"Bella, I don't know if I could live with myself if I ever hurt you. You don't know how it's tortured me. [...] The thought of you still, white, cold ... to never see you blush scarlet again, or see that flash of intuition in your eyes when you see through my pretenses ... it would be unendurable. [...] You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever."
January 1, 1970