The Prodigal Daughter (27 page)

“Never,” said
Richard.

“How can you be
so sureT’ asked George.

“You mean after
all these years you don’t know?” Richard asked.

George stared
from one to the other. “Know what?”

“Obviously not,”
said Florentyna.

“You’ll need a
double,” said Richard, and poured George another large brandy before
continuing.

“Henry Osborne
hates my father even more than Abel does.”

“What? Why?”
said George, leaning forward.

“Henry was
married to my grandmother, after my grandfather died.” Richard poured himself
another coffee before continuing. ‘Many years ago when he was a young man, he
tried to pail my grandmother from a small family for-tune soon after my
grandfather had died. Osborne didn’t succeed because my father, aged only
seventeen, discovered that Henry’s Harvard and military background was nothing
more than a front and proceedcd to throw him out of his own home.”

“Om6j Jezu!”
said George. “I wonder if Abel knows any of this.” He hadn’t noticed it was his
turn to throw the dice.

“Of course he
does,” said Florentyna. “
it
must have been the
deciding factor for employing Henry in the first place. He needed someone on
his side who he could be certain would never open his mouth to Kane.”

“How did you
find out?”

“Pieced it
together when Richard discovered I wasn’t Jessie Kovats. Most of the stuff on
Henry is in a file locked in the bottom of Papa’s desk.”

I thought I was
too old to learn so much in one day,” said George.

“Your day’s
learning hasn’t begun,” said Richard. “Henry Osborne never went to Harvard,
never served in the war, and his real name is Vittorio Togna.”

George didn’t
speak, just opened his mouth.

“We also know
that Papa has got hold of six percent of Lester’s Bank. Just imagine the
problems he could cause if he could lay his hands on another two percent,” said
Florentyna.

“We suspect he’s
trying to buy that two percent from Peter Parfitt, the man who opposed my
father when he was proposed for chairman of Lester’s. Abel’s final aim is the
removal of my father from his own board,” Richard added.

“That may have
been right in the past.”

“Why not now?”
queried Florentyna.

“Abel won’t
become involved with anything as silly as removing your father from the bank
while Kennedy has him in mind for Warsaw. So you need have no fear in that
direction. And perhaps that might make you consider coming as my guest to see
the candidate open the new Baron in Los Angeles?”

167

“Is there any
hope that Richard will be invited as well?” “You know the answer to that,
Florentyna.” “Another game, George?” said Richard. “No, thank you. I know a
winner when I see one.” He removed his wallet from an inside pocket and handed over
eleven dollars. “Mind you, I still blame the doubles.”

N
ANCY CHING HAD
RUN THE STORE WELL while Florentyna was away in the hospital,
b
ut with Kane junior safety parked in a
cfib in die back room, Florentyna was only too happy to return to work. She
explained to Miss Tredgold when she sent the first photo of them together that
she was hoping to be a responsible mother until it became impossible not to
employ someone. “Not that I’ll find anyone like you outside of Much Hadham,”
she added. Drifing the first two years of their marriage, both she and Richard
had concentrated on building their careers. While Florentyna was acquiring her
second store, Richard was advancing another rung on the bank ladder.

Florentyna would
have liked to spend more time concentrating on fashion trends rather than
day-to-day finances, but she felt unable to ask Richard to spend every night on
her books after he returned from the bank. She discussed her bold ideas for the
future with Nancy, who was a little skeptical about placing so many orders for
small women’s sizes.

“
it
may suit me”-the petite Chinese girl grinned--but not
most American women.”

“I don’t agree.
Small is going to be beautiful and we must be the first to anticipate it. If American
wornen think it’s the trend, we are going to witness a skinny revolution the
like of which will even make you look fat.”

Nancy laughed.
“Looking at your future orders for fours and sixes, you’d better be right.”

Neither Richard
nor Florentyna brought up the vexing subject of their families after George’s
visit since they both despaired of any reconciliation. They both spoke to their
mothers on the phone from time to time, and although Richard received letters
from his two sisters, he was particularly sad that he was not invited to attend
Virginia’s wedding. This unhappy state of affairs might have drifted on
indefinitely had it not been for two events. The first was hard to avoid, while
the second was caused when the wrong person picked up the phone.

The first
occurred because it was Los Angeles’ turn to open a Baron.

Florentyna
followed its progress with great interest while she was preparing to open her
third store. The new hotel was completed in September 1960 and Florentyna took
the afternoon off to watch Senator John Kennedy perform the opening ceremony.
She stood at the back of a large crowd that had come to see the candidate while
she kept an eye on her father. He seemed to her a lot older and had certainly
put on weight,
From
those who were surrounding him it
was obvious that he was now well connected in Democratic circles. If Kennedy
was elected, she wondered, would her father be offered the chance to serve
under him. Florentyna was impressed by the competent speech of welcome Abel
made, but she was mesmerized by the young Presidential candidate who seemed to
her to embody the new America. After she had heard him, she passionately wanted
John Kennedy to be the next President. As soon as the speech was over, she left
the newly opened Baron resolved to give time in San Francisco and send money to
the Ninth District of Illinois for the Kennedy campaign, although she suspected
that her father had already contributed a sum that would make her own efforts
appear minuscule. Richard remained unshakably Republican and a supporter of
Nixon.

“No doubt you
remember what Eisenhower said when he was asked about your standard-bearer?”
Florentyna teased.

“Something
unflattering, I’m sure.”

“‘During your
administration ,
a journalist asked him, ‘in which major decisions
has Vice President Nixon participated?”‘

“And what was
Ike’s reply?” inquired Richard.

“‘If you give me
a week, I might think of one.”‘

During the
remaining weeks of the campaign, Florentyna spent what free time she had
addressing envelopes and answering phone calls at the party’s headquarters in
San Francisco. Unlike the past two elections, she was convinced the Democrats
had found a man in whom she could place unreserved support. The final
television debate between the candidates re-awakened in her the political
ambitions so nearly buried by Henry Osbotme. Kennedy’s charisma and political
insight were dazzling, and Florentyna was left to wonder how anyone who had
followed the campaign could possibly vote Republican. Richard pointed out to
her that charisma and good looks were not to be traded for a future policy and
a proven record, ever) if it had to include a five o’clock shadow.

All through
election night Richard and Florentyna sat up watching the results. The twists,
the turns and the upsets lasted all the way to California, where by the
smallest margin in American electoral history Kennedy became President.
Florentyna was ecstatic about the final outcome, while Richard maintained that
Kennedy would never have made it without Mayor Daley and the Cook County ballot
boxes-or lack of them.

“Would you vote
the Democratic ticket if I were running for office?”

“
it
would depend on your policies. I’m a banker, not a
sentimentalist.”

“Well,
unsentimentid banker, I want to open another store.”

“What?” said
Richard.

“There’s a
bargain going in San Diego, a building with a lease of only two years to run,
but it could be renewable.”

“How muchT’

“Thirty
thousand dollars.”

“You’re inad,
Jessie. That’s your projected profits for this year gone in expansion.”

“And wh0e you’re
on the subject of expansion, I’m pregnant again.”

When the
thirty-fifth President delivered his inaugural address Florentyna and Richard
watched the ceremoney on television in the apartment above the main shop, “Let
the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the
torch has been passed to a new gen eration of Americans, born in this century,
tempered by war, disciplined b
‘ y
a hard and
bitterpeace... ... Florentyna’s eyes never once left the man in whom so many
people had placed their trust. “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask
what you can dofor your country... ... When President Ken nedy concluded his
speech, Florentyna watched the crowd rise and found
herself
joining in the applause. She wondered how many people were clapping in other
homes throughout Amer
ica
. She turned to Richard.

“Not bad for a
Democrat,” he said, aware he was also clapping.

Florentyna
smiled. “Do you think my father is there?” rhe
Past
:
1934-1968 171

“Undoubtedly.”

“So now we sit
and wait for the appointment,” George wrote the next day to confirm that Abel
had been in Washington for the celebrations. He ended on the words: “Your
father seems confident about going to Warsaw, and I am equally sure that if
he’s offered the position, it will be easier to get him to meet Richard,” “What
a friend George has turned out to be,” said Florentyna.

“To
Abc!
as
well as to us,” said Richard thoughtfully.

Each day
Florentyna checked the new appointments as they were released by Pierre
Safinger, the White House press secretary, but no announcement concerning the
Polish ambassador was forthcoming.

W
HEN FLORENTYNA
DID SEE HER FATHER’S NAME in the paper, she could hardly miss it: the banner
headline was all across the front page:

THE CHICAGO BARON ARRESTED

Florentyna read
the story in disbelief.

NEW
YORK-
Abel Rosnovski, the international hotelier known
as the Chicago Baron, was arrested at 8:30 this morning at an apartment on East
Fifty-seventh Street by agents of the FBI. The arrest took place after his
return the previous night from a business trip to Turkey, where he had opened
the Istanbul Baron, the latest in his chain of hotels.

Rosnovski
was charged by the FBI with bribery and corruption of government officials in
fourteen different states. The FBI also wants to question ex-Congressman Henry
Osborne, who has not been seen in Chicago for the past two weeks.

Rosnovski’s
defense attorney, H. Trafford Jilks, made a statement denying the charges and
added that his client had a full explanation which would exonerate him
completely. Rosnovski was granted bail in his own recognizance of $10,000.

The news story
went on to report that rumors had been circulating in Washington for some time
thatt the White House had been considering Mr. Rosnovski for the post of the
next U.S. ambassador to Poland.

That night
Florentyna lay awake wondering how it could have all happened and what her
father must be going through. She assumed Henry was involved in some way and
determined to follow every scrap of information that was reported in the
papers. Richard tried to comfort her by saying there were very few businessmen
alive who had not at some stage in their careers been involved in a little
bribery.

Three days
before the trial was due to begin, the Justice Department found Henry Osborne
in New Orleans. He was arrested, charged and immediately turned State’s
evidence. The FBI asked Judge Prescott for a postponement to discuss with
ex-Congressman Osborne the contents of a dossier on Rosnovski that had recently
come into their possession. Judge Prescott granted the FBI a further four weeks
to prepare their case.

The press soon
discovered that Osborne, in order to clear his considerable debts, had
originally sold the file that he had compiled over ten years while serving as a
director of the Baron Group to a firm of private investigators in Chicago. How
the file had then come into the hands of the FBI remained a mystery.

Florentyna was
fearful that with Henry Osborne as star witness for the prosecution her father
might have to serve a long jail sentence. After another sleepless night,
Richard suggested she ought to contact her father.

She concurred
and wrote him a letter assuring him of her support and her belief in his
innocence. She was about to lick the envelope when she walked over to her dCsk,
took out her favorite picture of her son and sent it to his gTandfather.