The Secrets She Keeps Quotes
"I am not the most important person in this story."
"All babies are cute, people say, and I guess that's true."
"I'm like a vagrant sleeping in a doorway or a beggar holding up a cardboard sign—invisible."
"This pregnancy seems to be longer than my other two."
"Pregnant women should be able to eat chocolate and wear sensible pajamas and make love with the lights off."
"I miss you. I've been dreadfully lonely and you're the last family I have left."
"The planet turns. Time passes. We move forward even when we’re standing still."
"I am the sort of crass, shameless slag who should be humiliated by Jeremy Kyle or Dr. Phil."
"I’m crying softly. I apologize and smear mascara across my cheeks."
"I wanted to wait outside Lachlan's preschool this afternoon, but Mr. Patel kept me back because we had a delivery."
"My biggest flaw is my attraction to people. I find somebody new and attach myself, desperate for a friend."
"I think I'd make a good spy because I'm gloriously bland, as adaptable as water."
"Hope whispers, 'One more time,' but still disappoints."
"What sort of wife sleeps with her husband’s best friend?"
"I’ve been stupid, but I don’t deserve this grief."
"We don’t have extramarital affairs in my family. We don’t have one-night stands or wild flings."
"I’ve been a good wife. I love Jack. I shouldn’t be punished for one mistake."
"We deliver five thousand babies a year at the Churchill."
"I envy the good-looking, the wealthy, the happy, the successful, the connected, and the married."
"It’s almost like I want to show off. God knows why."
"You should worry about staying healthy and looking after that baby."
"You’d think after more than twenty years I’d be free of Mr. Bowler, but I still wake some nights with the smell of fish and chips in my nostrils and a voice telling me to open my eyes."
"I will never forgive my mother for what she did."
"This is war, big sister. We have to fight fire with fire—or in this case, dirt with dirt."
"I’m going to say some things I don’t mean, raise my voice when I shouldn’t, and say no when I should say yes, but I vow that when I make a mistake I will apologize."
"Fortune favors the brave, they say. What about the desperate?"
"Due to an earlier signal failure at Manor House, eastbound Piccadilly line services are running approximately eleven minutes late."
"You are my fifth baby. Fifth time lucky. Five is my favorite number."
"I lay him down on the changing table, and he watches me undress."
"Our baby wasn’t scheduled for a blood test," says the matron.
"Where is our baby?" I ask, my voice rising in panic.
"Babies can’t tell people that they’re missing or find their way home like lost dogs."
"I wanted to kill him because he was making me laugh."
"I am Agatha and this is my little boy, Rory: an Irish name—it means 'red king.'"
"I wanted to hear him say that everything will be all right."
"She’s holding up her hands and says she’ll ask."
"I’m still expressing," I said to Hayden, showing him the breast pump.
"You can’t wish me away, Meg, and you can’t hide your baby forever."
"Cases like this are normally solved quite quickly."
"I have everything I ever wanted, here and now under this roof."
"I see a little girl in the street, or the park, and I imagine that she might be our Chloe."
"We’re trapped in here. We’re like rats in a cage, or goldfish in a bowl."
"I heard him crying and my milk came in and I wondered how my heart could keep beating of its own accord when it felt so broken and mangled."
"The TV is a constant soundtrack as I follow every bulletin, listening to the endless parade of child-care experts, doctors, hostage negotiators, and bereaved parents."
"I am trying to stay positive, modulating my voice to sound low and reasonable whenever I talk to the police, but inside I’m yelling, Just find him, for God’s sake!"
"I’m allowed to be irrational or insanely optimistic. What I refuse to do is lose hope."
"Children don’t put as much energy into being sad."
"She is an accomplished liar, which might sound obvious, but it’s not easy to lie when the stakes are this high."
"She must have heard the alarm go off. She knew they were looking for her. The hospital was a labyrinth. The exits were being sealed off, but she didn’t panic, or run, or draw attention to herself."
"She may not have had the opportunity or the application necessary to go beyond secondary school. But she’s clearly very clever."
"Pregnancy prosthetics can be bought online. Other sites sell fake pregnancy tests and ultrasound pictures."
"He gets impatient and stops short of working out what happens next. In this case, the woman planned everything in meticulous detail—how to secure a baby and how to get away."
"The perpetrator is likely to be married or in a relationship, but not a stable one. This is one of the reasons she wants a baby—to cement a relationship; to make a man stay with her who she fears might leave."
"If we send her the right messages, if we keep her calm, she will love Ben and keep him safe."
"I keep reminding myself of Annie’s words that no news is good news, but is that true? I don’t know anymore."
"The value of a secret depends upon whom you’re trying to keep it from. You may think it’s worth a lot. I may think it’s worthless. Someone always has to pay."
"To lose a child is beyond comprehension. It defies biology. It derails common sense. It violates the natural order."
"Often I forget to give thanks and I take things for granted. Not anymore."
"Your strength of character, fortitude, and resolve are truly inspirational."
"Nothing like this has ever happened around here. What’s the world coming to?"
"The interests of the child must always come first."
"People often forget about other siblings in situations like this."
"I picture the entire country sniggering over their cornflakes or muesli."
"I fear for Rory. What if I cannot protect him the way he should have been protected?"
"I’m worried about Rory. He’s not feeding. He’s hardly had anything since yesterday."