My fork clinked hard against the plate. Lauren Caldwell had no heart, and she didn’t care who suffered for the sake of her career. “I wondered if this might happen. Well, what are we going to do?”

She shook her head slowly. “I’ve decided to go back to Papua New Guinea, to a new village.”

“When?” I choked out. My insides felt compressed, fearing her answer.

“I’m not sure. A few days, maybe.”

I stood, walked to the kitchen entrance, and leaned against the wall. Even with all the intelligence in the world, I couldn’t make her stay. And I couldn’t undo anything that might have added to her reasons for leaving.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” she said. I could hear in her voice that she was crying again. “And feeling.”

I looked back at her. “I think…and I feel…that I love you. I don’t want you to leave.”

She stood and came to me, wrapping her arms around me. “I love you too, Creighton.”

I wiped her wet cheeks with my thumb. She had said what I wanted to hear, but I knew her loving me didn’t mean we could be together. “Abby, are you doing this because of the legal danger or because you want to go back to the jungle?”

She looked into my eyes for several long moments, tears still swimming in her own. “I don’t know. I’m not sure it matters. This is the right thing to do. The jungle is my home. I’ve missed it ever since I got here.”

“And what about us?” I said softly. “I didn’t know you’d ruled out a future together.”

“I think…” She paused, seeming to gather her thoughts and will away any more pain. “I treasure our relationship more than I could’ve imagined. You’re incredibly special to me, Creighton. I wish I could be with you and with the Inisi. But I can’t.” She paused, then gave a mischievous half smile. “I just can’t picture you hunting crocodiles with a spear.”

“No. But maybe I could lecture one to death.” I kissed the top of her head.

We stood embracing for several minutes longer, both silent and, I imagined, accepting the inevitable.

“Abby, have you thought much about that first message your grandparents sent? The one about restarting Christianity?”

She paused a moment. “Yes…and I sense that God has used me the way he wanted to. Not how I expected, but the way he planned all along. All the pressure I put on myself to fulfill this grand mission—God simply wanted to live through me, as me. Not as some great missionary.” She smiled. “I think he’s done that.”

I gently ran my hand through her hair. “Will you have enough time to teach Sabin before you go?”

“I can do that from the jungle.”