Look, this isn't about the ring or when I ever made a hamburger, which, for your information, was my senior year of college.""Right, when you almost caught our kitchen on fire.""And you dated one of the firefighters for six months. You're welcome. Back to my problem.

Marriage is work, Cora, I'm not going to lie. It’s glorious some days and not so much on others.

You make every case for marriage but love.

Why must duty require me to break my own heart?

In the darkest of nights, there is only one thing on your mind--should I be required to stand before the Almighty, will I find myself in His favor?

Spend sunny afternoons writing. Take weekends in the country. Dream. Drink good wine, eat fabulous cheese and great bread. Make the kind of love that destroys the bed.

Youth isn't all it's cracked up to be either.""Then you're doing it wrong.

Percival pinched his lips, sending his laugh to his eyes.

Do not open that door until I'm in my room. I may be old and losing my hair, but I still want to look nice for a handsome man.

She ate--so, so good--cocooned in the harmonic dissonance of a large family, where every sound was distinct yet blended.