Sound alike your W and mine are using the same playbook this week.
And I can think of no better advice than the words said to me by a great DBer, YOU:
"Yes - the email is a small step. But if you make the best decision in all of these small steps, the change in you will be HUGE."
You are an inspiration and I so admire your ability to not take the easy route but to do the hard work to figure out what to do to be the best Val.
And maybe the best way to look at it is not that she is testing you, bc that requires our knowledge of her motivation, which we don't know.... but that this is a test for you, of the new Val, in the hardest situation ever.
IMHO, the change in you is already HUGE, keep taking the small steps, tiring as they are, they lead back to you.
Me(f): 51 W: 41 DP:8 M:3 T:10 "W not happy" 7/11 D final: 8/13