jamesemcgraw:

At the end, when I felt I had surpassed [Eleanor] in every way, it seemed as though there was something she was still trying to say to me… She was trying to tell me, I just could not hear her, about what is truly important… You are the bravest person I have ever known. The truest person I have ever known.
And I betrayed you and it sickens me. I am so sorry for working so hard to protect the wrong things. For failing to see that there is nothing important that does not include you. 

silversflint:

I remember when I first met Eleanor, how stunned I was. A woman who spoke the way she did, who had no fear of the world or the men who reigned over it. When I became her lover, I watched the decisions she made and resolved to learn from them. When I became her rival, I watched the mistakes she made and resolved never to repeat them. But at the end, when I felt I had surpassed her in every way, it seemed as though there was something she was still trying to say to me. Surrendering everything she had sacrificed so dearly for, because it would have come at the expense of the one she loved. She was trying to tell me, I just could not hear her, about what is truly important.