FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — One North Carolina woman had a very happy Mother’s Day!

Vielka Roman, of Autryville, was celebrating Mother’s Day with a special meal with her fiance, Al, and her sister, Neris, according to the NC Education Lottery.

After, they decided to stop by Carlie C’s IGA on Cedar Creek Road in Fayetteville.

“Carolina Cash 5 is her favorite game, so I bought her the lucky ticket as a Mother’s Day present,” Neris said.

It wasn’t until the next day, when Roman and her fiance were off on a short vacation to the mountains, that Roman asked Al to check if the ticket was a winner.

“I was looking at the app on the phone and I saw confetti burst,” Al said. “I had to check the numbers five times to make sure they were real.”

Sure enough, the numbers were real, and that Mother’s Day ticket was worth $1,354,174, the jackpot.

The couple immediately turned the car around and set course, not for the Raleigh headquarters, but for her sister’s home.

“We are very close,” said Roman. “She was the first person I called.”

Then the trio took off to Raleigh.

Roman — or rather Roman and Neris — went home with $958,078.

“I think everyone would like to have a sister like her,” Neris said. “She has always been there for me, and when she won she said to me, ‘If I win, then you also win.’”

Having already bought a home in the area, Roman says this cash will help pay for a more relaxed life.

“It will be nice to have room to breathe,” she said. “Neris can have more time to plant in her garden. We will be able to spend more time with each other as a family.”

The jackpot was Carolina Cash 5’s third largest ever.