Ezra and I will keep in touch through emails, even the occasional phone call; we share too much to fully let go. I will ask him to keep an eye on Avril Island for me, and eventually I will deed it to him and tell him to do whatever he sees fit with it. We will not see each other in person again. That would be just too painful.

I will dedicate the book I write about Avril Island to him. I will thank him for his friendship and remind him that he is forever in my heart, despite the distance that must be. That truth and the writing will help me come to terms with my parents and what they turned Avril Island into.

Time will cleanse the bad memories my parents created, and eventually I will feel only gratitude when I think of the place. Gratitude for Ezra, for May and our time there, for night swims and dock days, rainy-day card games, roaring fires, diving down deep into cool water, sailboats and cottage friends, late-night boat rides, skies full of stars and mornings full of sun.

As I grow older, it will be the place I go to most in my mind to calm me, to cheer me when I need an escape. Avril Island will always be a refuge, even if it’s only the memory of her. Because place can be taken away from you, but the imprint of place is tattooed on the inside of your soul, making it yours forever.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Jessica Hamilton was born in Australia but grew up in Ontario, Canada. She has lived and worked in the Czech Republic, Taiwan, India and Japan. She studied writing at the Humber School for Writers as well as George Brown College. She lives in Orillia, Ontario with her husband, son and daughter. What You Never Knew is her first novel.