The Atonement Child Quotes
"Careful isn’t always good enough these days. I’ve gotten so I hate reading the newspaper. Time was you could walk from one end of town to the other without worrying."
"If only I am complaining, Lord. I am thankful, so thankful. You have blessed me with the parents I have and the man I’m going to marry."
"I feel, Ethan. I feel defiled. I feel ruined. I feel raped. Is that enough? Does that satisfy you?"
"It wasn’t your fault, Dynah. You didn’t do anything wrong."
"There’s no way God would expect you to go on with this. No way!"
"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, Ethan. I was just so upset."
"Maybe I have a little more compassion now."
"People would still come up with their own conclusions. We’re engaged. With the world the way it is, you know what they’d think."
"I’m sorry. I’m not looking for an apology, Miss Carey. I’m looking for an explanation."
"We’ve worked too hard and long to build this place to have it all come tumbling down."
"You’re done in. Come on, honey. Let’s get you into a hot shower."
"How dare you talk to me in this manner!"
"I’ll warn you, though. He’ll probably be sitting on the dorm steps."
"I wish I could be of more help. Really. I—"
"You don’t understand. I’m not equipped for this."
"Sometimes you just have to do what’s necessary."
"Oh, God! Oh, God in heaven, why do You still hate me so much? Will You never, ever forget what I did?"
"You made it, Joe. She left a message. She got there about one thirty in the afternoon."
"Sometimes when she read her Bible, she envied the Israelites. They could wear sackcloth and ashes. They could wail and scream."
"She made it, Joe. She left a message. She got there about one thirty in the afternoon."
"Smiling, Joe leaned back into the worn overstuffed chair he’d bought at a thrift store and nestled the phone between his ear and his shoulder. 'Oh, man, I’m feeling good right now.'"
"God was punishing her. And why shouldn’t He? She had taken from Him, and now He would take back from her."
"Hannah sat in the darkened living room, her daughter asleep upstairs. So far Dynah had slept twelve straight hours; she, on the other hand, had tossed and turned all night."
"If this is the way it has to be, Lord, so be it."
"She couldn’t share her grief with loved ones; they would never have understood. Not the birth. Not the death."
"Better I had never tasted the joy of redemption than to have it stripped from me like this."
"She was going to have to walk the sorrow road with Dynah and go through it all over again."
"It’s over, Joe. Leave well enough alone."
"The room fell into silence. Sighing, she walked over to the cathedral windows and looked out over Applegate Valley."
"I’ll see you in a couple of days, honey. Tell Dynah I love her very much."
"Dynah roused from a deep sleep and saw her father sitting on the edge of her bed. 'Hi, princess,' he said, brushing the hair back from her forehead."
"Douglas didn’t leave early for work the next morning. Even after a long, hot shower, he felt like he was suffering from a hangover."
"She’s our daughter, Brian. We both worked and planned and sacrificed to have her. I don’t know what to do about—"
"You hear that, Liz? The court took your side. You got Kip and the exorbitant child support you demanded."
"She’s recanted her story." Mr. Ord’s quiet words broke into her frustrated thoughts.
"I’d like you to talk with the school counselor."
"She’s been a wonderful blessing to both of us."
"Dynah, her life intact, saying it would make for a better future."
"I just need a little more time. Please."
"I don’t know what I want, Mom. I just know I’m not ready to do this. Not today."
"You think giving birth to a rapist’s child isn’t going to cause worse trauma?"
"I don’t give a rat’s scat about the child!"
"I’ve had an awful day, and it’s going to be a worse evening."
"Sometimes we have to make very difficult decisions."
"I’ve been looking for work for two weeks. I’d just about given up hope."
"Sex was the big thing with me in those days."
"Children were a physical proof of manhood."
"You can't reason away some things. You can't alter human nature."
"It's the others, Joe. It's the ones who should've known better and still bought into the lies."
"One decision can permeate your entire life."
"Life hurts. You can't get away from it."
"All things work together for the good of those who love God."
"I choose life. I choose to believe God's Word."
"However this child was conceived, God will be the Father."
"You’re doing fine, Dynah. When the next contraction comes, I’m going to do a pelvic examination to determine cervical dilation and effacement. Try to relax. All right?"
"I WILL LEAD THE BLIND BY WAYS THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN, ALONG UNFAMILIAR PATHS I WILL GUIDE THEM."
"You’re not giving up. I’m taking medication. I’m following my doctor’s instructions. Extensive chemotherapy isn’t an option. It makes no sense. Why would an old lady like me want to be sick for weeks on end in an effort to prolong my life one more year or two?"
"It’s so hard to watch what they’re doing to each other."
"I remember the day our daughter was born like it was yesterday."