“It seemed that a woman should remember the night a new life began inside her. Such a miracle should not be the result of routine or an ordinary coming together. Life should begin in a cataclysm of heat and fury bathed in the sweat of passion and urgency.”

“He found her breasts with his hands and dropped his lips to her arching throat, tasting dust and woman sweat and a trace of something that reminded him of apples. She tore his shirt at the throat, ripping it downward, and slipped her hands inside, her fingers like brands of fire across his skin. One minute she was straddling him, the next minute he’d follede on top of her. It was like a dam had burst within them both, releasing a flood tide of desireand urgency. And God help him, he would have taken her right there on the ground with a stampede winding down a hundred yards behind him.”

“I think I fell in love with you that amazing night on the kitchen floor. Or maybe it was the evening you stepped up and set my arm." Testing things, he reached for her hand, and, to his joy, she glared, but she let him take it. "Or maybe the night I knew I loved you was when I kissed you under the mistletoe on Christmas Eve. It's hard to say because I look at you now and it seems to me there's never been a time when I didn't love you.”

“This time his kiss was full and provocative, summoning sensations she had believed, had hop, were submerged too deeply to be awakened. But his fingers on her face, his mouth, his lips, stirred slumbering emotions and coaxed them to life. His hands moved to cup her head, to spread across her spine, and he crushed her against him as their kisses deepened.”

“For a long moment they gazed at each other, and Freddy felt her mouth go dry and her heartbeat accelerate. If the evening ended right now, she would still remember this moment for all her days. The music, the perfume of the flower baskets, and the hard look of desire in Dal’s eyes.”

“I've always known what you were thinking. You're squeezing thatmarble in your pocket and you're thinking your cattle wouldn't be at risk if itweren't for Louise. And maybe you're right. But take a hard look, son. Whenyou see that woman working up a sweat pitching hay like a hired hand …you're looking at character."And if we ever have another family dinner that goes like the last one did,you pay attention. I have an idea that your Louise doesn't sit still for toomany insults, and I imagine she could cut someone down to size in aboutthree sentences if she wanted to. But she sat silent while Philadelphiaridiculed and belittled her. Louise did this out of respect for you and thisfamily. That is also character."Maybe you really believe Wally is living your life. If so, then you haven'tbeen honest with yourself. And you haven't taken a good hard look at thelife you have. Mark my words, Max. Someday you're going to hold thatmarble, and it won't be a symbol of all you lost. That marble will be the goldyou went to Piney Creek to find. It will be the most precious thing you own.I say this because I didn't raise any stupid sons.”

“All my life I dreamed of having someone think I was beautiful.”