I'm not suggesting Willie didn't love Maggie - I don't really remember that subplot though I could swear that he did propose some kind of relationship and while flattered Maggie turned him down (but I am usually wrong about these things [ie. Vicki slapping N Blair] ) - but all the things he did for Maggie don't necessarliy add up to love. What about empathy? What about sympathy? Willie knows more than anyone what it's like to have your life taken away and to become a slave to someone else. Especially an innocent.
The NYC man who jumped in front of a moving train to save a total stranger a few weeks ago wasn't in love with him.
And didn't Willie pretty much try to save/warn/help everyone who was 'someone' that Barn intended to harm. Maybe a lot of his heroics were intended to show how much of a changed man he became.
Trust me, I'd be the first to discount it all, if I spotted any reason to doubt Willie's love for Maggie and that it was indeed merely sympathy he was feeling towards her. Yes, he did help and warn others. Yes, he was the guilty party, since he was the one to have freed Barnabas. But during the scene where he was in the basement, showing Adam all the jewelry (do you remember that scene?), when he revealed the earrings to him, Willie mentioned Maggie and said that she made him feel like he'd never felt before. Adam also mentioned to Nicholas-- later on-- [spoiler]when Willie hid Maggie away in the mausoleum to keep her from being used in the Eve experiment[/spoiler] "Willie's in love with Maggie".
I'm not saying that everyone who's ever "jumped in front of a train" for someone else wants to make mad, passionate love to them. I'm just saying that our poor Willie was duped into loving a pretty girl who never really loved him back. The fact of the matter was that [spoiler]I didn't see him rush to save Carolyn when she was to be used in the Eve experiment. And he even suggested straight out that Vicki be used at that point.[/spoiler]
I'm not even really certain that any one of us can actually say who's love was the greatest on the show, because we all have our own opinions based on our own experiences. Some of us might say Barnabas, because of his powerful and unquenchable desire to get Josette back! Some of us might say Quentin for... whatever reasons.
While there are others on this very board who would swear up and down that Julia's love for Barnabas was the greatest. Oh, and I've heard the arguments in favor of Angelique's love for Barnabas,too.
So, in the end, I guess it's all just a matter of opinion. ~DJ