“Was parenting ever going to get easier? Did you ever reach a point where you could stop worrying?”

“You could run to the farthest corners of the earth. There's no place you could go where I wouldn't love you. Nothing you could do to stop me.”

“But I hadn't known what love was. And I wondered how you could ever be sure, when you thought you loved someone, if you really did.”

“A woman could do that to you - reach that place in your soul where the best and worst of you was kept. And once she was there, she owned that place and never left.”

“Dear Miss Independent,I've decided that of all the women I've ever known, you are the only one I will ever love more than hunting, fishing, football, and power tools.You may not know this, but the other time I asked you to marry me, the night I put the crib together, I meant it. Even though I knew you weren't ready.God, I hope you're ready now.Marry me, Ella. Because no matter where you go or what you do, I'll love you every day for the rest of my life. —Jack”

“It's just . . . I'd like you to find some nice guy with no weird fuckin' baggage."I had to laugh. My irritation vanished, and I reached over to pat his hand. "If you ever meet one," I said, "let me know.”

“But when you started dating someone, you could never be sure what you were getting into. You had to give someone a chance to show you who he really was . . . and believe him when he did.”