Growing up, Mom always promised me our family’s lake house. It was my safe place — the one constant dream after my divorce left me shattered. When she finally handed me the keys, I poured everything into it. My savings, my weekends, my heart. I patched the roof, painted the walls, and turned the dusty old place into a home. My home.
Then one day, Mom dropped the bomb. “Katie, Sarah needs the house more. She has kids. You’ll understand.” I couldn’t believe it. Not only had she broken her promise, but I later learned through a neighbor that Mom and Sarah had planned to flip the house into a hotel using my money and sweat to do all the work for them. I was devastated, packing my things through tears, feeling like I’d been tricked by my own family.
For years, I tried to move on, cutting contact with Mom and Sarah. Then, life surprised me. I met Ethan, fell in love, and we had a daughter. One evening, Ethan handed me a property deed he’d bought as an investment. My hands shook when I saw the address. It was the lake house.
The hotel had failed miserably, and Ethan had bought it back for almost nothing. Standing there with my husband and daughter, I realized the house had found its way home to me. Mom and Sarah lost everything. But me? I gained a family, a future, and the lake house forever mine this time.