“I am stronger when Tessa is here, you see. I told it to you," said Jem, still in the same soft voice.

At that, Will did duck his head so that Tessa could not see his eyes. "I see it," he said.”

“It's too late," she said.
"Don't say that." His voice was half a whisper. "I love you, Tessa. I love you.”

“Tessa touched his wrist lightly with her hand. "Be brave," she said. "It's not a duck, is it?”

“I am Tessa Gray,” she said in a low, clear voice. “And I believe in the importance of stories.”

“I will still be in some part the Jem you knew, and I will see you with the eyes of my heart.”

“I did it because I love you!" he half-shouted, and then, as if registering the shocked look her face, he said in a more subdued voice, "I love you, Tessa, and I have loved you, almost since the moment I met you.”

“I am nothing if not gracious," Will said. His eyes searched Jem's face, that face as familiar to him as his own. "And determined. You will not leave me. Not while I live.”

“She's alive," Thomas said, not opening his eyes.
"What?" Will was caught off guard.
"The one you come back for. Her. Tessa. She's with Sophie.”

“That’s the last time you’re going to kiss me,” I warned when it ended.
He smiled knowingly, and in his eyes, I could see his own memories of that night. “So you say.”

“When I look into his eyes, I could see without a doubt that he loved me more than anyone else in the world, that I was his salvation, the same way that he was mine.”