That's how it works.
Really, if you love your wife and want her to feel good about her self defense handgun it should be that way.
I lost a 3.8" 9MM XDM to my wife. She shot it, she liked it, she started calling it her "little pistol."
A few years later she shot my P09 in .40 S&W and it shot so much better than the XDM that she wanted it. She was really unhappy with the XDMs groups after shooting the P09. However, the P09 is just too big to carry around, for her anyway.
To try to keep her happy I bought her a pretty CZ 75 Compact (an older satin nickel coated gun that really look sharp and came with the box and all the paperwork as if it had never been used much, if at all). She was happy with that one. Till she shot a CZ 75 Compact I'd bought for a project. It shot better for her than her satin nickel compact and she wanted it. So, that one became her pistol (I did have the slide machined for a DP Pro so now she has a customized CZ 75 Compact. But she shoots it really well and she has confidence in her ability to use it -- that is what you want. You want your wife to be confident of her abilities to use her handgun if she needs to use it to protect herself or someone else (you/your children).
Good luck. It could be fun.