Safe Haven

Alex Wheatley is a widow and father of two small children. He never intended to live in a small town like Southport. Instead, he always imagined he would live in a big city and become a police officer after leaving his job as a detective with the U.S. military’s Criminal Investigation Division. However, when Alex met Carly, everything changed. Her father offered him the family business, a small store with a house above it. It was a life that made his wife happy, and all he wanted was to make Carly happy. Neither of them could have known that Carly would become sick after only five years of marriage and pass away, leaving Alex alone.

Three years after Carly’s death, Alex realizes he might be ready to open himself to the idea of a new relationship. He enjoyed being married and understands that his children crave a maternal figure in their lives. When Katie walks into his store, he finds himself attracted to her awkward beauty and the way she interacts with his daughter. Using the skills he honed as a detective, he also concludes that Katie was abused by someone, likely a husband, and that she is a very brave woman for taking herself out of that situation. Alex pursues Katie because he admires her, quickly falling in love with the woman he discovers her to be.

Alex does not recognize in himself the kind of courage and strength it takes to be a single father after the loss of a spouse. He understands that he is grieving his wife, but also that he has the right to move on with his life. Even his wife gave him permission to remarry while she was alive. Alex struggles with his grief over his wife and his desire not to be alone, but the way he jumps wholeheartedly into a relationship with Katie shows the strength and courage he does not give himself credit for, but which is clearly a huge part of his character. Although Alex does not save Katie from her tormentor, he is the embodiment of the hope and strength she needs to confront her past and rescue herself.

Kevin Tierney repeatedly tells himself he is a good detective, a good provider, and a good husband. He does not understand why he hits Erin, but rather than look inward, he ascribes to himself a litany of positive character traits. He also recites passages of the Bible that support his beliefs that marriage is sacred and infidelity must be swiftly and firmly dealt with. Kevin is convinced that given even the slightest chance, Erin will be unfaithful to him. The irony of this belief is that Kevin is the only one who physically cheats during his marriage, as Erin/Katie has refused to become physical with Alex until she can reconcile within herself the restrictions imposed on her by her marriage.

Kevin is an alcoholic. Katie reveals that Kevin often drinks heavily upon arriving home from work before subjecting her to brutal physical abuse. After Katie’s disappearance, Kevin drinks even more heavily, often having a few swigs of vodka before work and drinking late into the night after work. The alcohol makes it difficult for Kevin to keep his thoughts clear. His drinking also impacts his work, leading to a suspension after he drunkenly tells the mother of a child murder victim to throw the suspect down the stairs. The suspension only causes Kevin’s drinking to grow even heavier, leading up to the night he learns Katie’s whereabouts.

It is unclear what caused Kevin to become an abuser. His lack of self-confidence and his doubts as to Katie’s motives in marrying him show that he does not has as much faith in his personal attributes as he has in his abilities as a detective. He believes he loves his wife, but his desire to hurt her is equal to any desire to love and be loved by her. This is exaggerated by his drinking, so it is no surprise that he is drinking heavily on the day he finally finds Katie/Erin again. His delusions reach new extremes, as Kevin drinks up to four bottles of vodka, eats very little food, and becomes sick on multiple occasions, all while denying he is drunk. Another delusion leads to Kevin’s death. He believes that by pulling the trigger, he will kill his wife, even though he is somewhat aware that the muzzle of the gun is pointed at his stomach. Even as he feels the pain of the wound and suffers the impact of the shot, he believes he has ended Erin/Katie’s life. He grieves for her as his life slips away.

Jo is Katie’s neighbor. They meet the morning Jo moves in, sharing a cup of coffee at Katie’s cabin. Jo talks about the dust in her cabin and the repairs that need to be done. As time passes, Katie sees her infrequently, but when she does, she takes note of things Jo is doing to the cabin to make it livable: She hangs a wind chime and nails a shutter back into place. Jo is Katie’s first real friend since she met Kevin, and she cherishes the interaction, sharing with Jo things she has not shared with anyone else.

Jo is a grief counselor. She is kind and gentle, and she takes the time to listen to Katie when she talks about her past and her fears. When Jo suddenly warns Katie to leave Alex and the kids alone if she isn’t serious about a relationship, the conversation encourages Katie to inspect her choices and make a decision that will render her new life more permanent. Jo pushes Katie to examine her life and her options, offering her guidance and helping her remain open to the hope Alex represents. Without Jo’s encouragement, Katie might have stayed closed off and unwilling to move forward with her life.

At the end of the book, Jo is revealed to be a manifestation of Carly, Alex’s wife. Carly died three years before the beginning of the novel from brain tumors. Alex worries about letting Carly down in her expectations of him as a father. He also worries the kids will forget about her. There are two letters Carly left behind when she died. In the first, she tells Alex that she wants nothing but happiness for him, and therefore he should make himself open to falling in love again. As for the other letter, Carly instructs Alex to give it to the woman he will one day fall in love with. Carly’s complete confidence that Alex will move on allows him to be open to love when it comes again. Carly and Alex’s relationship is clearly a unique one, and Carly was obviously a strong woman. She could see past her grief and fears to allow for the hope that Alex would find happiness again, even with another woman.

Kristen is Alex’s five-year-old daughter, and Josh is his seven-year-old son. Josh and Kristen were only four and two when Carly died, so they do not remember their mother well. Alex makes his kids a priority in his life; he is determined to keep their days full and to spend as much time with them as he can. Alex also insists that he will only remarry a woman if she treats Kristen and Josh as well as Carly did. Part of what draws Alex to Katie is the way she easily interacts with Kristen.

Kristen and Josh are both obstacles and rewards in Katie’s relationship with Alex. Katie quickly falls in love with the children. She has always wanted to be a mother, so the idea of taking on a readymade family is appealing to her. She does not want Kristen and Josh to feel like she is trying to replace their mother, and therefore she tries not to rush them into accepting her. After Katie saves them from Kevin, the whole family acknowledges that Katie was meant to come into their lives. The acceptance Katie receives from the children is quick and complete, adding to her sense of hope for the future.

Bill Robinson is Kevin’s captain with the Boston Police Department. He doesn’t pay a lot of attention to detail and is working within a bureaucracy that keeps his hands tied most of the time. Kevin sees Bill as a bumbling fool. He believes he is smarter than Bill, insisting that he is such a good detective that Bill wouldn’t be able to run his department without him. However, this proves to be false when Bill places Kevin on suspension for telling a murder victim’s mother to throw the suspect down the stairs. Bill states that he would fire Kevin if they hadn’t worked together for so long. He does not say that Kevin is a good detective, even though this is what Kevin believes. Bill also accuses Kevin of drinking and tells him he knows Erin is gone, even though Kevin thinks he has fooled everyone into thinking she is out of town. Bill reveals that Kevin’s grand beliefs about himself are merely delusions.