The Second Mrs. Astor

by Shana Abe

“It can be difficult sometimes for our families to accept us as people separate from who they are. As separate souls. When we’re young, we’re taught to behave as our parents do—to cherish what they cherish and believe what they believe. And for a while, that’s as it should be. But as

adults, sometimes we have our own desires, our own hopes, that are at odds with how our parents view the world.”

There are certain people in this world who have the ability to make you feel as if you’re the only person in the universe who matters to them. Whether it’s moment by moment or enough years to count up to a lifetime, they look you in the eyes and smile at you, direct and sincere—and you’re smitten.

“I’ve always thought the best way to get the measure of a man is to observe how he treats his animals.”

If you dance in the limelight, it’s only natural that people will look at you. You can’t expect otherwise.”

“Because love is a tremendous gift, Maddy. A gift and a burden. Marriage especially is more than just hope and luck and a handshake. Marriage is work, enormous work, because it’s a living entity that needs everlasting attention. It will push you and bend you and test you, and if you’re not prepared for any of that, it will shatter you.

“Being in love makes all that work easier, but it does not make it go away. There will be necessary sacrifices. There will be pain.

would not have the world be cruel to you,”

But if—when—those things happen, I would not have you be cruel in return. Kinder hearts are stronger, I think.”

The nature of hope is curious to me. It can sustain us through the darkest of times. It can buoy us above every reasonable expectation of despair. Yet hope can shatter us just as readily as the darkness can. People refer to it as false hope, but I think that’s misleading, because the feeling itself is painfully true.