I’d like to caution you against wanting to “prove” something to yourself, or your husband, or anybody else. You cannot force confidence. Confidence is built slowly with competence.
Recently there was a story of a 40 something woman from China, Maine, mother of 3, got killed during her first ride, with her husband and brother-in-law riding in front of her. On a straight country road, she swerved in front of a truck and had a head-on collision. A real tragedy. The news story does not say why she swerved, but many in a motorcycle forum “guessed” that she might have paniced at the sight of the truck, tried to steer away from it, got confused about counter-steering and ended up steering into the truck. Again, that’s just a guess. I had a similar (but not nearly as tragic) experience when I was brand new. I had ridden a couple of hundred miles and thought I knew counter-steering well, so I headed into the hills. The first time I hit a serious curve in the hills, I went wide and nearly crossed the double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, because my left hand was fighting my right and resisted the turn. That was a holy-shit moment. I made it thru that ride, but it was very uncomfortable. I had to pull over to let faster cars go ahead of me.
As a brand new rider, following an experienced rider could be very bad. That experienced rider may think he’s slowing down for you, but he may not know how slow he really needed to be. If you really had to ride with your husband, ride in the front and set your own pace. Don’t ever go fast on other’s account. Let your husband bring up the rear. If you really can’t keep a comfortable pace on the street, get off the street and find a parking lot to practice. Think of yourself as a baby – learn how to walk (ride slowly, very slowly, get the techniques right), and then learn how to run.