One thing: How exactly was she meant to have found this letter if he had died? She might never have found it!
-- Cecilia (Chapter 1 paragraph 115)

Importance: This is one of the first questions that come to Cecilia’s mind when she finds the letter that John-Paul wrote to her. She considers if John-Paul had died, she would never have known there was a letter for her to read or where to find it.

Oh, yes, her husband was hopeless, and lost things and ran late, but he took care of his wife and daughters, in that old-fashioned, responsible, I-am-the-man-and-this-is-my-job way. Bridget was right: Cecilia ruled her world, but she’d always known that if there was a crisis — a crazed gunman, a flood, a fire — John-Paul would be the one to save their lives.
-- Cecilia (Chapter 1 paragraph 128)

Importance: Cecilia describes her husband as being disorganized; but, she believes that he is capable of dealing with any major emergency...