For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“No one to tease and laugh with, to share every meal with, to listen to his whispered stories of his life, to hear of his problems with his students or of his father’s threats, which he’s endured all his life.”

Toby was watching Lorcan, realizing that she was talking about her and Daire. They’d shared a room for all these weeks, but never had there been a hint that anything private went on between them. But Toby had learned that it wasn’t natural to Lanconians to let their feelings show.

Stepping back, Toby looked at the huge pile of luggage. It was two o’clock and they still had a lot to do. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s leave this for later. You and I are going out on the town. We’ll have a huge lunch, then go shopping. We’ll buy so many souvenirs for you to take back that people will call Lanconia the new Nantucket.”

Lorcan smiled. “I like that idea very much.”

The two women didn’t return until six P.M. They were laden with many shopping bags full of all they’d bought. In spite of their good intentions it had not been a happy outing.

Lorcan had looked at Toby over the lunch table. “I have never before had a woman friend, a B …”

“A BFF. Best Friend Forever. I understand. Men like you, so women don’t.”

“You are right,” Lorcan said. “But you are different.”

Toby smiled at the compliment, and she wanted to say that they’d have to get together in the future, but she didn’t think it would happen. There was no way Toby could visit Lanconia. And see Graydon with another woman? No, she couldn’t bear that. And Lorcan would probably get involved with protecting people and never take a vacation.

After lunch they walked around the old, twisted, beautiful sidewalks of Nantucket and acted like tourists, stopping in every shop and looking at everything. They discovered that they both loved mermaids and purchased little boxes, letter openers, even buttons with mermaids on them.

They also bought T-shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets with Nantucket emblazoned on them. That all of the garments were in a size to fit Daire and Graydon was not something they commented on.

At five they stopped to have drinks made with tequila.

“You and I should get Virgin Marys,” Toby said in disgust and raised her glass. “To the last of our kind.”

“I hope we are the very last,” Lorcan said.

Both women looked so miserable that they burst out laughing. What followed was a conversation of what each woman had done to entice the man she loved.

“Black lace bra and tiny matching underpants,” Toby said.

“I arranged to be caught getting out of the shower with only a hand towel to cover me,” Lorcan said rather proudly.

“I wish we’d compared notes. But did it work?”

Lorcan raised her glass, their second one. “Still a virgin.”

“Me too,” Toby said sadly and they drank deeply.

By the time they picked up their many shopping bags and headed home, they were feeling much better. Lorcan went into the family room she shared with Daire, and Toby went up the back stairs to the private sitting room she and Graydon used. To her shock, all the luggage was gone.

“They’ve left,” she whispered, then dropped the bags and yelled down the stairs, “The men are gone!”

Lorcan, with her long legs, took the stairs two at a time. Toby and Lorcan had left the room in a mess, with some bags packed, some half empty. Clothes and shoes had been on every piece of furniture.

“Do you think Daire and Graydon finished the packing?” Toby asked.

Lorcan sat down in a chair. “No. Not possible. Someone from Lanconia has come and carried everything away. Perhaps Prince Rory’s valet.”

Toby sat down opposite her. She didn’t have to say her thoughts, that it really was all over. Maybe this morning had been their last meal together.

Lorcan glanced through the open door into Toby’s bedroom. “What is that?”

They went to look. Spread on Toby’s bed was the beautiful Regency dress. Beside it was a notecard with a crest on it. Oh, great, she thought. Graydon had left her a goodbye note and the gift of a dress. Was vellum any better than a Post-it?

When Toby didn’t pick up the note, Lorcan did and held it out to her, but Toby didn’t take it. Lorcan raised her eyebrows in question, and when Toby nodded, Lorcan began to read. “My dearest wife, Tabby.”

Lorcan closed the card and handed it to Toby, who read it in silence.