“I’m not just a man of science, my lady. I’m also a man of faith. The sort who says that God created an orderly universe, set rules in motion, and so we can understand them with study enough—but who also believes that a God who made such rules can also break them on rare, very special occasions. He can whisper the future to His prophets. He can send and heal plagues. He can raise the dead.”

Her fingers went tight on his arm again, and when he moved his gaze to her, he found her eyes troubled. She kept them glued to the path ahead. “I struggle with that dichotomy, I confess.” Barely did she confess it—the wind nearly snatched the words away before he could hear them. “I always hear everyone speaking of the mysteries, and they quote the verse where Jesus said no one knows what makes a seed grow. But we do now. Does that mean I’m faithless, because I see only those rules as necessary, rather than the hand of God guiding every seed from planting to harvest?”

“No.” He reached over with his free hand to brush the fingers resting against his forearm. “Far from it. Humanity has grown. Our understanding has deepened. We know things now that Jesus couldn’t have said to people nineteen hundred years ago, because they wouldn’t have known what He was talking about. Some mysteries are no longer mysteries. That isn’t a lack of faith, to say so. It’s instead acknowledging that He created us capable of discovering nuances in the rest of creation. There is nothing wrong with that. Science and faith do not need to be at odds.”

The pain that flashed through her eyes must be linked, somehow, to that sorrow they had spoken of a week ago. “Doesn’t it? I want to believe you’re right, Mr. Tremayne. But it seems that some rather loud voices on each side disagree with you.”

They did, sadly. “Perhaps. But here’s the thing.”

She looked up at him, gaze expectant.

He grinned. “I’m right and they’re wrong.”

Her laughter joined the cry of the gulls overhead.

11

The morning air carried a chill in it that Libby hadn’t anticipated, but one that made her smile even as she suppressed a shiver. Sunlight, soft as a kiss, shot the mist through with gold, encircling the island with a promise of another beautiful day. She crossed her arms to try to keep in what warmth she had, all but skipping beside Mabena on the path to the beach.