Fateful Signs (Ballad of the Seer, Book Three)

Chapter 39 - A Birthday Surprise

Now that everything was set right with Duncan, Lily had a lot of time to consider Maxwell's next move. As the days passed, she wondered when he would finally attack. Because it was a matter of when, not if. He would definitely be coming for her. That much she knew for sure. Knowing him, it would be the moment she was happiest. When she had dropped her guard. Plus, he had a flair for the dramatic. So, it would no doubt be over-the-top.

        She also had to wonder how Mia's spell had been broken. Duncan insisted that he saw her glowing before their kiss, but she wasn't. She was always aware of her power when she tapped into the Source. It was an unmistakable mixture of love, joy, and warmth. There must be another explanation for what he saw. Maybe it was just the glare of the sun.

        "Where'd you just go?" Duncan asked, sitting across the booth from Lily. She was treating him to lunch at the diner for his birthday. He insisted that she not go to any trouble on his account, "After everything I put you through, it doesn't feel right." he said the other day, when she first brought it up. A statement which she summarily dismissed as erroneous and dumb. But she didn't tell him that.

        She smiled to hide what she was thinking. "Just dreaming about the future."

        "Like a vision?"

        She chuckled, shaking her head. "No." His question was understandable. When someone who can see the future says that, it's a natural conclusion for jumping. "I meant it in the more general sense."

        "Oh," He reached over to take her hand. Her chin rested on the other, with her arm propped on the table. "So, tell me where you see us in like ten years."

        "We're married." she said.

        He flipped his hand in the air between them. "That's a given."

        She smiled. It was nice to hear him talking like this - believing that his life was inconceivable without her. She had missed his unwavering faith in their relationship.

        "What else?" he asked. "What will we be doing?"

        "I will be a photographer, I think." She had never actually considered that before - she wasn't even sure why she said it - but it sort of made sense when it came out. She had so enjoyed photographing all the places they'd been. "I'll work for all kinds of magazines, traveling the world to exotic, wonderful places."

        "Interesting." he said, taking a sip of his milkshake. "And me?"

        She thought about that for a moment. Nothing in particular really jumped out at her. He didn't talk a lot about the future. The furthest he considered was college, and that was only two years away. She decided to go with something safe. Something that she knew he enjoyed. "Professional skateboarder, maybe."

        "Nah," Duncan shook his head. "That's just a hobby. I'm not good enough to go pro."

        "Okay," she conceded. "What do you wanna do when you grow up?"

        He pursed his lips, cocking one brow. That was his thoughtful face. She could hear his mind drifting through options. "I don't know, actually. There's so many things that I'm interested in. I don't even know where to start." He shrugged. "Anything else that you see for us?"

        "Well, ten years from now we'll be twenty-six..."

        He interrupted her, to correct her math. "I'm seventeen, now. I'll be twenty-seven."

        "Right, duh," She stroked her finger across the frosting on the piece of chocolate cake the waitress gave him for his birthday. "I always forget that you're so much older than me." It was because he got held back a grade, because he was constantly moving around.