Twenty Plus Two

Chapter 28

In their room at the Siouxan Hotel in Bismarck, that evening, Alder said to Nikki: “If you want more time, Nikki, I will understand, but I think I should make the call. I want to make it.”

“I have thought of it a thousand times,” Nikki said. “I have gone over the words I would say and always they were different words. But we’ve got to call.”

Alder sat down on the bed and picked up the phone. “I want to make a call to New York City to the home of Mrs. Eleanora Delaney at Madison Avenue.”

He put his hand over the mouthpiece. “It will take a minute.”

Nikki seated herself in the chair by the bed and looked at him. Her eyes were clear and steady. There was no faltering in her, no weakness. She said, “What shall I say? It is so long, so many years. I was a child.”

“The words will come, Nikki. Besides, will I criticize what you say? Will your mother?”

“No.”

He took his hand from the mouthpiece. “Yes... thank you. Please!” A moment. “Hello... who is this, please? Arthur? I want to speak with Mrs. Delaney. Tell her that Tom Alder is calling.”

He covered the mouthpiece again. “Nikki, don’t be apprehensive. Your mother is an old woman — but she is you, Nikki. You, as you will be at her age. She has retreated into her world of memories, but this call will bring her back into your world. Our world. She is a strong woman — as you are strong.”

Nikki got up from the chair and sat down beside him. She took his free hand and held it in both of hers.

Mrs. Delaney’s voice said, “I expected you would call, although not as soon as you have. Have you — found her?”

“Yes. She is here beside me. She is very beautiful and what you said to me has come true. We are right for each other.”

“Thank you,” said Mrs. Delaney. “Thank you, my dear.”

He gave the phone to Nikki. She held it in her hand and looked at him. And at last he saw the strain in her eyes. He took her hand and she put the phone to her ear.

“Mother,” she said. “Oh, Mother!”

The tears came at last, the tears that had been many years in the making. Alder saw them and he knew that it was good.

Doris Delaney had come home.

After twenty years, plus two.