“And men like Michael come and go on their own whim,” she murmured. “They aren’t looking for roots. Laura would wither without them. And from what she said, the girls are attached to him. How will it affect them to have another man walk out of their lives?” She burrowed against him. “There’s nothing we can do but be there for them.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. We watched Margo and Kate find the way through their problems. Laura will get through.”

“And they have each other.” She shifted so that they could look out toward the cliffs together. “The three of them are always there for each other. That shop of theirs has worked magic for them. Whatever happens, Laura has them, and the pride in what they’ve built together. But I’m greedy, Tommy.”

She took his hand, laid it on her heart. “I want her to have her dream. I want her to have what we have. I want to believe that she’ll stand at the window, look toward the sea, with a man’s arms around her. A man who loves her and will stand by her. A man who can make her feel the way you make me feel.”

She cupped his face in her hands. “So I’m going to believe it. And if she’s got any of me inside her, she’ll fight for what she wants. The way I fought for you.”

“You ignored me,” he reminded her. “Wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

Her smile bloomed slowly. “And it worked, didn’t it? Perfectly. Then one day I let you find me, by calculated accident, alone in the rose garden at the club. And I let you kiss me, like this.” She lifted her mouth, drew the kiss out, warm and slow. “And Tommy Templeton, never seeing the punch, went down for the count.”

“You always were sneaky, Susie.” He swung her up into his arms and made her laugh.

“And I got exactly what I wanted. Just,” she murmured as he lowered her to the rug, “the way I’m going to get exactly what I want right now.”

Laura saw the lights in the tower room as she walked toward the cliffs. And for a moment she stood watching the silhouette of her parents embracing. It was a lovely sight, stirred her heart. And her envy.

They fit so perfectly together, she thought, turning back toward the song of the sea. Their rhythms, their styles, their goals, their needs.

She’d learned, the hard way, that what her parents had, what they worked for and preserved, wasn’t a given but a rarity to be celebrated.

Her new perspective only brought her more admiration for them.