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  The answer was that nothing on earth would make this hurt any less. She had done a very stupid thing. She had fallen in love with a man she couldn’t have, so she deserved what she got!

  As she lay there she thought about her choices now. She could go into a deep depression where she moped around for weeks, months even, or she could get on with life. Right now she had two jobs: to put in a garden for Jared’s cousin’s house and to pull off a huge wedding for Victoria. Between them, there would be plenty to fill her mind so that she didn’t have time to think—or to remember.

  As for what happened after the jobs were done, someday she’d meet a man, fall in love with him, and—

  And what? she wondered. Spend her life comparing him to Graydon? What mortal man could live up to him? Graydon was a scholar, an athlete, an old-world gentleman. He could—

  Toby closed her eyes hard. She couldn’t allow herself to think like that, for that way lay madness. From the beginning, she’d always known what was going to happen. On the first day she’d met him, Graydon had told her about his coming engagement to the highborn Danna. He’d even described the ceremony in detail.

  He’d always been honest with her.

  She threw back the covers and stood up, and the saying “This is the first day of the rest of your life” came to her mind. Yes, this was a new beginning.

  She put on a robe and her resolve lasted all the way down to the kitchen. Jilly was sitting at the table in the sunroom, reading a Cale Anderson novel, and didn’t look up.

  Toby’s first thought was that Graydon had cleared that room out. From those windows she had watched him working out. That was the table where she and Graydon, Lorcan, and Daire had eaten many meals. She could almost taste the Lanconian cheeses, the griddle cakes. She could see Graydon and Daire drinking their beers and talking in the deep Lanconian language that had become so familiar to her.

  I won’t survive, she thought. Living alone in this house, which was filled with so many memories, was too much for her.

  She went to Jilly, who looked up at her in question. “I can’t do this,” Toby whispered. “I can’t—”

  She broke off because Victoria—beautiful as always—came in through the door from the garden, and behind her was a tall, gray-haired woman Toby had never met before.

  “Darling,” Victoria said as she put her hands on Toby’s shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks. “We thought you were going to sleep forever. Poor Graydon had to leave. We said we’d wake you but he wouldn’t let us. He said you’d been through enough and that you needed your rest. Tell me, did you have another of your dreams?”

  Toby thought Victoria looked ready to get out her pen and paper to record the whole episode. Pointedly, Toby looked behind her at the other woman.

  Victoria stepped back. “This is a friend of mine, Millie Lawson, and she came to the island for a holiday, but she’s going to help you with my wedding and that garden for Jared.”

  “Please forgive my friend,” Millie said before Toby could speak. “All this is being piled on you rather quickly. I take it you had a recent breakup with your boyfriend?”

  Toby thought it was a great deal more than that, but wasn’t going to say so to this stranger. “Are you enjoying Nantucket?”

  “Toby, dear,” Victoria said, “I have also persuaded Millie to move in with you.”

  “What?” was all Toby could say, her face showing her shock.

  Jilly stepped between Victoria and Toby. “Millie is a retired event organizer and she’s worked for some big corporations, museums, even some embassies. She’d planned to stay on Nantucket until after Victoria’s wedding, but …” Jilly trailed off.

  “I find retirement to be deadeningly boring,” Millie said, “and I’ve seen all the beaches and glorious sunsets I can abide. When Victoria said that her wedding planner might need help, I asked if I could volunteer my services. As for staying in your house, I’m sure you wouldn’t want a stranger moving in with you.”

  Toby opened her mouth to agree that that wouldn’t work when a movement in the garden caught her eye. Instantly, her heart leaped into her throat. It was Graydon, with Lorcan and Daire! But no, it was Jose Partida and his landscaping crew coming to work.

  Toby’s heart seemed to plummet to her feet and she knew that if she were alone she just might run upstairs and get back into bed—and maybe never get out again. She looked back at the woman. Her accent had a faint English tone to it and she certainly looked capable. “Yes,” Toby said, “please help me with the wedding, and I have an empty”—the word almost made her choke—“bedroom upstairs. It will be easier to work if we are together.”

  “How wonderful!” Victoria said, then threw open the door and called out, “Jose, you darling man, I need help with some luggage.”

  When the two women went out the front door, Jilly put her arm around Toby’s shoulders. “I know it doesn’t seem so now, but you will survive this. Eventually, time will smooth things out.”

  Toby had heard that Jilly’s first husband, the father of her two children, had been a horrible man. Jilly was a survivor of a great deal more than just a broken heart.

  For a moment Toby hugged her, but then she pulled away. “Sometimes Victoria is heavy-handed and—”

  “Imperious,” Jilly said. “She’s quite pushy, really.”

  “Yes. Very. But in this case I think it would be better for me not to live alone.”

  “So do I,” Jilly said.

  The sound of luggage being carried upstairs and Victoria giving the men orders took over. Within minutes, for the second time that summer, Toby had a stranger living in her house.

  As Victoria left, she handed Toby a foot-tall stack of what looked to be letters. “Snail mail?” Toby asked as she took them.

  “What can I say? I’ve invited writers, and that’s what they do. See what they want and answer them. Have you decided on prizes for the best costumes yet?”

  “Autographed copies of your books?” Toby suggested.

  Victoria laughed. “How droll. You’d better have something engraved so their publicists can list it on Wikipedia. Let me know what you need, but I’ll be in isolation while I write, so I may be difficult to reach.” She lowered her voice. “Millie really is very good at her job, so trust her. And talk to her.”

  “How long have you known each other?”

  Victoria waved her hand. “Isn’t that a bit like asking a girl her age? Anyway, dearest, good luck.” She left the house.

  Jose came down the stairs. “That woman has a lot of luggage. You want us to clean up the greenhouse?”

  “No,” Toby said and thought how that had become Graydon’s job. “I’ll do it.”

  “You need to get outside,” Jose said. “It’s not good for you to stay in here so much.” She knew he was right and she followed him into the garden.

  Toby would have liked to spend some time getting to know Millie, but on the other hand, if she sat and talked, she might end up crying, then she’d—

  She didn’t want to think about what she’d do if she didn’t have masses of work to keep her busy. As Toby went down the stairs on the first morning after Millie moved in, she smelled pancakes. They reminded her of Graydon’s Lanconian griddle cakes and for a moment she almost ran back upstairs. But she took a few deep breaths, forced her mind to calm down, and went into the kitchen.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I made breakfast,” Millie said.

  “No, it was very kind of you, but you certainly don’t have to wait on me.”

  “I enjoy cooking, but I no longer have anyone to cook for.”

  “Do you have a family?” Toby asked.

  “Grown children who have no more need of me. What shall we tackle first today? Garden or wedding?”

  “I think I’d better show you what’s been done so far on both things. Lorcan was handling a lot of the details and I’m not sure where she left off.”

  “Lorcan? That’s an unusual name. Who is she?”

&nbs