Confused and shaken, I walked around to the garage. A faint light was glowing inside. I opened the door and found them—my parents.
They were living there. A cot, a camping stove, a couple of folding chairs. My dad was quietly fixing a cabinet. My mom, bundled in a coat, smiled at me like everything was normal.
I asked, “What is this?”
“It’s temporary,” she said. “Cassandra and Nathan are renovating.”
“In the house?”
She nodded. But something didn’t feel right.
I told them to pack a bag and promised I’d be back in an hour.
I got them a room at the best hotel in town. Two beds. One week. Warm blankets. A real bathroom. TV. Comfort.
That night, I opened my laptop. I work in contracts, and I know my way around legal documents. I started digging.
The next day, my mom and I found the old house deed, tucked away in a file cabinet in the garage. My parents’ names were still on everything. Cassandra’s? Not once. Legally, she and her partner were just guests.
And guests can be asked to leave.
I messaged Cassandra and invited her to lunch. She showed up looking polished and cheerful, not realizing I had recorded the entire conversation—where she openly spoke about their intentions for the house.
Three days later, I came back with an eviction notice and a police escort.
Nathan opened the door, coffee in hand. I handed him the paperwork. “You’ve been served.”
Cassandra tried to protest, but the facts were clear. They weren’t on the deed. They didn’t have a lease. They had no legal right to the house.
Within a week, my parents were back in their home. When my mom saw her favorite centerpiece on the table again, she smiled and said, “I thought this was gone.”
“I saved it,” I told her. “Just in case.”
Later, my dad handed me the house deed and said, “If anything happens to us, it’s yours. You came back for us.”
No grand speeches were needed. Just a quiet hug between a father and daughter.
As for Cassandra? She’s staying elsewhere now, still trying to tell her side of the story. But the truth speaks for itself.
That Easter didn’t go as planned—but in the end, it brought my parents back home. And that’s all that matters.