Beloved Protector (Heartsong Presents) (18 page)

“There is so much I have to tell you,” he said, his deep voice that she had thought never to hear again sending little thrills of pleasure dancing through her.

“Tell me, then,” she encouraged.

He pulled back, giving her a look that nearly melted her bones.

“Let’s sit down.”

She readily complied, her legs so shaky she didn’t think they would hold her. She seated herself where she could watch his face as he talked.

“Where do I begin?” he asked, almost to himself. “Many of the things you spoke to me about came back to me, often at the strangest times.”

He began by telling her about the attack on Jerusalem and how, in the thick of battle, he had noticed that Crassus seemed to be protected by some kind of invisible shield. Attacked on all sides, he fought with a strength that seemed to be beyond him.

“It was amazing,” he told her, the intensity of his voice making her shiver. “Even Titus, after seeing the strength and fortifications of Jerusalem, said that we could not have done it without the help of your God,” Andronicus told her. “And I remembered what you had said about the Jews turning their backs on His Son, and I thought to myself, ‘Are we then God’s avenging messenger?’”

She held her breath, awed by the things he had to say.

“Then, when your beautiful temple was destroyed, I remembered what you had said about your God no longer living in a temple but in the hearts of mankind.” His voice deepened with feeling. “It’s the one thing that Rome cannot understand. You can destroy and perhaps enslave a people, but you cannot destroy an idea.”

He stopped, turning to her and staring hard into her eyes.

“At night, I looked up at the stars and remembered what you had said about them showing the handiwork of your God. It made sense, in a way. Despite everything going on around, all the chaos, all the killing, the world continued as it has for all time. It made me realize just how little man is in the whole scheme of things. Civilizations come, and civilizations go. Emperors come, and emperors go. But the world goes on unchanged. Like God.”

She searched deep into his eyes with a question that she was afraid to ask.

“I stopped on the way here to see Jason. We had a long talk and I asked him to baptize me in the Jordan River. I remembered what you said about Christians preferring to be baptized in
living
water.”

The look he gave her told her he still didn’t understand much of her Christian faith, but his hesitation was swallowed up in her joyous eyes.

“You were baptized?” she questioned in a soft whisper.

He nodded, his look serious. “I didn’t want to come to you until I knew that my soul was clean.”

“Oh, Andronicus,” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. “Praise Elohim.”

This time when he wrapped her in his arms, she didn’t hold back. She boldly kissed him with a heart overflowing with joy.

* * *

Andronicus returned her kisses, a desire he had never felt before with any other woman sweeping through him. So this was what it was like to love and be loved as God intended. In Tapat’s arms, he felt like he had finally come home.

He had to pull on reserves of strength to finally set Tapat away from him when all he really wanted to do was hold her forever. His shaking hands gave mute testimony to the control he was enforcing on himself.

“I still have much to learn,
mea amo.
”

Her eyes glistened with her happiness. “I will help you. We will learn together.”

He studied every inch of her face, that face that had dwelled in his dreams for years. Could any woman be more beautiful? He thanked God for bringing her into his life.

“I asked Titus to relieve me of duty, and he has agreed. Now I can at last ask you to be my wife.”

Her eyes glistened in the waning light, and he once more wrapped her in his arms. Her smile almost stopped his heart.

“I love you, Tapat,” he whispered. “Will you marry me?”

She leaned her head back against his arm until she could see his face clearly in the encroaching darkness.
“Amo te, mea vita,”
she told him in return, and his heart reacted furiously to her husky voice.

He was no fool. He knew that there would still be challenges ahead. She knew it, as well. But as long as they were together, they could face anything.

She pulled his head down and, with her lips, gave him her answer.

* * * * *

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ISBN-13: 9781460329535

BELOVED PROTECTOR

Copyright © 2014 by Darlene Mindrup

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