Healing Haven - Book 2 in Haven Series [Complete]

3| - Reunited

Hauling the last of her luggage off the carousel, Alyssa flagged down a porter rather than fight with managing the load herself. One of her many rules about traveling-accept that sometimes you needed a helping a hand.

And, for any trip longer four hours, always fly business.

Traveling was stressful enough. No reason to spend it in coach, unless absolutely necessary, with a stranger practically sitting in your lap the whole jaunt.

With Cleo inside a soft Louis Vuitton carry-on that stayed with her at all times during the flight, Alyssa looped the straps over her arm. They'd touched down in the mid-afternoon. And outside the airport the weather was bright, sunny and seasonably warm. With Vancouver sharing the same coast line as California that came as no surprise but meant the coat she was wearing was a bit of an inconvenience.

Travel folder clutched to her chest, Alyssa thumbed through the pages as she waited for her the line for cabs to thin out. Return flight itinerary, weather forecast, island information and history-because she liked to be prepared-along with her car rental confirmation and emergency call list/medical details. Not that she expected anything was going to happen, health wise. She'd been off chemo for two years and her last check-up three months ago confirmed that all treatments had been successful, but should anything arise, Alyssa wanted the information handy.

For sanity and peace of mind.

"Here you go, miss." The porter rolled her luggage over to her side as a cab pulled to the curb. Handing him a twenty, she slid into the back and waited for her things to be loaded into the trunk before giving the driver directions to the ferry. Her car rental was located on island and would be available tomorrow.

There'd been a couple options hitched the airport, but as neither were her preferred brand Alyssa elected to stick with what she knew. Trusted. Less room for surprises or disappointments that way.

At the dock, the cabby helped her with her bags, loading them in a special cabin on the ferry. Tipping his gratefully, Alyssa wound up the stairs to the top deck and setting Cleo's carry-on at her feet, leaned against the rail. The breeze was strong up here, the wind kicking-thick with the scent of water and salt. The sun warm but the air crisp. Suddenly she was grateful for her coat.

Despite being late into September, the ferry was tightly packed with bodies, and from her observations, she'd pegged the majority was tourist based rather than local islanders returning home after a long day of work on the mainland.

After everything that happened with Eva in the summer, Marshall had blown the lid off the story with the death of an internationally coveted hit man and Randy Kincaid's connection to the assassination attempt. The media had gobbled it up, cycling the details for weeks on end.

Strange how Alyssa had gone for almost five years not knowing anything about what had happened or any details of the investigation, to all of a sudden walking up to the morning news and a sea of reporters baying for her side of the story.

She'd turned them all down, of course, refusing any public statements or comments. Not that it mattered. By dragging it all out into the spotlight Marshall had made them all as safe as they could ever hope to be. Turning up the heat up so high that Randy was too hot to touch and no one wanted to get burned by association. He'd been left to fend for himself.

The case went to bed quickly, and Randy made the mistake of electing to self-represent despite the developments in the investigation. The courts made short work of the proceedings and handed down a crippling twenty-five years to life sentence with no possibilities of parole.

That meant Eva and her girls could live without fear and worry. Without a need to hide anymore. It meant that finally she could be reunited with her sister.