He laughed at the question. “I don’t think so, Miss Alex. Let’s just concentrate on each other for now. We can’t solve all the mysteries at once.” She had taken the news well, even though he knew she was very sad about it. They finished The Secret at Shadow Ranch that night. Alex loved the way it turned out, and the book suddenly had new meaning to her. As she listened to her father’s voice tell the story, she realized now that she lived alone with her father, just like Nancy. Nancy Drew didn’t have a mother either. Maybe one day she and her father could solve mysteries too. She wondered what had happened to Nancy Drew’s mom.
“You never know how a mystery is going to end,” she said thoughtfully when they finished the last page, but she had guessed the ending, or almost. She liked trying to figure it out along the way, and she was good at it.
“Life is a little bit like that too. Always full of surprises, sometimes good, sometimes not so good,” her father said quietly.
“I like the guessing part,” she commented.
“So do I,” he said, as he kissed her good night and tucked her into bed. “That’s why I like mystery books so much.”
She nodded, and he left the room after he turned off the light. She lay in bed, not knowing where her mother was and if she missed her at all, and if she was thinking about her. Two tears slid down her cheeks and into her pillow. Wondering when she would see her mother again, she said a little prayer for her and then drifted off to sleep, and dreamed of Carmen. She looked beautiful in the dream, and she had come back to live with them. She hoped her mother would too one day.
Chapter 3
Carmen filed for divorce a month after she called Eric, and he didn’t tell Alex. She didn’t need to know the technical details of the end of their marriage. She asked for a small amount of support for two years, and he agreed to give it to her, as he had on the phone. She wasn’t after money. Her freedom meant more to her. She was still in Miami when she wrote to him, she still hadn’t called Alex, and she said she was leaving for Las Vegas soon. Eric knew that if he was sending her money, he could keep track of where she was. For Alex’s sake, he didn’t want her disappearing, in case they needed or wanted to get in touch.
Two months later, she wrote to him from Las Vegas to give him her new address.
Alex was doing well, and had gotten over the initial shock of her mother not coming back. He wondered if she had expected it too. Both her teacher and Pattie reported that she was a little less chatty than before but seemed okay, which was his impression at home too.
They went to a dude ranch in Wyoming that summer, and Alex loved riding the horses and going to the rodeo. Once in a while, he remembered how much he had wanted a son before she was born, but she was loving and affectionate and there was nothing she couldn’t do. She loved baseball, she loved the books he selected for her, and she was good at sports. Her teacher said she had a gift for writing, and when they got back from Wyoming, Alex told him that she thought she might like to write books one day. She was eight and going into third grade, and they had heard nothing from Carmen since she wrote from Las Vegas.
“Do you think I could write mystery books when I’m grown up, Daddy?” She looked very intent when she asked him.
“You could,” he said thoughtfully, “but most of the big mystery writers are men. It’s a kind of book that men usually write. And in the case of the tougher thrillers and spy stories I like to read, it’s a style that men are naturally good at. Personally I don’t like to read mysteries written by women. I never do. So if you’re going to write mystery books, you’ll either have to write ‘cozy’ mysteries, like a woman called Agatha Christie, or if you write crime stories like I and a lot of men read, you should probably do it under a man’s name.” He sounded serious about it, and she was sure that he knew everything about mysteries because he read so many of them. It was all she ever saw him read.
“You mean I’d have to pretend to be a man?” She was startled by that idea, and he nodded. “Like wear a fake mustache and men’s clothes?” He laughed at her interpretation of it.
“You might look cute in a fake mustache,” he teased her. “No, I meant you could write them using a man’s name, so people think a man wrote them. There are some very good female mystery and crime writers, but I like male crime writers better myself. But you don’t have to wear boys’ clothes,” he said, and she seemed relieved.
“Why wouldn’t they read them if they knew I was a woman?” It made no sense to her, although she trusted whatever her father told her.
“Because in most cases, men write thrillers and women don’t.” He spoke with conviction on the subject.
“That’s silly, Daddy. I bet women could write them too.”
He shook his head and seemed convinced.
“Then I’ll use your name if I write when I’m older, and people will think it’s you.” She laughed at the idea, but she was impressed by what he’d said, and wondered if it was true. Her father was usually right about most things. And she liked the idea of writing books in his name. It sounded like fun to her, especially if it would make women and men want to read her books.
—
It was many months later when they finally heard from her mother again. She had been gone almost a year by then. Eric got a postcard from her saying that her boyfriend had some work to do in New York, and they were driving from Las Vegas, and would stop in Boston to see Alex. The divorce wasn’t final yet, and Eric didn’t tell Alex about her mother’s visit. He didn’t want to raise her hopes and disappoint her if in the end, she changed plans and didn’t show up.
Carmen called the house late one night, and Eric answered. Alex was sound asleep.
“We just got to town,” she said in her familiar voice.
“Where are you staying?”
She mentioned a cheap motel outside the city. “Can I see her tomorrow?”
It was Friday night, so Alex didn’t have school the next day. But even if she did, Eric would have kept her home to see her mother. It was too important not to. And he was sorry now that he hadn’t warned Alex that her mother was coming to town.
“Of course. She’s going to be thrilled to see you. How long are you staying?” He wondered whether seeing her mother would disrupt or upset her, but either way, he thought Alex should have a chance to visit with Carmen. It had been too long. And Alex talked about her from time to time, and said she missed her, hoped she was okay, and that she’d call. And now she was here. He hoped it wouldn’t be a shock.
“We’re going to New York tomorrow. I’m just here for the day,” Carmen said blithely.
“Do you want to pick her up after breakfast?” he offered, and Carmen hesitated for what seemed like a long time.
“Why don’t I just come to the house?”
He wasn’t anxious to see her, but he thought it might be easier for Alex that way. After nearly a year of total silence, her mother would feel like a stranger.
“Whatever you like,” he said politely, and she said she would be there at ten o’clock and they hung up.
He woke Alex the next morning, which he didn’t usually do on Saturdays, but he wanted to give her time to get ready and get used to the idea.
“Your mom’s in town,” he told her after she was fully awake.
“Here? Now?” Alex looked like he had said it was Christmas.