“She was gravity. She was the light in the darkest of my days, and her smile ignited a flame inside of me that had gone out a long time ago.”

“I held her close for only a short time, but after she was gone, I'd see her smile on the face of a perfect stranger and I knew she would be there with me all the rest of my days.”

“She smiled and her whole face lit up. Or maybe it was mine. All I know for certain is that smile lit up even my darkest days.”

“Then I looked right at Mama, for the first time in what seemed like forever, and she wasn't looking at me, but into me. She was pulling me to her with her eyes, like she used to do. All of a sudden I could see the light that was Mama's shining out of her eyes. I couldn't help smiling at it.'Be careful,' my heart warned me.But I was having a hard time remembering that there as anything to be careful about. Because if I just looked at Mama's eyes...I could tell that the part of her I thought had gone away forever was still there and glowing, only from deep down inside her.”

“She stretched out her hand, saying, “Vernon! My dear, what a delightful surprise!”“What’s surprising about it?” he enquired, lifting his black brows. “Didn’t you ask me to come?”The smile remained pinned to Lady Buxted’s lips, but she replied with more than a touch of acidity: “To be sure I did, but so many days ago that I supposed you had gone out of town!”“Oh, no!” he said, returning her smile with one of great sweetness.”

“You cannot put a fire out!A thing that can ignite can go itself-without a flame-E'en through the darkest night!”