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c88f3fe
|
I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.
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romance
scotland
time-travel
historical-fiction
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ac8b1e4
|
For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary
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Diana Gabaldon |
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31ed427
|
Don't be afraid. There's the two of us now.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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0b62fcf
|
I will find you," he whispered in my ear. "I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you - then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest." His voice dropped, nearly to a..
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outlander
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Diana Gabaldon |
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f577747
|
Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone, I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One. I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done.
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marriage
romance
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Diana Gabaldon |
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dd00e5d
|
I can bear pain myself, he said softly, but I couldna bear yours. That would take more strength than I have.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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816f3f0
|
Oh, aye, Sassenach. I am your master . . . and you're mine. Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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2a9a4c7
|
Because I wanted you." He turned from the window to face me. "More than I ever wanted anything in my life," he added softly. I continued staring at him, dumbstruck. Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn't this. Seeing my openmouthed expression, he continued lightly. "When I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I'd have no doubt. And I didn't. When I woke in the dark under that tree on the road t..
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jamie-fraser
|
Diana Gabaldon |
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c50579e
|
I had one last try. "Does it bother you that I'm not a virgin?" He hesitated a moment before answering. "Well, no," he said slowly, "so long as it doesna bother you that I am." He grinned at my drop-jawed expression, and backed toward the door. "Reckon one of us should know what they're doing," he said. The door closed softly behind him; clearly the courtship was over."
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jamie-fraser
|
Diana Gabaldon |
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6bdc883
|
Ye werena the first lass I kissed," he said softly. "But I swear you'll be the last."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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074f4f6
|
Blood of my Blood," he whispered, "and bone of my bone. You carry me within ye, Claire, and ye canna leave me now, no matter what happens, You are mine, always, if ye will it or no, if ye want me or nay. Mine, and I wilna let ye go."
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|
marriage
romance
vows
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9cfd592
|
I talk to you as I talk to my own soul," he said, turning me to face him. He reached up and cupped my cheek, fingers light on my temple. "And Sassenach," he whispered, "Your face is my heart."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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aa2a25b
|
Forgiveness is not a single act, but a matter of constant practice.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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30cb629
|
You are my courage, as I am your conscience," he whispered. "You are my heart---and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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1732680
|
There are things that I canna tell you, at least not yet. And I'll ask nothing of ye that ye canna give me. But what I would ask of ye---when you do tell me something, let it be the truth. And I'll promise ye the same. We have nothing now between us, save---respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies. Do ye agree?
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Diana Gabaldon |
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dc7a139
|
You're tearin' my guts out, Claire.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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0081ded
|
It has always been forever, for me, Sassenach
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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e81c34c
|
Does it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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015d2d5
|
Babies are soft. Anyone looking at them can see the tender, fragile skin and know it for the rose-leaf softness that invites a finger's touch. But when you live with them and love them, you feel the softness going inward, the round-cheeked flesh wobbly as custard, the boneless splay of the tiny hands. Their joints are melted rubber, and even when you kiss them hard, in the passion of loving their existence, your lips sink down and seem neve..
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motherhood
parenting
children
vulnerability
|
Diana Gabaldon |
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a46eb48
|
Murtagh was right about women. Sassenach, I risked my life for ye, committing theft, arson, assault, and murder into the bargain. In return for which ye call me names, insult my manhood, kick me in the ballocks and claw my face. Then I beat you half to death and tell ye all the most humiliating things have ever happened to me, and ye say ye love me." He laid his head on his knees and laughed some more. Finally he rose and held out a hand to..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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8945c37
|
You are safe," he said firmly. "You have my name and my family, my clan, and if necessary, the protection of my body as well. The man willna lay hands on ye again, while I live."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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03934f2
|
And I mean to hear ye groan like that again. And to moan and sob, even though you dinna wish to, for ye canna help it. I mean to make you sigh as though your heart would break, and scream with the wanting, and at last to cry out in my arms, and I shall know that I've served ye well.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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69feef2
|
D'ye think I don't know?" he asked softly. "It's me that has the easy part now. For if ye feel for me as I do for you-then I'm asking you to tear out your heart and live without it."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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cbc89d4
|
I prayed all the way up that hill yesterday, he said softly. Not for you to stay; I didna think that would be right. I prayed I'd be strong enough to send ye away. He shook his head, still gazing up the hill, a faraway look in his eyes.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a9cd189
|
When I asked my da how ye knew which was the right woman, he told me when the time came, I'd have no doubt. And I didn't. When I woke in the dark under that tree on the road to Leoch, with you sitting on my chest, cursing me for bleeding to death, I said to myself 'Jamie Fraser, for all ye canna see what she looks like, and for all she weights as much as a good draft horse, this is the woman.
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love
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
7f6547b
|
You are mine, always, if ye will it or no, if ye want me or nay. Mine, and I willna let ye go
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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e98663d
|
If it was a sin for you to choose me . . . then I would go to the Devil himself and bless him for tempting ye to it.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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1240f9f
|
Oh, Claire, ye do break my heart wi' loving you.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9be7da4
|
I swore an oath before the altar of God to protect this woman. And if you're tellin' me that ye consider your own authority to be greater than that of the Almighty, then I must inform ye that I'm not of that opinion, myself.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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d2918db
|
Do ye not understand?"he said, in near desparation. "I would lay the world at your feet, Claire-and I have nothing to give ye!" He honestly thought it mattered."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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14d1217
|
Then let amourous kisses dwell On our lips, begin and tell A Thousand and a Hundred score A Hundred and a Thousand more
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Diana Gabaldon |
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1cc1026
|
A hedgehog? And just how does a hedgehog make love?" he demanded. No, I thought. I won't. I will not. But I did. "Very carefully," I replied, giggling helplessly. So now we know just how old that one is, I thought. "
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9919d69
|
I was crying for joy, my Sassenach,' he said softly. He reached out slowly and took my face between his hands. "And thanking God that I have two hands. That I have two hands to hold you with. To serve you with, to love you with. Thanking God that I am a whole man still, because of you."
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
cb2868f
|
Catholics don't believe in divorce. We believe in murder. There's always Confession, after all. --Brianna Fraser to Roger MacKenzie
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marriage
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
0efd78f
|
Lying on the floor, with the carved panels of the ceiling flickering dimly above, I found myself thinking that I had always heretofore assumed that the tendency of eighteenth-century ladies to swoon was due to tight stays; now I rather thought it might be due to the idiocy of eighteenth-century men.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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d2d3bd0
|
I shook so that it was some time before I realized that he was shaking too, and for the same reason. I don't know how long we sat there on the dusty floor, crying in each others arms with the longing of twenty years spilling down our faces.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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426ac98
|
Your face is my heart Sassenach, and the love of you is my soul
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
1718628
|
I do know it, my own. Let me tell ye in your sleep how much I love you. For there's no so much I can be saying to ye while ye wake, but the same poor words, again and again. While ye sleep in my arms, I can say things to ye that would be daft and silly waking, and your dreams will know the truth of them. Go back to sleep, mo duinne.
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|
love
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
4108903
|
I wept bitterly, surrendering momentarily to my fear and heartbroken confusion, but slowly I began to quiet a bit, as Jamie stroked my neck and back, offering me the comfort of his broad, warm chest. My sobs lessened and I began to calm myself, leaning tiredly into the curve of his shoulder. No wonder he was so good with horses, I thought blearily, feeling his fingers rubbing gently behind my ears, listening to the soothing, incomprehensibl..
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|
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
7cc197b
|
Sometimes our best action result in things that are most regrettable.
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|
|
Diana Gabaldon |
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c894ec1
|
And if your life is a suitable exchange for my honor, why is my honor not a suitable exchange for your life?
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
8b01844
|
But just then, for that fraction of time, it seems as though all things are possible. You can look across the limitations of your own life, and see that they are really nothing. In that moment when time stops, it is as though you know you could undertake any venture, complete it and come back to yourself, to find the world unchanged, and everything just as you left it a moment before. And it's as though knowing that everything is possible, ..
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|
historical-fiction
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
b7de1d6
|
When you took me from the witch trial at Cranesmuir--you said then that you would have died with me, you would have gone to the stake with me, had it come to that!" He grasped my hands, fixing me with a steady blue gaze. "Aye, I would," he said. "But I wasna carrying your child." The wind had frozen me; it was the cold that made me shake, I told myself. The cold that took my breath away. "You can't tell," I said, at last. "It's much too soo..
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|
jamie-fraser
pregnancy
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
3003085
|
Once you've chosen a man, don't try to change him', I wrote with more confidence. 'It can't be done. More important-don't let him try to change you.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |