The Strawberry Letter: He Shouldn't Be In My Purse

Subject: He shouldn’t be in my purse

Dear Steve and Shirley, I’ve been married for a very long time to a man that has taken me to hell and back. Early in our marriage, he stepped out on me twice and I’m sure there have been other incidences of infidelity since then, but I’m not as eager to do the snooping and searching for clues anymore. But he is. He’s got a problem with accepting that I’m not a cheater and he should stop expecting me to mess around on him. He hasn’t been the same since I got a weight loss procedure and I reclaimed my youth and I’m almost back to my pre-baby weight. I got my confidence back and I started hanging around a younger female co-worker. I have told him I’m mentoring the young lady because she’s clueless on the subject of sex and how a man should treat her. He thinks I’m going to get a younger man and run away with him, just because I’m hanging with a 27 year old co-worker. Here’s the deal and I need your advice on how to handle it. I took my co-worker to my gynecologist because she was having a feminine issue. She had never been to a doctor. She was raised by her grandmother but that’s a different story… Anyway, I took her to the doctor and she got a terrible diagnosis so I took it upon myself to help her get on the right track. I paid for her medication for her and I picked up a pack of condoms and some more personal items for her. I put it all in my purse so Mr. Nosey Husband wouldn’t see it. I have no privacy anywhere in the house. I’m not sure what got in to him, but he rummaged through my bag and laid the condoms and the bottle of other stuff on the nightstand for me to see. I was livid and I told him I didn’t owe him an explanation. I don’t care if he thinks I am cheating on him or not. Should I explain it or let him suffer?