“Listen, Elena, after high school I left and I had a lot ofrelationships and nothing seemed right to me. But I rememberedyou often. You can say that we were kids back then and that thatwas kids’ stuff... and maybe it was. But now, when I am not a childanymore, there isn’t a doubt in me that it simply has to be you or noone else. I don’t want you to be the one that got away, at least notwithout a fight.”

“I hurt your feelings before. But then, I don’t think you were lacking in self-confidence. You must know that you’re beautiful. Your hair is so golden and you have the bearing of a young Venus. Kristen, it isn’t you. It’s me. I haven’t got any emotion left. I haven’t got what you need, what you want. Damn it, don’t you understand? I want you. I’m made out of flesh and blood and whatever else it is that God puts into men. I want you. Now. Hell, I could have wanted you right after I ripped another man away from you. I’m no better than he is, not really. Don’t you understand?”

“I love you, Meg. I want tomarry you. I want to sleep with you every night, make love with you, have kids. I want to fight together andwork together and—just be together. Now are you going to keep standing there, staring at me, or couldyou put me out of my misery and say you still love me, at least a little?”

“I think I can communicate with kids because I don’t try to communicate with kids. Ninety percent of the children’s books patronize the child and say there’s a difference between you and me, so you listen to this story. I, for some reason or another, don’t do that. I treat the child as an equal.”

“I want you to be my wife. There’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. We can live out here, you, me, our kids, and Bo. But I get it now, Anna. My decisions affect you, too. So now you have one of your own to make. Will you marry me?”

“I read books when I was a kid, lots of books. Books always seemed like magic to me. They took you to the most amazing places. When I got older, I realized I couldn’t find books that took me to all the places I wanted to go. To go to those places, I had to write some books myself.”