New Direction

1 The Change in the Air

The trip to Brazil to arrest Cristiano and the subsequent gunbattle was a catalyst that made Alex’s adoption of Aurea the crucible of change that Alex had expected it to be. She recognized it as such and on her return to Cincinnati, she had let Matt know her feelings. She was seeing the adoption as a way to add new meaning to their lives.

Matt agreed with her that adopting Aurea was a positive life changing event for him as well. He confided in her that it gave him new energy and a desire to see Aurea grow up happy and empowered. He wanted to give her hope for the future the way his father had given it to him.

One morning over breakfast, Alex voiced her desire to move back to Evanston and give Aurea the chance to experience growing up much as she had. She recognized that the way her parents had raised her was the way she wanted to raise Aurea.

Matt thought that it was a great idea and said that he probably could easily get hired there as an EMT.

Alex said that she wanted to change their lives for the better. She then added that she wanted to buy the marina where the Golden Goose was docked, and she wondered whether he would be interested in running the marina.

Matt smiled and said that he would be more than happy to do so. He chuckled and asked if he could become the captain of the Golden Goose.

Aurea piped in and said that she could help in running the bait shop, and she could be a deckhand on the Golden Goose.

Alex nodded and said that she wanted to make the Golden Goose a money maker by taking people out to go fishing.

Matt said that he was going to start taking lessons to become a certified captain.

Aurea asked if she could take lessons too.

Alex said that all of them could take lessons together. She added that it would be great to run the marina as a family affair.

She contacted Dexter the owner of the Marina, and asked if he would consider selling the marina to her.

Dexter replied that her timing was right for him, and he could think of no one better to sell it to. He asked if he could continue to work for her and help her get the hang of managing the marina. He added that he was ready to take more time off and travel a little and play golf more often.

Alex said that she would welcome his guidance but that she wanted to have Matt do the actual hands-on management.

She added that she wanted to make the Golden Goose a money maker that would help her pay for the marina.

Dexter said that he would get the paperwork to sell the marina to her ready. He asked if he could hold the mortgage until it was paid off.

Alex said that she wanted them to remain friends and would feel better if the mortgage was held by a finance organization because she planned to accelerate the payment so that she would have a clear title as soon as she generated the money to pay for it. She added that her mother had always advised against having a friend hold a mortgage if you wanted to have that friend for life.

Dexter laughed and said that the advice was a good one and it sounded like her mother, who always was all business.

His comment caused Alex to call her mother and let her know what she had in mind.

Rose-Anne was ecstatic when she heard what Alex had in mind. She said that both she and Russel would love to have Alex, Matt and Aurea live in the house. It would bring new life to it, and she was willing to make breakfast and lunch forever. She asked how soon Alex was planning to make the move.

Alex replied that it would take a few months to get everything organized and arranged. She added that if Aurea were to spend the summer in Evanston the transition might go faster.

Rose-Anne let out a whoop and said that she would love to have Aurea lead the way. She added that Russel would spoil her by taking her fishing every weekend.

She, Matt, and Aurea went to Maui on a two-week vacation where she was faced with more change. Linda and Lorie no longer the two little girls that she had rescued from the forest of Pennsylvania, asked for her support as they ventured into the business of being private investigators. Their request and subsequent discussions sealed Alex’s decision to open up her own private investigative service as part of the move to Evanston.

Her offer to make them junior partners in her new venture in a private office in Evanston was eagerly accepted.

She enrolled the two in finding an office location within five miles of the marina.

Annie, Linda, and Lorie’s mother thanked her for taking the two under her wings. She added that she liked that fact that the two were planning to have an office in Oahu as part of the venture.

Alex said that she was going to have an office in Evanston, would have an office in Cincinnati and now one as well in Oahu. She added that the Oahu office would be out of the apartment that Linda and Lauri were renting and the one in Cincinnati would be out of her house. This would let the two get started with a minimum of overhead.

She said that she was making the move to Evanston and setting up the main office there.

On her return to from vacation, she offered Trey, her long-time work partner and Johnnie, her internet wizard, partnerships in the investigative service.

She would have liked to extent such an opportunity to Bill and Trevor who had supported her during her entire career in Cincinnati, but she knew the two had been discussing retiring, buying a place near Lake Cumberland, and enjoying fishing and golfing.

Once the picture of what she had in mind came to her, she began to list the things she needed to get done to make it all happen.

She left Aurea in Hawaii with her mother and father who were coming in for a vacation at her Maui beach side home. Aurea would fly home with them when their vacation came to an end.

Aurea thought it was a great way to make the move to Evanston. She said that she was eager to live there and go fishing out on the lake.

Alex got all the paperwork prepared to resign her position. She came in and was going to share her decision but was surprised that the Chief called all five of them into his office.

The Chief held up a set of papers and said that they were his retirement papers. He said that he would stay on until the next Chief was identified.

He looked at her and said that he was putting her name in as his replacement.

Thank You for reading this far.