[ WP ] You can see the darkest secret of everyone you meet . As you enter your house , expecting to see the usual abusive father story of your spouse , you stop ; it has changed .

Silence was my first clue. Instead of the usual chaotic jubilee greeting me at the door, there was just a dusty, entombed silence. I slipped my designer sunglasses into my jacket pocket, set down my nearly empty briefcase, and craned my neck for a view of the steps. 
 `` Hello? Where's my fanfare?'' I tease, calling down the darkened hallway. 
 Sondrine and I started too young. She was so willing to throw her nubile 15 year old body at me. Just like all the other times in my life, she was marked with an invisible ink. Invisible except to me, it seemed. Could anyone else see the flaw in the people they met on the street? It was n't always clear what the image stamped across their forehead meant. I'd learned to look past it. So I had a good idea why this beautiful girl would willingly give herself so young to a relative nobody like me. The image chaged from time to time to spell out the whole story. Whatever worst part of her past was on her mind most recently paraded between her beautiful temples. Of course I had seen enough to put together the basic story. A large domineering figure towering over a crouched child who clutched desperately to a rag doll; a scene of panic as the large figure downs a bottle of liquor to add to the pile lying haphazardly at his feet; a slightly smaller, more feminine figure watching in a detatched way as the large shadow leads the smallest into a dark room... 
 I knew these things, but what virile 16-year-old could be coaxed away from the appetizing platter that Sondrine was offering up. I loved her, for all the capability I had at that age. After that first night, I felt that I owed it to her to stick it through. She was sweet, even if she had her temperamental moments. High school passed in a blur of passion intertwined with bright spots of anger and frustration. I proposed at our graduation. She accepted and lead me over to her parents to showcase her small chip of a diamond ring. I smiled tightly into faces that matched her dark figures. 
 The wedding was lovely, if small. Our closest friends came with us to a justice of the peace. We all enjoyed a dinner at the lovely bistro down the street. She was a shining bride. So young and full of adventure and sass. It surprised no one when she got pregnant right away. We were nervous, but excited to welcome a new start to our lives. The pregnancy passed with no complications and only minor complaints. A nurse handed Sondrine our new baby girl with more happiness on her face than my wife's. Sondrine looked questioningly at this newcomer, scoping out her termperament. 
 Holly's baby years escaped before I could get enough. When she was three, Sondrine announced a subsequent pregnancy. Sondrine had n't taken to motherhood with the grace and surity that I had hoped, but she and Holly had an easy rapport with each other. Thomas was born nine months later and our family felt secure. 
 Was it the fact that she had her own children that made her dwell on her tear-stained past? I noticed more scenes showing as her mind drudged up more and more darkness. The little figure was so lost and alone. All I could do was love Sondrine with the best of me. I had never told her about the constant playbook of hate and intolerance stamped in plain sight for me. And she had never found the courage to entrust me with her secrets. 
 Two years later and here we are. Any normal day I'm met at the door by my two lovely children. Why was today different? I walked into the living room expecting to find it empty. Sondrine was sitting at the end of the love seat with her feet propped on our coffee table. 
'' Oh! I thought maybe you three had gone out to play or something. Are the kids asleep? They're so quiet!'' I kissed her cheek lightly from behind and brushed her ponytail back to trail my fingers lovingly across her neck. 
'' Yes.'' That's all she said. Just... Yes... 
 I stepped around and cocked my head quizzically to the side. Yes? Yes they were outside? Or yes they were sleeping? That's when I saw it. The dark figure. It was holding a pillow over a squiriming body. When had that happened? Wait... That dark figure was a clear sillouhette of my own wife. And there was a new tiny shadow next to the writhing one. No... NO. 
 It did n't matter how fast I took those stairs. It was over. The new scenes over the years suddenly made sense. I should have asked. I should have known. 
 She had been adding to her own secrets, carrying on the gruesome legacy wrought by her own father... 

