I wasn't good company, that was true, and people avoided me, but that was all right. I was too busy dreaming.

We are only an instant, that's true. But we are eternal.

And then I understood that she had no idea what she'd done to my family. She thought love and hatred were equal.

Love ambushed you, it lay in wait, dormant for days or years. It was the red thread, the peach stone, the kiss, the forgiveness. It came after you, it escaped you, it was invisible, it was everything.

I know who you are in your heart,' Andres said. 'That's all that matters.' And that was it. That was the moment. Now I knew how I would feel if I ever lost him. That was how you knew love. My mother had told me that. All you had to do was imagine your life without the other person, and if the thought alone made you shiver, then you knew.

I can hurt myself more than anyone else can, she told her sister. I can do it with my eyes closed.

But most important of all, she explained that it was all right to say 'No. I disagree.' that was a gift. I understood it was power. The power to think my own thoughts. The power to believe in myself.