My Maddie Quotes

“Our love was not typical and certainly not easy, but it was soul-deep and destined.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“The demons both Flame and I lived with had merely been abated by our union, not exorcized. Love was a powerful remedy, but it was not a cure for some scars. They ran too deep. They were incurable. We had simply learned to live with our demons harnessed.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“We can do this, Flame. Our souls may still be fractured, but they are healing. Someday, only faint scars will remain.”
“I don’t believe in much,” I confessed. My eyes closed. I was tired. “But I believe in you, Maddie. I’ve always believed in you.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“I would not fail him. He was my Flame. And I would stand beside him through it all. I would hold his hand and guide him through the fires of hell.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“We were magnets, pulling together even when shattered apart.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Lifting my eyes, I met her dark gaze. “Do not mistake my quietness for weakness. I am stronger than what people believe.” I swallowed hard, praying she never moved her hand away from me ever again. Her eyes traced the flame tattoos that raced up my arms. Looking at me once more, she said, “I was forged in the fire, Asher. I was born to withstand the flames.” With that, Saffie’s hand slipped from my cheek and she walked back into her cabin, not once looking back as the door shut behind her.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“What?” Viking asked, arms wide. “Can’t a brother offer his services without getting shit for it. I’m good at licking pussy, is that a fucking crime? We all have our fucking talents. You can shoot from miles away, Flame can kill with one blade, and I can make a bitch cream in two point five seconds. All talents are fucking valid, AK. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“So,” Viking continued, roving his eyes over Ruth. “You ever need your pussy licked, you know where to come. Just putting the offer out there.”   “Shut the fuck up, Vike!” AK said, exasperated. “What?” Viking asked, arms wide. “Can’t a brother offer his services without getting shit for it. I’m good at licking pussy, is that a fucking crime? We all have our fucking talents. You can shoot from miles away, Flame can kill with one blade, and I can make a bitch cream in two point five seconds. All talents are fucking valid, AK. I’m a lover, not a fighter.” Viking turned back to Ruth. “You know where to find me, Ruthie girl.” “Okay,” she said and frowned. “Thank you… I think?” “You’re fucking welcome.” Viking nudged AK when he faced forward again. “See? Some people appreciate my giving nature, unlike you, you moody fucker.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Maddie, please—” Bella began to speak. “You stopped the men from hurting Rider in the barn when he came back from New Zion. We, your sisters, stood beside you in solidarity. Well, this is my barn.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Two healthy kids.” Ky pushed his hands through his long blond hair. “Azrael and Talitha. Li named them both. Some biblical shit.” He shrugged. “Don’t fucking care. After seeing her cut open to get them out, but so fucking strong, smiling through it all, she could have named the kids Cuntface and Shithead if she’d wanted to and I wouldn’t have cared.” AK and Styx laughed.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Two healthy kids.” Ky pushed his hands through his long blond hair. “Azrael and Talitha. Li named them both. Some biblical shit.” He shrugged. “Don’t fucking care. After seeing her cut open to get them out, but so fucking strong, smiling through it all, she could have named the kids Cuntface and Shithead if she’d wanted to and I wouldn’t have cared.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“In that moment, I felt like a true failure. I did not know how to care for either of them. I did not know how to fix the Cade brothers. They were both lost, both so filled with pain and fear which would not ease.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“That is who I will be to Flame – wife, soul mate, angel. It does not matter in what terms Flame refers to me. He will always be the one my soul knows. He will always be the one my heart will rely on, when it is me who needs to be saved. That is what angels do, Asher. They guide and they save. If he needs me to be his angel right now, then that is who I will be.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens; a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“I am so proud of you. I am so blessed to have you as my husband. You are the strongest person I have ever known. You are a fighter. You are my heart.” “I fight for you,” I said and kissed her lips. My hand moved to her stomach. “I want to fight for our baby too.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Apparently, it wasn’t in the cards for me—happiness. In no fucking part of my life could the joy and happiness stay without being wiped away by darkness and pain.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Then that is who I will be to Flame—wife, soul mate, angel. It does not matter in what terms Flame refers to me. He will always be the one my soul knows. He will always be the one my heart will rely on, when it is me who needs to be saved. That is what angels do, Asher. They guide and they save. If he needs me to be his angel right now, then that is who I will be.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Our palms kissed and assured me that, even fighting the flames and the horrors from his past, Flame knew I was meant to be by his side. That I was his protector, and always would be. That any darkness he would travel through, I would follow behind, lamp in hand, on a quest to find him and bring him back into the light. This little light of mine…”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“He had been the one to save me. He was my sword when evil thoughts came to drag me down into the pits of despair. Flame was my protective shield when doubt and feelings of unworthiness began to take root in my heart, spreading like a cancer, countering any happiness I had found—and I had found it in abundance with Flame.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“We are one and the same, you and I. Two halves of one soul. What you fear, I fear too. But I know, together, we can achieve whatever we wish… and I wish us to be the parents we never had.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“My husband, part dangerous killer and ultimate protector, part lost and broken soul forever seeking some kind of light.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“The new pastor at our church said that our babies are once angels in heaven, watching over us, keeping us safe, merely waiting for the right time to be called to us. They arrive when God sees fit to bless our lives.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“She was my fucking holy water, taking away the sin that festered in my flesh.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“I was forged in the fire, Asher. I was born to withstand the flames.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Plus, she’s your kid. If you do have flames in your blood, if Maddie’s wrong and they’re bad, then Trixie will be immune.” My head snapped up to my brother. I made myself fucking look into his black eyes. “What do you mean?” “You made her. She’s half you. Your flames won’t hurt her.” I gasped. I fucking gasped as Ash said that. Was he right? Was he fucking right?”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Sometimes I wished I could be Flame for a day, simply to understand what the world revealed itself to him. And to measure how different it was to the way it was revealed to me. I wished I could understand how the flames in his blood made him feel. How it managed to wear him down, minute by minute, until his only reprieve was to cut his skin and feel his blood spill.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“I wanted him to see that I was dying inside, that I was on the fast train to hell and I needed him to fucking realize it and save me.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“as if I had been made by God to be the interpreter for this man.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Li named them both. Some biblical shit.” He shrugged. “Don’t fucking care. After seeing her cut open to get them out, but so fucking strong, smiling through it all, she could have named the kids Cuntface and Shithead if she’d wanted to and I wouldn’t have cared.”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie

“Okay, okay,” Viking conceded, holding up in hands. But he turned to Sister Ruth one more time. “Just one more question, then I’ll shut up.” “Okay?” Sister Ruth said demurely, eyes narrowed. “Do you like the taste of pineapple?”
― Tillie Cole, My Maddie