lostinlove

Hi Im new here so I will start from the beginning. I met Richard in Feb of 2003he started working where I worked. I was instantly attracted to him, we started dating and by April of 2003 he moved in with me and my two children. It wasn't until then that I noticed there was something wrong. He would cry and tell me I had no sympathy for him or felt sorry for him, and my thing was I love you so much, I gave him a car and a nice home to live in, I couldn't understand why he wanted me to feel sorry for him, needless to say things worsened until one day he told me he was a heroin addict. I was in shock, I had never known or been around anyone that was on heroin, nor am I very educated in drugs except for the experimenting with pot when I was a teenager all of this is forgein to me. So He went into rehab and was there 3 days and left, I went and hunted him down, he went back spoke with the rehab again said if he went to a few meetings they would let him back so I once again paid 300.00 for him to be kicked out 2 weeks into the program for cutting each others hair at least thats what he said. I will try to make this short. So I had him come back home, he seemed to be ok so I thought during the end of 2003 I had all kinds of things missing and he forged some checks on my bank account. I had to kick him out. I was devestated I was hurt more than I'd ever felt. He moved to another county but continued to call me telling me he was clean etc. etc.. got another girlfriend but would constantly call me, he was arressted in 2004 and recently released march of 2006. Throughout all of this, once he was clean in jail and in programs he would call sometimes I'd accept his calls sometimes not I was still very angry and hurt. I would write on occassions. Well it all comes down to this today I went to see Richard he is at a rehab in san jose, has been there for 39 days and has 6 days left, he is trying to get into a halfway house but because of something on his record that happened in 1993 it may be very difficult. Today I met a man that I knew was always there, he is a warm and kind man, has been hurt by his family and abandoned seen his brother commit suicide hes been through it, but today we talked about everything, I have forgiven him, I forgave him before today but I had to have counseling myself. I guess I just want some advice, he says he loves me and has never stopped, one of his ex cellies was in the program and he introduced us, he told me that he has heard so many good things about me that Im all richard ever spoke about he said I not only told him I loved him but was the first to actually show him without wanting something from him, but all I wanted was him to love me. He is not asking for us to get back together just yet, he wants to take it slow because he says hes really vulnerable and something bad might trigger him to use, he says he doesn't want to hurt anybody anymore. I need to know what I need to do. I told him I never expected to feel the same way I did back then as I do now all those feelings came back they never left. I am scared and so is he, I know deep down that I just need to let him do this on his own, I cannot be co-dependent and try to help him. So maybe I answered my own question? Im just really confused I believe he loves me but he has to be selfish right now and think of himself, this is what they are telling him. I could really use some advice.
thank you