166 "When I opened the door to the mountain lodge I had spent years earning,

Before anyone could move, heavy headlights swept across the frosted living room windows, followed by the deep, rumble of a diesel engine. A truck door slammed.

Olivia’s face lit up with malicious relief. "Good! I called Sheriff Miller an hour ago because the furnace was making a noise and I wanted the county inspector to log it! Let's see who he kicks out!"

The heavy oak front door swung open. A gust of freezing snow swirled into the foyer, followed by a towering man in a fleece-lined canvas jacket and a county sheriff’s badge.

It wasn't Miller.

"Everything alright in here, Becca?" Cole Vance said, brushing snow off his wide-brimmed Stetson.

Cole was the deputy sheriff and the younger brother of the contractor who had helped me pour the foundation two summers ago. He had spent three days with me in the mud helping lift the central support beam when the crane company failed to show up.

Olivia immediately puffed out her chest, turning on the waterworks. "Officer! Thank god you're here. This woman just barged into our private family gathering, harassing my guests and threatening to throw my children out into the storm!"

Cole looked at Olivia. Then he looked at the champagne on the counter. Then he looked at me.

"Evening, Olivia," Cole said slowly. "Last time I checked the county records, Becca’s name is the only one on the parcel map. In fact, I helped her haul sixty sheets of drywall up these stairs last November."

Olivia’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

Jason stepped forward, completely unmoored. "Officer, wait. I wired fifty thousand dollars to Diane Hart’s account three weeks ago as an earnest money deposit for this property. We have a written contract!"

Cole raised an eyebrow and turned to my mother. "Diane? You selling real estate without a license again?"

"It was an internal family arrangement!" Diane cried, clutching her cardigan. "Becca was going to sign! I was going to convince her!"

"You took fifty thousand dollars from your son-in-law to sell him a house you didn't own?" I asked, looking at my mother in horror. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

"We needed the money, Becca!" Diane wept. "Olivia’s mortgage in Boulder was three months behind! They were going to foreclose! If Jason thought he was buying this cabin, he could refinance his portfolio! It was going to save them!"

The room erupted.

Jason backed away from Olivia like she was a venomous snake. "You told me the Boulder house was fully covered by your design agency! You said your business was thriving!"

"Jason, please, let me explain—"

"You stole fifty grand from my family inheritance to cover up your debts?!" Jason bellowed, heedless of the two dozen onlookers.