Drawing in a deep breath, he closed the distance between them and was gratified when her eyes widened in surprise. “Does matter.” He reached out to touch the soft hair she still dyed red. “I came here today because I never stopped thinking aboutcha or that summer we spent together.”

“Oh. Really?” That last word came out more like a croak.

“Really.”

“Even after I married Bobby?”

“’Specially then. Never could understand what ya saw in that smooth-talking charmer.”

“No, you wouldn’t. He was the opposite of you in every possible way.”

“I know I wasn’t as handsome or smooth or full of sweet talk the way he was.”

“No, you weren’t.”

Ned didn’t want to be offended, even after all this time, but there it was.

She rested her hand on his chest, and he wondered if she could feel how fast his heart was beating. “You were loyal and faithful and kind. I learned the hard way that those qualities are far more important than handsome or smooth or sweet-talking.”

“Why didn’t ya come to me? After he left, why didn’t ya come?”

“Aw, Ned. I couldn’t have done that to you. I walked away—left you without so much as a howdy do. I can’t believe you expected me to show up at your doorstep with two little girls in tow after what I did to you.”

“I woulda taken ya all. I woulda given you and yer girls everything.”

Her eyes sparkled with tears. “Don’t say that. You don’t mean that.”

With his hand on her chin, he compelled her to look at him. “I mean that.” Before he could talk himself out of it, he brushed a soft kiss over her lips and drew her into a hug. “I mean it.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.

“Foolish pride,” he said with a rough chuckle. “Stupid, stupid pride. For all the good it did me.”

“I had my pride, too. I was convinced he’d come back. I probably would’ve sent you away.”

“And now?” He drew back so he could look down at her upturned face. “Are ya still waiting for him to come back?”

She shook her head. “Not anymore, but Tiffany has been trying to find him for a while now.”

The statement sent a shaft of shock and fear through Ned. “Is that so?” he managed to ask.

“She has no memory of him. I suppose it’s natural she’d be curious.”

“Does Maddie know she’s looking for him?”

Francine shook her head. “Maddie remembers him. She remembers him leaving. The poor thing sat in the window watching the ferry landing for weeks, hoping he’d come back. I don’t think she’d be happy to hear her sister is looking for him.”

“Do ya hope she finds him?”