That’s right, Lucy, that’s right,’ he said, overwhelmed by joy. ‘There’s infinite hope, infinite hope, all the hope in the world. Evenfor us.

The only thing in my life that never changes is how much I love you

Nothing was scarier than the fact that the person who was your best friend, your soul mate, could become unrecognisable to you in the blink of an eye. With a few words, they could kill your happiness.

Sometimes she thought love was the worst thing in the world. What no one told you was that it was simply a seductive wrapping for pain – the worst painof all because you never expected to find it beneath something so beautiful

There was so much regret in his eyes, self-disgust, sorrow. But there was love there too, love like she'd never seen before. All consuming, indestructible, aching.

Life had sickened her often enough, but it could still offer breathtaking moments. Now and again, something transcended the misery, like that lone red rose in the graveyard in the ruined abbey. Its smell, its texture. So infinitely beautiful. Was that rose really one of the Devil’s snares, one of his tricks for keeping souls imprisoned in this world?

Every part of her felt the emptiness of life without John. She imagined she’d been skinned, and that ice-cold air was blowing over her flayed flesh. Staring at the white walls, she felt she was floating in some universe of her own, alone, damaged beyond repair, irredeemably cut off from love, from hope, from life itself.

I’ve found you again. I never stopped loving you, not ever. I swear to you, you were inside me like the beat of my own heart. I would have done anything to be with you now like this. We can’t be parted again. Promise me we’ll always be together. I love you more than life itself.

She just wanted John back again, in any condition. But it was too late, always too late, a million too lates.