Chapter 1 - THE SON HE ALWAYS WANTED
For eight years, I believed Julian and I were building the same dream.
A noisy house. A crowded dinner table. Children racing through hallways. Family photographs that became more chaotic with every passing year.
We had four daughters—Sophie, Lily, Emma, and Grace—and I loved every one of them with a fierceness I couldn’t explain.
Julian loved them too.
At least, I believed he did.
But after every pregnancy, I saw the same shadow of disappointment cross his face when the doctor told us we were having another girl.
Julian wanted a son.
He talked about carrying on his name. Teaching a boy to play baseball. Handing down his grandfather’s watch. Having someone who would become “the man of the family” after him.
After my fourth pregnancy, I was exhausted and thought we were finished.
Julian wasn’t.
When I became pregnant a fifth time, he seemed almost unnaturally confident.
“This is him,” he kept saying.
And somehow, he was right.
After a long, difficult delivery, our healthy baby boy was finally placed in his arms.
For several seconds, Julian simply stared down at him.
I expected tears.
Instead, I watched something colder settle over my husband’s face.
Then he whispered six words that made every ounce of happiness inside me disappear.
May you like
“Finally. Now the girls don’t matter.”
And that was the moment I began to realize Julian had never told me the real reason he needed a son.
