“There’s some pretty big reveal in this paperwork, June.” He tapped what must have been the envelope against my leg.

I wondered what that was even supposed to mean—big reveal. I ignored him. He got bored easily, and I was sure I could wait him out. But my bladder did feel quite full. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten up to pee.

“Jim said it’s going to take some time for probate but everything is outlined here.” He rustled the papers like they were some bone and I was a dog who would come out of hiding for it. “May left you everything. The only stipulation is that you put her stocks into an account for the girls’ education.”

I pulled the sheet taut against my face to answer him—despite myself. “I already know all of that, Leo. I know about every bloody penny and investment May had. There’s no big reveal there.”

He gave a smug little chuckle, and I began to untangle my leg from the sheet so I could actually kick him.

“Sure, but did you know that your mother actually had a will and in it left something to May?”

I sucked a breath in and held it there like a hostage. I’d completely forgotten about the appointment May had had with our mother’s lawyer. The one right before the accident. I’d never found out what it was about.

“Weird, though,” Leo continued, “that she didn’t leave it to you as well.” Nothing about it felt weird, which in itself was weird, but that pretty much summed up my relationship with my mother. She was unpredictable, and in no way had she ever played fair between me and my sister.

“Just please leave the paperwork and go,” I begged. I couldn’t deal with the grief of May and being reminded of how inconsistent my mother could be, right up to the end.

I finally felt the bed shift as Leo stood, but I could see through the thin white sheet that he was still staring down at me. “Avril Island is on the list of May’s assets. It was willed to her by your mother.”

The mention of my family cottage made the sheets around me suddenly turn to the brownish-green water that had surrounded the island. I could smell its earthy scent; feel the cold of its depths, the warmth at its surface. Before drowning in the sensation, I pulled the sheet away from my face.

Leo couldn’t help but smile; he’d finally gotten what he’d come for, the big reveal. “Your mother never sold Avril Island, June.” He held up the envelope, which contained that shocking truth. “And now it’s yours.”

MAY