She gave him one quick nod, then looked back at the kissing couple.
Graydon lifted her hand to kiss the back of it, then everyone started clapping and cheering and the bridal couple ran down the aisle.
“Now we can eat,” said a man behind them and everyone laughed as they began to leave.
Toby l
ooked up at Graydon. “I have things I have to do,” she said.
“Can I help?” he asked.
She wanted to stay with him and talk, but she knew Millie couldn’t handle the chaos of dinner by herself. “Yes,” she said, walking backward from him. “Stack some of these opera chairs along the wall so there’s room for people to sit in here. I’ll send Wes in to help. Then please find Millie”—Toby was at the door—“and she’ll tell you what else needs doing. I …” She hesitated.
“I know,” Graydon said, smiling. “By the way, Lexie is here and she has a surprise for you.”
“Let me guess. It’s Roger. Are they married or engaged?”
Graydon laughed. “Engaged. She wants you to plan her wedding.”
“Oh, Lord! How did I get this job?” With one last look at Graydon, she ran from the chapel to the tent, but she paused outside. She didn’t know what she’d just agreed to or what was going to happen. All she knew for sure was that she was very glad Graydon was here. For the first time since he’d left the island, she didn’t feel as though a big part of her was missing.
The first person she saw inside was Millie. “You missed the ceremony.”
“No, I saw it.” Millie’s usually smiling face was stern. “I saw you and your prince and you two looked very serious. Where is he now?”
“I asked him to stack the opera chairs in the chapel.”
“You called them that?” When Toby nodded, Millie said, “And you gave that job to a prince?”
Toby laughed. “Graydon can do anything! He can cook, clean, organize—”
“Run a country?”
“Yes, that too,” Toby said, then lowered her voice. “I don’t know for sure, but I may have just agreed to marry him.”
“How do you not know for certain?” Millie asked but when she saw that Toby was shaking, she led her out of the tent and helped her sit down in one of the chairs that had been placed outside.
“I’m scared,” Toby said. “Really, really afraid. It’s one thing for us to live here in my world, but …” She looked at Millie, the fear in her eyes. “He’s a prince and someday he’ll be king. He has a country to take care of. He has a mother.”
Millie frowned. “I very much doubt that she’s as bad as you think she is.”
“She’s worse. She’ll hate me. By Lanconian standards I’m short and pale and—” She broke off to smile.
“What is it?”
“That’s what I told Graydon he was.”
Millie was watching her, seeming to be considering what she was saying. “I want you to stay here and calm yourself. Don’t go anywhere while I go check on the guests.” She turned away.
“Where did you get the blue flowers we used in the bouquets?” Toby asked.
“I told you. From New York.”
“Graydon seemed to think they were unusual.”
Millie had her back to Toby. “Did he? Did he ask about anything else?”
“No, just the flowers. Is something going on that I should know about?”