DP Feb 4, All-in-one

Dear Prudie,

I met my husband through his brother, who was a coworker of mine. Well before meeting my husband, I had a drunken petting session with his brother. After getting serious with my husband, I decided it was best to see as little of my future BIL as possible, so I found another job (which was no great lost, since I far preferred being a waitress to working a help line where I had to listen to dudes calling in for assistance while they sat on the can). Of course, I still see my BIL at various family events, and we do our best to ignore our indiscretion.

Nonetheless, I could not help feeling guilty, as if I had betrayed my husband, even though I wasn't married, going steady, or even aware of his existence when I almost had something similar to sex with his brother. And so I ended up telling him the whole sordid tale.

Well, as you can imagine, my husband freaked out at this news. I will spare you the insults addressed at me (and oddly enough, not at his brother), because something more significant occurred during his rant. My husband suffered a stroke caused by his intense screaming and jumping up and down.

He suffered temporary paralysis, but received great treatment, and has recovered most of his motor functions. Alas, he suffered significant memory loss, and after many months he can still not remember the last few days before the stroke.

I still feel horribly guilty, and I don't believe that I've truly unburdened myself to my husband because he can't remember my confession. And to make things worse, my new employer has gone bankrupt since he kept giving away his services to hard-luck cases for free (which seriously cramped my own finances: just what is the appropriate tip for a free lunch?), so I've had to return to my old job, where my BIL still works.

My question to you, Prudie, is:should I tell my husband again?

Yours,

Once Burned, Still Stupid