Though Blanche initially acts cold to having a stranger in her house, Jean and Rose immediately warm up to Bear. Especially touching when Jean believes Bear when he says he didn't do drugs like he was framed for doing.
Bear and Blanche having a good time at the prom, till they're forced to leave.
You're drinking in the joy of life,' Bear told her when she tried to explain why she was laughing. 'There's so much opportunity for drinking deeply of it, and we very rarely do it. When you do, it makes you feel alive all over.
Rose continuously protecting her big sister in school.
Blanche: By the way, thanks for rescuing me.
Rose: No problem.
Easy to not notice, but it's rather sweet how both sisters wish they could be a little more like the other. Blanche wishes she had Rose's courage, and Rose wishes she had Blanche's cautious judgment. Also noticeable in what the girls' dad tells Blanche before he dies, warning her to be careful what college she chooses to go to, because Rose does whatever Blanche does. The girls have a beautiful relationship and look up to each other.
Black as Night:
The sick, elderly CEO Jack Fairston Blanche befriends regretting how he treated his sons, and Bear and Fish forgiving him before he dies.
Blanche and Bear can be pretty cute as a couple. When they compare one another to unicorns:
"She couldn't help smiling at him. 'We were laboring under the mutual impression that our species were mythological.'
He grinned. 'Well, now that we have met each other, let's make a bargain. I'll believe in you if you believe in me. Is that fair?'"
Waking Rose:
All Fish goes through for Rose in this book, despite how cool and detached he had been towards her for the past two. To recap:
When Rose is hospitalized, he promises to visit her daily. Fish lives an hour and a half away, and is also busy with a job and college classes. That does not stop him from making the three-hour round trip every day for months to keep that promise.
Despite his plate already being pretty full, he decides to pick up her investigation into hospital abuse because it's what she would have wanted. Then, once he gets the suspicion that her coma was no accident, the investigation becomes a full-on crusade for him to get justice for her.
All this for one girl, a girl you're never going to get anything from? Freet mocked him one last time. Yes, he told himself. One life for a life. That was not too much to ask. In fact, it made perfect sense.
Blanche and Bear marrying at the beginning. It's a very happy time for all.
Rose finds out she's gonna be an aunt and is so excited! Even better? The happy parents name him Ben, after Fish. D'aww.
''Rapunzel Let Down:
Raphaela giving birth to twin boys! She's so happy with her babies and relieved they're all alive.
Raphaela accidentally finding her big sister while she's in hiding, meeting the rest of her siblings, and finally, her old daddy. Try not to cry.
When she's run away, Raphaela constantly finds herself relying on the sudden kindness of strangers. She finds it very touching and it's difficult for the reader not to as well. The random college girl offering to drive her to a women's shelter, the elderly Christian couple who run it protecting the girls, the woman Sandy who, despite her suspicious and anxious nature, lets pregnant, teenage Raphaela live in her basement and work for her. Extra touching is when Raphaela leaves to give birth and Sandy gives her an angel statue, and Raphaela gives her an embroidered picture she made.
Hermes' friendship with Pinkie, a gay male prostitute, in prison. Hermes is leery of all the other jailbirds (and understandably so) but he comes to realize Pinkie is a person, not just a gay man. He becomes the one person Hermes has an inkling of trust in. Given how Christians are often stereotyped (and often unfairly so) as vicious homophobes, this is pretty nice. Hermes promises he'll write and visit when he finally leaves.
Another touching friendship- Raphaela and Minot. Minot almost betrays her to her mother but comes through at her own risk eventually.
What's better- Pinkie and Minot both are invited to Raph and Hermes' wedding and both go! Even better, the two meet and seem to get along well together.
