Libby nodded. “I don’t know how you ever left to begin with. I mean, I do. What with Cador and all. But . . .”

“I had to go. I’m glad I did. Glad I met you.” She bumped their shoulders together. “I never expected to make a friend, Libby. But I have, and I’m grateful for it. Grateful and . . . and maybe it’s the head injury, but I’m beginning to think maybe it was for a greater purpose too. That the Lord meant for you to come here this summer.”

The way Libby’s brows knit, and the way she took her lower lip between her teeth, made her seem at once a little girl, dreadfully uncertain, and an old woman who had seen too much. “I’ve never heard you talk so.”

“It’s not my way—I always left that to Ollie. But that doesn’t change the truth of it. And the truth is that I’ve never seen you as you’ve been since you got here a month ago.” She pulled Libby to a halt, waiting until she looked over at her. “You don’t have to go either, you know. At the end of summer. I know that was your plan, that this was just a respite to give Sheridan time to come to his senses and strike down your brother’s idea. I know you wouldn’t want to leave your mother. But there’s a place for you here. I wouldn’t have believed it had someone asked me before, but that’s truth too.”

Libby looked away. But not away. Not from Mabena so much as to the islands. “When you left here, you didn’t give up your place. You could go somewhere new and still know this was home.” She met her gaze again. “I’m not so certain that would be the case for me, if I chose the Scillies.”

If she chose Oliver, she meant. And she could well be right. “You have the rest of the summer to weigh that, then. To decide what you can live without and what you can’t. And I’ll be at your side to talk it through with you, if you need. That’s what friends are for.”

Libby gave her a small, mellow grin that felt like a gift. “I imagine I’ll take you up on that.”

They turned to the path again and walked up it without any more conversation. No doubt Libby’s mind was spinning as quickly as Mabena’s. About just as many things. And in Mabena’s case, it brought the headache roaring to the forefront again. She was rather glad Libby had declined returning to Tresco tonight. She found herself craving a hot cup of tea, some silence, and the bed at the cottage she’d grown accustomed to.

When they turned the key in the lock and stepped inside, though, she knew there’d be no rest tonight.