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“Shall we see what there is to do in Nantucket at night? Unless you want to help plan a wedding, that is. I warn you, if you do help you get called a ‘girlfriend.’ And if you don’t—”
“Let me guess. I’m insensitive,” Daire said, then sighed. “I miss the days when a man just showed up on his wedding night.” There was such longing in his voice that they both began to laugh.
“To the beer!” Graydon said.
“Yes! Forward to the beer.”
That night, while Graydon was out, Toby did what she’d wanted to for days. She looked on the official website of Lanconia. What did the blue-blooded Danna look like? When the photograph came up and Toby saw that the woman was the one in the photo Rory carried in his wallet, she shut the lid of her computer. “Oh, my goodness,” she whispered. Graydon was to marry the woman his brother loved?
All in all, it was something that Toby did not want to think about.
Graydon and Daire were in The Brotherhood restaurant, where they’d eaten a huge amount of seafood and were now on their fourth beers. For the whole time they’d talked about all things Lanconian.
Daire told Graydon about his new students. “Of course there is no Lorcan in the group,” he said.
“No star who shines brighter than all the others?” Graydon asked. He was staring at his glass, a faraway look in his eyes.
“You are homesick?” Daire asked.
“Not at all!” Graydon said. “I like this island very much. If I were here longer I’d get to know people. I’d like to work on my sailing and I hear they have good teachers. And some of my American family seems to be moving here.”
“You cannot stay with her,” Daire said softly.
“I know. I have never, even when I was a child, neglected my duties. Country always comes first.”
Daire wasn’t going to let his friend dwell in self-pity. He changed the subject. “What is it about that old house and the dreams of a girl that so intrigue you?”
Graydon was glad of something else to think about. “That house should be sealed off forever. There were things in there that shouldn’t be.” He paused a moment, then told Daire what he’d felt in the little room, the sadness and the grief that had run through him.
“What are you going to do about it?” Daire asked.
“When I left the house I thought I’d find out what happened there, but now I’m not so sure I want to. I have so little time here that I just want to enjoy it. Toby seems to have ensnared Lorcan into her wedding designing so perhaps tomorrow you and I can do some serious training.”
“In between Rory’s frantic calls?”
Graydon took his time in responding. “I don’t know how I will do it, but my mother is going to stop speaking to Rory the way she does. He has sacrificed a lot for me and for Lanconia.”
Daire knew that Graydon was referring to Danna. He was close enough to both brothers to know who loved whom. “How are you going to leave this American girl when the time comes?”
When Graydon looked up at Daire, what he felt and what he was going to feel were in his eyes.
Daire leaned back. “I would not trade places with you. Perhaps you could—”
“Do not say it,” Graydon said. “If I had any sense I would have left days ago, but I cannot. I must stay on this island as surely as I have to breathe.” He paused. “Let’s get out of here and go get drunk. Do you have any money?”
“Not so much as a centime,” Daire said.
“I have Rory’s credit card. Toby showed me how to use it but I’m not sure I remember.”
“Smile at our barmaid and let her show you,” Daire said, “then let’s go get so drunk that we forget all women everywhere.”
“There’s not that much liquor on the earth,” Graydon said.
Toby was awakened by a crash and some loud cursing. Or rather some shouts in Lanconian that sounded an awful lot like curses. When she looked at the clock, she saw that it was just after three A.M. It seemed that Graydon and Daire were at last returning home. All evening she’d been worried about them, but the look Lorcan gave her made Toby keep her concerns to herself.
“He is with Daire,” Lorcan had said in a tone that suggested there was no ne
ed for further questions.
