For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

Graydon got up and went outside to look at the water and think.

By the time Millie and Toby got to the chapel, it was already filling with guests. About half of them were in costume and as Victoria had predicted, they’d worked hard to outdo each other. Silks and satins, ribbons and gems adorned the women. One famous author said she was honoring Jane Austen, not Victoria.

“Glad that was cleared up,” Millie said so sarcastically that Toby laughed.

It was evening and the two women were standing side by side at the open door of the chapel and handing out programs that announced the order of the ceremony: music (Verdi), a poem (read by Victoria’s beloved editor), the vows (from the bride and groom). Jared’s cousins were escorting people down the aisle.

“Now you know everything about me but I know nothing about you,” Toby said to Millie as she handed a brochure to a woman whose books rarely left the New York Times list. “Are you married?”

“Yes. To a lovely man. You might like to know that I wasn’t born in this country and my marriage was arranged.”

“You’re kidding!” Toby almost didn’t let go of the paper she was holding out, but a male true-crime writer pried it from her hand. “Oh! Sorry.” She looked back at Millie.

“Not at all. It was put together by our parents, but what they didn’t know was that my husband-to-be and I had a clandestine meeting before the marriage. He arranged it.” Millie’s eyes took on a faraway look. “It was at midnight and involved a horse and moonlight. I sneaked out a window and we rode bareback through a forest to where champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries were waiting for us.” She paused to give out three more programs. “He and I stayed together until nearly sunrise, then we rode home.” Millie seemed to come back to the present. “After that I would have followed him anywhere. He is the love of my life.”

Toby sighed. “That’s the most romantic story I’ve ever heard.”

“No more than yours, dear. Didn’t you have champagne and strawberries when you met your prince? Wasn’t he so in love with you that he finagled a way to move in with you?”

“Yes to the move, but it wasn’t because of love.” She picked up another stack of programs.

“Then what was it? As far as I can see, the two of you were inseparable from the moment you met. You worked together, solved problems together. I just can’t figure out how you left out the physical aspects of love. You’ve missed a lot by denying yourself some good ol’ fashioned bed romping.”

“We didn’t,” Toby said. “I mean, we did but we didn’t. Graydon is a wonderful lover and I got pregnant on our wedding night, but—”

Millie was looking at her with wide eyes.

“I’ve said too much. I’d better go check on our seats to make sure no one has taken them.”

Millie caught her arm. “It’s none of my business, but sometimes problems can’t be solved by logic or even common sense. Sometimes you just have to believe and to trust. If you give up love for fear of hatred, doesn’t that make love the loser?”

“I don’t know,” Toby said. The music that began the ceremony started to play, and she pulled away from Millie to go to her seat. Ribbons had been strung across the two chairs that were reserved for both her and Millie. She untied the ribbons and sat down.

Minutes later, Caleb and Ken came through the side door to stand at the front. Toby knew that in the back Alix and Jilly were assisting Victoria as she awaited her moment to walk down the aisle on Jared’s arm.

When she realized that Millie hadn’t followed her and taken her seat, Toby looked back, but her new friend was nowhere to be seen. Instead, coming toward her was Graydon in his Regency-era suit—and Toby’s heart seemed to leap into her throat.

When he sat down beside her, she knew she should tell him that was Millie’s seat, but she didn’t. Graydon took her hand, kissed the back of it, and tucked it into his arm. The little seats kept them pressed together.

The music changed, and Jilly, in pale pink with cream embroidery, came down the narrow aisle on the white carpet that was strewn with red rose petals. Alix was next, her dress the color of ripe apricots. Both women were carrying bouquets of white roses and tiny blue flowers.

As the wedding march began, everyone stood. Graydon whispered, “Where did the blue flowers come from?”

“New York. Millie got them,” she whispered back.

“Who is Millie?”

“My assistant. You haven’t met her.”

Victoria, on the arm of Jared, who looked very handsome in his tan trousers and black coat, came last. In addition to Victoria’s white dress, draped across her arms was a paisley shawl in hundreds of shades of green. Her emerald eyes picked up the colors and sparkled. In her hands was a small bouquet of white orchids surrounded by the little blue blossoms that Graydon had asked about.

Toby hadn’t thought about it before but it was odd that she, who’d dealt with so many flowers in the last years, had never before seen those.

When everyone was at the front, the guests sat down and the ceremony began. There were the traditional words, but at the end, Caleb spoke. He said he would love Victoria “through the centuries, past turmoil and tears, past pain and joy, through loss and triumphs. I will love you forever.”

By the time he finished, Graydon was holding Toby’s hand so hard her fingers might break, but she wished he were clasping her entire body that tightly.

“Don’t leave me to do everything alone,” he said softly as the pastor pronounced Victoria and Caleb husband and wife. “Here or there, it no longer matters to me where I am. Just please be with me.” When he looked at her, Toby saw the tears in his eyes.