Page 78 of The Guardian's Promise

“Certainly someone has caught your eye,” Ari reassured.

“Many have caught my eye, but none have caught the attentions of my heart.”

Ari thought of the woman who slept nearby. Had he known from the beginning that he loved her? “It may take more than a moment’s notice.”

“This, my brother, I know.” Jesse looked at Mira, his eyes held an emotion Ari knew all too well. “There is beauty, and there is beauty, I want the kind of beauty that is rooted deeper than the flesh. Deeper than the calculating eye. Deeper than what they think I may offer. I do not want a woman who wishes to increase her position by marriage, Ari. I want one who loves me, as Sh’mira loves you.”

Ari blinked in surprise. “You think she loves me?”

“Is it not obvious to you?”

“Most assuredly, yet a part of me believes it is nothing more than a young girl’s foolish desire to have a handsome face to husband,” Ari teased his brother. He would never assume Mira to be as shallow.

“If that were the case, she would have fallen out of her foolish desire for you once she laid eyes on me.”

Ari bit back the rumble of laughter and smiled. “The sky is beginning to lighten,” Jesse said.

Ari lifted his eyes and looked beyond the mouth of the cave. Although the midnight sky spread across the horizon, grays and pale blues began to illuminate the earth. “Then it is time for us to part, my brother.”

He woke Mira as Jesse nudged their uncle. He unbound his feet and pulled him to stand. “May God go with you, Ariel.”

“My thanks, Jesse. May God guide your steps, as well. If the Lord wills it I will see you in a day or so.”

After hours on horseback, they rode into her father’s village and his heart filled with gladness for Mira as they were met with cries of jubilation. He halted the horse outside of the stone walls. One of her cousins ran up and held his hand out, his silent offering asked to take the horse’s lead.

“You will take good care of him for me,” he said with a smile as he handed the lead to the eagerly awaiting child. Dismounting, he lifted Mira from the back of the horse. She braced her palms against his chest as if he was going to set her down, but he’d seen the condition of her feet. Even now his muscles tensed with anger at the abuse his uncle had inflicted. An urge to race back to Jerusalem fired his blood. He needed to know his uncle met justice.

“Shh,” he murmured when she pushed against him. He readjusted his hold and cradled her in his arms as he carried her beneath the arch of her home.

“Sh’mira, my daughter,” her mother squealed. “What has happened to you, child?”

“Nothing, Ima.”

“Then why does Ari carry you so?” Her mother eyed him, deep concern and disapproval etched in the lines of her brow.

“Allow me to sit Mira down. I will explain all soon enough.”

Ari followed her mother into the inner courtyard and waited for her to roll out a mat. He bent his knees, and her arms flew around his neck. The softness of her fingers against his nape sent an awareness of her through his soul. He desired to pull her closer, to meld her into him. Instead, he sat the other half of his whole upon the woven wool mat and slid his arms from beneath her knees.

His gaze bored into hers. The words he had yet to say stuck like honey to his tongue. Words bursting from his heart. Words he could not yet speak.

He regretted leaving her for any length of time. If it weren’t for his conscience, he’d stay. However, he could not ask for her father’s blessing without seeking first his forgiveness, and then providing the highest of guilt offerings on the altar at the temple.

He brushed the tips of his fingers through her tresses. The veil around his neck burned through his tunic. Any promises he thought to convey by draping her with the silk left him when he recalled its soiled condition. He knew she’d understand the gesture, as would her parents, yet he could not bring himself to pull the veil from around his neck and cover her hair.

Hope welled in his breast as she touched the blue cloth, humbling him, filling his heart with joy. It was as if she understood the vibration deep inside him. And although his mother had placed the same veil upon her head, giving her blessing to their union    , his act would mean more. The covering would depict a promise to her. A promise to her father.

He wrapped his fingers around hers, giving them a gentle squeeze. Ari hoped his touch would reassure her, that it would dispel any doubts she might have. That she would feel the intensity of his love for her, even if he had not spoken the words.

Ari released her hand and rose. A shadow flickered in her eyes. Her disappointment hit him in the gut. Lord, help her understand. Her eyes pooled with tears and he near lost his resolve.

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