“I know what it's like to battle everyday of my life, just for acceptance, just to survive.”

“I just want some time, Mikhail, to think things through. It’s frightening, the way I am about you. I think about you every minute; I want to touch you, just to know I can, to feel you beneath my fingers. It’s as if you crawled into my head and my heart, even my body, and I can’t get you out.”

“Everyone knows ladies love Cajuns. It's in our blood and our language is the language of romance.""Your language is the language of bullshit. You're just a couple of good ole boys with pretty faces. Women just ought to know better.”

“He felt safe with her. He'd never been safe with another human being, not since he'd been taken as a child from his home. He'd never been able to trust. He could never give that last small piece - all that was left of his humanity - into someone else's keeping. And now there was Rikki. She let him be whatever he had to be to survive. She didn't ask anything of him. There was no hidden motive. No agenda. Just acceptance. She was different - imperfect, or so she thought - and she knew what it was like to fight to carve out a space for herself. She was willing for him to do thar.”

“He was dead. He just didn't know it yet.”

“Maybe you are already lost and just do not know it.”

“We can do anything you like. Just be with me.”