He covered the larger room in three strides and flung the door open.
What he saw was a great surprise yet no surprise at all. Two women, wearing clothes like those he and Toby still had on from the dinner party, were standing by the fireplace. The room was painted yellow, with a bright red wood-framed sofa and a few chairs with needlepoint upholstery.
Graydon stayed outside, looking into the room. He wasn’t sure about entering this place that seemed to have a very flexible attitude toward time.
“Is Toby here?” he asked, but no one looked at him. “Is Tabby here?” he asked louder, but still no one reacted. Obviously they couldn’t hear him.
Tentatively, he put his foot inside the doorway—and saw the slipper he’d been sent with the costume change to a square-toed boot. Ah, much better, he thought. When he looked up, he thought he saw Toby walking toward the stairs.
Without hesitation, he entered the little sitting room.
“Garrett!” one of the women said. “You have returned.” She was a pretty young woman and smiling in a way that seemed to mean they were friends. “We didn’t expect your ship to get in for another few weeks.”
The other woman was older and she was frowning at Graydon. “Have you seen Mrs. Weber yet?”
Graydon was glad for his training in diplomacy because he felt like saying that when he did see the woman he might strangle her. Instead, he smiled. “No, I haven’t seen her. Is Tabby here?”
“I’m not sure,” the older woman said.
The younger one stepped forward. “I just saw her with John Kendricks’s daughter.”
“On the window seat,” he said and realized that he was now in Kingsley House and it looked like it was John and Parthenia’s wedding—which made him smile. That meant Tabby hadn’t yet been sacrificed to the storekeeper in an attempt to pay the bills.
As he headed toward the door that led to the big parlor, the young woman stopped him. “Garrett,” she said softly so only he would hear, “I think you should know what’s been going on while you were away. Mrs. Weber has arranged for Tabby to marry—”
“That little sea urchin, Silas Osborne? I know that. I’ve come home to rescue her.”
“How fortunate for her,” she said. “I wish you luck.”
“Thank you,” Graydon said and turned away. The large parlor of Kingsley House was full of people dancing and laughing, and Graydon in his tan trousers and short jacket fit right in. Many people greeted him by the name of Garrett, most of them expressing surprise that he was there so much earlier than expected.
“Where’s your brother?” a few asked.
Graydon covered himself by saying, “Which one?” He assumed they meant Captain Caleb, but he wasn’t sure. He looked over the heads of the dancers to see if he could find Valentina/Victoria, hoping she could tell him where Toby was. But he didn’t see her.
In the far corner was the little girl Ali, with her drawing pad. She was sitting on the cushioned window seat that just an hour before Ken had taken apart. Graydon quickly made his way across the room. He didn’t have time to make introductions. Besides, he assumed Garrett and the child were acquainted. “Was there a woman here with you?”
“Tabby,” the girl said. “Her mother is angry at her. She doesn’t want Tabby to marry you.”
“I know,” Graydon said, “but in this life, she can marry me. Do you know where she is?”
“I think she went home,” Ali said, and he knew the child meant the BEYOND TIME house. Graydon started to leave, but then he turned back. “Ali, I want to ask a favor of you.”
She was quite young and he doubted if she’d remember what he was about to tell her, but he could try. “When you are twenty-three years old, I want you to have your portrait painted and put it in a big frame. Have your father make it with secret compartments in it. I want you to write about and draw pictures of the houses you and your husband create and hide everything inside the picture frame. I want to make sure the future knows who you are and what you two did. Do you think you can remember all that?”
“Yes,” Ali said and nodded in that way children do when something nonsensical makes perfect sense to them. “Who will I marry?”
“Valentina’s big, healthy boy,” he answered as he hurried toward the front door.
When someone handed him a beer, he took it and kept walking. It was beginning to hit him that right now he was not a prince. He didn’t have the weight of a whole country on his shoulders. Who he married, where he lived, every word he spoke, was not going to be scrutinized, questioned, weighed, and measured. Any slip of his tongue would not be tomorrow’s headlines in the Lanconian newspapers. Being seen with a pretty girl wouldn’t show up on the Internet with the caption “Is This the Next Queen of Lanconia?”
And speaking of pretty girls, he saw a circle of men surrounding two of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. In the modern world he was used to seeing women who’d spent hours making up their faces, but these young women had the faces they were born with and they were exquisite, almost too perfect to be real. As he looked, hardly able to blink, one of them smiled at him, and he was so enraptured he almost ran into a door.
A man nearby laughed.
“Who are they?” Graydon asked, still staring at them.
“The Bell sisters, and don’t get too near or their father will go after you with a grappling hook.”
“Somebody should paint their portraits.”
“Garrett!”
Reluctantly, Graydon turned away and saw his brother. He wasn’t exactly like Graydon, but enough like him that they must cause comment. “Rory,” he whispered.
“Rory?” he said, laughing as he gave Graydon a masculine shoulder clasp. “I haven’t heard that nickname in years.” He turned to the woman on his arm. “Right after I was born, Cousin Caleb said I ‘roared like the wind’ and the name stayed with me. Until I was an adult, anyway.”
Graydon hadn’t at first noticed the woman with his brother, but when he looked at her, his eyes widened. Unless he missed his guess, she was Danna—and she was heavily pregnant. He very much wanted to talk to his brother, but he wanted to see Toby more. “I must—”
“I know. We all know,” Rory said, laughing. “Just back from the sea, and all you want is Tabby. But have you heard what Lavinia Weber is up to?”
“In detail,” Graydon said over his shoulder as he practically ran to the front door. It took him about a minute and a half to cover the distance from Kingsley House to BEYOND TIME. If his guess was correct, that was where Toby would be trying to find him.
She was standing under a huge tree at the side of the house, the white silk of her dress shimmering in the moonlight.
Halting, he watched her as he tried to let everything sink in. It was quite possible all this was a dream. For days they’d been inundated with everything of the early 1800s. Food, clothing, manners had all been studied. On top of that, Toby’s dreams had filled their minds. And tonight, with Dr. Huntley’s story of Lavinia and her unhappy daughter, it’s no wonder that he would have the same dream.
That’s what he consciously told himself. Inside, all he could think was that right now he wasn’t fated to be a king, and with that came a great deal of freedom.
When he took a step forward, he felt taller, lighter, as though a great weight had been taken from him. He stopped a few feet behind Toby and waited for her to turn around and see him. When she did turn, she looked as though she was about to cry.
Graydon didn’t say anything, just held out his arms, and she ran to him. He held her tightly, his face buried in her hair.
“Tabby’s mother is going to—”
“I know,” Graydon said softly. “I’ll take care of it.” He began kissing her neck.
Toby pushed away from him. “No! You don’t know what’s ahead. She’s going to make Tabby marry Silas Osborne and he’ll treat her badly.”
When she referred to Tabby as another person, Graydon realized that she thought he was Garrett a
nd he couldn’t help smiling. It looked like he could never get away from having a doppelgänger. He should, of course, tell her who he was, but he didn’t. “What should we do?” he asked, his face as serious as he could make it.
“Caleb said that—”
“My brother Caleb? He’s been on the ship with me. When did you talk to him?” He sounded jealous.
“Years from now,” Toby said and waved her hand. “That doesn’t matter. We need to let them find us in … in a certain stage of undress so Tabby won’t be forced to marry Osborne.”
Graydon’s eyes widened in shock. “You want me to undress you? Here? Now?”
“I know it’s not the done thing but—” She broke off, and for a moment she looked at him in the moonlight. “The truth is that while you were away, Tabby—I mean I—fell in love with someone else. I’m sorry for it but I couldn’t stop my feelings for him. In memory of what you and I once had, please help me.”
Graydon stared at her. This was part of the story he hadn’t heard. Maybe this was the reason Garrett Kingsley let her marry Osborne. But then, he saw a sparkle in Toby’s eyes.
“You imp!” he said and drew her back into his arms. “I’ve been frantically searching for you.”
She pulled back to look at him. “Is that why you smell like beer?”
He laughed. “I wonder if the food is as good as the beer? Maybe we could—”
“You think we were sent back in time to check out the food?!”
He was unperturbed by her tone. “Do you realize that here, in this place and time, I’m not a prince?”
She was puzzled. “What does that matter?”
“Everything,” he said. “I can do whatever I want.” He picked up her hand and began kissing it, and moving up her arm.
“Graydon,” she said slowly. “I don’t think you should …” She closed her eyes as his lips touched the inside of her elbow. The skin there was especially sensitive.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I guess so. I can’t think when you’re doing that.” It took effort on her part, but she pulled out of his grasp. “This is Tabby’s life, not ours, and I think we need to solve her problem. Dr. Huntley said that Tabby and Garrett needed to be caught in a way so they’d be forced to marry.”
“Naked under the elm tree? That sort of thing?”
“That’s a little crude, but yes, I guess that’s what we must do.”
“No,” Graydon said. “We—” He broke off as they heard the crunch of gravel and what sounded to be angry voices. People were rapidly approaching.
“Graydon! We have to do something now. Tabby can’t marry that odious little man. She—”
He put his hands on her shoulders, his face close to hers. “Trust me. Part of my training has been in solving problems. Remember that Caleb said I was made to run kingdoms.”
“That’s not exactly what he said. He thought you should run the Kingsley family. I don’t think they’re the same as an entire country. They’re just one small—”
“Stand behind me and be quiet!” Graydon ordered as his arm swept behind him and took Toby with it.
“Oooooh. Regency machismo,” she said. Graydon had his back to her and was looking at the crowd of people coming toward them. She had the idea that if she moved he’d push her back again. “On the other hand, I think you and I should talk about this and decide—”
“You want to marry me or not?” Graydon asked under his breath. Toby was too stunned to reply.
“It’s me or Osborne,” he said. “So which is it?”
“Uh …” Toby said.
“Is that your mother at the head of that lynching party?”
Toby looked around him. Lavinia Weber had been relatively nice to her the first time they’d met, but the woman coming toward them was the mother Toby had grown up with. She was always angry and it was usually directed at her only child. No matter how hard Toby had tried, she didn’t think she’d ever pleased her mother. It was that woman who was approaching.
“I’ll take you,” Toby said and moved behind Graydon more fully.
Lavinia stopped in front of Graydon and reached out to grab her daughter’s arm, but he blocked her. Behind her were half a dozen people, all watching with undisguised interest.
“Now I see why TV was invented,” Graydon said under his breath to Toby, and she almost giggled.
“My daughter is engaged to marry another man,” Lavinia said, her teeth clenched. “Tabitha! Step away from him.”
From a lifetime of training, Toby started to obey, but Graydon’s arm wouldn’t let her move.
“I ask your permission to marry your daughter,” he said.
“Denied!” Lavinia said loudly. “Tabitha! Come!”
Toby took a step forward.
“I will give up the sea,” Graydon said in his best, most authoritative princely voice. The reaction of the crowd was disbelieving laughter. Not what he was used to!
“Do I strike you as a fool?” Lavinia said, her anger rising. “You are a Kingsley. Your brother Caleb loves to say ‘You can replace a woman but there’s only one ocean.’ I’ll not have my daughter widowed within the year. Tabitha! Come with me this minute!”
Toby glanced up at Graydon and the calm on his face made her stand her ground.
“I’m afraid that my brother’s geography is a little off,” he said. “There are seven oceans but only one Tabitha.”
That caused another burst from the crowd, but this time they were on Garrett’s side. “I don’t believe you,” Lavinia said, glaring at her daughter.
The crowd’s favor was building Graydon’s confidence. When he spoke, his voice was louder, reaching the new people who were quickly adding to the crowd. “Get a lawyer to draw up a contract and I will sign it. Now, this night,” he said.
Lavinia scoffed. “You will give up the sea?”
“Kingsley or no, I am a bad sailor,” Graydon said. He expected the crowd to disagree, but instead they nodded yes.
“Good thing Lanconia is inland,” Toby said and stepped close enough to take his hand in hers.
“Good or bad sailor,” Graydon said, “I believe my family is known for its honesty. Our word is our bond.”
People nodded their heads in agreement, then looked back at Lavinia. The ship was now in her port.
“A Kingsley who doesn’t go to sea?” There was contempt in Lavinia’s voice. “That is not possible.”
Graydon could see that he was making no progress with the woman so he decided to take a chance. If Osborne was bad in the future, there would probably be evidence of it in the present. “Do you think Silas Osborne is going to honor his bargain with you? Is he known for his honesty?” The faces of the crowd showed him that he’d been right, and for the first time he saw Lavinia hesitate.
“What would you do if you stayed on this island?” she asked, this time with less venom in her voice.
“I will run my family’s business. And if you give your blessing so that Tabby and I can marry this night”—there was a gasp from the audience—“I will fully repair your house and help support all the widows and orphans in your family.”
For a moment there was only silence from all of them. Toby and Graydon didn’t know if it was shock at what he was offering or the idea that a Nantucket male—a Kingsley no less!—could even think of giving up the sea.
A woman’s voice broke the silence. “Will you find us husbands?”
“Only if I can ship you to Lanconia,” Graydon said, making a joke.
“I’ll be packed in an hour,” the woman shot back and everyone laughed.
“Well?” Graydon said, looking at Lavinia. “Do we have a bargain?”
Toby moved to stand so close to Graydon that they were hardly separate beings.
“Mr. Farley!” Lavinia shouted over her shoulder, and a small man came forward, a pair of spectacles on his nose. “Get a pen and paper and start drawing up the contract.”
“I’ve had too much
to drink to do a lawyer’s work. I’d have to—” he began, but one look at the fury on the woman’s face and he gave in. He made his way through the crowd, muttering, “When Captain Caleb hears about this, I’ll be a dead man.”
“What do you think they’re doing?” Toby asked as she stood by the door and listened. She didn’t exactly have her ear against it, but close. But all she could hear was laughter and music from downstairs. After Graydon’s declaration that he’d sign a contract and marry Tabitha tonight, they had been half shoved back to Kingsley House and locked inside the room that would someday be Victoria’s bedroom. It was larger than it would be in the twenty-first century because no space had yet been taken from it to put in a bathroom. The big fireplace looked well used, but now, in summer, it was covered by a pretty screen. There were only two candles in the room, so it was quite shadowy.
When Graydon didn’t answer, Toby turned to him. He was stretched out on the bed, hands behind his head, and smiling up at the underside of the canopy. All the chairs had been taken downstairs for the wedding guests to use, so the bed was the only place to sit.
“I think they’re plotting our future,” he said.
She walked over to stand by him. “Why are you so calm about all this?”
“Because I like it.”
He said it with so much enthusiasm that Toby laughed.
Moving over on the bed, he patted the space beside him.
She hesitated, but then she used the little wooden steps to climb up and stretched out beside him. She too looked up. “You aren’t concerned that we’re doing the wrong thing?”
“Couldn’t be worse than what actually did happen.”
“But then, we don’t know all the facts, do we?” she said. “Maybe Tabitha did come to love someone else. Maybe she just doesn’t want to marry Garrett.”
“Think not?” he asked and there was amusement in his voice.
She rolled onto her side to face him and he put his hand in her hair. “What if we stay?” she whispered. “What if we never leave here?”
He put his hand on her cheek. “Would that be so bad?” he asked softly. Turning her head, she kissed the palm of his hand.