“No, you need to listen, she says. This ain’t Silverlake, an you ain’t the daddy. Out here in the real world, the person who knows what they’re doin is the daddy an right now, that’s me. So. Do like daddy says an shift that tasty butt of yers. Unless, of course, you want it shot off.”

“You can trust me, he says.You would say that. How do I know you ain’t lyin?You don’t. But I ain’t.”

“You don’t fool me, he says in a low voice.Is that right?Yea, he says. I see it in yer eyes. All you care about’s yer precious brother.That aint true, I says.If it’d been Emmi they took, he says, Emmi an not Lugh…would you of gone after her?I take in a breath to say of course I would but the look on his face stops me. there ain’t no point in lyin when he already knows the truth.He leaves go of me an steps back.I thought so, he says. Yer sister’ll be safer with me than she could ever be with you. You jest ride along on yer high horse an leave her to me.”

“All the time I’ve knowed you, Jack, you kept the door to that heart of yers locked up tight an the key hid away. Looks like she found it.He says nothing. Molly waits. Then:Keys ain’t her style, he says. She kicked the door down.”

“I think of what we might say. Him to me. Me to him. I ain’t no soft girl. I don’t know no soft words. Be with me, Jack. That’s what I’ll say. Burn with me. Shine with me.”

“Whatever it is, I sure didn’t go lookin fer it.You don’t hafta, she says. If it’s meant to be, it’ll find you. We like to think we’re in charge of our own lives, but we ain’t. Not really.”

“Travelling men make wide detours just to be in the same room as her. That's the most that even the best of of them can hope for. Molly Pratt, he says. Remind me, what's a heavenly creature like you doin in a dump like this? Servin rotgut to scoundrels like you, she says. An if you call my place a dump again, I'll bar you.”