The Wednesday Letters Quotes
"Assuming Jack was already asleep, she began her nightly routine. Laurel breathed in deeply, expanding and filling every corner of her lungs. With her full lips closed tightly, she let the air slowly escape through her nose. It calmed her."
"Then she pleaded with God for more time and cursed herself for not being stronger."
"The headaches were inconsistent; he could sometimes go two or three days without suffering. But when they returned, they brought pain, nausea, and vertigo that rendered him, for all practical purposes, tied to his bed."
"Jack often said that if he survived judgment day and his Maker granted a choice between heaven and that hillside, the inner debate would be short."
"Her new husband said he loved Anna Belle for being genuine, for having large, bold hips with personalities of their own, for her milky-white and buttery-smooth skin."
"The room spun around him and he careened into a brass floor lamp."
"Finally, Jack gave in to his very last headache. And he slept."
"Malcolm watched a sapajou monkey take a drink from the river's edge."
"It was that boy's dirty, grateful face in Malcolm's mind when the boys next to him on the flight to Miami erupted into loud laughter."
"Relax, I just didn't know. Living in New York keeps me a little out of the Woodstock loop."
"I ache so much, and I'm just a friend here, just an employee—"
"You know you can't avoid him for three days."
"It's therapeutic. Look, I think I'm pretty much ninety-nine percent numb."
"Woodstock is always Woodstock and the Coopers are always the Coopers."
"You scratch and you scratch, but the more you scratch, the more you know the itch is still there."
"The smells were so good they lasted until dinner."
"We all know Rain's got more going on outside than inside."
"We all have choices. I made one. I chose freedom and Brazil over spending months or years or however long it would have been in prison. And I chose not to watch you marry him."
"I don't think I could say this to you if you were awake right now, but I think I can say it now: Thank you. Thank you for waiting. Thank you for making me wait. Tonight was just like I imagined. No. It was BETTER than I imagined. It was magic."
"I am sorry. I forget sometimes how dangerous my short Chicago fuse can be."
"It only takes one stay at Domus Jefferson to become family."
"I've never made so many promises in my life."
"It's why we've kept coming. Even seeing Jack and Laurel only once a year was enough to feel like we belonged, like we were family, even though we shared no blood."
"Give me a house full of children who call me Mommy, a man who loves me and who writes me a poem or two now and again, and maybe who can make me a swing like this one, and my dreams will find their way to true."
"No matter whether we're across America from each other or in the same room, I'm going to write to you."
"Congratulations," said someone from across the living room, recognizing the significance of the honor.
"If you looked up history buff in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of Cameron, in a shirt and tie no less."
"Every time they drove into D.C. for treatment they would pull off Route 81 and spend the night."
"Cameron came up with a third option," Samantha continued. "Without his own folks knowing, he called Dad and asked if he could stay here for a few days."
"I know there are lots of stories here this afternoon," Kristen took a deep breath and exhaled the words.
"This has been the most wonderful week. Its been hard, has it ever. But I'm glad we've done this. I'm so glad he asked. No, not glad, honored."
"He just looked at me for the longest time, like he couldn't find the words. Then he said that he'd never met a soul more ready to meet God."
"Cameron then took my hand, it must have taken every drop of energy that boy had, but he took my hand and placed an 1865 two-cent coin on my palm."
"Mr. Cooper, sometimes lucky charms just don't work."
"I know death isn't usually a time of joy, but as I write these lines I cannot deny the peace in my heart."
"Now I know why the Lord took his day off on Sunday. That must be the day he personally greets his favorites."
"Thank you. . . . Thank you so much. . . . This isn't about Cameron, this is for the Coopers."
"Maybe we should talk about the letters," Matthew said.
"It's quite a treasure trove. Not all the letters are horribly exciting, and some are short, just a line or two, but as far as we can tell so far, he wrote Mom every single week."
"I think we should finish reading them and then maybe have them put into a big book," Matthew said. "I've got a friend in publishing that might have some ideas. Maybe we could get them bound in leather with copies for all of us."
"How does someone find out between lunch and dinner one day that they aren't who they thought they were?"
"Nothing has changed, sweetheart. Jack Cooper is still your father, my sister is still your mother, and they both loved you in ways your mind won't let you see."
"There's no different kind of love, there's no—"
"I don't want to forgive. I want him to drink tonight, to make a mistake, to leave the state, to be arrested far away for disorderly conduct. I don't want him to hurt someone else, I just want him to hurt himself."
"I want him back in jail for so long that you and I will have left this earth before he sees the other side of the fence."
"He said he'd accept their decision and live by it. He cried when he said he was sure that whether in prison or in the world, he would spend every hour of every day of his life paying and repenting for that moment of drunken evil."
"He said that he'd never again make a mistake that would hurt another. It was compelling. It was, or at least seemed, heartfelt."
"She believed God sent you, Malcolm, to the earth. You were a life. You were a soul."
"Your mother was afraid. She was afraid telling your dad would fill him with guilt and anger he'd never let go."
"I didn't realize that mothers gave helpful advice."
"Life is exciting, each moment I spend with you."
"I could die in this house. It's got to be close to God."
"Nothing exciting, except that I was with you."
"You need to know. Maybe the man lives here. Maybe it's someone who knew your mother or your dad."