Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(43)

And you were right about knowledge. You never know when a little bit of it will come in handy at just the right time, and save your life (and your rock domain(e?) as the case may be).
I miss you. Maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's true. In truth, my days have dragged by and at least a thousand times an hour I think of something I want to tell you, or ask you. I've written them down because I don't want to forget, and because it makes me feel closer to you.
Today, Hector has a meeting with the council at noon. I can meet you at our spring if you're able? From now on it's going to be harder for me to meet you and so I hope you can come. I don't want to think our time there is ending, but at the very least, it won't be regular anymore. That thought brings me such immense sadness, I can't even tell you. I'll always consider it to be the place where my life began.
I'll be waiting.
Yours, Eden


Yours. Mine. I wished I could go to her, hold her, tell her I loved our times together, too, and I missed her as well. But what would be the point? Yours. Mine. I moved those thoughts aside. But I still stood there grinning at the note like a damn idiot for longer than I had time to. I had business to attend to today and I needed my focus to be there.
You're in love, killer. Deep.
I folded her note up and put it under my pillow so I could read it again later.
An hour after that, I was walking up to the main lodge, clean-shaven and bathed more thoroughly. I felt energy surging through my veins. This had to work.
When I stepped up on the large porch, I heard piano music playing and hesitated in knocking. Could that be Eden? She'd talked about her music often, but was she that good? The music floating out the open window next to the door made my heart clench in my chest at its beauty and mastery. I walked farther down the porch and turned to an open set of French doors. There she was, sitting at a large, black piano, eyes closed as her fingers flew over the keys. My breath hitched. She was mesmerizing. Gracefully beautiful. Ethereal. Mine. That's the girl I choose. Mine, my mind insisted. And this time, I didn't correct myself. I leaned my hip and shoulder against the doorway and put my hands loosely in my pockets as I watched her. I was lost to everything except my beautiful Eden and the melody floating out from her fingers. Nothing else existed. In my chest, I felt . . . pride. I was so damned proud of her. I watched until the last note was played and she opened her eyes. They met mine. Her mouth opened as if to say something, but we both knew our station. I felt the electricity singing in the air between us. A small smile played on Eden's lips, and her eyes filled with a beautiful expression of warmth. For me.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a strange coldness moved down my spine. I pivoted, as if someone had struck me from behind, and Hector was standing there watching the silent exchange between Eden and me. I closed my eyes very briefly and took a deep breath.
"Father," I said, attempting to sound much more confident than I felt inside. "Your . . .  Eden is a beautiful piano player. I didn't realize she was so gifted."
Hector's eyes, which were narrowed on me, seemed to clear just a little. He shook himself slightly as if shaking off an idea he found distasteful. "Water Bearer."
I have a name. My name is Calder.
He walked toward me and clapped me lightly on my back. "Yes, Eden is very gifted. The gods have blessed her with many gifts. To be the man who has been chosen to . . . bask in those gifts is humbling indeed." He glanced at me sideways, but I pushed my own thoughts on that statement aside. Focus.
"You had a purpose to scheduling an appointment with me, I presume," Hector said as I fell in step beside him.
"Yes, Father. I'd like to show you something if you'll allow me."
Hector glanced at me again, but nodded his head. "I always have time for my water bearer," he said, his expression warming.
I let out a breath. "Thank you."
We walked the distance between the main lodge and the bank of the river in silence. When we arrived at the riverbank, Hector followed my lead a short way along the pebbled shore until we got to the start of my irrigation system.
It was mostly a series of thick hollowed-out branches tied together and elevated where necessary to keep the water running downhill to the edge of the crops, which were about three hundred feet from where we were standing. We'd already been using this one for the last three months or so and it made our work much easier and quicker. We no longer had to make trips back and forth to the river for hours a day. We simply made one trip to un-dam the system and then spent about a fourth of the time we had before filling containers that were right there at the edge of the area we were watering.