I breathed out. "All right. Do you have a pen?"
"I'm a lawyer. That's like asking me if I have a lung."
"As opposed to a heart," I said.
"Another fan of lawyers," he said.
This conversation is illuminating for a number of reasons; first, because it highlights the fact that Nick is not at all like the common preconception of lawyers that generally turns out to be quite correct. He seems to have entered the field to make a positive difference in the world and is not a lawyer who is in it merely for the financial reward or for the joy of combat and word play. Referring to his time at the Prosecutors Office when he gently dealt with a shocked Elise after her daughter died, it is easy to see that he is an honorable man. At the same time, his inference in this statement is that whilst a lung is necessary for a lawyer, a heart is not.
This is also the moment that sticks in Elise's mind as she chooses to buy him a beautiful pen as a gift for Christmas. Subconsciously she is buying him something that will remind him of both her, and the Promise, long after their contract has ended, which illustrates the way in which she would like to stay in his life but is not confident that such a thing is possible.
"Sometimes I'd like a safe room to hide in," I said.
"To hide from what?" Nicholas asked.
"Life."
While at the home of the senior partner at his Firm, Nick shows Elise the 'safe room' that has been designed to keep the family safe from potential home invasion, terrorism or other threat. Elise does not need outside or specific threats because life itself has been what she needs to hide from. The things that others envision needing a safe room to hide away from have already occurred in her life; she was an abused child, an abused wife and inadvertently caused the death of her own child. Life is already frightening enough for Elise without the fear of outside threats coming into her equation.
It's been said that the truth will set you free. But the truth can also bury you. It's not the hurricane that breaks your heart, it's the phone call afterwards informing you that all is lost.
In Elise's experience, the truth has not been kind. For example, people have liked her, warmed to her, until recognizing her as the woman on the television news whose child overheated and died in a locked car, and the truth then makes them feel entirely different about her. The truth about Hannah's death has never set her free from either her own guilt, or from her ex-husband's torments, as it is this truth that he uses as his favorite emotional weapon. She is also frightened that the truth will alienate Nick, who appears to love her, but whom she is certain will feel unable to love her once he knows the truth about her. Nick, for his part, also feels the same thing about his past and Elise's reaction to it. When she realizes that Nick knew the truth all along, it does ultimately set her free, although not at first, as the truth of this knowledge seems like a deception or a betrayal when she first finds out about it. Eventually the truth sets both Nick and Elise free as they are finally able to forgive themselves and allow themselves to be happy.
