“Behind them the solemn-faced warriors stood, engraved into the vast double doors of the mansion. In front of them, the fountain lay broken into three large chunks and a mass of smaller rocks, scattered around.”

“How about a midnight swim?""Swim?" On a sigh,Shelby closed her eyes and let the sensations take her. "I didn't bring a suit.""Good." Alan led her down the hall to two large double doors. After pulling them open, he nudged Shelby inside, then closed and locked the doors behind them.”

“A woman gasped. Through the open door I could see a sliver of carolers, some faces peering inside at the scattered tatters of money, some faces turned to the sky and the snow, now beginning to fall. And there, in front of them, in the room with us, stood the family, their outlines barely visible within the weight of the rooms light. It was a light that shone over our faces, our wounds and scars. It was a light so brilliant and white it could have been beamed from heaven, and Brian and I could have been angels basking in it. But it wasn’t and we weren’t.”

“I found when I followed the driveway around to the back that behind its imposing front it was just another tract house, as if the architect had tried to combine a southern plantation mansion with the slave quarters.”

“A few insect skeletons lay scattered on the narrow sill, shiny and precise and sad as broken jewelry.”

“his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front.”