a future.
Then I smiled.
“We missed you too.”
I put the flowers in water.
And I said nothing.
Because in that moment, I realized something important.
If I confronted him immediately, I would be giving him control of what happened next.
He would deny it.
Minimize it.
Tell me I had misunderstood.
Perhaps even suggest that sleep deprivation or postpartum emotions were affecting me.
He was used to managing my reactions.
I wasn’t going to give him that opportunity.
He didn’t know that I knew.
And as long as he believed his secret was safe, I had time.
## PART 2: SIX DAYS OF SILENCE
For six days, I lived beside my husband as though nothing had changed.
But everything had changed.
I watched him differently.
He took his phone into the bathroom.
He changed his passcode.
