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to tell him of the story. Most people said it had never happened. “Considering that Nantucketers have very, very long memories, this was unusual. Why was this Headless Horseman story hidden? And why was the horseman after the doctor from Boston?” the author asked. “No one would tell me.”
Toby wondered if Graydon had stayed up all night trying to find a record of what he’d done that night while she slept. Had he searched the Kingsley House library to find the obscure book? At least now she knew why he’d wanted to visit the local potter. The face of the head had been made out of clay, a wig over the back of it. She knew he hadn’t told her of his plan because she would have told him it was too dangerous. What if some local had taken a shot at him? But then, Garrett’s family was as much a part of Nantucket as the sea was—and Nantucketers took care of their own.
When she looked at the picture she had to smile. He’d certainly scared the doctor away so he wouldn’t ever return to the island.
All in all, it looked like there had been a reason, a purpose, to their getting together. Maybe she and Graydon were meant to go back in time and change what happened to Garrett and Tabitha.
And that was enough! Toby thought. To be able to do something like that was more than most people got to do with their lives.
As she began to eat the lovely breakfast Jilly had so kindly made for her, Toby thought the silence of the house was eerie. No clanging steel, no one laughing, no Lanconian being spoken. When she finished, she put her tray aside, fell back against the pillows, and looked up at the ceiling. She’d known this was coming so she shouldn’t feel so bad. And she should not be angry at Graydon. Would it have been better if he’d stayed for a long, drawn-out goodbye? Clinging together, both of them in tears? Would that have been better?
The answer was that nothing on earth would make this hurt any less. She had done a very stupid thing. She had fallen in love with a man she couldn’t have, so she deserved what she got!
As she lay there she thought about her choices now. She could go into a deep depression where she moped around for weeks, months even, or she could get on with life. Right now she had two jobs: to put in a garden for Jared’s cousin’s house and to pull off a huge wedding for Victoria. Between them, there would be plenty to fill her mind so that she didn’t have time to think—or to remember.
As for what happened after the jobs were done, someday she’d meet a man, fall in love with him, and—
And what? she wondered. Spend her life comparing him to Graydon? What mortal man could live up to him? Graydon was a scholar, an athlete, an old-world gentleman. He could—
Toby closed her eyes hard. She couldn’t allow herself to think like that, for that way lay madness. From the beginning, she’d always known what was going to happen. On the first day she’d met him, Graydon had told her about his coming engagement to the highborn Danna. He’d even described the ceremony in detail.
He’d always been honest with her.
She threw back the covers and stood up, and the saying “This is the first day of the rest of your life” came to her mind. Yes, this was a new beginning.
She put on a robe and her resolve lasted all the way down to the kitchen. Jilly was sitting at the table in the sunroom, reading a Cale Anderson novel, and didn’t look up.
Toby’s first thought was that Graydon had cleared that room out. From those windows she had watched him working out. That was the table where she and Graydon, Lorcan, and Daire had eaten many meals. She could almost taste the Lanconian cheeses, the griddle cakes. She could see Graydon and Daire drinking their beers and talking in the deep Lanconian language that had become so familiar to her.
I won’t survive, she thought. Living alone in this house, which was filled with so many memories, was too much for her.
She went to Jilly, who looked up at her in question. “I can’t do this,” Toby whispered. “I can’t—”
She broke off because Victoria—beautiful as always—came in through the door from the garden, and behind her was a tall, gray-haired woman Toby had never met before.
“Darling,” Victoria said as she put her hands on Toby’s shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks. “We thought you were going to sleep forever. Poor Graydon had to leave. We said we’d wake you but he wouldn’t let us. He said you’d been through enough and that you needed your rest. Tell me, did you have another of your dreams?”
Toby thought Victoria looked ready to get out her pen and paper to record the whole episode. Pointedly, Toby looked behind her at the other woman.
Victoria stepped back. “This is a friend of mine, Millie Lawson, and she came to the island for a holiday, but she’s going to help you with my wedding and that garden for Jared.”
“Please forgive my friend,” Millie said before Toby could speak. “All this is being piled on you rather quickly. I take it you had a recent breakup with your boyfriend?”
Toby thought it was a great deal more than that, but wasn’t going to say so to this stranger. “Are you enjoying Nantucket?”
“Toby, dear,” Victoria said, “I have also persuaded Millie to move in with you.”
“What?” was all Toby could say, her face showing her shock.
Jilly stepped between Victoria and Toby. “Millie is a retired event organizer and she’s worked for some big corporations, museums, even some embassies. She’d planned to stay on Nantucket until after Victoria’s wedding, but …” Jilly trailed off.
“I find retirement to be deadeningly boring,” Millie said, “and I’ve seen all the beaches and glorious sunsets I can abide. When Victoria said that her wedding planner might need help, I asked if I could volunteer my services. As for staying in your house, I’m sure you wouldn’t want a stranger moving in with you.”
Toby opened her mouth to agree that that wouldn’t work when a movement in the garden caught her eye. Instantly, her heart leaped into her throat. It was Graydon, with Lorcan and Daire! But no, it was Jose Partida and his landscaping crew coming to work.
Toby’s heart seemed to plummet to her feet and she knew that if she were alone she just might run upstairs and get back into bed—and maybe never get out again. She looked back at the woman. Her accent had a faint English tone to it and she certainly looked capable. “Yes,” Toby said, “please help me with the wedding, and I have an empty”—the word almost made her choke—“bedroom upstairs. It will be easier to work if we are together.”
“How wonderful!” Victoria said, then threw open the door and called out, “Jose, you darling man, I need help with some luggage.”
