Ines looked at Ryan, her eyes filled with disappointment.

“Your father didn’t want a boy either,” she finally said. “When I was pregnant with you, he desperately hoped we would have a girl.”

A wave of whispers spread across the patio.

Ryan stared at her in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”

Ines took a shaky breath.

“When the doctor told us we were having a boy, your father refused to speak to me for two days. He said he had always dreamed of raising a daughter. He even accused me of ruining the future he had imagined.”

Ryan slowly turned toward his father.

“Dad, is that true?”

His father lowered his head.

“Yes,” he admitted quietly. “I was young, selfish, and foolish. I thought I knew what would make me happy. But when you were born, everything changed.”

He paused, his voice breaking.

“You became the most important person in my life. I regretted those words for years, but the damage I’d caused your mother never completely disappeared.”

Ines wiped a tear from her cheek.

“I forgave him, Ryan. But I never forgot how alone he made me feel when I needed his support the most.”

Then she stepped closer to her son.

“And now you’re doing the same thing to your wife. You’re making her feel ashamed of carrying a child who has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Ryan looked at me. For the first time since he had destroyed the cake, the anger had disappeared from his face.

I stood silently, one hand resting on my stomach.

“I’m having your daughter,” I whispered. “And I refuse to let her grow up believing she wasn’t wanted.”

His eyes filled with tears.

He tried to reach for my hand, but I stepped back.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

I wanted to believe him, but an apology couldn’t erase what had happened.

My sister began cleaning the ruined cake while Ryan’s father approached her and offered to help.

Then Ines took my hand.

“Your little girl deserves a father who celebrates her existence,” she said gently. “And you deserve a husband who understands that.”

That evening, I made a decision: Ryan would have to prove through his actions that he could become that father.

Because our daughter would never have to earn the love she deserved from the moment she was born.