For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“I guess only the bridal party would, but all the decorations would follow through on it. Like having seashells running down the center of the table, except that Victoria would never want anything that mundane. She’d want … I have no idea what would please her.”

“How about a Lanconian theme? All the men could wear bearskins and carry spears, and the women would wear short tunics with a quiver of arrows on their backs.”

For a moment Toby looked at him like he’d lost his mind, but then she smiled. “I’m sure Victoria would love to dress like that, but can you imagine some of those men in bearskins?”

“Big bearskins,” he said. “Maybe grizzlies.”

“What food would we serve?”

“Whole roasted goats.”

Toby was starting to forget her anxiety. “Will we have a jousting match?”

“We could have an Honorium. That’s where the women fight each other and the winner marries the king. In this case I guess it would be the groom.”

“No one would dare go against Victoria. Was that a real event?”

/> “Oh, yes,” Graydon said. “In my country, that’s how a king got a wife. Until King Lorcan stopped it, that is. He was won by a woman who was so ugly that he couldn’t … Well, they never had any children.”

Toby smiled. “You’re making this up.”

“I’m not. There was only one Honorium after that, and that’s when the beautiful Jura won Rowan the Great. It was a love match and they had six children, who married into the different tribes. The kids finally fulfilled their father’s dream of uniting the tribes into one country.”

Smiling, Toby looked at him. “You’re making me feel better, but I still think I should say no to Victoria’s offer. I’ll wait until Lexie decides on a boyfriend, or maybe your aunt and Ken will get married. Those weddings will be smaller and I can handle them—if they ask me, that is.”

“Aunt Jilly is a Taggert.”

“What does that mean?”

“The Taggerts are a big, loud, rambunctious family and most of them will descend on Nantucket for the wedding. You’ll have to deal with eighteen to twenty little girls. The ones that carry the baskets?”

“Flower girls?”

“Yes. And Aunt Jilly has many brothers and sisters, and they all have produced many more Taggerts. To accommodate that family, you’ll have to evacuate most of the residents of Nantucket or the island might sink under the weight of the Taggerts.”

“So Jilly’s wedding wouldn’t be easier?” She was trying not to laugh.

“Have you seen the Taggert men? Each one will eat an entire cow. You’ll have to dock an aircraft carrier beside the island just to bring in enough food for one Taggert meal.”

Toby couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer. “You make them sound like trolls.”

“And who do you think Tolkien modeled his characters on?”

Toby laughed so hard that Graydon handed her the water glass and she drained it. “Okay, I do feel better. I can do this, can’t I?”

“Of course,” he said as he looked at the moonlight on her hair. Rory said that she’d known who he was the second she saw him. When they were dressed alike, with Rory doing his annoying imitation of Graydon, Graydon couldn’t believe anyone could tell them apart. But this young woman had.

Graydon’s face changed to serious. “Did my brother’s charade cause you any difficulties?”

“No,” she said. “After the first few moments, he was quite pleasant.” She looked at Graydon. “He loves you very much.”

Graydon was glad for the darkness that hid the redness of his face. “I asked him not to bother you.”

“He was just looking out for you,” she said. “He warned me of your sense of duty.”

“I’m sure he exaggerated everything.”

“Perhaps,” she said as she slid to the ground. Graydon immediately stood beside her and put his jacket on. “I better go back in,” she said. “It’s getting late and people are beginning to leave. And I need to find a place for you to stay tonight.”