“You don't mean it," he said mournfully. Not at all, she thought. "Yes, I do," she said.”

“Do you want a drink?” “You mean synthetic blood,” she said after a slight hesitation. “Yes, that would be nice. A sociable gesture.” “I’m all about the gestures. Bubba, you, too?” “Yes, ma’am, I reckon so,” he said.”

“He said someday I would come home and regret ever leaving."She murmured something, perhaps her own remembrance of a place lost. "Do you?" she said after some time."Yes . . . I mean to say, no," he corrected. "Oh, bother, I don't know.""Don't fret over it. You can't get back the time you've lived, and all you have is what is before you," she said sagely."Egads, I find myself betrothed to a bluestocking," he teased. "Who was that, Aristotle?"She laughed. "No, Aunt Bedelia.”

“I have a plan," he said."Yes," she said."Let's get married," he said."Yes," she said."Let's conquer the world," he said."Yes," she said. No one in her family had ever been accused of dreaming small."Let's bring the beau monde to its knees.""Yes.""Let's make them beg for your creations.""Yes," she said. "Yes, yes, yes.""Is tomorrow too soon?" he said."No." she said. "We've a great deal to do, you and I, conquering the world. We must start at once. We've not a minute to lose.""I love hearing you say that," he said.He kissed her. It lasted a long time. And they would last, she was sure, a lifetime. On that she'd wager anything.”

“Wow,” she said. “Do you realise how wonderful you sound?”“Yes, I do,” he said with a firm nod. “And I think I’m underappreciated.”

“She said, "Do you have more things that you need, or more that you don't need?" I said, "It depends on what it means to need.”