My daughter asked me to remove my wedding ring before her father came home

Dear Delyara, My husband and I have been separated for seven months, but we still live in the same house because neither of us can afford to move yet. We use different bedrooms, different shelves in the refrigerator, and different voices when speaking in front of our daughter. I still wear my wedding ring. I tell myself I simply forget to remove it. Tonight, our nine-year-old daughter saw it while helping me dry dishes and whispered, “Mum, take it off before Dad comes home. It makes him sad.” I asked how she knew. She said he looks at my hand whenever he thinks nobody sees. I removed the ring immediately. Then I realized our child has been studying the smallest movements of two adults who keep congratulating themselves for not arguing in front of her. She knows which nights he eats after us, which cupboard I close too hard, which songs I skip in the car, and apparently what my left hand does to her father’s face. The ring is on the bathroom shelf now. There is a pale circle around my finger. My daughter saw it and touched the mark with her thumb. She asked whether it would go away. I said yes. She nodded like I was answering more than one question.