For All Time (Nantucket Brides 2)

“P

erfect,” Toby said. “You wouldn’t know who Silas is and why my mother is so afraid of men of the sea, would you?”

“You live with sea widows. Your mother and sister and the women married to your three brothers all live there with you. All the men went down on ships. My father says they would all starve without you to look after them, as they are a silly bunch of girls.”

Toby would have laughed except for the thought of so much death near Tabby. “I think I’m beginning to understand things. I guess Silas does something here on the island.”

“He owns a big store. Only Mr. Obed Kingsley’s store is bigger.”

Toby was digesting this information—that she’d made up, she reminded herself. All of it was based on bits and pieces of history she’d heard from several sources in the last few weeks.

She leaned toward Ali. “You wouldn’t know of another man whom I like, would you?”

“Everyone knows that. He is Captain Caleb’s brother Garrett, and he wants to marry you, but your mother says no. You have to live at home and make sure the girls work.”

“That doesn’t sound fair,” Toby said and she suddenly had the ridiculous idea that maybe she really was Tabitha and her modern life was a fantasy she’d created to escape “the girls.”

“Ali, I want you to promise me that you’ll keep drawing houses. Get your father to teach you about building, and someday you’ll design homes that people will love living in for centuries to come. Promise?”

“Yes,” the girl said but she looked puzzled. Just like Alix in the twenty-first century, she couldn’t imagine not designing buildings.

When Toby stood up, she heard a faint clatter and realized she’d dropped the key to the lacquered box behind a cushion. She felt behind it but didn’t find the key.

“My father has not finished building the house yet,” Ali said.

Toby told her about the key being to the box in the front parlor and asked the child to tell her father to look for it. Ali nodded.

“I think I might go look at where I live. What’s the name of the house and where is it?”

“At the end, by Main Street. It is called NEVER TO SEA AGAIN. The widows named it.”

“Thank you,” Toby said as she left the room. What a sad name, she thought. They had never seen their men again so they wanted men who never went to sea. She had an idea that the house was the one where she was sleeping, and she wondered if dreams like hers had caused it to be renamed BEYOND TIME.

As Toby made her way through the people and toward the front door, she saw Valentina and suggested that she slip away to the attic for a few moments of peace. As always, there were several young men around her. Valentina said that sounded like an excellent idea.

The clear, cool, salt-laden air outside felt good and Toby breathed deeply of it. There was some movement in the shrubbery outside and she smiled. It looked like some trysts were happening.

She left Kingsley House and took a left. In modern times there were three houses between this one and the house the Montgomery-Taggert family had bought. But now there was just land, and across the road was empty also. Nantucketers were good at moving houses from one place to another, so maybe some were brought in later. Or maybe young Ali would grow up and design houses that would be built on the vacant lots. She liked that idea best.

The narrow lane was full of horses and carriages and people on foot, all of them heading toward the light-filled Kingsley House.

When she got to the end of the lane, to the house where she’d hit her head, she paused, her hand on the gate. Across the road was the much smaller house she was sharing with Graydon—and now the Lanconians. Turning, she looked at it. It was completely dark, with no sign of life, and she wondered who lived there now.

She opened the gate and walked along the side of the big house. She didn’t think she should just throw open the front door.

There was a big tree near the house. It wasn’t there in her century, but its branches hung low, and she walked toward it.

“I knew you’d come to me,” said a voice she knew well. He looked like Graydon, and it was as though he was and wasn’t the man she knew.

Before she could speak, a strong arm caught her about the waist and pulled her to him. Toby’s first instinct was to push away, but the night, the air, the stars, and the familiarity of this man prevented her movement.

She couldn’t help herself—or didn’t want to—as she put her face up to his and he kissed her, his lips on hers.

She’d kissed boys in her life, but as she’d told Graydon, she’d never felt anything in those encounters. It wasn’t that way with him. His body against hers, his lips on hers … It was like their souls were melding into one. At that moment she was someone else, probably Tabby, and she knew she loved this man very, very much.

“Did you miss me?” he whispered. His hands were removing the pins from her hair and letting it fall down past her shoulders. “Did you think about me? Remember me?”

“I thought you no longer wanted me,” she said and wasn’t sure whether she was talking about her own life or Tabitha’s.