Maggie Osborne > Quotes

“If you can read, you don't ever have to be lonely.”
― Maggie Osborne

“All my life I dreamed of having someone think I was beautiful.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“Nothing in my life would mean anything if you weren't here to share it. There'd be no reason to get up in the morning without you to light the sun with your smile.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“I think I fell in love with you that amazing night on the kitchen floor. Or maybe it was the evening you stepped up and set my arm." Testing things, he reached for her hand, and, to his joy, she glared, but she let him take it. "Or maybe the night I knew I loved you was when I kissed you under the mistletoe on Christmas Eve. It's hard to say because I look at you now and it seems to me there's never been a time when I didn't love you.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“A man could shoot a squirrel out of a tree from a distance of sixty feet. But he couldn't vomit into a bucket or pee into a pot only two feet away. It was one of the great mysteries of life.”
― Maggie Osborne

“Go to sleep now and rest. Our job is done. You kept your promise, and I kept mine...”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“Honesty is all I've got," she said finally, speaking in a low voice. "I don't have family. I don't have beauty, or a man. I don't have money, and I sure as hell don't have a future. All I've got to prop up my pride is my word." Her chin rose. "When Jenny Jones says something, you can bet your last peso that it's true.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“Anything else, Your Majesty?"
"I didn't say my prayers."
"I'll say them for you. Our father who art in et cetera, bless all the rotten cousins and kill Jenny. Amen.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“I've always known what you were thinking. You're squeezing that
marble in your pocket and you're thinking your cattle wouldn't be at risk if it
weren't for Louise. And maybe you're right. But take a hard look, son. When
you see that woman working up a sweat pitching hay like a hired hand …
you're looking at character.
"And if we ever have another family dinner that goes like the last one did,
you pay attention. I have an idea that your Louise doesn't sit still for too
many insults, and I imagine she could cut someone down to size in about
three sentences if she wanted to. But she sat silent while Philadelphia
ridiculed and belittled her. Louise did this out of respect for you and this
family. That is also character.
"Maybe you really believe Wally is living your life. If so, then you haven't
been honest with yourself. And you haven't taken a good hard look at the
life you have. Mark my words, Max. Someday you're going to hold that
marble, and it won't be a symbol of all you lost. That marble will be the gold
you went to Piney Creek to find. It will be the most precious thing you own.
I say this because I didn't raise any stupid sons.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“I love you, Louise Downe McCord. You drive me absolutely crazy sometimes, and this is one of those times, but I love you.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“Say yes, Jenny. Promise you'll marry me. Promise you'll still be here, driving me crazy and loving me when we're little and old and surrounded by grandchildren. Promise that you'll let me love you until I take my last breath. Promise.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“Listen. Just because we got a mutual hankering, doesn't mean we have to act on it. Aside from the hankering, there isn't much about you that I like. So far, you've been a pain in the behind. And I might as well tell you, I've followed through on one hankering and getting shot was more of an enjoyable experience. I didn't like it.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“When Graciela was finally ready for bed, Jenny waited while the kid knelt and basically offered up the same prayer as she did every night. Jenny made a face during the blessing of the cousins, and she spoke the last words in unison with Graciela. "And strike Jenny dead, amen." We don't need to suggest ways and means, all right? We can leave the details of my demise to God. Now, go to sleep."

She sighed when Graciela lifted her cheek for a kiss. She didn't think she would ever get accustomed to death wishes being followed by a good-night kiss.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“Be who you seem to be.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“If only. The saddest two words in any language.”
― Maggie Osborne, Shotgun Wedding

“He bent his head, bringing his lips near her ear. “Talk of the future confuses you, I know. But I think about it all the time."
His hands moved slowly down her bare arms. “When the time is right, when it’s our time, I want to undress you – slowly – in front of the fire. Slowly, one item at a time. I want to roll down your stockings and unlace your corset. I want to slowly take the pins out of your hair and catch the weight of it in my hands. Then I want to learn the feel of every inch of you.”
― Maggie Osborne, Shotgun Wedding

“He kissed her then, not gently, not tenderly. He didn’t kiss her to comfort her. He took her mouth hungrily, almost savagely, wanting to punish her for having a body that tormented him, for telling him that his last kiss had meant nothing, needed to punish her for letting scum like Jack Caldwell call her honey, and for ever thinking about a man who wasn’t him.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Best Man

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed. Standing over her, rampant in the moonlight, he gazed down at her body. “You are as lovely and as perfect as I imagined you would be.”
Afraid to believe, afraid to trust, she dared a look at him and felt her heart wrench when she read his expression and understood that she truly was whole and beautiful in his eyes. She was a magnificent to him as he was to her.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Best Man

“It seemed that a woman should remember the night a new life began inside her. Such a miracle should not be the result of routine or an ordinary coming together. Life should begin in a cataclysm of heat and fury bathed in the sweat of passion and urgency.”
― Maggie Osborne

“If I fall down the stairs,” she added in a low dry voice, “and end up sprawled at the bottom in front of all those swells, I’m going to pretend that I’m dead. You tell someone to haul me off to the nearest boardinghouse, then go have your supper.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining: A Novel

“And home was where you planted flowers in the expectation that you would be there to see them bloom year after year.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“For a long moment they gazed at each other, and Freddy felt her mouth go dry and her heartbeat accelerate. If the evening ended right now, she would still remember this moment for all her days. The music, the perfume of the flower baskets, and the hard look of desire in Dal’s eyes.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Best Man

“How many times must I tell all of you! Sky, ground, or target. Damn it, you don't point a gun at another person unless you are prepared to kill that person." He scowled at Ona. "A careless accident could cost one of you a husband. I've told you from the beginning. The Oregon men won't accept a crippled wife. They insist on brides who are healthy and whole.”
― Maggie Osborne, Brides of Prairie Gold

“He molded her body to his and another gasp tore at her throat. She had never expected to be held in a man’s arms again. Hadn’t dared to hope that she would ever stand chest to chest, hip to hip with a man who desired her. She had truly believed lovemaking was a pleasure she would never again experience in her lifetime. That was her choice and destiny.
His hands moved from her waist to her face, and he kissed the tears shining on her cheeks and eyelids. “I love you,” he whispered. “I have loved you from the moment I saw you.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Best Man

“Bootie Grant Glover! You do amaze me!" Mem stared at her sister. "Do I understand this? You're giving me permission to engage in a romantic tryst?"

"Certainly not!" Bootie pulled to her full diminished height. "I'm merely saying if disaster strikes, I won't abandon you.”
― Maggie Osborne, Brides of Prairie Gold

“The situation demanded some serious swearing and bullying, but she couldn't let herself cut loose, not with Sunshine in the kitchen. Having a child nearby placed a severe crimp in her style.

"You are full of ... horse feathers, cowboy." Leaning over him, she stared hard into his eyes. "I didn't work like a damned dog out there and freeze my butt off - excuse me Sunshine - so we could just let those damned - 'scuse me, Sunshine - stupid cows starve or freeze. And we aren't going to find a buyer for them now, that's for damned sure - excuse me, Sunshine.”
― Maggie Osborne, Silver Lining

“Golden shadows shimmered and the musky scent of the candles dizzied every breath. They were on the bed now, an enormous bed with sheets of glowing satin. Clasped in an embrace they rolled together, drinking deep kisses from gasping mouths, hands stroking, teasing, chasing, bodies pressing against each other as if seeking to melt and become one with the other.”
― Maggie Osborne, Shotgun Wedding

“Grinding her teeth together, she hoped the bastards weren't cheering yet, because it was going to take more than one bullet to kill Jenny Jones.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Promise of Jenny Jones

“This time his kiss was full and provocative, summoning sensations she had believed, had hop, were submerged too deeply to be awakened. But his fingers on her face, his mouth, his lips, stirred slumbering emotions and coaxed them to life. His hands moved to cup her head, to spread across her spine, and he crushed her against him as their kisses deepened.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Best Man

“Dal … Dal …” Mindlessly, she whispered his name as his kisses deepened and became possessive and deliberate. But slow. Exploring. Teasing. Never quite enough. Kisses that drank desire from her mouth and left her frantic with wanting, wanting, wanting.”
― Maggie Osborne, The Best Man