I’d barely set my suitcases down at the cottage when my daughter-in-law called. “We’re on our way—twenty of our family. Make sure everything is ready for our two-week stay.” I smiled to myself… and started planning my next steps.

“One.”

“And the toilets?”

“One.”

My cousin muttered, “Twenty people, one toilet? No thanks.”

Emily addressed the group. “Without a permit—which lasts three to five business days—you can’t stay overnight here. Day visits are allowed, but overnight stays are not.”

Ashley protested, “That’s ridiculous! We drove six hours!”

“The hotels are twenty minutes away,” I said gently. “Very nice hotels.”

Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Ashley… maybe we should have called first.”

She looked at him angrily.

Emily handed Ashley a flyer. “If you try to stay without permission, the fine is $1,200 per person, per night.”

Twenty people. Two weeks.

Ashley counted. She paled.

There were whispers in the group:
“We can’t afford this.”

“We should have asked first.”

“Let’s rent a hotel.”

Ashley walked determinedly to the porch.
“Do you think that will stop us?”

I smiled. “No, honey. That was just the beginning.”

Another car pulled into the driveway.

For full cooking times, go to the next page or click the “Open” button (>). Don’t forget to SHARE this with your friends on Facebook.

This time it was someone Ashley definitely wasn’t expecting.

David—my ex-husband and Ryan’s father—showed up. The same man Ashley once said was “not elegant enough” to sit at her rehearsal dinner table.