She also loved him because he was so capable of surviving. She felt safe with him. Look at all the heartbreak that life had thrown at him, and he not only survived but triumphed. And he had a good heart. She saw it when she went with him to the Chicago cemetery to visit the graves of his parents, watching him tenderly caress the headstone as he placed flowers and fought his tears. Yes, he had a good heart. She knew it and trusted him completely with hers. Jeff was not perfect. He had a temper, issues—the sleepwalking among them—but she loved him with everything she had.

Still, in all the time she’d known him, there was something beneath the surface that she didn’t fully understand.

She knew he’d vowed to never be poor again and would do anything to prevent that from happening. Yet he seemed to hold a grudge against the world, while a dangerous inferno raged in his heart.

And now I can’t shake this feeling he’s keeping something from me.

But why would he do that, when things were going so well for him?

Breathing hard after her workout, Lisa asked herself if she was resentful of Jeff now that she was the one facing challenges. She’d worked hard, too. She had a master’s degree from Yale where she’d studied statistics and data science. But the move from Cleveland had cost her her manager’s status, something she’d striven for and earned. She had given that up, along with her family and friends in Ohio, to follow Jeff’s dream, with the promise of starting a family.

And now she was grappling with the assault and the intruder’s threat to return.

“Stop it. Stop complaining, count your blessings and get on with your life!” Lisa told the woman in her bathroom mirror, convincing herself that she knew her husband and that he wouldn’t keep secrets from her.

They’d both faced profound tragedy and carried the pain of it with them. Jeff was right: they were survivors, and they understood each other. That’s why she’d married him.

Lisa reached for her phone and as she ran a check of the security system, she got a text from Jeff.

Everything good?

Yes. Fine. How’re things there?

Got a big meeting coming up, gotta go. Love you.

Love you, too.

Before Lisa got into the shower, she placed her phone on the counter within reach.

You’ve got to think positive, be strong and brave, and quit thinking of yourself.

But it was not easy.

The ghost of her own childhood tragedy was ever present, and it began haunting her now. Her mind called up images of her riding in the back seat of the car with Stacey. She couldn’t bear to relive the details again.