The fact that he was thinking about his own insecurities, and not hers, made him feel low. These were Envy’s scandalous traits rubbing off on him. As he listened to the nonsense that fell from Eden’s mouth, he couldn’t believe that his actions had reduced her to this level of insecurity. What was more troubling was the fact that she believed what she was saying.

“Edy, baby stop. Please stop,” Jermaine begged as he dragged his hand over his stubbly beard covered face.

He couldn’t listen to her tearing herself down with false truths anymore. The fact that he made his wife feel as though she was worthless made him feel less of a man. She was never supposed to feel that way. He knew now that it was time to tell her the truth that he tried so hard to keep buried.

“Edy, the day I met you, I knew I didn’t deserve you. You were perfect, and I had too many unresolved issues. There were things about my past that I didn’t know how to share with you,”

“You didn’t know how to share them with me, but you knew how to share them with Envy?” Eden scoffed.

The explanation made no sense. In fact, it sounded as if he was making the story up as he spoke. Because after all, that’s what liars did.

“It wasn’t like that,” Jermaine insisted.

His agitation was through the roof. He was frustrated. Being interrupted when he was speaking didn’t sit well with him. This loudmouth behavior was out of Eden’s character. He wanted to scream at her, but he couldn’t. Because the non-understanding, impatient and argumentative woman that was now his wife was all his fault.

“Then you have to explain what it’s like Jermaine. I don’t understand. I mean, I tried to be a great wife. I tried to be everything you wanted me to be. I-”

“And that was the problem! You don’t know how to stand up for yourself!” Jermaine snapped and immediately regretted it.

Eden gasped a real gasp. His outburst had caught her off guard.

“I didn’t mean that, Edy. I’m sorry. I’m making you the problem when the problem is me,” Jermaine admitted hoping that if he continued to talk fast that it would soften the blow of what he said. To avoid Eden getting a word in, he continued to speak.

“The truth is you remind me so much of my mother. Growing up she was my everything, and then she was gone. I held onto so much anger towards her that I eventually unleashed it on the wrong person,” Jermaine admitted.

He tried to swallow his emotion before Eden could hear it. The thought of being vulnerable in front of the woman he vowed to be strong for terrified him. She was never supposed to see him with a chink in his armor.