I, Hannah, a mother of two, had been anticipating a leisurely vacation to Mexico with my spouse, Luke. But Luke was acting suspiciously right from the beginning. I would ask him to take a picture with me, but he would always answer, “I’m not in the mood,” or, “Can we do it later?” I initially assumed he was simply exhausted from his travels.

However, his actions during the trip gave me the impression that something wasn’t quite right. “I attempted to ignore it and concentrate on the good things in life, but as the days passed, the feeling only grew stronger,” I remarked. “Walking on eggshells, never knowing when he would lash out at me next” was how I described how I felt.

But I didn’t realize the startling reality until we got home. I added, “You can only imagine how shocked I was to learn why he refused to have any pictures taken with me.” As it happened, Luke had been keeping something from me that would permanently alter our relationship.

I was left wondering how I could have been unaware of what was happening and feeling upset, startled, and perplexed. I’m still attempting to make sense of things and determine how this may affect our future together.