That lake house meant the world to me. All my childhood memories were related to that place, so when my mom told me she would give it to me, I was so excited I started the renovations right away.
I put every dollar I had into that house. What’s most, I did most of the work myself. From painting the fence and the walls, patching the roof, and scrubbing every single inch of that place until my hands felt raw.
I simply put my heart and my soul into the lake house, and when I finally thought I could move in, my mom delivered some shocking news.
“Kate, dear,” she said one day, “I’m aware I promised you the lake house, but Stella needs it more than you do.”
Hearing those words made my world collapse. Stella, my sister, was the golden child. She always got everything she wanted. And I… I was left with her leftovers.
I couldn’t understand why Stella needed the place more than I did, but then my mother dropped a bomb. “Honey, you see… she’s got children, and you don’t, so…”
My mom was well aware that not having children wasn’t a decision I made. I simply couldn’t have any, and that was the reason why my ex-husband left me. Both my mom and Stella witnessed my struggles. They both knew how I felt when my marriage ended, but they didn’t seem to care, so why would they now?
First, I was left to pick up the pieces of my life with Tom, and now I was left to do the same with that lake house I loved so much.
As I was packing my things, my mom’s words echoed in my head – “Stella needs it more than you do.”
When I left the place, I ran into my neighbor, an elderly woman named Lucy.
“Listen Kate, there is something you should know,” she said as she grabbed me by my arm.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused and a bit overwhelmed.
“Honey, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I overheard your mom and your sister talking about the lake house. They are planning on turning it into a hotel. And with your renovations, you saved them a ton of money.”
“What?” I yelled. “So this was their plan from the start?”
“I guess it was,” Mrs. Lucy said as she tried to comfort me.
The betrayal by my own family felt bitter. I couldn’t believe my mom and Stella were capable of such a deceit.
I tried hard to move on. And then, when I least expected it, I met Ethan. He was the most lovely person I’ve ever met in my life. We started dating and he proposed. Life felt good again, and then, a miracle happened. I fell pregnant and welcomed a son.
I was happy with my family, but somehow, I always thought of my mother and her betrayal. It was something I wasn’t able to get over.
A couple of years passed by. One day, while I was doing the dishes, I noticed some papers on the kitchen counter.
When I took them in my hands, I realized they were a deed to the lake house. But how could that be?
“Ethan!” I yelled as loud as I could. “What’s this?”
Ethan smiled at me and said, “It’s finally yours, just like it was always supposed to.”
It turned out that my mom and sister went bankrupt and were forced to sell the lake house they turned into a tiny hotel.
I heard they owed money and that their hospitality venture failed big. Maybe it was karma, or maybe it was just bad luck, who knows, but at that point, I didn’t really care. All I cared for was the future, and it looked bright.
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