The bright light in the room told him they’d slept later than normal. He grinned when he realized Jeannette hadn’t woken up once during the night. For the first time since she had moved in with them, she’d slept through without any nightmares or panic attacks. His mind replayed their conversation last night. It made him sick to think of everything she had suffered. To lose her parents was devastating enough, but to be raped only months later. To be left alone, without a mother to comfort her, to help her recover. He could only imagine the pain. The fact that she’d come through it at all was a testament to her strength, her courage. Suddenly, her reasons for building such high, impenetrable walls made sense. Which was why her trust in them left him in awe. Humbled. She was a good, kind person and sometimes he struggled to understand what she saw in him. He was Diego Rodriguez. He’d grown up on the wrong side of the tracks and he’d done some things to survive that he wasn’t particularly proud of.
