第 61 页

'No, she's already gone home, Richard. Left a few seconds ago. She can't have gone far. I thought you were meeting her later.'

Richard ran out on to Lexington Avenue without replying. He searched for Jessie among the faces hurrying home, then spotted her on the other side of the street, heading towards Fifth Avenue. Since she obviously wasn't going home, he somewhat guiltily decided to follow her. As she reached Scribner's at Forty-eighth Street, he stopped and watched her go into the bookshop. If she wanted something to read, surely she could find what she wanted from Bloomingdale's. He was puzzled. He peered through the window as Jessie talked to a sales clerk who left her for a few moments and then returned with two books. He could just make out their titles : The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith and Inside Russia Today by John Gunther. Jessie signed for them - that surprised Richard - and left as he ducked around the comer.

'Who is she?' said Richard out loud as he watched her enter Benders. The doorman saluted respectfully, leaving a distinct impression of recognition. Once again Richard peered through the window as assistants fluttered around Florentyna with more than casual respect. An older lady appeared with a package which she had obviously been expecting. She opened it to reveal a simple, stunning, evening dress. Florentyna smiled and nodded as the assistant placed the dress in a brown and white box.

Florentyna mouthed the words 'Thank you' and turned towards the door without even signing for her purchase. Richard was mesmerised by the scene and barely managed to avoid colliding with her as she ran out of the shop and jumped into a cab. He grabbed one himself, telling the driver to follow her. When the cab passed the small building outside of which they normally parted, he began to feel queasy. No wonder she had never asked him in. The cab in front continued for another hundred yards and stopped outside a spanking new block of flats complete with a uniformed hall porter who opened the door for her. With mingled anger and astonishment, he jumped out of the cab and started to march up to the door through which she had disappeared.

'That'll be ninety-five cents, fella,' said a voice behind him.

'Oh, sorry,' said Richard and thrust five dollars at him showing no interest in his change.

'Thank you,' said the driver. 'Someone sure is happy today.'

Richard ran to the door of the building and managed to catch Florentyna at the lift. Florentyna watched the door slide open and stared at him speechlessly.

'Who are you?' demanded Richard.

'Richard,' she stammered. 'I was going to tell you everything this evening. I never seemed to find the right opportunity.'

'Like hell you were going to tell me,' he said, following Florentyna into her apartment. 'Stringing me along with a pack of lies for nearly three months. Now the time has come for the truth.'

Florentyna had never seen Richard angry before and suspected that it was very rare. He pushed his way past her brusquely and inspected the flat. At the end of the entrance hall, there was a large living room with a fine oriental rug. A superb grandfather clock stood opposite a side table on which there was a bowl of fresh flowers. The room was beautiful, even by the standards of Richard's own home.

'Nice place you've got yourself for a sales girl,' said Richard. 'I wonder which of your lovers pays for this.'

Florentyna slapped him so hard that her own palm stung. 'How dare you?' she said. 'Get out of my home.'

As she heard herself saying the words, she started to cry. She didn't want him to leave - ever. Richard took her in his arms.

'Oh, God, I'm sorry,' he said. 'That was a terrible thing to say. Please forgive me. It's just that I love you so much and thought I knew you so well; and now I find I don't know anything about you.'

'Richard, I love you too, and I'm sorry I slapped you. I didn't want to deceive you, but there's no one else - I promise you that!' Her voice cracked.

'I deserved it,' he said as he kissed her.

Clasped tightly in one another's arms, they sank on to the couch and remained almost motionless for some moments. Gently, he stroked her hair until her tears subsided. Help me to take my clothes off, she wanted to say, but remained silent, slipping her fingers through the gap between his two top shirt buttons. Richard seemed unwilling to make the next Move.

'Do you want to sleep with me?' she asked quietly.

'No,' he replied. 'I want to stay awake with you all night!

Without speaking, they undressed and made love, gently and shyly, frightened to hurt each other, desperately trying to please. Finally, with her head on his shoulder, they talked.

'I love you,' said Richard. 'I have since the first moment we met. Will you marry me? Because I don't give a damn who you are, Jessie, or what you do, but I know I must spend the rest of -my life with you.'

'I want to marry you too, Richard, but first I have to tell you the truth.'

Florentyna pulled Richard's jacket over their naked bodies and told him all about herself, ending by explaining how she had come to be working at Bloomingdale's. When she had completed her story, Richard did not speak.

'Have you stopped loving me already?' she said. 'Now you know who I really am?'

'Darling,' said Richard, very quietly, 'my father hates your father.'

'What do you mean?'

'Just that, the only time I ever heard your father's name mentioned in his presence, he flew completely off the handle saying your father's sole purpose in life seemed to be a desire to ruin the Kane family!

'What? Why?' said Florentyna, shocked. 'I've never heard of your father. How do they even know each other?'

It was Richard's turn to tell Florentyna everything his mother had told him about the quarrel with her father. 'Oh, my God,' she said.

'That must have been the "disloyalty" my father referred to when he changed banks after twenty-five years. What shall we do?'

'Tell them the truth,' said Richard, 'that we met innocently, fell in love and now we're going to be married, and nothing they can do will stop us.'

'Let's wait a few weeks,' said Florentyna.

'Why?' Asked Richard. 'Do you think your father can talk you out of marrying me?'

'No, Richard,' she said, touching him gently as she placed her head back on his shoulder. 'Never, my darling, but let's find out if we can do anything to break it gently, before we present them both with a fait accompli. Anyway, maybe they won't feel as strongly as you imagine. After all, you said the affair with the airlines company was nearly five years ago.'

'They still feel strongly, I promise you that. My father would be outraged if he saw us together, let alone thought we were considering marriage.'

'All the more reason to leave it for a little before we break the news to them. That will give us time to think about the best way to go about it.'

He kissed her aoain. 'I love you, Jessie.'

'Florentyna.'

'That's something else I'm going to have to get used to,' he said. 'I love you, Florentyna.'

During the next four weeks, Florentyna and Richard found out as much as they could about their parents' feud, Florentyna by asking her mother and George Novak a set of carefully worded questions, Richard from his father's filing cabinet. The extent of the mutual hatred appalled them. It became more obvious with each discovery that there was no gentle way to break the news of their love. During the next four weeks they spent every free moment they could find together. Richard was always attentive and kind, and nothing was too much trouble. He went to extremes to take her mind off the problem that they knew they would eventually have to face. They went to the theatre, skating, and on Sunday$ took long walks through Central Park, always ending up in bed long before it was dark.

Florentyna even accompanied Richard to watch the New York Yankees which she 'couldn't understand' and the New York Philharmonic which she 'adored'. She refused to believe Richard could play the cello until he gave her a private recital. She applauded enthusiastically when he had finished his favourite Brahms sonata without noticing that he was staring into her grey eyes.

'We have got to tell them,' he said, placing his bow on the stand and taking her into his arms.

'I know we must. I just don't want to hurt my father!

It was his turn to say, 'I know.'

She avoided his eyes. 'Next Friday Daddy will be back from Washington!

'Then it's next Friday,' said Richard, holding her so close she could hardly breathe.

Richard returned to Harvard on Monday morning and they spoke to each other on the phone every night, never weakening, determined that nothing would stop them.

On Friday Richard arrived in New York earlier than usual and spent an hour alone with Florentyna who had asked for a half-day off. As they walked to the corner of Fifty-seventh and Park, they stopped at the flashing red 'Don't Walk' sign, and Richard turned to Florentyna and asked her once again to marry him. He took a small red leather box out of his pocket, opened it and placed a ring on the third finger of her left hand, a sapphire set in diamonds, so beautiful that tears came to Florentyna's eyes; it was a perfect fit. Passers-by looked at them strangely as they stood on the corner, clinging to each other, ignoring the green light flashing 'Walk!. When eventually they did obey its command, they kissed before parting and walked in opposite directions to confront their parents. They had agreed to meet again at Florentyna's flat as soon as the ordeal was over. She tried to smile through her tears.

Florentyna walked towards the Baron Hotel, occasionally looking at her ring. It felt new arid strange on her finger and she imagined that the eyes of all who passed by would be drawn to the magnificent sapphire and to her, it looked so beautiful next to the antique ring, her favourite of the past. She had been astonished when Richard had placed it on her finger. The problem of their parents' rivalry had made her forget rings or any of the other trappings that attend a happy engagement. She touched the diamond-encircled sapphire and found that it gave her courage, although she was aware that she was walking more and more slowly as the hotel drew nearer and nearer.

When she reached the reception desk, the clerk told her that her father was in the penthouse with George Novak. He called to say that Florentyna was on her way up. The lift reached the forty-second floor far too quickly for Florentyna, and she hesitated before leaving its safety. She stepped out on to the green carpet and heard the lift door slide closed behind her. She stood alone in the corridor for a moment before knocking quietly at her father's door. Abel opened it immediately.

'Florentyna, what a pleasant surprise. Come on in, my darling. I wasn't expecting to see you today.'

George Novak was standing by the window, looking down at Park Avenue. He turned to greet his goddaughter. Florentyna's eyes pleaded with him to leave. If he stayed, she knew she would lose her nerve. Go, go, go, she said inside her brain. George sensed her anxiety immediately.

'I must get back to work, Abel. There's a goddamn maharajah checking in tonight!

'Tell him to park his elephants at the Plaza,' said Abel genially. 'Now Florentyna's here, stay and have another drink.'

George looked at Florentyna. 'No, Abel, I have to go. The man's taken the whole of the thirty-third floor. The least he'll expect is the vice-president to greet him. Goodnight, Florentyna,' he said, kissing her on the cheek and briefly clasping her arm, almost as though he knew that she needed strength.

He left them alone and suddenly Florentyna wished he had not gone.

'How's Bloorningdale's?' said Abel, ruffling his daughter's hair affectionately. 'Have you told them yet they're going to lose the best floor manager they've had in years? They're sure going to be surprised when they hear that Jessie Kovats' next job will be to open the Cannes Baron! He laughed out loud.

'I'm going to be married,' said Florcntyna, shyly extending her left hand.

She could think of nothing to add so she simply waited for his reaction.

'This is a bit sudden, isn't it?' said Abel, more than a little taken aback.

'Not really, Daddy. I've known him for some time.'

'Do I know the boy? Have I ever met him?'

'No, Daddy, you haven't.'

'Where does he come from? What's his background? Is he Polish? Why have you been so secretive about him, Florentyna?'

'He's not Polish, Daddy. He's the son of a banker.'

Abel went white and picked up his drink, swallowing the liquor in one gulp.

Florentyna knew exactly what must be going through his mind as he poured himself another drink, so she got the truth out quickly.

'His name is Richard Kane, Daddy!

Abel swung round to face her. 'Is he William Kane's son?' he demanded.

'Yes, he is,' said Florentyna.

'You could consider marrying William Kane's son? Do you know what that man did to me? He's the man who was responsible for the death of my closest friend. Yes, he's the man who made Davis Leroy commit suicide and, not satisfied with that, he tried to bankrupt me. If David Maxton hadn't rescued me in time, Kane would have taken away my hotels and sold them without a second thought. And where would I be now if William Kane had had his way? You'd have been lucky to have ended up as a shop girl at Bloomingdale's. Have you thought about that, Florentyna?'

'Yes, Daddy, I've thought of little else these past few weeks. Richard and I are horrified about the hatred that exists between you and his father. He's facing him now.'

'Well, I can tell you how he'll react,' said Abel. 'He'll go berserk. That man would never allow that precious wasp son of his to marry you so you might as well forget the whole crazy idea, young lady.'