that his young señorita loved to ride, especially during the early mornings. He always kept the mare saddled before breakfast whenever Louisa was in residence. In Louisa’s current state of mind, however, she would have ridden the mare, saddled or not.

Mang Tino cheerfully greeted his young mistress, but Louisa took the mare’s reins from his outstretched hand in silence. It had been Louisa’s habit to chat with him before going for a ride. Louisa treated the servants with respect and genuine concern, always. That she took off without a word made the old man think that the señorita was in a rare black mood today. Mang Tino sighed in relief when he spotted Matthew riding up from the main house. He waved at the young man to catch his eye and signaled him to follow Louisa. Matthew nodded and prodded the horse into a gallop. The old man prayed that Matthew would catch up with the young mistress before she fell into any harm. He feared that in her upset the young señorita might be a little reckless this morning.

And Mang Tino was right. Louisa was indeed being reckless at the moment. She leaned forward on Fairylights, spurring her to go faster, pushing the mare to its limits. She rode like the very devil was after her. Her ponytail had come loose, her long hair flying in all directions, whipping against her face. Louisa hardly noticed. She was almost at the edge of the hacienda when she heard Matthew shouting from behind. Only then did she realize how fast she was going. Pulling gently on the reins, the palomino understood her signal and gradually slowed down to a trot. Louisa rubbed Fairylights’ neck and whispered softly into the horse’s ear, apologizing for forcing her to run at a pace that she was not used to. The young mare snorted and neighed, tossing her head high as if assuring her master that she accepted the apology. Louisa turned Fairylights around to meet Matthew who appeared to be at wit’s end. Matthew, who was just a year older than her, was more like an older brother than an employee and as such spoke freely with her. The dark frown on his face told her that she would not get away from a thorough dressing-down.

“And what was that all about, Señorita Louisa?” She cringed at the very proper title he used. He never called her Louisa, much less Señorita, unless he was annoyed or angry at her.

“Just wanted to test Fairylights’ limits, that’s all,” she replied, grinning widely.

Matthew was not fooled by her nonchalant reply. Raising his thick eyebrows, he pursed his lips and waited for a more believable explanation. When Louisa shrugged and turned away without a word, Matthew knew that there was trouble brewing. He turned his own horse around and rode beside Louisa in silence. No questions were asked. He knew that his best friend would confide in him when ready.

Louisa dismounted from her lathered horse at the stables in silence. She rubbed the mare’s nose and whispered softly into her ear, thanking her for the wonderful ride. She then gave the reins to Matthew and walked back to the house. Matthew had a sinking feeling as he watched her walk away.

Damn! Something’s wrong, he thought, turning the reins over to a worried-looking Mang Tino. He jumped off his horse in one swift move and followed Louisa, his protective instincts rising.

When he caught up with her, he fell in step and quietly said, “Wanna talk?”

Louisa turned to see her friend’s questioning eyes and nodded. She then retraced her steps and walked to the gazebo. The vigorous ride she took had already quenched much of her frustration, but not entirely. Matthew’s presence, as always, helped calm her troubled mind. He’s a good listener and right now, she really needed someone who would just let her rant and diffuse at least a bit of the anger that was still seething within her. Matthew had been a trusted confidante since she was ten when they first came to live here.

Matthew and Mang Tino were already residents of the Hacienda Constantina when her mother inherited it from a distant aunt. Fortunately, her mother had grown so fond of the place that her father did not have the heart to sell it during their great financial crisis. Matthew’s father had been the hacienda’s gardener and his mother the cook/housekeeper. They both died in an unfortunate boating accident when he was five. Mang Tino, a stable boy back then, became Matthew’s guardian.

When her parents took over the operations of the hacienda, it was in the red, three feet deep, as her father used to say. Only a couple of aging horses were stabled, the land fallow. Doña Milagros, her mother’s spinster aunt, barely knew anything about farming and horse-breeding. In spite of the hacienda’s sorry state, Ramon was sure that they could turn it around in time. Unfortunately, only Mang Tino and two stable hands stayed, even after being offered future profit-sharing. Louisa and Matthew were almost the same age. Naturally, they were drawn to each other and later became the best of friends. Matthew was smart, consistently excelling in school. When he expressed the desire to go to college, Don Ramon did not hesitate in sponsoring his education.

As it turned out, Matthew had an inherent affinity for animals. His choice to pursue a career in veterinary medicine did not really come as a surprise. He graduated with honors and had received a lot of impressive proposals from much bigger farms and haciendas. But his loyalty to the Almendrezes was beyond measure. He never once entertained the notion of leaving the Hacienda. A man with lesser scruples would’ve taken advantage of her parents’ good hearts and schemed to snag their heiress. Luckily for her, Matthew saw her only as the much-loved sibling he never had. Besides, even when they were still younger, Matthew knew that someone else had already captured her attention – an elusive young man with fascinating grayish-green eyes. Too bad he didn’t reciprocate the feeling.

“So, what’s up, Prinsesa?” Matthew jested, breaking the ice. Louisa couldn’t help but smile. The term ‘prinsesa’ was a private joke from when they were kids when she was annoyingly bossy and demanding.

Sighing, she said, “Papa just told me that I’m engaged to – brace yourself – Gabriel Fernando Montoya!”

Louisa had been expecting a gasp or a curse in protest from her friend. She wasn’t prepared for the sudden howl of laughter that her statement elicited from him. The fool only stopped laughing when he caught the furious look on her face.

“You’re not kidding, are you,” he said, trying hard not to smile.

“Will I joke about something like this?” Louisa retorted, her perfectly arched brows furrowing in dismay.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t. It’s too absurd to be funny, anyway,” agreed Matthew.

“Believe me, it’s not funny,” Louisa slumped into the cushions of the wicker loveseat, her arms folded tightly on her chest.

"You’re right. It’s not funny,” Matthew paused, his eyes glinting mischievously. “It’s hysterical!” he blurted, unmindful of Louisa’s foul mood.

Louisa glared at him and stomped her foot. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, I’d rather talk to Fairylights. At least she won’t act like a buffoon!”

Matthew’s laughter died down to a chuckle as he turned to her, his arms raised in surrender, “Sorry, Louie. I just thought it was too funny to be true.” At Louisa’s baleful glare, Matthew gulped, “But it is, isn’t it?”

Louisa’s pursed her lips and nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.

Matthew gasped, his hands raking through his dark, wavy hair, his face a mask of incredulity and disbelief. “Madre de Dios!”

“Exactly!” Louisa exclaimed, jumping to her feet and pacing before Matthew.

“Wait! Wait! Why are you so upset? You’ve been mooning over this guy for the longest time, right? Isn’t this what you’ve been dreaming of since you were seven?”

Louisa stopped her pacing and quietly returned to the loveseat. She put her feet up on the cushions and hugged her knees.

“That was before I knew what he really thought of me or have you forgotten what I told you before?” Louisa said, biting her lip to keep herself from crying.

Matthew was right. When she was ten, she had confided to Matthew that she’d already met her Prince Charming and she would marry him when they grew up. She was seven when she first met him. But even then, she was immediately dazzled by his handsome face and tall physique. Still, his eyes were what really captured her heart. They were of a very unusual color, smoky-gray with green flecks that seemed to reflect the sun’s rays. She had been fascinated by them because it was the first time she’d seen eyes that were not brown or hazel. And from then on, she worked hard to have those eyes always turned towards her.

She always tried to be near him every time they were together and would only play with his younger brothers if she knew that he would be there to watch over them. She would take every opportunity to speak with him or at least join in his every conversation. She would try to impress him with her brains by engaging him in ‘intellectual’ discussions. But a girl her age did not really know how the male mind worked, so it never occurred to her that what she was doing was actually pushing Gabriel away instead.

Blissfully unaware of that fact, Louisa harbored that childhood infatuation up until college. The few boys who had been lucky to get close enough to court her never really stood a chance once she started comparing them with Gabriel. Soon after she became too busy to even bother with boys. By the time she graduated from college and started working at the furniture shop, her social life had become non-existent. Although she had stopped ‘mooning’ over Gabriel, he still held a special place in her heart. All that changed after her reunion with Angelo.

The Furniture Shop had been awarded the contract of outfitting the newest hotel of the Montoyas. When the resident Interior Designer of the hotel resigned before the project’s completion, Don Fernando personally commissioned her to take over that, too. She was to report directly to the acting CEO and was pleasantly surprised when he turned out to be her childhood friend, Angelo. The two of them had been quite close up until High School. They lost touch he went away to study in the US and she became too busy juggling school and helping her father. Even after he came home, two years ago, they had not been able to renew their friendship, what with her traveling at least once a month to promote their furniture line and Angelo traipsing around the social circles as the Montoya empire’s unofficial PR man.

It was during one of their more relaxed lunch meetings while reminiscing their childhood adventures, that Angelo, obviously unaware of her infatuation for Gabriel, innocently divulged how Gabriel hated being around her then, seeing her as nothing more than a ‘hoydenish nuisance’ who was best ignored, if not avoided. In fact, according to Angelo’s account, Gabriel said that he would consider it a real blessing if he never laid eyes on her again. Louisa would’ve cried at that revelation had her pride not been ripped to shreds by the thought that she had foolishly adored someone who, in truth, could not even stomach her. That night she called Matthew and told him everything that Angelo had said. After crying her heart out until the wee hours of the morning, Louisa swore that from that day on she would forget Gabriel Montoya and would have nothing more to do with the conceited lout.

“Right. I almost forgot. That ogre! I still can’t believe that he thought of you that way. You were just kids!” Matthew said, shaking his head.

“See? If he was that despicable then, as a child, what do you think will he be like now, as a grown man?”

“Well, it only boils down to two things: One - he evolved into a new level of jerkhood, or two - he’d gotten over his airs and turned into a charming, affable gentleman worthy of your devotion.”

Louisa rolled her eyes at that presumption. “Ha! That would be the day! I really don’t think men like Gabriel Montoya can ever change for the better or even change at all. And my father wants me to marry him? How in the world am I supposed to do that when I don’t even know how I’d feel if I see him again, knowing what I know now?”

Matthew sighed when he saw the tears flowing unheeded down her flushed cheeks. He rose from his seat and sat beside Louisa. Draping one of his strong arms around her, he pulled his best friend towards him, letting her drench his freshly pressed white shirt with her hot tears. He didn’t mind. It’s what a best friend...no, a brother...would do for a beloved sister whose heart had been broken.

It wasn't the only thing a brother would do for a sister, though. And he’s more than willing to do the rest, including pounding Gabriel Montoya into a pulp, if it ever came to that. There’s nothing he would not do for the Almendrez family. Especially for the girl who took him in and made him a brother. He would die for her.

But for now, he would keep his anger to himself and let her cry her heart out. Later, he would berate her for being stupid enough to cry over a piece of s**t named Gabriel Montoya. But that’s for later when she’s ready to do her own self-flagellation.

And, boy, wouldn’t that be a sight to behold? Matthew chuckled inside.