Yvonne returned home shortly after Thanksgiving. She let me know she didn't want to have to spend all her time alone over the next seven months alone, that she needed companionship of some sort. She had very few female friends and those she'd had had families to whom to attend. She always got along better with men than with women. She wanted me to understand that she could go out to supper and a movie with a man (other than me) without it meaning anything, that she could remain loyal and true to me in the process.

After she'd left, during a Saturday morning coffee, I asked her one simple question... if she could go out with other men during the remainder of our engagement, would I also be allowed to go out if I remained loyal to her? She was hurt by the question, throwing accusations that I wanted to play around, and becoming outraged to the point that within a week the engagement was off.

I was heartbroken. I wanted her to see my perspective that when she went out with other men, especially one with whom she'd been intimate, that it would cause nothing but temptation and trouble. And in return, with me being faithful to her for eightteen months, was thrown in the worst light.

To make matters worse, she let me know a few weeks later that she didn't want to spend the rest of her days alone, and had invited the ex-boyfriend to move in with her.

Now, during their relationship, (according to Yvonne) he spent their first date together making five calls on his cell to talk with his ex-wife. He had manipulated her in strange ways. He maintained online relationships with women he'd met. It truly was a sick situation.

I asked Yvonne to consider me as her friend (as I was), rather than a lover who'd wanted her back. I told her to consider what she was getting into... to wait a month to let her feelings settle where they may before letting him move in... see if it really was the right thing to do. She said she'd take my advice, and asked the ex to hold off on moving in quite yet.

Continue...