The Prodigal Daughter Read online

  “At last Papa woke up to what a nasty piece of work Henry really is.”

  “I think he’s always known, but there’s no denying Henry was useful to your father when he was in Washington. Personally, I think he’s still dangerous despite being removed from Congress.”

  “Why?” asked Florentyna.

  “Because I suspect he knows too much about the enmity between Abel and Richard’s father, and if he gets into any more debt, I fear he may trade that information with Mr. Kane direct.”

  “Never,” said Richard.

  “How can you be so sure?” 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 part my grandmother from a small family fortune 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 proceeded to throw him out of his own home.”

  “Omój 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?”

  “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.”

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  Nancy Ching had run the store well while Florentyna was away in the hospital, but with Kane junior safely parked in a crib in the 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. During 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 women 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 Osborne. 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, even 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 wou