Rita’s on rampage, what to do?

Dear Diane: My wife and I went to visit her sister, “Rita,” a few months ago. Rita and her husband live about 50 miles from us, so we see each other a few times a year (holidays, the occasional get-together).

During our last visit, Rita took my wife into the garage and showed her an old, broken-down armoire that had once belonged to their mother. It was on its last legs, a lot of the wood was damaged and needed replacing. Rita herself even called it a “hunk of junk” and told my wife if we wanted the armoire, we could have it — or else she was going to have it hauled off to the dump.

The next day I rented a truck and made the 100-mile round trip to fetch the armoire. For the next month or so, I worked like a dog on it. I replaced the rotted wood, stripped it and refinished it — the whole nine yards.

The result of all that elbow grease (and not a few dollars) was an absolutely beautiful piece of furniture that now adorns our living room.

Last week, Rita and her husband came by our house for dinner. Rita noticed the armoire in all its glory and said she wanted it back. She now claims she only meant to loan it to us until we could get an armoire of our own. This is a bald-faced lie.

My wife is very upset by this. She is afraid that if we don’t give Rita back the armoire, that they may never speak again. I say we keep the armoire. Rita gave it to us. It’s ours. What say you?

— Horrified in Hartford

Dear Horrified: I hope you kept the receipts for the truck rental and all the materials you bought to restore the armoire. Get a total, then calculate the number of hours you spent working on it. Charge $15 an hour for labor. Add it all up and hand the bill to Rita.

If she refuses to pay for the restoration, then keep the armoire and deal with that spoiled brat’s tantrum.