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When the two women went out the front door, Jilly put her arm around Toby’s shoulders. “I know it doesn’t seem so now, but you will survive this. Eventually, time will smooth things out.”
Toby had heard that Jilly’s first husband, the father of her two children, had been a horrible man. Jilly was a survivor of a great deal more than just a broken heart.
For a moment Toby hugged her, but then she pulled away. “Sometimes Victoria is heavy-handed and—”
“Imperious,” Jilly said. “She’s quite pushy, really.”
“Yes. Very. But in this case I think it would be better for me not to live alone.”
“So do I,” Jilly said.
The sound of luggage being carried upstairs and Victoria giving the men orders took over. Within minutes, for the second time that summer, Toby had a stranger living in her house.
As Victoria left, she handed Toby a foot-tall stack of what looked to be letters. “Snail mail?” Toby asked as she took them.
“What can I say? I’ve invited writers, and that’s what they do. See what they want and answer them. Have you decided on prizes for the best costumes yet?”
“Autographed copies of your books?” Toby suggested.
Victoria laughed. “How droll. You’d better have something engraved so their publicists can list it on Wikipedia. Let me know what you need, but I’ll be in isolation while I write, so I may be difficult to reach.” She lowered her voice. “Millie really is very good at her job, so trust her. And talk to her.”
“How long have you known each other?”
Victoria waved her hand. “Isn’t that a bit like asking a girl her age? Anyway, dearest, good luck.” She left the house.
Jose came down the stairs. “That woman has a lot of luggage. You want us to clean up the greenhouse?”
“No,” Toby said and thought how that had become Graydon’s job. “I’ll do it.”
“You need to get outside,” Jose said. “It’s not good for you to stay in here so much.” She knew he was right and she followed him into the garden.
Toby would have liked to spend some time getting to know Millie, but on the other hand, if she sat and talked, she might end up crying, then she’d—
She didn’t want to think about what she’d do if she didn’t have masses of work to keep her busy. As Toby went down the stairs on the first morning after Millie moved in, she smelled pancakes. They reminded her of Graydon’s Lanconian griddle cakes and for a moment she almost ran back upstairs. But she took a few deep breaths, forced her mind to calm down, and went into the kitchen.
“I hope you don’t mind that I made breakfast,” Millie said.
“No, it was very kind of you, but you certainly don’t have to wait on me.”
“I enjoy cooking, but I no longer have anyone to cook for.”
“Do you have a family?” Toby asked.
“Grown children who have no more need of me. What shall we tackle first today? Garden or wedding?”
“I think I’d better show you what’s been done so far on both things. Lorcan was handling a lot of the details and I’m not sure where she left off.”
“Lorcan? That’s an unusual name. Who is she?”
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p; “She’s …” Toby’s head filled with so much information that she couldn’t speak of any of it.
“I apologize,” Millie said. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. I take it Lorcan had something to do with the cad who walked out on you?”
Toby drew in her breath as anger ran through her. “No!” she managed to say. “Graydon did not ‘walk out.’ He is a loyal, honorable man who puts others before himself. He—” Breaking off, she sat down heavily on a chair at the breakfast table. “He did what he had to do,” she whispered.
Millie sat down beside her and took Toby’s hand in hers. “I’m very, very sorry for what I said. I don’t know any of the facts. Victoria was rather vocal about how the man broke your heart. I think she’d like to boil him in oil, but I’m sure there’s another side to all of it.”
