As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark

selling the babies. I almost died.”
    â€œDo you know where she went?”
    â€œNo, I don’t. I don’t want to know.”
    â€œDid she have any friends who visited her?”
    â€œShe pretty much kept to herself.”
    Trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice, Alvirah confirmed, “Then there is no one you can think of who might have been a friend?”
    â€œWho’d want to be a friend to someone who sold babies?” Mulligan asked. “Cora Banks’ social life, if she had any, didn’t take place in that house.”
    With that Alvirah said good-bye, left and got into the car. “Let’s go home,” she said to Willy.
    By the disappointed note in her voice he could tell that she hadn’t gotten very far talking to Jane Mulligan. He listened as she gave him a summary of the conversation.
    â€œThen you didn’t learn anything that will help Delaney find her birth mother?”
    â€œNo, I didn’t, but I do know why Jennifer Wright is uncomfortable talking about the adoption with Delaney. She doesn’t want her to know they bought and paid for her.”
    â€œMaybe that was the only way they could get a baby,” Willy suggested. “They were nearly fifty years old when they got her. Maybe it showed how much they wanted her.”
    â€œI suppose so,” Alvirah admitted. “But in my opinion it’s one thing for a young woman to give up her baby, but it’s another thing if she sells it to the highest bidder.”
    She paused, then said, “I’m not going to tell Delaney this. I’ll just say it was a dead end.”
    â€œDo you have to give up or are you still going to keep searching for Delaney’s mother?”
    â€œOf course I’ll keep going,” Alvirah said heartily. “I know the woman who referred them to Cora Banks is dead, but with any luck she had a big mouth and did some talking to her friends or family.”
    â€œWho are her friends or family?”
    â€œThat’s for me to find out,” Alvirah said. “I’ll look up her obit notice. It has to name some of her family members. I’ll start there.”
    They crossed the bridge from Pennsylvania into New Jersey and were on the Turnpike heading into Manhattan when Alvirah suddenly volunteered, “You know, Willy, I really did love some of those tiles. I mean the pictures of how they’d look in the kitchen and bathrooms were a wakeup call to me. I made myself a promise. If we can track down Delaney’s mother, I’m going to do some renovating. But only if we find her.”
    Willy sighed. “Honey, you mean I’ll do some renovating and you’ll watch.”
    Alvirah turned and smiled at him. “Willy, I’ve always said you are a deep thinker.”

20

    D elaney and Jon walked downtown to Fifty-Seventh Street. Just before they reached First Avenue they went into Neary’s restaurant.
    â€œWhen I was growing up in New York, I came here a lot with my grandfather,” Jon commented as they were escorted to a table. He looked around. “It’s timeless. It hasn’t changed.”
    â€œIt’s my first time,” Delaney confessed.
    â€œOh, there have been great moments here. It was a favorite place of Governor Carey. He was famous for saying that the Lord changed water into wine and Jimmy Neary reversed the process.”
    As Delaney laughed she realized that she felt as though she had known Jon forever. She also realized how absolutely delighted she was that after a month of non-communication, he had suddenly appeared.
    It was an evening of getting to know you better. She had told him that she was a court news reporter and absolutely loved the job, but now instead of being the co-anchor fill-in, she told him she was about to become co-anchor of the six o’clock news.
    â€œThat’s a pretty big promotion,” Jon observed. “By the way, I remember you like a