Beside him a tiny elderly woman was leaning on a cane, studying him with curiosity. Since good manners seemed to require that he speak to her, Jon cast about for some sort of polite conversation pertinent to the occasion. “I hate funerals, don’t you?” He said. “I rather like them,” she said smugly. “At my age, I regard each funeral I attend as a personal triumph, because I was not the guest of honor.

An answering smile drifted across his tanned face. "What is mine, I intend to keep.

I do not believe that grief is ever so great that it can not be contained within.

she kissed him with all the aching longing that being this close to him evoked; she kissed him in all the ways he had ever kissed her, feeling faint with joy when he began to kiss her back, his mouth moving with fierce tenderness, then opening with fiery demand over hers, until their breaths were mingled gasps, and they were straining to one another.

If I had a hundred kingdoms, I would trade them all for you, my dearest love. I was nothing until you.

Success without someone to share it with is hollow indeed. On the other hand, it beats the heck out of failure.

Life was wonderful, so filled with people and activities, with love and laughter.