She stared back at me.
The farmhouse belonged to me.
But not necessarily forever.
Grandma had included a condition decades earlier:
**If Amelia ever willingly chose to share the property with Linda’s child, the farmhouse would become equally theirs—not because either was entitled to it, but because Caroline’s daughter and Linda’s daughter should have the chance their mothers never had.**
Ava immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m not taking half your house.”
I laughed.
“You spent six months fixing it.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“You also put fourteen thousand dollars of your recovered trust money into the roof.”
She looked at Grandpa.
“You told her?”
“He’s terrible at secrets,” I said.
Grandpa looked offended.
I held out my hand to Ava.
She stared at it.
“You’re serious?”
“You were my sister for twenty-four years.”
“Technically cousin.”
“Don’t ruin the moment.”
She laughed through her tears.
