Even during a cello recital that Richard gave her in her flat, Florentyna’s mind was occupied by her father: how could he be so obdurate? As the Brahms sonata came to an end Richard put down his bow and stared into her gray eyes.
‘We have got to tell them soon,’ he said, taking her in his arms.
‘I know we must. I just don’t want to hurt my father.’
‘I know.’
She looked down at the floor. ‘Next Friday, Papa will be back from Washington.’
‘Then it’s next Friday,’ said Richard quietly, not letting her go.
As Florentyna watched Richard drive away that night she wondered if she would be strong enough to keep her resolve.
On the Friday they both dreaded, Richard ducked his morning lecture and traveled down to New York in time to spend the rest of the day with Florentyna.
They spent that afternoon going over what they would say when they respectively faced their parents. At seven o’clock the two stepped out of Florentyna’s apartment onto the pavement of Fifty-seventh Street. They walked without talking. When they reached Park Avenue they stopped at the light.
‘Will you marry me?’
It was the last question on Florentyna’s mind as she braced herself to meet her father. A tear trickled down her cheek, a tear that she felt had no right to be there at the happiest moment of her life. Richard took a ring out of a little red box — a sapphire set in diamonds. He placed it on the third finger of her left hand. He tried to stop the tears by kissing her. He and Florentyna broke and stared at each other for a moment. Then he turned and strode away.
They had agreed to meet again at the apartment as soon as their ordeal was over. She stared at the ring on her finger, and at the antique ring on her right hand, her favorite of the past.
As Richard walked up Park Avenue he went over the sentences he had so carefully composed in his mind and found himself on Sixty-eighth Street long before he felt he had completed the rehearsal.
He found his father in the drawing room drinking the usual Teacher’s and soda before changing for dinner. His mother was complaining that his sister didn’t eat enough. ‘I think Virginia plans to be the thinnest thing in New York.’ Richard wanted to laugh.
‘Hello, Richard, I was expecting you earlier.’
‘Yes,’ said Richard. ‘I had to see someone before I came home.’
‘Who?’ said his mother, not sounding particularly interested.
‘The woman I am going to marry.’
They both looked at him astonished; it certainly wasn’t the opening sentence Richard had planned so carefully.
His father was the first to recover. ‘Don’t you think you’re a bit young? I feel sure you and Mary can afford to wait a little longer.’
‘It’s not Mary I intend to marry.’
‘Not Mary?’ said his mother.
‘No,’ said Richard. ‘Her name is Florentyna Rosnovski.’
Kate Kane turned white.
‘The daughter of Abel Rosnovski?’ William Kane said without expression.
‘Yes, Father,’ said Richard firmly.
‘Is this some sort of joke, Richard?’
‘No, Father. We met in unusual circumstances and fell in love without either of us realizing there was a misunderstanding between our parents.’
‘Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding?’ he repeated. ‘Don’t you realize that jumped-up Polish immigrant spends most of his life trying to get me thrown off my own board — and once nearly succeeded? And you describe that as a “misunderstanding.” Richard, you will never see the daughter of that crook again if you hope to sit on the board of Lester’s Bank. Have you thought about that?’
‘Yes, Father, I have, and it will make no difference to my decision. I have met the woman with whom I intend to spend the rest of my life and I am proud that she would even consider being my wife.’
‘She has tricked and ensnared you so that she and her father can finally take the bank away from me. Can’t you see through their plan?’
‘Even you can’t believe something as preposterous as that, Father.’
‘Preposterous? He once accused me of being responsible for killing his partner, Davis Leroy, when I—’
‘Father, Florentyna knew nothing of the circumstances surrounding your quarrel until she met me. How can you be so irrational?’
‘She has told you she’s pregnant so you will have to marry her.’
‘Father, that was unworthy of you. Florentyna has never put the slightest pressure on me from the moment we met. On the contrary.’ Richard turned to his mother. ‘Won’t you both meet her and then you’ll understand how it came about?’
Kate was going to reply when Richard’s father shouted, ‘No. Never,’ and turning to his wife, he asked her to leave them alone. As she left, Richard could see that she was weeping.
‘Now listen to me, Richard. If you marry the Rosnovski girl I will cut you off without a penny.’
‘You suffer like generations of our family, Father, from imagining money can buy everything. Your son is not for sale.’
‘But you could marry Mary Bigelow — such a respectable girl, and from our own background.’
Richard laughed. ‘Someone as wonderful as Florentyna couldn’t be replaced by a suitable Brahmin family friend.’
‘Don’t you mention our backgrounds in the same breath as that stupid Polack.’
‘Father, I never thought I would have to listen to such pathetic prejudice from a normally sober person.’
William Kane took a pace toward his son. Richard never flinched. His father stopped in his tracks. ‘Get out,’ he said. ‘You’re no longer a member of my family. Never...’
Richard left the room. As he walked across the hall he became aware that his mother was leaning hunched against the banister. He went to her and took her in his arms. She whispered, ‘I’ll always love you,’ and released him when she heard her husband come into the hall.
Richard closed the front door gently behind him. He was back on Sixty-eighth Street. His only thought was how Florentyna had managed to face her own encounter. He hailed a cab and without looking back directed it to Florentyna’s apartment.
He had never felt so free in his life.
When he reached Fifty-seventh Street he asked the doorman if Florentyna had returned. She hadn’t, so he waited under the canopy, beginning to fear she might not have been able to get away. He was deep in thought and didn’t notice when another cab came to a halt at the curb and the frail figure of Florentyna stepped out. She was holding a tissue to a bleeding lip. She rushed toward him and they quickly went upstairs to the privacy of the apartment.
‘I love you, Richard’ were her first words.
‘I love you, too,’ said Richard, and took her in his arms, holding her tightly as if it would solve their problems.
Florentyna didn’t let go of Richard as he spoke.
‘He threatened to cut me off without a penny if I married you,’ he told her. ‘When will they understand we don’t care a damn about their money? I tried appealing to my mother for support, but even she couldn’t control my father’s temper. He insisted that she leave the room. I’ve never seen him treat my mother that way before. She was weeping, which only made my resolve stronger. I left him in midsentence. God knows, I hope he doesn’t take it out on Virginia and Lucy. What happened when you told your father?’
‘He hit me,’ said Florentyna very quietly. ‘For the first time in my life. I think he’ll kill you if he finds us together. Richard darling, we must get out of here before he discovers where we are, and he’s bound to try the apartment first. I’m so frightened.’
‘No need for you to be frightened. We’ll leave tonight and go as far away as possible and to hell with them both.’