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  Smiling, he pulled her head down onto his shoulder and held her to him. “If we stayed here, I’d do my best to run the Kingsley family business, and I would send your sisters-in-law to Lanconia, where they’d be treasured as wives. I would buy and sell ships and—”

  “What about us?” Toby asked.

  “We’d have six children. At least that many. You could grow acres of flowers and fill the houses with them.”

  It all sounded so wonderful that Toby was afraid to move, scared that everything would disappear in a second.

  “Do you like the idea?” he asked as he stroked her hair and ran his hand over her neck.

  “We won’t have a choice,” she said, evading giving an answer. “I’m sure we’re here for a purpose. I wonder why? Maybe Tabby and Garrett have a child who saves the world. Maybe Lavinia messed with destiny when she forced her daughter to marry Osborne, so now the house has sent us back to right the wrong.”

  “That would mean we might leave as soon as it’s sure that they’ll conceive such a child. We say ‘I do’ and poof, we’re gone? Think that’s the plan?”

  She heard disappointment in his voice, but also a bit of resignation. She looked up at him. “Maybe we’ll stay longer. Perhaps until the morning after the wedding night.”

  That idea brought the smile back to his face and he kissed her.

  What started out sweetly soon deepened, and when Graydon rolled on top of her, Toby pulled him closer. She opened her mouth under his as his hand moved over her bare shoulder to the top of her breast.

  “Yes,” she murmured as Graydon’s lips moved down to her neck, then lower.

  The two of them were so absorbed in what they were doing that they didn’t hear the door open.

  “Time for that later” came a voice that made Toby and Graydon reluctantly roll apart. The lawyer, Mr. Farley, was standing in the doorway, a piece of paper in his hand.

  Garrett had a physical condition that made him reluctant to stand up. “Give me a minute,” he said as he sat up facing the wall.

  “Better not take too long,” Mr. Farley said, “or Lavinia may change her mind. Osborne showed up and he’s threatening to sue. Says his reputation has been forever ruined by an ‘Almighty Kingsley.’ He’s offering money for Miss Tabitha.”

  “I’ll deal with him. He better not—” Graydon began.

  “How much?” Toby asked.

  “You can’t be serious!” Graydon said as he came around the bed.

  “I’d like to know how much I’m worth, that’s all,” she said.

  “Where’s the paper?” Graydon asked and the lawyer handed it to him.

  “Careful, the ink isn’t dry yet.”

  Graydon scanned it, but the handwriting, so perfect, the s’s made into f’s, was quite difficult to read. The contract said he’d marry Miss Tabitha Lavinia Weber and support all the widowed women in the household, plus the children. A list of names followed. He would build Tabitha “a fine house” on Nantucket and never again go to sea.

  Graydon didn’t hesitate as he asked for a pen and ink. He had a bit of trouble with the quill, but he signed it as Garrett Kingsley. He handed it to the lawyer, who witnessed it, then held out his arm toward the door.

  “Are you ready?” Mr. Farley asked.

  Toby went first, Graydon behind her, then the lawyer.

  “Are you sure you want to take on Lavinia Weber as a mother-in-law?” Mr. Farley quietly asked Graydon. “The woman will make your life miserable. Wouldn’t you rather head out to a nice raging storm at sea?”

  “I’d rather have Tabitha,” Graydon said firmly.

  “Your brother Caleb is the only sensible one in your family. He would never lose his head over a woman.”

  As Graydon started down the stairs, he gave a snort of derision. “Has my brother met Valentina yet?”

  “Why, no … I don’t think he has. She arrived after he sailed.”

  “Ah,” Graydon said. “In a month tell me again what my brother says about love.”

  At the bottom of the stairs a dozen people were waiting to greet them, and he and Toby were separated. For all that the marriage was a hurried affair and in some ways forced, everyone knew it was a match of True Love, and they were glad of it. No one had wanted to see pretty little Tabitha married to Silas Osborne. The day had been joyous, with the marriage of Parthenia and John Kendricks, and now this new excitement. The island would be talking about it for years to come.

  Graydon was surrounded by people he didn’t know and half pushed, half led down Main Street to the church.

  All the wedding guests, even the original bride and groom, were there—and everyone was happily flushed from a lot of food and even more drink. Some of the men had their heads on the back of the benches and were snoring. If each man’s wife didn’t punch him awake, someone used a tall candle snuffer to reach out to do the job.

  It was dark out, but enough candles were lit to give the church a glow that was soft and beautiful.

  Graydon was positioned at the front of the church and Rory came to stand beside him.

  “I figure you’d rather have Caleb but no one can find him.”

  “He’s probably locked away somewhere with a keg of rum,” Graydon said. Rory nodded in understanding.

  Valentina came down the aisle carrying the same bouquet she’d held a few hours earlier for Parthenia’s wedding.

  Behind her came Toby in her dress that a queen had worn. Graydon knew there had never been a more beautiful sight in his life. She was on the arm of an older man whom he didn’t recognize.

  When they stopped at the front, Graydon stepped forward to take Toby’s hand.

  The words spoken by the pastor were different, but when Graydon pledged his love, his care, and his worldly goods to Tabitha, he meant every word he spoke.

  As for Toby, she seemed a bit hesitant at first, but then she smiled and repeated her vows to him.

  Rory handed them rings to exchange. “Jeweler was already here,” he said to Graydon’s questioning eyes.

  “Would that it were a lavender diamond,” Graydon whispered as he slipped the narrow gold ring on Toby’s finger. It fit perfectly.

  She closed her hand around it. She liked it just as it was.

  After the ceremony, everyone on the island seemed to be happy—except for Lavinia, who still thought Garrett would renege and go back to the sea. She kept muttering, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  As soon as they got back to Kingsley House, the second newly married couple was kept apart with everyone toasting them and whisking Toby into dances. Girls gathered around Graydon to tease him about the coming night.

  At one point he escaped long enough to go to a long table to get a mug of homemade beer. Valentina stopped beside him.

  “I’m so glad you saved Tabby,” she said. “She was willing to sacrifice herself but it would have been a miserable marriage.”

  “Very bad,” Graydon said, looking at her. She was exactly like Victoria, only years younger. Between her face and her outrageous figure, a lot of which was exposed by the low-cut neckline of the dress, he could understand why Captain Caleb had mistaken her for a lady of the evening. And if his time calculations were correct, she was the only one who knew that he was locked in the attic with no clothes.

  “You wouldn’t know what happened to my brother Caleb, would you?”

  Valentina looked away. “I’m afraid I’ve never been introduced to him.”

  Graydon could see that her neck was turning red and the color was spreading upward.

  “I was just thinking that after our lengthy sea voyage it might be good for him to have some time alone, time to remember that he’s no longer the commander of men.”

  Valentina looked at Graydon with widened eyes, as though trying to figure out what he knew.

  He lowered his voice. “Whatever you do, don’t give in to him. Show him that you’re worth more than all the seven seas combined.”

  Valentina just stood there s