"He found himself wanting to protect her instead, to carry her up flights of stairs, to wrap her in blankets, to bring her cups of custard. 'I'm not an invalid,' she protested each time, laughing. 'I'm not some fledgling you discovered on the lawn.'" p. 4

"He'd had tears in his eyes when he opened them, raising his head from the desk. The nurse was standing in the doorway, her face gentled by emotion. She was beautiful in that moment, half smiling, not at all the efficient woman who worked beside him so quietly and competently each day. Their eyes met, and it seemed to the doctor that he knew her — that they knew each other — in some profound and uncertain way. For an instant nothing whatsoever stood between them; it was an intimacy of such magnitude that he was motionless, transfixed." p. 12

"'Don't you...