God, he suddenly understood, was love in its purest form, and in these last months with his children, he had felt His touch as surely as he had heard the music spilling from Ronnie's hands.

There is nothing like love. You should try it.” Thibault shrugged. “Maybe one day.

He put his arms around her. “Well, in my defense, then, whatever I did seemed to work, didn't it?” She sighed. “I suppose.” “You suppose?” “What do you want? A medal?” “For starters. A trophy would be nice, too.” She smiled. “What do you think you're holding right now?

That's my sweetheart in there. Wherever she is, that's where my home is.

It would be like describing colors to someone blind from birth: The words might be understood, but the concept would remain mysterious and private.

I tend to avoid melodrama. I try to create very realistic settings and very realistic experiences and realistic responses to these experiences. Melodrama is the use of really big events that may or may not happen in real life - certainly they do, but they're not events that are common to most people. Most of the things that happen in my novels are things that could happen to people in real life.

When I look in the mirror, I know I’m looking at someone who isn’t sure she deserves to be loved at all.