AITAH for waiting until after the party to confess that my sister’s friend tricked me into revealing the baby’s gender?
My sister is pregnant with her first child, and her gender reveal party is over the weekend. She’s been super intentional about keeping the gender a complete surprise, making it clear that nobody in our family knows yet, not even our mom.
Everything was going according to plan until her friend "Teresa" got involved. Teresa has a history of taking advantage of my sister's kindness and making things about herself to the point where my sister’s husband dislikes her. She has major main character syndrome, and this pregnancy brought out her dark side. She even told my sister to her face that she didn't expect my sister to have a baby before her!
When my sister called Teresa to invite her and mentioned I was the gender keeper, Teresa offered to "help me out" even though she rarely speaks to me. My sister explicitly told Teresa that she would call me to ask if I needed her help. But the second Teresa hung up, she ignored what my sister said and called me. I asked her directly if my sister said it was okay for her to know, and she twisted it, saying my sister told her I could tell her if needed since she was going to help with the planning. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt as a close friend, but because she inserted herself before my sister and I could talk, I fell for the trap and let it slip.
Almost immediately, I realized I had been played. My sister texted me warning me that Teresa was going to ask about the gender but it was too late when I saw this. I called my sister right away, and she told me Teresa was being very insistent about knowing the baby's gender to help plan events, claiming she had to plan everything even though nobody asked her to. My sister found this deeply offensive since Teresa isn't immediate family and it was completely out of line.
My sister said it would be a bad idea to let Teresa be a second gender keeper because other family members were more deserving. Realizing how devastated my sister would be, when she asked if I had told Teresa, I panicked, lied, and said no. I only did it because I didn't want to ruin this special moment for her.
I knew the next step was to talk to Teresa. I explained to her how offensive it would be to our mom, cousins, and family if she knew before them. We agreed we would keep quiet, but she kept complaining that things felt rushed and claimed my sister should have been "more specific" about keeping it a secret.
During the party, I will be taking photos, which gives me the perfect excuse to stay busy and keep distance from Teresa. I’ve been feeling so guilty about lying, so my plan is to let my sister have her perfect, stress-free party without drama, and then sit down with her privately right after to tell her everything.
AITAH for waiting until after the party to tell my sister the truth, or should I have handled this differently?