Absolutely Truly (35 page)

Lots of people have been stopping by the bookstore to meet Dad and check up on me, both locals and tourists passing through. And just like Aunt True predicted, they sample our mini pumpkin whoopie pies and end up buying books.

So everything worked out for the best in the end.

The warm west wind that blew into town along with all the publicity carried with it the promise of spring. It melted the snow sculptures and released the frozen river from the grip of the ice, and ensured what Annie Freeman says will be a S-T-U-P-E-N-D-O-U-S maple syrup harvest this year.

I've been spending lots of time in the backyard since that night at the covered bridge, making friends with more of my grandfather's chickadees. I also added a cedar waxwing and an evening grosbeak and a ruffed grouse to my life list.

There would be more birds to add, come spring. Spring meant the return of meadowlarks and barn swallows, orioles and towhees, tanagers and buntings. And out on Lake Lovejoy, there would be osprey to watch diving for fish.

It might not be so bad to be stuck here in Pumpkin Falls, I decided, come spring.

Plus, my birthday was just around the corner, and that meant Mackenzie's visit.
I was looking forward to introducing her to my new friends.

“You know, I could have saved myself a whole lot of trouble if I'd just given that envelope to Aunt True in the first place,” I mused to Cha Cha and Jasmine, stepping carefully around a puddle of slush as the three of us made our way downtown after school one afternoon.

“Yeah, but if you had, we might not all be friends,” Cha Cha replied.

“And there'd be no Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes,” added Jasmine.

They had a point. I was going to miss our adventures, but a town this small couldn't have any more mysteries to solve, could it?

“And don't forget the bookstore,” added Jasmine. “You were the one who saved it.”

That was a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, I'd inadvertently found
Charlotte's Web
, and yes, our business had gotten a boost from all the news about “a truly big splash.” It still wasn't enough to turn the tide, though. What really turned the tide was Belinda Winchester.

She may look homeless, but it turns out Belinda invested her lunch-lady earnings shrewdly over the years, and she's rich. Her earnings support her kitten rescue, and she also fessed up to being the anonymous donor who gave the
Charlotte's Web
sculpture to the local library years ago.

When Belinda realized what losing that autographed first edition meant for our family—and when she learned about the deadline hanging over our heads—she offered to become a silent partner in the business. Or maybe not-so-silent, since she's working part-time at the bookshop now. She knows everything there is to know about mysteries, so Dad and Aunt True have put her in charge of that section. She's as happy as a clam.

Aunt True also took her shopping for some new clothes, which is kind of like the blind leading the blind if you ask me, which nobody ever does. At least Belinda doesn't look like such a bag lady anymore. Well, except for the kittens. She almost always brings one or two along with her to work.

Dad says he still thinks Belinda Winchester is odd, but Aunt True reminded him that while books bring people together, it's people who bring communities together.

“A community is like a family,” she told him, “and every family has a few odd ducks. The important thing to remember is that they're still family.”

Belinda Winchester is definitely an odd duck, and so is Ella Bellow. We all kind of wish Ella had moved to Florida, but she's opening a knitting shop across the street from us next month instead. The sign is already up over her half of Earl's Coins and Stamps. She's calling it “A Stitch in Time,”
but Dad calls it the “Stitch and Snitch,” since he says it's destined to be our town's new gossip central.

Ella also decided to keep her new kitten. She named it Purl, or as Annie Freeman tells everyone, “P-U-R-L, like the knitting stitch.”

On the night before winter swooped in again, I heard something outside as I was getting ready for bed.

Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo!

I crossed to the window, threw it open, and leaned out to listen more closely. There it was again—
Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo!

I held my breath. Could it be? I looked up at the full moon—an owl moon!—that hung in the sky. Its light reflected on the sodden snow below and shone through my window, puddling at my feet in a silvery glow.

I looked over at the picture book displayed on my shelf and thought of the father who takes his child owling.

Which in my case has never happened.

What if I rewrite the story?
I thought.
What if in my story, the girl asks her father to go owling instead?

“Dad!” I called, grabbing Gramps's barn coat and wool hat and stuffing my feet into my sneakers.

He didn't answer, so as I clattered downstairs, I reached for my cell phone and called him. A moment later, I heard the sound of his ringtone from the kitchen.

It was the theme song from
The Magnificent Seven
!

And right then and there I knew for sure that our family was going to be okay.

And that's exactly how it all happened, absolutely truly, cross my heart and hope to fly.

Heartfelt thanks to Ellen Ingwerson and Clara Germani, whose expert knowledge of competitive swimming helped keep me out of deep water; and to MG (R) Lee Baxter for guidance on all things military. Any errors that managed to slip through the net are entirely my own. And a great big shout-out to my friend Victoria Irwin and to René Kirkpatrick and the entire staff at Eagle Harbor Book Co. on Bainbridge Island, Washington, for letting me play in their sandbox one long winter weekend. The world is absolutely truly a better place with bookstores like this one in it!

Cookies

¹
/
₂
cup butter, softened

1
¹
/
₄
cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 cup pumpkin

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 T. molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¹
/
₂
tsp. ground ginger

¹
/
₂
tsp. ground cloves

¹
/
₄
tsp. ground cardamom

¹
/
₄
tsp. salt (only if using unsalted butter, otherwise omit)

Filling

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

6 T. butter, softened

¹
/
₂
tsp. vanilla extract

1
¹
/
₂
cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F.

FOR COOKIES: Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Add pumpkin, vanilla extract, and molasses; beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add to pumpkin mixture and stir well. Using a teaspoon-size cookie scoop (or a heaping teaspoon), drop onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookie springs back to the touch, or a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

FOR FILLING: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually mix in powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Generously frost the flat side of one cookie with filling, then top it with the flat side of another one to make a “sandwich.” Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.

The Borrowers
by Mary Norton

Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White

Cinderella
by the Brothers Grimm

Frog and Toad Are Friends
by Arnold Lobel

Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë

Little House on the Prairie
by Laura Ingalls Wilder

A Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Long Winter
by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Mary Poppins
by P. L. Travers

Millions of Cats
by Wanda Gag

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
by Betty MacDonald

Owl Moon
by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr

Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
by Joan Aiken

Also by Heather Vogel Frederick

The Mother-Daughter Book Club

Much Ado About Anne

Dear Pen Pal

Pies & Prejudice

Home for the Holidays

Wish You Were Eyre

Once Upon a Toad

The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed

The Education of Patience Goodspeed

Spy Mice: The Black Paw

Spy Mice: For Your Paws Only

Spy Mice: Goldwhiskers

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2014 by Heather Vogel Frederick

Jacket illustration and hand-lettering copyright © 2014 by Charles Santoso

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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Jacket design by Krista Vossen

Art direction by Krista Vossen

Interior design by Hilary Zarycky

The text for this book is set in Fournier.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Frederick, Heather Vogel.

Absolutely Truly / Heather Vogel Frederick.—First edition.

pages cm.—(A Pumpkin Falls mystery)

Summary: Twelve-year-old Truly Lovejoy's family moves to a small town to take over a bookstore. Soon, she has to solve two mysteries involving a missing book and an undelivered letter.

ISBN 978-1-4424-2972-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4424-2974-1 (eBook)

[1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Families—Fiction. 3. Moving, Household—Fiction. 4. Community life—New Hampshire—Fiction. 5. New Hampshire—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.F87217Ab 2014

[Fic]—dc23

2013046926