The Secret Quotes
"I can’t look after a baby and run the guest house by myself, can I?"
"I hate it when you have to work the night shift."
"Words cannot express the sorrow I felt when I saw the notice in the paper today."
"I’m bored in here all the time. I want to play outside."
"You never know when it might come in useful."
"Although it was true that Mary’s milkman was of Greek descent, she didn’t think he would ever want paying in drachmas."
"From the very first day they had met and he had offered to carry her books home from school, she had been smitten."
"The earth had tipped on its axis and everything was suddenly different."
"She was Michael’s wife and Jake’s mother. That was her identity, and she needed to be back where she belonged."
"He was staring straight down the lens, but her mother was hanging on to his arm and looking up at him, laughing."
"Any attempt to broach the subject, though, had been met with a dismissive wave of the hand."
"Unfortunately, though, no amount of ginger beer was going to solve this problem."
"Life had not exactly treated him well, but he soldiered on, without bitterness or rancour."
"She ran her hands through his short curly hair as if inspecting it for nits."
"It was fortunate for Babs, then, that she too had blossomed into a confident young woman who had prepared well for his homecoming."
"She turned away from the window and padded into the kitchen. Selwyn had not simply broken her heart; she thought she might have been able to recover from a mere broken heart."
"But Barbara was always hanging around the bar, laughing and joking with the regulars."
"Every morning began with the stinging smell of vinegar assaulting her nostrils and making her eyes water in protest."
"The tears threatened but she pasted a smile on her face that kept them at bay."
"True love only comes along once in a lifetime, Jerry. In fact some unfortunate people don’t experience it all."
"I’m sorry, kid, we’ll have to do it tomorrow."
"I’m sorry, kid, I’ve not brought anything. I’ll buy you some chips when we get to Blackpool."
"You lost, Karl, face it. The judge didn’t believe I was the feckless mother you made me out to be."
"How would you like to live with me permanently?"
"No, kiddo, you’re not in trouble. Come ’ere."
"I’m not taking it home, you daft bat. You’ll have to take it to a hospital or something."
"Please just leave her somewhere safe, where she will be found. She’ll have a much better life without me."
"We’ll never get away with this, you do know that, Petula, don’t you?"
"You mean you don’t know? Jesus, Petula, how many lads have you slept with?"
"Goodbye, little one. You have a nice life now. Your mother’s not a bad person really. You just came along at the wrong time."
"Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink."
"How could she have been so stupid? You couldn’t feel anything when you were dead."
"The baby must have been conceived in October 1975, just four months after Thomas’s death."
"It had taken her thirty-two years, but at last she was a mother, and she had the birth certificate to prove it."
"She didn’t eat herself, of course. The only thing Mikey ever saw her put in her mouth was a cigarette."
"He needed this time with his father. He needed to say goodbye in his own way, at his own pace."
"The first Christmas without his dad was bound to be tough."
"She could endure swimming in this bacterial soup as long as he was happy."
"He was always so grateful for anything she gave him, whether material possessions or affection."
"Mikey craved his mother’s attention and her approval; any minute gesture of kindness on Andrea’s part was seized upon by the little boy and seemed to keep him going for days."
"As Daisy ruffled the boy’s hair, she noticed the line of grime around the base of his neck."
"I wish I’d been able to jump off, Aunt Daisy, then he would have known I was a brave boy."
"He thought about what she had just done. There were no photos left of his dad now, and Mikey would never get to see his face again."
"Take as many as you'd like, Mikey. It is Christmas, after all."
"Really?" He clutched a small handful as though they were the Crown Jewels and sat cross-legged in front of the fire as he unwrapped his booty one by one.
"Mum, this is the best present I've ever had and you are the best mum in the whole wide world."
"Of course I came. Nothing would keep me from seeing you on Christmas Day, Selwyn."
"Trisha, you are the light of my life. Forever yours, Selwyn."
"I'm sorry, Selwyn. I can't do it. I'm no good for you."
"The goalposts have shifted too far for me, Selwyn."
"I don’t know, Mum, but she can’t still be at the hospital, can she? They kick you out at eight."
"He looks well. How’s he coping, you know, without his Dad?"
"It was an exquisite gold heart-shaped locket, one that she had admired back in the summer and had coveted ever since."
"I was clinging on by my fingertips, Babs, and now Trisha’s stamped on them."
"Me, Selwyn. I want to be married to you. It’s all I’ve ever wanted and nothing’s changed."
"I could paint a picture of the beach," he declared. "Or of a donkey, or of that tower over there."
"Beth was conceived as the result of an ill-advised one-night stand, but it's not something I regret."
"I'm happy again, and that’s something I thought would never happen."
"The telephone is not the right medium for something as big as this."
"She seemed old to me, but then again, I was only six; everybody seemed old to me."
"We need to focus on why that’s important. It’s not morbid curiosity, but a matter of life and death, our son's life and death."
"I wonder why she didn’t want to keep me really."
"Mary was your real mum, Beth, and you couldn’t have had a better one."
"We’re going to get him better, Beth, you’ll see."
"He was too overcome to speak and didn’t want me to see him crying."
"But maybe it’s a comfort to the relatives if they know that their loved one will live on in someone else."
"You look tired, and you’ve lost weight. Losing your mum must have taken its toll."
"I was more than just considering it, Dr Appleby, I am going to do it."
"It was forty years ago, Beth. I haven’t thought about her much since. I didn’t know she was pregnant, remember?"
"It crucifies Michael and me that we aren’t able to help our son, but knowing that you were willing to even try means the world."
"He’s my flesh and blood, Beth. I would do anything for him. He’s my grandson."
"Aircraft are hardly ever brought down by clear air turbulence."
"Aircraft nowadays are built to sustain this kind of stress. We’ll be through it soon, stop worrying."
"It was important these days more than ever to take care of himself, and while he might not be rippling with muscle, his body was lean and his heart was strong."
"He’d lived with just one kidney for almost four years now, and this had only made him more determined to stay healthy."
"Every morning at seven, the pair of them power-walked the length of the beach, stopping for a cappuccino in the café at the end before completing the return leg."
"You’re such a creature of habit, Jerry Duggan."
"‘Welcome to Australia,’ beamed Jerry. ‘Did you have a good flight?’"
"‘It’s been six months, Dad. You don’t need to go every day.’ ‘I know I don’t need to, Sarah. I want to.’"
"Some things are best just left in the past, Sarah. And that’s my final word on the matter."
"‘You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.’ ‘That’s what worries me.’"
"This is a gold mine, Nathan. You mustn’t tell anybody about it."