The Prodigal Daughter (31 page)

Richard came in
from the adjoining room. “You look stunning,” he said.

“The old man
will fall in love with you on sight.” Florentyna smiled and brushed the
children’s hair while Richard changed. Their son, now seven, was wearing his
first suit and looked quite grown-up; Annabel had on a red dress with a white
ribbon around the hem: she had no problem with the latest mini fashion.

I think we’re
all ready,” said Florentyna when Richard reappeared. She couldn’t believe her
eyes: he was wearing a shirt with a thin red stripe running through it.

The chauffeur
opened the door of their hired Lincoln, and Florentyna followed her children into
the back. Richard took a place in the front.

As the car drove
slowly through the crowded New York streets Florentyna sat in silence. Richard
leaned over the back of his seat and touched her hand. The chauffeur came to a
stop outside a smafl but elegant brownstone on East
Sixty-eighth
Street.

“Now, children,
remember, you must be on your best behavior,” said Florentyna.

“Yes, Mummy,”
they said in unison, unawed by the thought of at last meeting one of their
grandfathers.

Before they had
even stepped out of the car the front door of the house was opened by an
elderly man in a cutaway who bowed slightly.

“Good evening,
ma’am,” he said.
“And how nice to see you again, Mr.
Richard.”

Kate was waiting
in the hall to greet them. Florentyna’s eyes were immediately drawn to an oil
painting of a beautiful woman who sat in a crimson leather chair, hands resting
in her lap.

“Richard’s
grandmother,” said Kate. “I never knew her, but it’s easy to ice why she was
considered one of the beauties of her day.”

Florentyna continued
to stare.

“Is something
wrong, my dear?” Kate asked.

“The ring,” she
said, barely in a whisper.

“Yes, it’s
beautiful, isn’t it?” said Kate, holding up her hand to display a diamond and
sapphire ring. “William gave it to me when hc asked me to be his wife.”

“No, the other
one in the portrait,” said Florentyna.

“The
antique one, yes, quite magnificent.
It had been in the family for
generations, but I fear it’s been lost for some years. When I remarked on its
disappearance to William he said he knew nothing of it.”

Florentyna
raised her right hand and Kate stared down at the antique ring in disbelief.
They all looked at the oil painting-there was absolutely no doubt.

“It was a
christening present,” said Florentyna. “Only I never knew who gave it to me.”

“Oh, my God,”
said Richard. “It never crossed my mind-”

“And my father
still doesn’t know,” said Florentyna.

A maid bustled
into the hall. “Excuse me, ma’am. I’ve told Mr. Kane that everybody has
arrived. He asked if Richard and his wife would be kind enough to go up
on their own
.”

“You two go on
up,” said Kate. “I’ll join you in a few minutes with the children.”

Florentyna took
her husband’s arm and climbed the stairs, nervously fingering the antique ring.
They entered the room to find William Lowell Kane sitting in the crimson
leather chair by the fire. Such a fine-looking man, thought Florentyna,
realizing for the first time what her husband would look like when he was old.

“Father,” said
Richard, “I would like you to meet my wife.”

Florentyna
stepped forward, to be greeted by a warm and gentle snWe on William Kane’s
face.

Richard waited
for his father’s response, but Florentyna knew that the old man would never
speak to her now.

ABEL PlCKED UP THE PHONE by the side of
his bed.
“Find George for me.

I need to get
dressed.” Abel read the letter again. He couldn’t believe that William Kane had
been his backer.

When George
arrived, Abel didn’t speak. He just handed over the letter.

George read it
slowly. “Oh, my God,” he said.

I must attend
the funeral.”

George and Abel
arrived at Trinity Church in Boston a few minutes after the service had begun.
They remained behind the last row of respectful mourners. Richard and
Florentyna stood on each side of Kate. Three senators, five congressmen, two
bishops, most of the chairmen of the leading banks and the publisher of The
Wall Street Journal were all there. The chairman and every director of the
Lester’s board were also present.

“Do you think
they can forgive me?” asked Abel.

George did not
reply.

“Will you go and
see them?”

“Yes, of
course.”

“Thank you,
George. I hope William Kane had a friend as good as you.”

Abel sat up in
bed looking toward the door every few moments. When it eventually opened he
hardly recognized.
the
beautiful lady who had once
been his “little one.” He smiled defiantly as he stared over the top of his
half-moon spectacles. George remained by the door as Florentyna ran to the side
of the bed and threw her arms around her father-a long hug that couldn’t make
up for eleven wasted years, he told her.

“So much to talk
about,” he continued. “Chicago, Poland, politics, the stores...
But first, Richard.
Can he ever believe I didn’t know until
yesterday that his father was my backer?”

“Yes,
Papa, because he only discovered it himself a day before you.
and
we are still not sure how you found out.” -

“A
letter from the lawyers of the First National Bank of Chicago who had been
instructed not to inform me until after his death.
Nkhat a fool
I’ve been,” Abel added. “Will Richard see me?” he asked, his voice sounding
very frail.

“He wants to
meet you so much. He and the children are waiting downstairs.”

“Send for them,
send for them,” Abel said, his voice rising. George smiled and disappeared.

“And do you
still want to be President?” Abel asked.

“Of
the Baron Group?”

“No,
of the United States.
Because if you do, I well
remember my end of the bargain.
If the result of the New Hampshire
primary turns out to be satisfactory...”

Florentyna
smiled but made no comment.

A few moments
later there was a knock at the door. Abel tried to push himself up as Richard
came into the room, followed by the children. The head of the Kane family
walked for-ward and shook hands warmly with his father-in-law.

“Good morning,
sir,” he said. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Abel couldn’t get
any words out, so Florentyna introduced him to Annabel and his grandson.

“And what is
your name?” demanded the old man.

“William Abel
Kane.”

Abel gripped the
boy’s hand. “I am proud to have my name linked with that of your other
grandfather. You will never begin to know how sad I am about your father,” he
said, turning to Richard. “I never realized.
So many mistakes
over so many years.
It didn’t cross my mind, even for a moment, that
your father could have been my benefactor. God knows, I wish I could have been
given one chance to thank him personally.”

“He would have
understood,” said Richard. “But there was a clause in the deed of the family
trust which didn’t allow him to reveal his identity because of the potential
conflict between his professional and private interests. He would never have
considered making an exception to any rule.

That’s why his
customers trusted him with their life savings.”

“Even if it
resulted in his own death?” asked Florentyna.

“I’ve been just
as obdurate,” said Abel.

“That’s hindsight,”
said Richard. “None of us could have known that Henry Osborne would cross our
paths.”

“Your father and
I met, you know, the day he died,” said Abel.

Florentyna and
Richard stared at him in disbelief.

“Oh, yes,” said
Abel. “We passed each other on Fifth Avenue-he had come to watch the opening of
your new store. He raised his hat to me. It was enough, quite enough.”

Soon they were
talking of happier days; both Abel and Florentyna laughed a little and cried a
lot.

“You must
forgive us, Richard,” said Abel. “The Polish are a sentimental race.”

“I know,” he
replied. “My children are half-Polish.”

“Can you join me
for dinner tonight?”

“Of course,”
said Richard.

“Have you ever
experienced a real Polish feast, my boy?”

“Every Christmas
for the past eleven years,” Richard replied.

Abel laughed,
then
talked of the future and how he saw the progress of his
group. “We ought to have one of your shops in every hotel,” he told Florentyna.

She agreed.

Abel had only
one other request of Florentyna: that she and Richard would accompany him on
his journey to Warsaw in nine months’ time for the opening of the latest Baron.
Richard assured him both of them would be there.

During the
following months, Abel was reunited with his daughter and quickly grew to
respect his son-in-law. George had been right about the boy all along. Why had
he been so stubborn?

He confided in
Richard that he wanted her return to Poland to be one Florentyna would never
forget. Abel had asked his daughter to open the Warsaw Baron, but she had insisted
that only the president of the Group could perform such a task, although she
was anxious about her father’s health.

Every week
Florentyna and her father would read together the progress report that came
from Warsaw on the new hotel. As the time drew nearer for the opening, the old
man even practiced his speech in front of her.

The whole family
traveled to Warsaw together. They inspected the first Western hotel to be built
behind the Iron Curtain and were reassured that it was everything Abel had
promised.

The opening
ceremony took place in the massive gardens in front of the hotel. The Polish
Minister of Tourism made the opening speech welcoming his guests. He then
called upon the president of tile Baron Group to say a few words before
performing the opening ceremony.

Abel’s speech
was delivered exactly as he had written it and at its conclusion the thousand
guests on the lawn rose and cheered.

The Minister of
Toitrism then handed a large pair of scissors to the president of the Baron
Group. Florentyna cut the ribbon that ran across the entrance of the hotel and
said, I declare the Warsaw Baron open.”

Florentyr
,a
traveled to Slonim to scatter the ashes of her father in
hi,, birthplace before returning to America. As she stood on the land where her
father had been born she vowed never to forget her origins.

Richard tried to
comfort her; in the short time he had come to know his father-in-law he had
recognized the many qualities he had passed on to his daughter.

Florentyi
ia
realized that she could never come to terms with their
short reconciliation. She still had so much to tell her father and even more to
learn from him. She continually thanked George for the time they had been
allowed to share as a family, knowing the loss was every bit as deep for him.

The last Baron
Rosnovski was left on his native soil while his only child and oldest friend
returned to America.

F
LORENTYNA KANE’S
APPOINTMENT AS CHAIRMAN of the Baron Group was confirmed at the board meeting
the day she returned from Warsaw. Richard’s first piece of advice was that she
transfer the head office of Florentyna’s from San Francisco to New York. A few
days later the Kane family flew back to stay in their little home on Nob Hill
for the last time. They spent the next four weeks in California making the
necessary arrangements for their move, which included leaving the West Coast
operation in the competent hands of their senior manager and putting Nancy
Ching in overall charge of the two shops in San Francisco. When it came to
saying goodbye to Bella and Claude, Florentyna assured her closest friends that
she would be flying back to the Coast on a regular basis.

“Going as
suddenly as you came,” said Bella.

It was only the
second time she had seen Bella cry.

Once they had settled
down in New York, Richard recommended that Florentyna make the shops a
subsidiary of the Baron Group so that the companies could be consolidated for
tax purposes. Florentyna agreed and made George Novak president for life on his
sixty-fifth birthday, giving him a salary that even Abel would have considered
generous. Florentyna became chairman of the Group and Richard its chief
executive.