Page 79 of The Guardian's Promise

“Sh’mira, my child, it is glad I am to see you with my own eyes, daughter.” Ari turned as Caleb wobbled from his chamber, leaning heavily on his staff. Ari had never seen him so weak. Was this his doing? The sight before him cemented his resolve to return to Jerusalem.

“And I you, Abba,” she said with a quiver in her voice.

“Caleb, I have returned your daughter as promised.”

“My thanks, Ariel.” Caleb’s all-knowing gaze squinted beneath the afternoon sun. “Is all well?”

How should he answer? How could he answer? When Caleb’s daughter sat on a rug with battered feet and tears in her eyes. “May I have a word with you, ladonee?”

“Yes, of course. But there is no need to call me master. Come, my son.” Caleb pulled back the curtain and motioned with his arm that they should enter his chamber for privacy. With a heavy heart, and the knowledge that Mira watched his back, Ari followed her father.

He waited until Caleb settled himself on the edge of his bed before he knelt beside him. “Caleb,” he began. “I seek your forgiveness for the wrongs I have committed against you and yours.”

“What nonsense is this, Ariel? You have been nothing but the humblest of servants.”

“No, ladonee. It was a deception.”

Caleb laid the palm of his hand on Ari’s shoulder. “My son, Tama told me all I needed to know. Your guise may have been deceiving, but trust an old man when he says, character such as yours, character that I’ve watched carefully, as a shepherd his sheep, over the years can be nothing but genuine.”

“My thanks, Caleb. My sins have brought harm to your family.”

“I do not know what sins you speak of. It is naught to me, but between you and our Creator.”

“Just the same, I would return to Jerusalem and lift up my guilt offering.”

“If that is what you must do, then you must.”

Ari kissed Caleb’s knuckles. “My thanks, ladonee.” He stood to his feet and prayed Caleb would not broach the subject of the contracts.

“Ariel,” Caleb called just as he was about to leave. “You are a free man. Remember you have no master but God.”

He dropped his gaze to his feet and nodded. “Yes, of course.”

He slipped through the curtain, his gaze immediately going to where he had left Mira. The woven mat was bare. He looked around the courtyard, and for the first time in his memory, it was devoid of people. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he walked to where the young boy had tied his horse.

As much as he wished to say his goodbyes and blessings, if all went well, he’d return before the setting of the sun.

* * *

Rubiel yanked on her ankle. “You are such a child, Mira,” she chastised.

“Forgive me. It is not a pleasant sensation having my open wounds scrubbed clean.”

“It is necessary, lest you wish to gain an infection,” her mother chided.

“I know, Ima.” She turned her gaze to the blue sky, hating each moment she had been confined to her room. Even the simple chores requiring only the use of her hands had been banned from her. Since her mother and sister had duties to attend they often left Mira to her thoughts, which often drifted to Ari and his absence.

“Daughter, you must not draw into yourself.”

She shook off the haze of loneliness creeping into her soul and looked at her mother as she passed between the fabric covering the entryway.

“You think of Ariel,” Rubiel said. “Sh’mira, you should not hold out hope of his return.” Her sister’s eyes flitted to Mira’s lap where her fingers were folded. “You are nothing but a farmer’s daughter.”

The words Rubiel left unsaid cut deep. Her sister believed Ariel was too good for her. “Ari does not consider such things, Ruby.”

“Can you be certain?”

“As certain as I am that you sit washing my feet,” Mira bit. But her confidence wavered like the shifting of sand. And although Ari had made no vows, there had been hope in his eyes when he departed. A hope branded upon her heart. However, he had left without a promised return. His lack of shalom shoved aside her hopes, cementing doubt.

“My apologies. It is not in your character to behave solemnly.”

Mira crossed her arms over her chest, hoping to keep her heart from being ripped to shreds. If she accepted Ruby’s words as truth, she would have to accept the increasing pain within her heart. She would have to accept that Ari’s hopes had been dispelled by the reality of who he was.

“If he were coming back, he would have accepted Abba’s offer.”

Mira snapped her gaze to her sister. “Offer? What offer?”

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