Why do you think Lucy cried more with William?

Lucy says of William, "When I really cried hard he did not get frightened the way I think David might have; but with David I never cried as I had in my first marriage, not the gasping sobs of a child." Why do you think Lucy cried more with William?

Although I can't understand having that much contact with someone you've divorced, I think their two daughters kept them connected. I guess that emotional connection made her feel free to reveal her emotions. Then again, maybe part of her tears with frustration that she stayed with him for as much of her life as she did.

I think Lucy cried more with William because she felt safe with him. Her early life was so traumatic that when she met William, he was the first real family she knew. He was like her lifeboat, she felt safe.

Lucy was more attuned to her emotions than William. She trusted him and allowed herself to be vulnerable. William would have perceived tears to demonstrate weakness and that would not have been in keeping with his persona. It was at the end of the book when his demeanor begins to crack yet even then he cannot express or show his feelings except by withdrawing.

One could assume she cried more with William because he gave her more reason to cry, and heavy sobbing could be construed as a demonstration of the depth of her pain -- he deserved that, and I believe she intimated that he was less sensitive than David and could handle it, whereas David, as a more sensitive person, would have been more alarmed.

I think she felt comfortable with both men in different ways. David was more sensitive, and a kinder husband so the drama of sobbing wasn't necessary.

This isn't explicitly spelled out, but I wonder if youth had something to do with it? I think people tend to be more fragile, more easily bruised when they're young, and that by middle age a lot of the things that used to hurt no longer seem as important. I also feel like she was more exposed with William, that she laid it all out there for him. With David, I think she loved him but in a more mature, less emotional way.

Lucy sobbed like a child with William because she was so vulnerable and for the first time in her life felt safe as a child might feel when held by a loving parent. When we feel vulnerable in a relationship, such an expression as sobbing creates yet another level of vulnerability (her relationship with her mother). By the time she met David, I think most of her sobbing was done. She had matured and was stronger.

I think Lucy cried more with William because her married life was so different from her childhood, and she felt insecure. I also think she cried to release some of the trauma that she had endured. By the time she met David, she had matured and was happier and more comfortable with herself and her situation.