Love After 30?

I got married when I was 25.  We had a really beautiful mobile home,  newer cars, nice furniture,  good jobs.  Marriage is not all roses and romance and my Life was far from perfect but it was happy.  Two and a half years later my husband announces he has an alcohol and cocaine addiction that he has managed to hide from me for a year because we work opposite shifts.  Two Years,  Thousands of dollars, countless rehab centers,  and 3 totaled vehicles later I found myself divorced.  No more beautiful mobile home,  Deep in debt,  and living back at home.   

Then I met Chris.  He was everything that my husband was not.  Attentive...Romantic... SOBER.  So of course I fell head over heels and within 2 months we were living together.  2 months after that I find out everything he told me when we met was a lie. So was I smart and run in the other direction?  OF COURSE NOT!!!!  I spent three years with this man who turned into a moody, pot-smoking, jerk who couldn't get a job due to his criminal background and constantly criticized my clothing, my hair, my weight and anything else you can think of.    2 years of violent tantrums and mental abuse and he cheats on me and then a few months laterr our daughter turned a year old and he left.

So once again,  No more nice apartment,  Deep in debt and living back at home.  Six months go by and he wants to spend Christmas and New Years with us.    New Years Eve he gets into one of his tantrums and hits me.  I hit him back.  Busted his nose and his lip open!  So proud of myself for that. 

But there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  I have a beautiful 3 year old daughter now and I thank God for her everyday.
She is my light and I know it's selfish but I am proud to say that she is all mine.  Chris does not help us financially, and due to his violent tantrums I will not allow him to take her.    He just moved to Alabama a month ago and we don't talk and my daughter does not ask for him. 

I find myself asking sometimes...  Once you are divorced or you are a single parent,  is there such a thing as real love?
Is there hope and faith and romance?    I've always heard the quote  "Your first marriage is about love and the second marriage is about stability and providing for the future."      Is this true?  or can both coexist?