Katherine Allred

“You haven't stopped smiling since you came in.""You want me to yell?""No, no," Buddy hastily assured him. "You just keep right on smiling." He picked delicately at the remaining pie. "You sure did sleep late today."Tate grinned at him. "Yep.""Didn't go fishing, either.""Nope.""Sure was a lot of tromping around going on upstairs a few minutes ago. What were you doing?""Just moving a few things." Tate took a drink of coffee."What things?"He was beginning to wish he'd strangled Buddy at birth. "My things.""Were you moving them somewhere in particular, or just dragging them up and down the hall for the exercise?"Tate ground his teeth together. "I was moving them to Abby's room.""Oh." Buddy gave a half grin. "Can I have some money?""No." Tate glared at him."Well, it was worth a shot. I should have asked while you were still smiling.”

“A sweet gum tree is the chameleon of wood, it’s corky exterior hiding it’s inner ability to imitate anything from cherry to mahogany. But it’s real value, one unrealized by most people, is it’s deep red heart, steady and strong.”

“The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. And you couldn’t be indifferent to him if your life depended on it.”

“I’d read enough to know that one of the symptoms of grief was a deep anger at the loved one who’d died, anger that impaired your judgement, made you want to scream and curse because they’d left you. But Nick hadn’t died, and I didn’t realize that I was suffering the symptoms of grief.”

“God, I can’t lose you again.” His whisper was harsh, filled with pain. “Not now, when I’ve waited so long to hold you. I think it would kill me. But I’m so damn scared you’ll hate me when you find out the truth.”

“I’m sorry, Nick,” I whispered, slipping his pendant from my neck. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do because it's the right choice. But occasionally we have to put ourselves first.”

“Lies and half-truths hurt not only the liar, but the people they love most.”

“I love you”, he whispered. “You’ll have the words every day for the rest of our lives.”

“How did you wage a battle for a man’s spirit when the man himself wasn’t sure he wanted you to win?”

“You’re cooking?”“I think the right word here would be ‘trying’,” Tate mumbled… “Would this have anything to do with whoever that is barfing up a lung in the bathroom upstairs?”

“So what if my life isn’t turning out exactly the way I’d planned? It’s not ruined, it’ll just be different.”

“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Abby. We’ll figure something out, I promise. We’re in this together.”

“...while I was vowing to save Nick, he had taken on the job of being my protector and staunchest defender”

“He was the most gorgeous hunk of male it had ever been my privilege to stare at, and darn his hide, he knew exactly what I was thinking. His smile turned to a smug grin to so full of satisfaction, that I couldn’t help myself. I laughed.”

“Do you want to know the real reason I came back, Alix?” It was because of you. You’re my roots. Wherever you are would be home to me.”

“The idea of him making love to anyone else sent a shaft of pain straight through my middle. “You better wait on me, damn it.”“I don’t think I have much choice.” He brushed my hair back. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Alix, the only one I’ll ever want. That’s a promise.”

“You’re not old enough to have a real boyfriend,” he muttered. I stiffened.“If I’m old enough to have babies, then I’m damn well old enough to have a boyfriend,” I ground out. “And just as soon as I decide on who it’s going to be, I’ll let you know.”

“That was also the year I discovered Boys. Or maybe I should say they discovered me. By then I knew what they wanted and I wasn’t buying it.”

“Mama wasn’t Mama anymore, she was Mother, usually followed by a “pallease!”

“There are more kinds of hurt than physical ones, hurts that run ever deeper and leave bigger scars, and not even Nick could protect me from himself.”

“I’ll marry you,” I told him decisively. “That way, we can both have kids someday.”He grinned, those dimples emerging in a blaze of glory. “Yeah, you probably would.”

“Let me come in, please. I’m tired of being alone.”

“Nick? Have you ever…” ”No.” He lifted his head again, studied me. “I’ve thought about it, but it never seemed right.” The idea of him making love to anyone else sent a shaft of pain straight through my middle. “You better wait on me, damn it.” ”I don’t think I have much choice.” He brushed my hair back. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Alix, the only one I’ll ever want. That’s a promise.”

“Okay, woman. Spit that canary out and wipe those feathers off your chin. What the heck happened to you? Last night you were crying over a laxative commercial on TV.”

“He always was someone. Because the core of the sweet gum tree never changes. Like Nick, the deep red wood stays true to its nature. Strong, and steady, and pure.”

“We’re almost there,” I whispered in his ear. “Don’t you die, damn it. If you do, I’ll never speak to you again.”

“I promise you this. I’ll love you until the day I die even if I have to live without you. And if it’s fifty years from now, you come home, Nick Anderson. Do you hear me? I’ll be waiting on you.”

“You can’t turn love on and off like a light switch, no matter how hard you try. All you can do is wall it off, one brick at a time, until you’ve created an impenetrable fortress around your emotions. And once that fortress is built, you camouflage it so well that even you can’t see it anymore.”

“To my surprise, Nick reached under his shirt and pulled out the half-heart pendant. With his gaze fixed on mine, he slid the chain over my head. “No one should have to go through life with only half a heart,” he whispered.”

“This isn’t a church social, Sweetheart. You aren’t going to be able to save me this time.”