Every day we feature the beloved “Strawberry Letter” franchise that is so popular on “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” heard nationwide. Send in your letters and Shirley Strawberry will dish out the necessary advice. Today’s topic: He’s still married Good Morning All: I will try to be as concise as possible. I’m a 38-year-old divorced woman with two teenagers. Five years ago, I met my soul mate who is 12 years older than I am. We became best friends, fell in love and have been there through everything for one another — like a true committed couple. My children have started to call him “Pop.” He has two adult sons who are both doctors. They treat my children like their younger siblings. Well, three weeks ago, he proposed. However, after the proposal came a confession. His first wife died of cancer and so he raised his two sons. Well, he got married a second time for a short stint and told me he got divorced. The confession — He’s not divorced. He’s going to file now. He explained that his second wife got arrested for embezzling from her job. It was later revealed that she also embezzled their personal finances, the church money and had re-routed their mortgage bill and his car note to a secret P.O. box. She wasn’t paying these bills out of their joint account and the house went into foreclosure and his car was in the process of being repossessed. After learning all this information he overheard her on the phone one night talking with her accomplice. It turns out she was having an affair and storing all this money to run off and have a better life with this person. He said to keep from wrapping the phone cord around her neck he simply packed his bags, left and started over. He never expected to become involved with anyone again so he felt it was not important to file. Should I believe him and take him back? My kids are wondering why he hasn’t been over. I love him and want to believe him but I don’t want to be a fool either.
- “Strawberry Letters” are letters sent from fans of the “Steve Harvey Morning Show” and therefore do not express the sentiments of ESSENCE Magazine or ESSENCE.com. As these are fan letters, we have left them as close to their original form as possible.