Page 12 of Lost Love Cove 4
“Did you say Oscar?” Paula asked, her eyes bright with concern.
“Yes,” Trent said.
“I’m coming with you,” Paula said. “Let me get my purse.”
Alisha and Trent shared a look. Surprise, then acceptance. The children had already become excited at the mention of a helicopter ride. There would be no keeping them calm until they were on board.
They moved quickly. The helicopter thumped over Key West and then skimmed the dark water. The lights of the island came up like a small constellation. Wind buffeted the cabin. Maggie squeezed Trent’s hand. Cody pressed into Alisha’s side. She kept one arm around him and watched the pilot’s jaw as he guided them down.
They set down as close to Lori’s house as the pilot could manage. The rotors slowed. The door slid open to the wet air, accompanied by the sharp scent of pine and salt. Medics moved in a practiced flow across the lawn toward the porch. The front door opened. Alisha saw her father first, strong and steady in the doorway. Beside him stood Carrie, a man she did not know, and a younger man, one-legged and wearing a thick bandage around the other.
The medics swept past them and went to work. The children slipped free, ran for Carrie and Matt, and were gathered in with tears and laughter. Alisha followed with Trent beside her. She kept her eyes on what was going on around them and on him, both at once.
“Who are you really, Trent?” she asked under her breath. She stopped just short of Lori’s garden gate, and he stopped too. They stood a little apart from the reunion, as if they were only observers.
“I’m Trent Ryder,” he said. One eyebrow lifted. “Is your head injury flaring up?”
She ignored the comment about her head injury. “I’m sure that is your name,” Alisha said. She touched two fingers to his side, gentle but pointed. He flinched but did not catch her hand as he worked through the pain in a way that only the trained eye would notice. “I also know you did not just get off early. You’re hurt and were probably put on medical leave.” Her eyes narrowed as she held his. “What I do not know is if you’re a good man or a bad one. Because I’m more than sure you are lying about working for the FBI.” She tilted her head. “That operations facility we were in last night was no FBI special operations building.”
His eyes widened. He drew a breath. Before he could speak, they were engulfed by their parents. Children. Voices. And while this conversation was far from over between them, Alisha turned and smiled at her father as his strong arms grabbed her and pulled her to him. Relief tumbled over everything else.
Carrie could not stop the tears as Maggie threw herself into her arms. “Oh, sweetheart, are you okay?” Carrie asked, her voice shaking with love and fear and relief all at once.
“I’m okay,” Maggie said. She pulled back enough to show a brave smile. Words poured out of her about the mall and the purse and the man who fell, sentences stacking on one another. Carrie smoothed her hair and kissed her temple.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alisha saw Matt fold Cody into his chest as he kept an arm around Alisha. She heard the breath Matt let out, low and rough, and the word thank you that left him as if it had been held for hours as Paula’s eyes locked with Matt’s. She nodded before turning toward the stretcher that was being lifted to carry the young man.
Paula’s voice carried over to them. “Oscar.” She hurried forward, eyes sharp with worry. “What happened?” She reached his side and kissed his forehead, her hands moving over him like a quick scan for harm.
“I’m okay,” Oscar said with a half laugh that sounded more like a wince. “Really.”
Carrie and Matt watched, confusion pulling at their faces. The medics rolled the stretcher. Oscar lifted a hand. “Wait,” he said, and they paused. He turned to Paula first. “Carrie and Matt really looked after me.” He shifted his head toward them. “Thank you. I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused.”
“Oscar,” Paula said, exasperation and relief tangling in her voice. “What have you done now?”
“Nothing. I promise, Mom,” Oscar said.
The word landed, eliciting a gasp from Carrie and Matt as they gaped at mother and son. Alisha turned and frowned at them, wondering what that was all about.
Before she could say anything, she felt Trent at her shoulder, close enough that she could sense the heat of him through his shirt. She didn’t look at him. Alisha kept her eyes on the people she loved and on the woman who had saved them, who now stood with her son.
The medics moved again and guided the stretcher toward the helicopter. Paula took Oscar’s hand and walked alongside him. Her face was set with that look of a mother whose only concern at the moment was for the welfare of her child. That’s when Alisha realized she had yet to thank Paula for what she’d done.
“Paula, wait,” Alisha said, and the woman turned, giving Alisha a curious look.
Alisha rushed forward and hugged Paula. “Thank you. Thank you for saving Cody and Maggie. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been at the right place at the right time.”
Paula’s eyes softened as she used her free arm to hug Alisha back. “I’m just glad I got there in time,” she said, her words sending alarm bells ringing in Alisha’s head, but she shook them away as she straightened and looked at Oscar. “I hope you get better soon.”
“Thanks,” Oscar said. “I hope so too. I need this leg to surf and skate.”
“You won’t be doing any of that for a while,” Trent’s voice sent a shiver down Alisha’s spine as he stepped up beside her. “Alisha, do you mind if I have a word with Paula and Oscar… alone?”
Alisha’s brows rose. “Sure,” she said, forcing a smile. “Thank you again, Paula.” With that, Alisha walked back toward Lori’s garden gate, where her father stood holding Cody on his hip with Carrie, who was holding Maggie in front of her, watching them.
As she made her way toward them, Alisha’s thoughts dipped for a breath to Tom. To a year of uniforms and folded flags and how silence can be so loud. She was still married to the world on paper. She told people that truth because it felt like armor. She could feel the weight of the chain under her collarbone, where she wore all three rings. They steadied her and kept Tom close to her heart.
A hand brushed her elbow. She turned, surprised that she was already at the gate, and found Carrie smiling warmly at her. “Thank you,” Carrie whispered. “For bringing Maggie home.”
