“My parents are worried, of course, but how can I feel sorry for them, since they made me this way and then deserted me?”

“I was hurt. Of course I was hurt. But in a perverse way, I wasrelieved that you were the one who made the mistake. Itmade me worry less about myself.”

“I've thought about what I've done since I moved to Truly, and I'm sorry that I hurt you, Mick. But I'm not sorry that I met you and fell in love with you. Loving you has broken my heart and caused me pain, but it made me a better person. I love you, Mick, and I hope that someday you find someone you can love. You deserve more in life than a string of women you don't really care about and who don't care all that much for you. Loving you taught me that. It taught me how it feels to love a man, and I hope that someday I can find someone who will love me the way that you can't. Because I deserve more that a string of men who don't really care about me.”

“And being that happy makes me feel guilty. Because I shouldn't be. Not while my mum is feeling the way she is. How I can dare to be happy is beyond me, and I hate my guts for it.”

“I made up my mind to keep my feelings to myself since they did not seem to matter to anyone else but me.”

“That boy made me realize, for a while at least, that my parents were wrong, and I didn't have to be like them.”