Al Jackson

“It slammed into me so hard it nearly knocked me from my feet. At the same time, it felt completely natural. Inevitable. Simple. I loved her. My eyes dropped closed, savoring the truth soaking my body, my nerves thrilling in excitement while my heat beat with a steady content. I loved her.”

“Make me remember what it feels like to be loved.”

“I loved her. Oh God… I loved her. She was everything, ripped me apart and made me whole.”

“I don’t know how to stop loving you.”

“Was it wrong that all I wanted to do was kiss her?I smiled, and Maggie blushed.Oh God. So cute. I knew then, I’d give this girl anything she asked me for. I’d probably beg her to take it.”

“Don’t you know that’s what college is about...students spending years gathering useless information they’ll never use again, going hopelessly into debt, just so they feel smarter than the rest of their family? I mean, that’s why I worked so hard to get here, anyway.”

“Because it shouldn't hurt to be touched.”

“I'll be whatever you need me to be.”

“How could I relax when I had to welcome Christian into my home, the one who had wounded me deeper than anyone, the one who haunted my days and held me in my dreams?”

“I missed him, almost more than I could bear. This was never supposed to have happened to us. We were supposed to make it…we should have made it.”

“Gently, I caressed along the puckered, angry scar slanting in a long, jagged line across my lower abdomen to where it crossed the smooth, silvered scar running in a horizontal line just above my pelvis, wishing she could somehow find comfort in my touch. Chills shook my body as I ran my fingers over the still sensitive skin, and just like every night, the bitterness and anger I found myself feeling faded away into sadness as I lost myself in this tangible reminder of my child. I loved her, so much. Steam filled the room, and I eased myself into the water, allowing myself to drift back to Daniel. I missed him, almost more than I could bear. This was never supposed to have happened to us. We were supposed to make it…we should have made it.”

“Maybe now I really understood why Elizabeth had run from me all of these months, why she would never allow herself to believe. A love as intense as the one we shared, one that had not dimmed through years of betrayal but had only grown, was terrifying. We had the power to destroy, to devastate and ruin, to lay the other to waste. But I wasn’t running.”

“For so long, I’d wanted to hear those words fall from her lips. I’d just had no idea that in those words there would be so much sadness, that they would be tainted by years of her sorrow, and that my own thrill in finally hearing her say them aloud would be tarnished by the immense amount of resentment over what she had done.”

“Once again, I found myself on the edge looking down, wondering when I’d get so close that I’d fall. Or maybe I’d just jump.”

“Seeing her was like seeing a reflection of myself, a mirror of my pain, my loss, my regret. A mirror of what stirred within me now – this love that had refused to die. She had found me. I had always felt her heart calling to mine just as mine called to hers, this power bringing us together once again.”

“Erin called us soul mates, but I…I’ve always known it was more than that. It’s like we share the same soul, and when we’re apart, each half is looking for the other.”

“No, baby, I like the dress."I was just going to like it much, much more in a pile on my bedroom floor.”

“He stood above me, his body visibly trembling. "This is forever.”

“I can't live without you. I haven't lived a day without you.”

“Go bring me back my daughter.”

“I turned to him, wishing for nothing more than to tell him who I was.That I was supposed to be Melanie's husband, not him.That I adored her more than any other creature that had ever lived and always would.That I had every intention of taking her away from him.”

“That's how I spent the next day and night - dividing my time between my girls. I felt like the go between until the three of us could be together. It was as if I were carrying a piece of one to the other, making them whole, as if we were part of the same soul.”

“I still couldn't believe Melanie was here. It was all I could do to keep myself from jumping over the table to get to her, to fall to my knees, to plead for forgiveness, to beg her to take me back.”

“My eyes darted to her, dreading to see the pain I knew I would find. Please, Melanie, you have to know I only wanted this with you. I couldn't say the words out loud, but I prayed she would understand, that she could see it in my eyes.”

“I stood to take a few minutes to clear my head when a strangled sob grounded me to the floor. My head jerked up, my eyes desperate to find what I so longed to see. My knees went weak, and I grasped the table for support when my eyes met with the emerald that owned my soul.”

“My body trembled as all the regrets of my life washed through me, my heart feeling as if it were on the verge of failing. My sould cried out for her. It had never stopped its search for her in nine years, and I could still feel her calling for me.”

“Baby, I wish I could tell you how much I love you, how much you mean to me."He nuzzled my cheek and continued down my neck, setting a fire across my skin, churning coals that burst into flames deep within my soul. "Show me.”

“My baby girl liked pink”

“Never would I take what I’d been given for granted. I’d never look at her through indifferent eyes, listen to her fears and worries with distant ears, or touch her with impassive hands. Elizabeth was a gift and Lizzie was my treasure. I would adore my family until the day I died.”

“What do you want, Christian?”What did I want? To make her smile, to wipe away her tears, to hold her. To be a father, a real father, not one in title, but on who’d earned that right. I wanted to stay. “I want my family,” I forced through the lump in my throat.”

“Daddy.I was struck with the magnitude of what that meant, the responsibility of being a father. Waves of devotion swept through me as I silently promised her I would always be there for her, would always love her, would be the best father I could possibly be.”

“She was mine, had always been, and I'd always been hers. Despite what I'd done, the wounds I'd inflicted, she had always been mine.... our hearts had been tied, our bond one that neither of us could ever escape.”

“The ocean. For miles and miles it stretches, seeming endless. Calm at times, and a ravage monster at other times, swallowing anything it can grasp, clawing at the sides of the lands with its cold, salty claws.But for now it rested peacefully, awaiting the boy who should come sit upon its banks and stare at it with a peaceful mind...”