Page 27 of The Guardian's Promise

Ari sighed. Their travels would be long. If they could not find any common ground, their time together would be torment. However, it would give him time to convince her she could trust him again. And maybe, just maybe that she’d be happier married to him than to the likes of Esha.

Ari closed his eyes for a mere second, branding the image of her into his mind.

* * *

How could her stomach flop around like a fish just at the sight of him, not to mention the joy that filled her heart when he touched her hand or how her breath hitched when he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear? Ay, he was perfectly made with the Lord’s own hand.

However, she could not trust him, which meant she couldn’t trust her reaction to him. She wriggled her nose. If she held on to his deception, it would not hurt as much when it was time for them to part.

Of course, she understood the need for secrecy where Joash was concerned. However, it did not make her feel any better about their situation. It did not make her feel any better that her village had been attacked.

Thoughts of her family crashed down upon her head. Not one word of good news passed Ari’s lips. But then she had not asked, either. Did that mean they had perished under the guards’ assault? What of her father and her mother? Had they survived? Ari had promised to return her to Abba, but what of her mother?

She hiccupped, choking back the torrent. It would do her no good to dwell on what she had no control over. She may not trust Ari, but her hope was in the Lord and His infinite wisdom.

She swiped the tears from her eyes and untied the sash holding her tunic in place. She shrugged the tunic off, allowing it to drape on the rock. With only her loincloth and linen around her breasts, she slipped into the water.

She stayed close to the edge. Close enough to keep her hand firm on the rock. Since the water reached her shoulders, she didn’t have to arch her neck too far to soak her hair. Thick, long strands tangled around her limbs. It was as if she were cloaked in an ornately decorated robe. She closed her eyes, luxuriating in the cool spring and the silky caress of her own hair.

The power of the crashing water from the falls into the pool sent a thrill of excitement to her toes. To be caught, hidden within nature’s womb, soothed her heartache a little.

If courage belonged to her, she’d take up her tunic and swim from this hidden oasis. Knowing Ari would catch her before she made it past the palms kept her feet planted on her slippery perch. If only she could just slip beneath the wall of water, if she could quickly swim to the edge, if she could...

Foolish, foolish woman. Ari had ever been perceptive. Often, even finishing her sentences before she could form a complete thought. Besides, he’d find her at her father’s house. And he’d sure enough come for her.

Wouldn’t he?

She recalled the fierceness in his gaze when she said she was going home. As if she’d pained him. Although she couldn’t pretend to know why. He was leaving. The lack of his band around his upper arm proved such. He’d chosen freedom. And she was certain her father would have asked him to stay.

She skimmed a hand over her wet hair, until she reached the ends, and then twisted, wringing out the excess water. Her thoughts stirred into a sandstorm.

If Ari had chosen freedom, he more than likely would not come after her. No, much to her distress, he’d continue on his journey to wherever he intended to travel. She glanced up to the ledge. He had not returned.

Before her courage abandoned her, she grabbed her tunic, slipped it over her body and dove beneath the water.

With escape firmly in her mind, not once had it dawned on her that danger would exist on the other side of the waterfall when she resurfaced. But when she cleared her hair from her eyes she blinked, once, and then twice, the bare bronzed backs of Athaliah’s soldiers gleamed in the hot afternoon sun.

* * *

“It looks as if we are about ready to start a fire,” Ari sat next to the boy.

Joash smiled while he patted the last of the cakes into a disk. “Ari, may I ask you a question?”

Ari stretched out his legs and reclined onto his forearms. “Of course. You know you can ask me anything.”

“Why is it Mira bowed at my feet? That is an honor only given to the one true God.”

“You are correct, my friend.”

“Then why would Mira do such a thing? I am not the Almighty.”

Ari laughed before plucking a piece of dough from the bowl. “No, that you are not. Were you scared when the soldiers came?”

The child tilted his chin as if to contemplate the question. “At first I was confused, and then I ran. That’s when I found Mira. She was at the well when the soldiers came.”

Closing his eyes, Ari lifted a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for protecting her.

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