Just family, a few friends, and a cake filled with either pink or blue.

That sounded perfect.

She had never liked big parties.

She hated being the center of attention, even when she had every reason to celebrate.

She asked to hold the reveal in our backyard.

“Of course,” I told her.

So I spent the morning arranging chairs, cleaning the patio table, and hanging neutral decorations along the fence.

Nothing extravagant.

Just enough to make the afternoon special.

Only the bakery knew the gender.

Lauren and Mark had personally delivered the doctor’s envelope there.

At least, that was what I believed.

The bakery had been careful about everything. Lauren had laughed about how seriously they treated it.

“They guard those envelopes like they’re classified documents,” she joked a few days before the party.

I told her that was probably a good thing.

The cake arrived that morning.

The baker delivered it herself.

She was around Lauren’s age, with dark hair in a loose knot and flour dusting one sleeve.

She carried the cake with both hands while I opened the gate.

“Careful,” she said. “It’s heavier than it looks.”

We placed it beneath the covered patio.

It looked exactly as Lauren wanted.

White frosting.

Simple piping around the edges.

Nothing outside revealed what was inside.

The baker lingered after setting it down.

I assumed she was checking whether the table was level.

Then she thanked me and returned to her van.

I thought nothing of it.

By early afternoon, the backyard was full.

Relatives gathered around the food table.

Lauren’s closest friends took pictures.

Someone brought balloons, despite Lauren saying she didn’t need any.

For the first time in years, my daughter seemed surrounded by uncomplicated happiness.

At least, that was how it appeared.

Mark stayed near her.

He kept one hand close to the small of her back as they greeted everyone.

Lauren smiled often, but I noticed she kept touching the side of her stomach.

She had done that throughout the pregnancy.

Sometimes it was affection.

Sometimes reassurance.

Usually I could tell which.

That afternoon, I couldn’t.

Eventually, someone suggested cutting the cake before the sun disappeared behind the trees.

Everyone gathered around.

Lauren laughed nervously.

Mark handed her the knife.

When she pushed it through the white frosting, everyone leaned closer.

The yard fell strangely quiet.

She cut slowly, then made the second slice.

Mark stood beside her smiling.

Lauren slid the server underneath and lifted the first piece.

Pink.

“It’s a girl!”

Everyone screamed.

People clapped.

Someone shouted behind me.

Lauren’s best friend laughed and cried at the same time.

But Lauren didn’t.

She stared at the cake.

For one strange second, I thought she hadn’t understood.

Then she began crying.

Mark wrapped his arms around her.

“We’re having a daughter.”

“I know,” she whispered.

Everyone assumed her reaction was relief.

After everything Lauren had endured, tears made sense.

People stepped forward to hug her.

Someone said she would be a wonderful mother.

I wanted to believe they were happy tears too.

But her expression bothered me.

She didn’t look happy.

She looked afraid.

This wasn’t someone overwhelmed by good news.

Her face had gone pale.

She kept staring at the pink center as though it confirmed something she had desperately hoped wasn’t true.

I watched Mark.

He whispered something in her ear.

Lauren nodded once.

Then I noticed the baker near our backyard gate.

She had delivered the cake that morning.

Now she was staring at Lauren.

I nearly looked away.

Then I saw how tense she seemed.

Her arms were folded tightly across her chest. Her eyes remained fixed on my daughter and Mark.

When our eyes met, she quickly motioned me over.

I hesitated.

Lauren was still surrounded by guests.

Mark still had an arm around her.

I crossed the yard.

The baker stepped closer to the gate.

“I need to show you something.”

“What?”

“Not here.”

My stomach tightened before I knew why.

She led me toward the delivery van and took out her phone.

“This morning, your son-in-law came to the bakery.”

I frowned.

“Mark?”

“He told us the doctor’s envelope was wrong.”

For a moment, I stared at her.

Behind us, people were still talking and laughing.

My stomach twisted.

“How could he know that?”

She showed me security footage.

Mark stood at the counter.

But he wasn’t alone.

A woman I’d never seen was beside him.

She handed the baker another sealed envelope.

“They paid us $500 to use this result instead.”

I looked back toward the party.

Mark was still holding Lauren.

“Then what’s the real gender?”

The baker swallowed.

“That’s not why I pulled you aside.”

She zoomed in on the woman beside Mark.

“She came back after he left.”

“And?”

“She asked me to put something under the cake board.”

My pulse hammered.

I looked toward the table.

People had moved away from the cake. Lauren was talking to a friend. Mark stood only a few feet away.

We hurried back.

I lifted the cake.

At first, I saw nothing.

Then the board shifted in my hands.

A folded white envelope was taped underneath.

My heart dropped.

The baker reached for it, but I pulled it free first.

“What is this?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “She wouldn’t tell me.”

I looked across the yard.

Lauren was still talking to her friend. Mark stood beside her with one hand on her shoulder.

He glanced toward me.

Our eyes met.

Something changed in his expression.

Small, but unmistakable.

Fear.

He started toward us.

“Rose,” he called. “What are you doing?”

I tightened my grip on the envelope.

Lauren turned.

Her smile vanished.

“Mom?”

Mark moved faster.

“Give me that.”

I stepped back.

“No.”

His voice dropped. “This isn’t the place.”

The baker moved beside me.

Lauren stared at the envelope, then at Mark.

“What is that?” she asked.

He didn’t answer.

That was enough.

The few people near the table fell silent.

Lauren walked toward us.

“Mark, what is that?”

“Nothing,” he said.

I almost laughed in disbelief.

Nothing.

He had changed a sealed medical result.

He had paid a bakery $500 to use another envelope.

A strange woman had hidden something beneath my daughter’s cake.

Nothing was not an answer.

I looked at Lauren.