Lorraine Heath

“What hadseemed so simple then seemed so complicated now.Doors had closed and opportunities had opened. Shefelt lost, at a crossroads, not knowing which path totake.”

“Sometimes little is better than nothing at all.”

“Shewondered if any of them had truly understood the costof what they were asking of each other.”

“He wondered if his own child would like tohave a dog, then shook off the thought. He was yearsaway from having a child. He needed a wife first—andobtaining her would be far more trouble than obtaininga mistress. Here, he had yet to get a mistress.”

“She angled her chin proudly. “Very well. If you insist.I’ve come to invite you to my wedding.”He shook his head sadly. “That I cannot do, mylove.”“But it shall be the talk of London. I want you there.Desperately.”He gazed out to the sea. “I never thought you to becruel, Tess. I can deny you nothing. But please don’task this of me.”“But if you’re not there, my dear, dear Leo, thenhowever shall I marry you?She watched as the shock of her words rippledover his beloved features.“Me? But you always said no when I asked for yourhand.”“I was a foolish woman. Lynnford was the love of myyouth. And as we have talked these many weeks aswe’ve not been able to talk in years, so wediscovered that neither of us is the person that eachof us fell in love with. We were holding onto someonewho no longer exists.” She took a tentative steptoward him. “You love me as I am now. And I shall loveyou always. Marry me, Leo. For God’s sake, marryme.”

“I think yourmother loves Leo.”“I don’t know if she loves him enough.”“What would be enough?”“To give up on the promise of love from another.”

“But in the moonlight they werelittle more than silhouettes. A reflection of her life. Amere shadow of what she’d expected it to be.”

“She thought her world had stoppedfalling apart, but she was wrong. It had simply becomeisolated, her focus narrowed to struggling not tocontinually grieve for all that had been irrevocably lost”

“What do you want want to be remembered for?" she asked tartly.He slowly shook his head. "I just want to be remembered.”

“He'd built a wall around his heart to protect it, and she was slowly brick by brick, smile by smile, laugh by laugh, kindness by kindness, tearing it down. Tomorrow he'd refortify it.Tonight he simply wanted the haven she could provide.”

“So he held the words tightly inside, safe from ridicule, safe from harm..”

“How could my heart be so wrong?""Because it was such a young heart.”

“He'd spent his life travelling the path of least resistance, taking the easiest of routes, searching for the quickest of solutions, and with Kate, he'd discovered more satisfaction was found in fighting for something, in striving to meet her expectations.”

“If it pleases you."And in his wprds, as always, Kate heard the echo of I love you.”

“She'd been a silly girl then, full of childish dreams. Sometimes she missed that young girl.”

“A pity we cannot pick and choose what we remember.”

“Create a fog within a fog”

“Life was a strange circle. She tried not to decipher it, but rather to accept it as it came.”

“But she'd lost a good deal of her innocence there, because she'd discovered so much she couldn't control.”

“How many times could a mother's heart break? An infinite number of times. Each time her children were hurt. She'd long ago accepted the pain of it, as well as the stoicism to never let it show. It was a mother's lot in life.”

“Shame, when she was younger, had stopped her. Fear, as she grew older, trapped the truth within her.”

“...words on paper are not the same as blood on hands.”

“Ainsley cleared his throat. "Allow me to apologize for my brother. He's not been himself since he returned home.""With all due respect, Your Grace, I suspect he's being exactly himself. He's just simply no longer the person you knew before he left.”

“Love isn't found in words, Kate. It's found in quiet moments, a look, a sigh, a smile, a gladness." She sighed. "And very often, it's shown with sacrifice.”

“I understand why you did what you did. Perhaps a part of me even admires you for it. But I can't forgive you for it.”

“How could he give her so much, yet leave her so little.”

“And while she pretended he was someone else, he would pretend she had no reason to imagine he was anyone other than who he was.”

“Was a sadness so profound that the mind sought escape into fantasy?”

“With a book, she could at least visit with people, even if it was vicariously, even if they didn't exist beyond someone's imagination.”

“I have come to discover men are such prideful creatures.""And we're not?""Of course we are. But we are more capable of bending. Men tend to break.”

“When Sterling’s eyesight did finally fail him completely, we wereup in years, content to sit in our garden and reflect on what awondrous and exciting life we’d led. He did not see my hair fade intosilver. For him it was always a vibrant red. I watched him agegracefully and with dignity. He leaned on me much more than hedid his walking stick, which was how it should be, because when Ineeded him most, he was always there for me. Each day I thought Icould love him no more than I already did—and the followingmorning I was always proven wrong, for I awoke loving him just alittle bit more.”

“Once, when our paths crossed, he told me that the kindest thing I’d ever done was to not marry him. Perhaps because he was passionately in love with a woman who possessed the wisdom to adore him as he deserved.”

“Henry nodded. “May I ask you a question?”“Certainly, Your Grace.”He pointed at Jack. “Is he the Artful Dodger?”Mr. Dickens bent low. “I write fiction, Your Grace. The characters inmy books do not really exist, but if they did”—he winked—“I do believehe would be the Artful Dodger.”“I knew it!”“And do you see that gentleman over there?”“Lord Claybourne?”Dickens nodded. “He would be Oliver.”“And what about Miss Frannie?”“She is every sweet girl who appears in the story.”

“...fortune was a fickle mistress.”

“In his world, there was right and wrong, good and evil. Hers contained no absolutes. Hers was a world of grays. Hers was what his was truly becoming. The irony didn’t escape him. At night, nothing was clear. Lines blurred. Shadows removed definitions.Her dreams led her to the darkest parts of London where he couldn’t follow and keep her safe. His dreams had ceased to exist long ago.”

“Fewer candles flickered. Fewer words were spoken. Fewer breaths were taken.”

“It seems melancholy weather.”“I prefer to think of it more as weather designed for reflection.”“You are the eternal optimist.”

“I am the bookkeeper, after all, and as a rule the numbers don’t behave too badly.”

“Will it fade? The tattoo?”“No.”“Why would you want it on your shoulder like that, something that willforever be there?”“As I recall, I was quite drunk at the time and thought it a good idea.”“Why a dragon?”“Symbolic. We all face dragons in one way or another, at one time oranother.”“So it’s not a good thing.”“Depends whether or not we slay them. It all made perfect sensewhen I was drunk.”“Did you slay yours?”“I thought so at the time.”

“It was easier to break promises when they weren't voiced.”

“But life was precarious and opportunities were never guaranteed.”

“And what about you, Frannie? he wanted to ask. Who will save you?”

“He wanted to change her past, but even as he thought it, he realizedit was her very past that had shaped her into a woman who fascinatedhim.”

“In my world travels, I saw a good many varieties of butterflies. They’re incredibly delicate creatures, but they shouldn’t be underestimated. Observing them as I did, I learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes if you surround a butterfly too closely, it couldn’t fly if it wanted to.”

“I want to see you again,” Greystone said quietly.“I’m not certain that’s wise. We are of different worlds, Your Grace. Inyours, I am but one night and in mine you are destined to be merely amemory.”

“Expectations were never inshort supply.“Do you want to know?” he asked.“I suppose it depends on the answer.”“Which answer would you prefer?”“I’m not really sure. Both leave a lot to be desired.”

“It’s difficult when you love someone whom you know on some level is wicked.”

“When I was much younger and lived in Claybourne’s residence, Luke’sgrandfather arranged an afternoon tea in the garden with a few of thegirls my age. They arrived in coaches and carriages and they were sobeautiful. Their laughter was soft and sweet, so very different from theharsh laugher in the rookeries. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m going tobe like them.’“They hurt me that day without touching me. They taught me thatwords can slice like a knife. They wanted to know about life in therookeries, and I made the mistake of telling them that I slept with Lukeand Jack and Jim. And sometimes at night, I still slept with Luke. Theymade it into something ugly. It was really rather innocent. To lie in thecircle of someone’s arms while you sleep can be very, very nice. But Inever slept with them again. Never told them why. Those girls took thatfrom me. And I let them.”

“Fascinating. He’d never known a woman who didn’t take upresidence in front of a looking glass. “Why have you an aversion togazing in the mirror?”“Because within a mirror I can’t avoid looking into my own eyes. Thelife I’ve lived is reflected in my eyes and there are parts of it that I wishto forget.”“Yet, it has made you the fascinating woman you are.”

“Would you rather leave?”“Absolutely not. I may be bloodied, but I can still carry a sword.”