Not tonight.
Prince turned his gaze back to the woman who had lit up his life. He willed Ari to look at him. And then she did.
Ari’s voice grew stronger as she came to the last stanza of the song. She was finishing strong, just like he knew she would. He couldn't be prouder of her. It was a victory for her, one he shared in.
As the last note left her diaphragm, another commotion caught his attention. Prince couldn't hear anything, but he sensed something was wrong. He'd been in enough combat situations to know when there was a disturbance present.
In the corner of the room, a ball of fur was stirring. The dog’s keeper was so entranced with Ari that she wasn’t minding the leash in her hand. The dog easily slipped its tether. It raced toward the stage. Stopping just before Ari, the animal sat down on its haunches.
Prince's vision swam. Part of his brain told him he wasn’t in a combat zone. There was no danger here in Indigo Bay. But another part of his brain knew that was a lie. There had been violence behind the closed doors of his home all his life.
What if there was a threat? What if Ari was in danger? He would not take that risk, not with her.
He stopped thinking. He acted. Prince’s body was in motion, lunging not for the dog. He dove for Ari, ready to shield his body with her own.
She’d just finished the final note. The crowd all around was applauding. The clapping came to a screeching halt as Prince and Ari crashed down to the floor of the platform.
There was no explosion in his ear. There was a chorus of shouts and screams. But no bomb blasts.
Prince lifted his gaze. He looked behind him. The dog sat wagging his tail, tongue lolling out of his mouth in the same spot on the floor.
The crowd of people stared at him in shock and horror. He couldn't hear what they were saying. It was all a mumble. What he did hear was Ari's cry of pain.
“Oh, God, Ari. I’m sorry.”
Her arm was red. Twisted at an unnatural angle. She brought it protectively to her chest as he rose from her.
Finally, the awful reality settled over him. There had been no bomb. There had been no threat. The only danger was him. But the cruelest part was yet to come.
“It’s okay,” she said, her voice hoarse with pain. “It was an accident. I’m fine.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I have to advise against it, Ariana. That’s a pretty good sprain you’ve got there.”
Ari set her chin into a firm line at Dr. Green’s words. But in setting her chin, she also pushed her shoulders back. Which hurt the sprain in her arm.
“All right, fine,” said Dr. Green, shaking her head. “But you’ll need to sign the AMA paperwork. I’ll send in one of the nurses.”
Ari had no qualms against signing the against medical advice paperwork. What she wanted was to get to Prince. He’d looked lost, guilty, shame-filled when they’d rolled her into the emergency room. He hadn’t responded to anything anyone said to him. He’d simply stared at Ari as if through the fog of war.
“Going AMA? Just another bad decision on your part.”
Ari looked up at the person in nurse’s scrubs. It was not Nurse Tony as she’d assumed it would be. Standing in purple scrubs with sea creatures on them was none other than Ursula Spade. Ari had forgotten that the woman worked here. It seemed unfathomable that someone who cared only about herself would be put in charge of the care of others.
“Just hand me the paperwork, and I’ll sign.” Ari reached her good hand for the clipboard in Ursula’s hand.
“To go and chase after a man who beats you?”
“Prince did no such thing, and you know it.”
Ursula clucked as she flipped through the papers on the clipboard, still not handing it over to Ari.
“What happened was an accident.”
“You know, that’s what his mother used to say. She was in here all the time when my mother used to work here. Black eyes, bruises all over her arms, a few broken bones. All accidents.”
Ari snatched the clipboard out of the woman’s hands. The move jostled her bruised arm, and she couldn’t hide the wince.
“He’s just like his father-“
“No, he’s not,” said Ari, tossing the signed paperwork aside. “He’s not the same boy you used to know. He is a good man. He’s a hero. He thought I was in danger and—”
“And so he hurt you.” Ursula shrugged, but the cruel smile on her face had not a hint of concern. “Sure, I’ll let the social workers know that’s your statement for the next time.”
Ari stormed past the woman. But Ursula’s words trailed after Ari. The whole town might have that opinion of Prince. Well, she would just have to prove them all wrong.
"Ari, what are you doing?” Adelle was walking into the entrance as Ari was preparing to exit. “You’re not leaving. The doctor said you have to keep that arm still."
Ari ignored Adelle’s demand as she made her way through the hospital's exit. The parking lot was small enough for her to find the car. But when she looked down at her arm in the sling, she realized she wouldn't be dodging her sisters any time soon.
"Can you drive me, please?" said Ari.
“To him?”
“Yes,” Ari hissed. “Where else would I be going?”
“Home, maybe? To rest that big old wound your boyfriend gave you.”
“Not you, too.” Ari pinched the bridge of her nose with her good hand. A throb emanated from her elbow, making her want to sit down and rest. But she couldn’t. Not yet. She had to make sure Prince was okay.
"He didn't even stay at the hospital with you."
"Fine.” Ari turned from the car. “I’ll catch a cab."
"Ari, get in the car.”
Ari turned back to her sister. Adelle’s lips were pinched as tightly as Ari’s. The two glared at each other.
It was rare for Ari to put up much of a fight, especially when Adelle was the opponent. But she was not backing down from this. She knew she would have to convince the whole town, including her family, that what had happened last night was an accident. But first, she needed to see how the man at the center of the storm was dealing with his demons.
“Fine,” said Adelle. “I'll drive you."
Ari slid in the passenger seat, taking care to not let her arm touch the door. Dr. Green had given her something for the pain, but the pills couldn't erase the memory of the look of absolute horror and shame on Prince's face.
Ari had seen the look in his eyes before he'd charged the stage. It had been the same look as he'd had back in the restaurant when he'd pushed her up against the wall after the sound feedback. He'd been trying to protect her then. She knew he'd been trying to protect her at the gala.
"I just need it said that I am not for dating a soldier with PTSD," said Adelle. "Because that's what this is, isn't it?"
"Cut the guy some slack. He's been fighting for our freedom."
“He just took a chunk out of my sister."
"He would never hurt me," said Ari.
"He just did."
"He was trying to protect me," said Ari. "In the Army, dogs are used to sniff bombs. When they sit, that means they found an explosive."
"So, you can never have a pet dog?"
Ari decided to revert to her old ways and keep quiet. She had her hand on the handle of the door and was jumping out before they parked at the marina. Relief flooded her when she saw the houseboat still docked there. She had been truly frightened that he would leave.
She didn't bother knocking. She flung the door open. He wasn’t inside. She found him outside on the deck. In his hands was the boat’s anchor. He’d pulled it up from its place in the bay. He was preparing to leave.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The rope that connected to the boat’s anchor was long. Pulling it up had felt like it had taken an eternity. The anchor was meant to keep him safe, to keep him secure. But holding it in his hands, Prince felt lost, adrift, like he was going to float away at any second.
"Prince?”
He stiffened at the sound of her voice. But he didn't turn around. He didn’t want to see the damage he’d caused her. “You should still be in the hospital."
"I checked myself out because I'm fine."
Her voice was soft, steady. But that single word was a bomb in his mind.
He turned then. His eyes wanted to go to her face, to drink in the loveliness that was Ariana Carol. But his gaze slid to her arm. From what he could see around the sling she wore, the skin there was red and splotchy. At the center was an angry purple bruise. A bruise by his own hand.
“You are not fine, Ari.”
“What happened last night wasn’t your fault.”
First the fine bomb. Now the aftershocks of passing the blame. Prince’s hands tightened on the anchor, letting the sharp edges cut into his flesh.
"You're leaving?" she said. “And you weren't going to tell me?"
"I'm going to get as far away from you as possible."
Ari had been moving closer to him, as though preparing for a sneak-hug-attack. Now she stepped back. Her left eye flinched, as though he’d slapped her.
“Don’t you understand, Ari? I hurt you.”
“It was an accident.”
“It wasn’t the first time. The last time I hurt you, the wound festered for ten years.”
“I didn’t want to sing. I was scared. I used what you did as a convenient excuse.”
Prince shook his head. It didn’t matter. “And then again last night—“
“Did you do that on purpose?” Ari asked.
“No. I would never.”
Prince took a step to her. In doing so, he dropped the anchor. It splashed back into the water. The rope unwound as it sank deeper and deeper into the bay’s depths.
“You would never hurt me on purpose,” she said.
Ari was within arm’s reach. How had she gotten so close so fast? He was a trained soldier. He should’ve seen the danger of her coming at his heart from miles away. But he’d let her infiltrate. Because he wanted to be turned to the other side.
“You are not your father.” Ari laid a hand on his heart. The organ leaped to her gentle touch. “You keep trying to protect me. But there are no enemies present.”
“My head’s not right, Ari.” His hands came up and gripped her shoulders. He wanted to push her away, but his arms wouldn’t straighten to strong-arm her. Instead, Prince pulled her into his chest as though she were the lifeline, his anchor.
“Having family members that aren’t right in the head is not new to me,” she said. “You’ve met Adelle.”
That brought a chuckle out of him. Prince wanted to pull her tighter to him, but he was ever conscious of the very real wound he’d dealt her. The purple bruising he spied looking down into the sling brought him back to reality.
“There’s the very real probability that I’ll lash out in some other way,” he said. “Nightmares, walking flashbacks, and then there’s the hearing loss to contend with.”
“There’s a VA hospital not too far from Indigo Bay. We’ll go together. You’re not alone.”
Ari tilted her head back and looked up at him. Her blue eyes were so clear, so full of care. Prince’s arms wrapped tightly around her, knowing that he was never letting this woman go. She was his family. She was his world.
"The first time, I ran away," she said. "I ran, and I hid. But last night I faced my fear. I got up on that stage, and I conquered it. Don't run away from this. Stand with me and face it."
“I love you,” he said. “I know it’s too quick—”
“It’s not,” she said. “I feel it too.”
"Nothing is worth causing you pain."
"If you leave, I will be in pain."
“Then it looks like you’re stuck with me.” Prince dipped his head to hers and captured her mouth.
With her kiss, it was as though she sang into him. The lyrics of the love song went straight to his heart, leaving him lightheaded. He couldn’t hear her sigh of pleasure, but he felt it on his lips.
“Ouch.”
Her cry of pain, he heard loud and clear. Prince pulled away from Ari. Glancing down, he saw her injured arm between them.
“That’s it,” he said. “No more kissing until you’re healed.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”
“You heard me loud and clear.” He stepped away from her and turned her by the shoulders. “It’s to bed with you.”
“Well, soldier, if that’s your order.”
Prince couldn’t hide his chuckle. He could see now that the woman whom he thought was shy and reserved was going to be a handful. But loving Ari was a risk worth taking.
Epilogue
“Omigosh, Ari! You didn’t! Is this! Omigosh!”
Adelle flew into Ari’s arms, knocking her sister over as they sat huddled in a sea of wrapping paper on Christmas Day. It would appear that Adelle liked Ari’s gift to her, a vinyl of Esther Rolle’s album The Garden of My Mind.
Ari worried that Adelle’s squeals would set off Prince’s new hearing aid. But when she spied her boyfriend on the other side of the room, he wasn’t paying the sisters any mind. Prince was engaged in a deep conversation with her father.
Her parents had arrived a few days before the holiday. Their reception of Prince had been lukewarm the first day. By Christmas Eve, they were bringing him into the conversations more and more.
Which wasn’t always a good thing. Now Prince was privy to tales of Ari trying to make friends with a lobster as a kid, insisting that the crustacean could talk back to her. That was one of many embarrassing tales her family told her new beau.
Prince took it all in stride. His shoulders eased with each meal he was invited to. His laugh came more freely. Ari didn’t hold her breath that the man would open up and share awkward tales of him as a child. Speaking about his family was, and would likely always be, a sore subject with him.
Ari was simply happy that he had chosen to stay and face his issues head-on, with her at his side. He’d already seen a counselor at the VA Hospital. And they’d found a couples’ group for partners suffering from PTSD.
They’d floundered in their first meeting with the group. What with Prince being a man who didn’t like to discuss his feelings, coupled with his hearing disability. And what with Ari being a woman who didn’t like to speak in public. But they’d fumbled through it hand in hand, together.
This was going to work. Case in point, her dad was now smiling at Prince. Prince stuck out his hand in an offering for her father to shake it. Her dad smacked his hand away and brought Prince into a hug.
Yes, this was going to work.
“Isn’t it time for Ari’s present,” Alanna singsonged. The seashell hair combs Ari had given her sister were pinned up in her hair, making her look like a mermaid on land.
“I think I opened all of mine,” Ari said.
“There’s one more,” said Prince.
Ari watched as he went to the front door and pulled in a large box. The box shook. And then it barked.
Ari’s gaze lifted to Prince with a question. “Is there a dog in there?”
“Open it up and see,” was his response.
But Ari hesitated. Why would he be giving her a dog? The animals were one of his triggers.
As though he read her mind, he said again, “Open it up.”
Ari pulled the lid of the gift box off. Sure enough, a dog’s head poked out of the top. It sniffed at her hand and then gave it a tentative lick. Looking closely, Ari realized that this was the same dog from the gala. The same dog that had come and sat at the edge of the stage and caused the commotion that led to her arm being in a sling.
“I don’t understand?” said Ari.
“He didn’t get adopted,” said Prince. “He has special needs. First, he’s not the prettiest mutt in the world. His back paw is injured. And he has severe hearing loss in one ear.”
Ari gazed up at the man she loved. That fluttering feeling that was
always present when he was near rose from her belly to her heart. Inside her heart, where Prince had taken up a large chunk of space, she felt more room being made.
“You want me to have him?”
“You’re pretty good with wounded animals,” he said. “But I thought he could be our dog. We just have to give him a name for his collar.”
Ari looked down at the collar around the dog’s neck. The name tag there was blank. But there was something else hanging on the collar. That something else glittered.
Ari gasped. Behind her, her family sniffled and sighed. Her father nodded at her, as though letting her know that she had his permission. Ari knew exactly what the dog would be called at that moment. She looked up at the co-owner of their new pet and said the dog’s new name out loud.
“Yes!”
If you enjoyed this story of a Wounded Warrior finding healing through the power of true love,
there’s a whole ranch of men who’ve
experienced the same magic.
* * *
Grab a free copy of
On His Bended Knee,
the first book in The Brides of Purple Heart Ranch series.
More from Indigo Bay
Did You Miss One any of the Indigo Bay Christmas Romances? Check them all out here!
Indigo Bay Christmas Romances
Sweet Tidings (Book 1) by Jean C. Gordon
Sweet Noel (Book 2) by Jeanette Lewis
Sweet Joymaker (Book 3) by Jean Oram
Sweet Yuletide (Book 4) by Melissa McClone
Sweet Mistletoe (Book 5) by Elizabeth Bromke
Sweet Carol (Book 6) by Shanae Johnson
* * *
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Sweet Carol Page 9