PART 10 – My Husband Asked Why I Was Becoming Distant, but I Was No Longer Sure I Could Trust the Man Sleeping Beside Me

Daniel came home early that evening.

He brought takeout and a small bag of groceries.

I was sitting on the couch with Sophie.

He kissed her forehead before turning toward me.

"How are my girls?"

Sophie immediately began telling him about school.

He listened patiently.

I watched them.

I wanted to feel happy.

Instead, I kept thinking about the phone call.

After dinner, Daniel helped Sophie get ready for bed.

I remained downstairs.

When he returned, he sat beside me.

"Can we talk?"

I looked at him.

"About what?"

"You."

He leaned forward.

"You've been different lately."

I didn't answer.

"You barely talk to me. You keep walking away whenever I touch you."

I looked down at my hands.

"Maybe I'm tired."

"You're always tired."

His voice wasn't angry.

It sounded hurt.

That made it harder.

"I know this pregnancy is difficult," he continued. "I just want to make sure we're okay."

I looked directly at him.

"Are we?"

He frowned.

"What does that mean?"

I took a breath.

"Sometimes I feel like there are things happening that nobody is telling me."

He stared at me.

"What things?"

I almost told him everything.

I almost repeated the conversation I had heard at two in the morning.

But something inside me said to wait.

"I don't know. I just feel uncomfortable."

He moved closer.

"Is this about Graham?"

I didn't answer immediately.

Daniel rubbed his face.

"Listen, I know this situation is unusual. But we're doing something good."

I watched him carefully.

"Are you sure that's all we're doing?"

His expression became still.

"What else would it be?"

I looked away.

He reached for my hand.

"You're overthinking things."

Maybe I was.

But I remembered his voice.

I remembered how gently he had spoken to the person on the other end of that call.

And I remembered the words about waiting until the baby was born.

Daniel stood up.

"I'm going to check on Sophie."

He walked upstairs.

I remained on the couch.

A few minutes later, I heard him reading her bedtime story.

I closed my eyes.

The hardest part wasn't that I was beginning to distrust my husband.

It was that I still loved him.

And I still wanted him to prove me wrong.

Click here to continue reading: PART 11: I Asked for Independent Advice About the Surrogacy Agreement, and Suddenly the Questions I Had Avoided Became Impossible to Ignore