This was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of our lives.

After two years of trying, countless doctor visits, and more tears than I care to count, we were finally pregnant.

I felt like after all our pain, the stars had finally aligned, and we were on our way to our happily ever after.

“This is our moment, my love,” Jerry, my husband, told me. “We’re finally going to be happy, and our family will be complete.”

“I know,” I agreed. “I can’t wait until the little one is here and ready to wreck their chaos on the world!”

Jerry and I wanted to make the announcement special, so we thought that a big gender-reveal party felt perfect. We invited both sides of the family, hired a local bakery for the cake, and left the ultrasound results with Jerry’s mom, Nancy.

“I’ll take care of everything, Misha,” she said. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll sort the cake out and get a special present for my grandbaby! I hope the baby is a girl! I just want to be a girl-grandmother and spoil the heck out of her.”

When Nancy offered to take care of everything cake-related, we trusted her to keep the secret. And if I’m being honest, it felt good to let her be involved.

Nancy had been desperate to feel included ever since we shared our pregnancy news.

My mom helped me set up for the big day, arranging the platters of food on the dining table and tying pink and blue balloons to every possible surface.

It was a typical Pinterest setting, and I loved it.

I couldn’t stop smiling. This was something that I had dreamed about forever.

There were flower arrangements and a banner that read, “He or She? Let’s See!”, enough desserts to satisfy all my cravings, and the gorgeous white cake that took center stage.

Jerry’s whole family, his cousins, his brother, his aunt—the whole entourage had come over, filling the house with chatter and excitement.

Nancy showed up wearing black, which was odd, but I brushed it off. She wasn’t exactly a fashionista. Maybe she thought it was slimming or elegant.

Who even knew?

As we gathered around the cake, everyone was buzzing with anticipation. Phones were out, cameras ready to capture the big moment.

Jerry put his arm around me, pulling me close.

“Ready, love?” he whispered.

I grinned.

“Let’s do this!” I said.

The room counted down with us.

“Three… two… one!”

We sliced into the cake together, the knife gliding easily through the soft layers. But as the first piece emerged, the energy in the room shifted in an instant.

The entire cake was black inside.

Not blue. Not pink. Just… pitch black.

The room went silent.

My stomach twisted. For a second, I thought it was some kind of prank, but no one was laughing.

Nobody at all.

I glanced at Jerry, who looked equally confused. People exchanged awkward glances, unsure whether to keep filming or to put their phones away.

But it was like a car crash, where people just couldn’t turn away.

I scanned the crowd until my eyes landed on Nancy.

How could I have missed it before?

She was standing off to the side, dressed head to toe in black. Black dress, black scarf, black shoes.

And now… was she crying?

“Nancy?” I called out, frowning.

She wiped her eyes with a tissue, her makeup smudging.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do,” she said.

“What do you mean? Why would you order a black cake?” I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady and my blood pressure from rising.

Jerry grabbed my arm, bewildered.

“Mom, what’s going on?” he asked.

Nancy dabbed her eyes, visibly trembling.

“It’s not about the cake! It’s about what I was told… I couldn’t risk it.”

Jerry’s patience was wearing thin.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

Nancy sniffed and took a deep breath, as if preparing to unburden herself from something she’d carried for far too long.

“Ten years ago, I went to see a fortune teller with my sister. The woman was amazing—accurate beyond belief at the time. She told me that if my first grandchild was a boy, it would ruin your family, Jerry. And it would bring a terrible illness upon me.”

Everyone gasped collectively.

Jerry’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, what? You’ve been believing this nonsense for ten years?”

Nancy nodded, wringing her hands.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I couldn’t ignore it! She was famous! Everyone in town said her predictions were always right.”

My heart sank.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“So, you decided to sabotage our gender reveal because of some… fortune teller?” I said.

Nancy looked down at the floor, shame written all over her face.

“I thought if it was a boy, maybe if the cake was black, it would… I don’t know, change something? Like stop the curse somehow? There are three bay leaves in the cake, too.”

I pressed my fingers to my temple, trying to wrap my head around the absurdity. I knew my mother-in-law was a little eccentric, but this?

This was beyond anything I could have imagined.

Jerry let out a sharp breath, clearly trying to contain his frustration.

“Mom, you seriously let a con artist control your decisions? For ten years!?”

Nancy’s lip quivered, and I could see the weight of her fear—fear she’d been holding onto all these years—crumble in front of us.

“I didn’t know what else to do, Jerry! I just… I was terrified of losing you. And now, Misha! I thought if something happened to your family because of me… I wouldn’t forgive myself. I could never.”

And then she broke into quiet sobs.

That’s when Jerry’s cousin, Megan, chimed in.

She had been scrolling on her phone the entire time.

“Wait, hold on,” she said, squinting at the screen. “J. Morris… is that the fortune teller?”

“That’s the one!” Nancy exclaimed.

“She was exposed years ago, Aunty Nancy!” Megan said.

Megan held up her phone, showing an article to everyone in the room.

“Yeah, here it is! She was discredited and totally canceled. Turns out she faked her predictions and took money from desperate people. She’s a total fraud.”

Nancy blinked in disbelief, her mouth slightly open.

She stepped closer to read the article, her breath hitching as the truth hit her.

“I can’t believe this,” Nancy whispered, clutching her chest. “All these years… I’ve been so scared, and it was all for nothing?”

Jerry exhaled loudly, rubbing his forehead.

“Mom, you let this ruin such an important moment for me!” he exclaimed.

Nancy broke down again, covering her face with her hands.

“I’m so sorry. I never wanted to ruin your day. I just didn’t know how to stop believing it. I was so scared.”

For a moment, nobody said anything. The weight of her confession hung in the air. And as much as I wanted to be furious with her, seeing her like this—so broken, so human—made it impossible.

I walked over to Nancy and put my hand on hers.

“It’s okay, Mom,” I said. “I’m glad we know now. And I’m glad this is over. Now you can enjoy the rest of this pregnancy with us. You’re going to be a grandma!”

She looked up at me with tearful eyes, guilt etched into every line of her face.

“Thank you. I really am sorry, darling,” Nancy said, a smile forming on her face.

Jerry, still frustrated, let out a small laugh.

“Wait! So, does this mean we’re having a boy?” he asked.

The room erupted in nervous laughter. Even Nancy managed a watery chuckle, wiping away her tears.

Jerry grinned at me, squeezing my hand.

“Well, I guess we just had the world’s weirdest gender reveal.”

I couldn’t help but laugh along with everyone else. The tension was finally over, and the awkward silence dissolved into chatter and jokes.

“Black cake?” Megan teased, taking a picture of the cake. “I’m totally putting this on Instagram! #GothBabyReveal.”

In the end, we all grabbed plates and dug into the cake, white frosting, black sponge and all. It wasn’t the reveal I had imagined, but somehow, it felt just right.

There was joy, laughter, and relief, and that was all that mattered.

And now, all we had to do was wait for our baby to arrive.

What would you have done?

If you’ve enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you |

My In-Laws Demanded We Pay Them Back for Our Wedding They Funded as a Gift Two Years Ago

Before Simon and Emma got married, they were two kids with a dream wedding in mind. They knew that they would have to wait for years to make it happen, but then, Emma’s parents decided to pay for the wedding. Years later, the older couple started to demand their money back…

When Emma and I got engaged, her parents, Jerry and Linda, offered to pay for our wedding as their gift to us. Of course, we were overwhelmed by their generosity.

Em and I were both fresh out of college, struggling with student loans and entry-level jobs. If we wanted a wedding, it was going to take years of saving up to make it happen. And when it came down to it, the idea of a perfect wedding seemed like a distant dream until Jerry and Linda made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.

“They want to pay for the wedding, Simon!” Emma said one day after spending the evening with her family. “My dad said that it would be an honor to do it.”

I was surprised, but also it was something that Emma’s father would do, just because she wanted it so much.

“Will you let them do it?” she asked, holding a glass of water.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “I want to marry you, and this seems like the way we’ll get our perfect wedding.”

Read the full story here.

This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.