How I've Grown to Know True Love

I finally called out his name and Derrick took a deep breath as though he had to collect himself and not let on to me that the situation at hand was now affecting him more than I thought it would. Derrick finally gathered himself together and drove off with the kids for the weekend. As last I had gotten that part of my life out of the way. I knew then that the only thing left now was to focus on the new relationship that was starting to develop between me and Steve. Soon thereafter, there came a day when Steve would propose marriage to me, and of course, I accepted his proposal. I never felt, after the relationship with Derrick, that I would ever be in a serious relationship again with anybody else; not only that, but I also felt that being with Steve had opened my eyes to how a woman should really be treated. Steve treated me so good that it made me wonder how in the hell I ever tolerated my ex-husband as long as I did. I was just so happy and in love with this man I had married; he was like a breath of fresh air to me, giving me the chance to rid myself of all the bad pollution that was still bundled up inside of me from over the years. I was able to breathe again! I hadn’t felt like this in years. It felt like a load had been taken off of me. Steve was the kind of husband that would trust me with just about anything that was his, even his wallet. When he got paid on pay day, he would come home from work and give me his wallet to hold, and tell me that I could buy whatever I wanted just as long as I left enough money in his wallet to pay the bills. Steve basically treated me like a queen. Steve was very different from the average husband; most husbands wouldn’t dare allow their wife to be in control of their belongings. Steve didn’t mind doing sweet things for me. Steve felt that if you were to be in a marriage to someone, it meant trusting them fully, or what was the point of even being married? That’s what I liked about Steve: he didn’t care about what other men thought, he believed in pleasing his spouse. My ex-husband, Derrick, would never have been as generous to me as Steve was; in fact, he would have called him henpecked and a faggot for just being the kind of husband he was to me. As time went on, there was Derrick coming by the house as usual to pick up the kids on his weekends. When he saw how good Steve was treating me, he would make stupid remarks about my new husband, saying that he believed he was gay! Just because he wasn’t running around on me.

Derrick was jealous to see another man treat me like a queen, because he did the total opposite. I would often tell Derrick the one that you suspect is gay may be the one he’s with. He would only laugh and say, “Yeah, right!” He must have thought that his girlfriend was so into him that there was no possible way she would be interested in another woman. But as time went on, Derrick and his girlfriend started to have major problems. He would call me up and ask me to keep the kids on his weekend because his girlfriend, whom he was staying with, would get mad with him during an argument and would threaten to throw him out of her home. Finally there came a day when Derrick and his girlfriend had completely broken up with one another. They both worked at the same job, which, of course, made it difficult for them to keep their personal business away from the job. Somehow everyone on the job would find out about everything that went on in their relationship; everyone pretty much knew their business, especially when his ex-girlfriend started seeing another woman on the job. Derrick was so humiliated and embarrassed that this so-called woman he had been dating had gone as far as to hurt him by dating a co-worker who was bisexual like her, and who sat right in the same cubicle with both of them. The truth had finally come out: she no longer cared about how she was making a fool out of herself and Derrick. The situation on their job had gotten out of hand with them bringing their personal problems from home onto the job, which soon caused them both to be terminated from their jobs. Steve and I had stayed married for a short period of time. I really would like to think that Steve was a wonderful, loving husband who would do just about anything to make you happy, except for one or two things: he was too busy trying to please his older sister, whom he looked to as a mother figure. Supposedly as a child she helped raise him while growing up because his mother wasn’t always around to help him; she was busy working most of the time. Steve felt it was important to have his older sister’s approval when he needed it. Steve soon started having problems with my two sons, who at times I admit could really work up a pair of nerves. They started to give my new husband a hard time, and I believe Derrick had been working on the kids to have them show dislike toward my new husband, Steve, because he didn’t want to see me happy. Steve eventually got to the point that he was no longer able to deal with my kids’ behavior, “so he says.” I honestly feel that his sister played a part in our marriage coming to an end; there were certain things that went on between his sister and me. I can recall a time when we were sitting at my kitchen table, and she had threatened me by saying that if she wanted to, she could stop her brother from being with me, a statement I found to be very offensive. I knew then that she was definitely out to destroy our relationship.