The Prodigal Daughter (17 page)

Once the
convention was over, Florentyna went back to Henry Osborne’s headquarters to
try to help him retain his seat in Congress. This time she was put in charge of
the switchboard inquiries, but the responsibility gave her little pleasure, for
she had known for some time that the congressman was not respected by his party
workers, let alone by his constituents. His reputation a
,,
a drinker and his second divorce were not helping him with tht!
middle-class
voters in his district.

Florentyna found
him all too casual and glib about the trust the voters had placed in him and she
began to see why people had so little faith in their elected representatives.
That faith took anothei blow when Eisenhower’s Vice Presidential candidate,
Richard Nixon, addressed the nation on September 23 to explain away an $18,000
slush fund, which he claimed had been set up for him by a group of millionaire
backers as “necessary political expenses” and for “exposing Communists.”

On the day of
the election, Florentyna and her fellow workers were halthearted about both of
their candidates, and those feelings were reflected at the polls. Eisenhower
won the election by the largest popular vote in American history, 33,936,234 to
27,314,992. Among the casualties removed in the Republican landslide was
Representative Osborne.

Disenchanted
with politics, Florentyna returned to Radcliffe for her sophomore year and put
all her energy into her studies. Bella had been elected captain of hockey, the
first sophomore to be so honored. Wendy claimed to have fallen in love with a
Dartmouth tennis player named Roger and, taking fashion 109
advice
from Florentyna, started studying bridal gowns in Vogue. Although they now all
had single rooms in Whitman, the three girls saw each other regularly.
Florentyna never missed a hockey game, come i am or snow, both of which
Cambridge frequently endured, while Wendy introduced her to several men who
never quite seemed worthy ot the third of fourth steak.

It was halfway
through the spring semester that Florentyna returned to her room to find Wendy
sitting on the floor in tears.

“What’s the
matter?” asked Florentyna.
“The midterms?
You haven’t
flunked them?”

“No, it’s much
worse than that.”

“What could be
worse than that?”

“I’m pregilant.”

“What?” said
Florentyna, kneeling down and putting an arm around
her.

“How can you be
so sure?”

“This is the
second month I’ve missed my period.”

“Well, thit’s
not conclusive, and if the worse comes to the worst, we know Roger wants to
marry you,” “He may not be the father.”

“Oh, my God,”
said Florentyna. “Who is?”

“I think it must
have been Bob.
The football player from Princeton.
You
met him, remember?”

Florentyna
didn’t. There had been quite a few during the year, and she wasn’t sure what to
do next when Wendy couldn’t even be certain of the father’s name. All three
girls sat up late into the night with Bella displaying
a
gentleness
and understanding Florentyna would never have thought
possible. It was decided that if Wendy missed her next period she would have to
make an appointment to see the university gynecologist, Dr.

MacLeod.

Wendy did miss
her next period, and asked Bella and Florentyna to
a(
company
her when she went to Dr. MacLeod’s office on Brattle Street.

The doctor
informed Wendy’s class dean of her pregnancy that night and no one was
surprised by her decision. Wendy’s father arrived the next day and thanked them
both f6i all they had done before taking his daughter back to Nashville. It all
happened so suddenly that neither (5f the two other girls could believe they
wouldn’t see Wendy again. Florentyna felt helpless and wondered if she could
have done more.

At the end of
her sophomore year, Florentyna began to believe she could win a coveted Phi
Beta Kappa Key. She was fast losing her interest in university politics; a combination
of McCarthy and Nixon was not inspiring, and she became even more disillusioned
bv
an incident that occurred at the end of the summer
vacation.

Florentyna had
returned to work for her father in New York, She had li~arned a lot since the
“Jessie Kovats” incident. In fact, Abel was now happy to leave her in charge of
various Baron
shops
when their managers were on
vacation.

During one lunch
break she tried to avoid a smartly dressed middle-aged man who was passing
through the hotel lobby at the same time, but he spotted her, and shouted:

“Hi,
Florentyna.”

“Hello, Henry,”
she said with little enthusiasm.

He learned
forward and gripped her on both arms befoile kissing her on the check.

“It’s your lucky
day, my dear,” he said.

“Why?” asked
Florentyna, genuinely puzzled.

“I have been
stood up by my date tonight and I’m going to give you the chance to take her
place.”

“Get lost,” is
what she would have said if Henry Osborne had not been a director of the Baron
Group, and she was about to make some suitable excuse when he added, “I’ve got
tickets for Can-Can. “

Since her
arrival in New York, Florentyna had been trying to get seats for Broadway’s
latest smash hit and had been told they were sold out for eight weeks, by which
time she would have returned to Radcliffe. She hesitated for a moment and then
said.
“ lFhank
you, Henry.”

They agreed to
meet at Sardi’s, where they had a drink before walking over to the Shubert
Theater. The show lived up to Florentyna’s expectations and she decided it
would have been churlish of her not to accept Henry’s invitation to supper
afterward. He took her to the Rainbow Room and it was there that the trouble
started. He had three double scotches before the first course arrived and
although he was not the first person to put a hand on her knee he was the first
of her father’s friends to do so. By the time they came to the end of the meal
Henry had drunk so much he was barely coherent.

In the cab on
the way back to the Baron, he stubbed out his cigarette and tried to kiss her.
She squeezed herself into the comer of the cab, but it didn’t deter him. She
had no idea how to handle a drunk and didn’t know until then how persistent
they could be,
When
they reached the Baron, he
insisted on accompanying Florentyna to her room, and she felt unable to refuse
his overtures, caring that any public row would reflect badly on her father.
Once they were in the private elevator he tried to kiss her again, and when
they reached her small apartment on the forty-second floor Henry forced his way
inside as she opened the door. He immediately went over to the small bar and
pour~d himself’ another large scotch.

Florentyna
regretted that her father was in France and that George would have left the
hotel to go home long ago. She wasn’t quite sure what to do next.

“Don’t you think
you should leave now, Henry?”

“What?” slurred
Henry.
“Before the fun has begun?” He lurched towaid her.

“A girl ought to
show how grateful she is when a fellow has taken her to the best show in town
and given her a first-class meal.”

“I am grat--ful,
Henry, but I am also tired and I would like to go to bed.

“

“Exactly
what I had in mind.”

Florentyna felt
quite sick as he almost fell on her and ran his hands down her back, stopping
only when he reached her buttocks.

“Henry, you had
better leave before you do something you’ll regret,” Florentyna said, feeling
she sounded a little absurd.

“I’m not gonna
regret anything,” he said as he tried to force down the zipper on the back of
her dress. “And neither will you. “

Florentyna tried
to push him away, but he was far too strong for her, so she began hitting him
on the side of the arms.

“Don’t put up
too much of a fight, my dear,” he panted. “I know you really want it, and I’ll
show you a thing or two those college boys won’t know about.”

Florentyna’s
knees gave way and she collapsed onto the carpet with Henry on top of her,
knocking the phone from a table onto the floor.

“That’s better,”
he said, “although I like a bit of spirit.”

He grabbed at
her again, pinioning her arms above her head with one hand.

He started
moving his other hand up her thigh. With all the force she could muster she
freed an arm and slapped Henry across the face, but he only grabbed her hair
tightly and pushed her dress up above her waist. There was a rip, and Henry laughed
drunkenly.

“It would liave
been easier... if you had taken the damned thing
off .

. .
in
the first place,” he said in breathless grunts as he
extended the tear.

Florentyna
stared helplessly backward and saw a heavy crystal vase holding some roses next
to where the phone had stood. With her free arm she pulled Henry toward her and
started kissing him passionately on the face and neck.

“That’s more
like it,” he said, releasing her other arm.

Slowly she
reached backward for the vase. When she had it firmly in her hand, she broke
away and brought the vase crashing down on the back of his skull. His head
slumped forward and it took all her strength to push him off her. Florentyna’s
first reaction when she saw the blood pouring from his scalp was to fear that
she had killed him. There was a loud knock on the door.

Startled,
Florentyna tried to stand up, but she felt too weak in the knees.

The knock came
again, even louder, but this time accompanied by a voice that could belong to
only one person. Florentyna itaggered to the door and opened it to find Bella
taking up the whole space between the jambs.

“You look
awful.”

“I feel awful.”
Florentyna stared down at her tattered Balenciaga evening dress.

“Who did that to
you?”

Florentyna took
a pace backward and pointed to the motionless body ot’Henry Osborne.

“Now I see why
your phone was off the homok,” said Bella as she strode over to the prostrate
body. “Got rather less than he deser-ved, I see.”

“Is he still
alive?” asked Florentyna weakly.

Bella knelt over
him and checked his pulse. “Unfortunately, yes. It’s only a flesh wound. He
wouldn’t have lived if I’d hit him. Now all he’ll have to show for his trouble
is a large bump on his head in the moming, which is not enough for a jerk like
that. I think I’ll throw him out the window,” she added, picking Henry up and
chucking him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“No, Bella.
We’re on the forty-second floor.”

“He won’t notice
the first forty-one,” said Bella, and started walking toward the window.

“No, no,” said
Florentyna.

Bella grinned
before turning back. “I’ll be generous this time and put him in the freight
elevator. The management can deal with him as they see fit.”

Morentyna did
not argue as Bella strode past her with Henry still over her shoulder. She returned
a few moments later looking as if she had saved a penalty against Vassar.

“I’ve sent him
to the basement,” she said with glee.

113

Florentyna was
sitting on the floor sipping
a
R6my Martin.

“Bella, am I
ever going to be wooed romantically?”

“I’m the wrong
person to ask, No one has ever tried to rape me, let alone be romantic.”

Florentyna fell
into her arms laughing. “Thank God you came when you did.

Why are you
here, not that I’m complaining?”

“Little Miss
Efficiency has forgotten that I’m being put up in the hotel tonight because I’m
playing hockey in New York tomorrow.
The Devils against the
Angels.”

“But they’re
both men’s teams.”

“That’s what
they think, and don’t interrupt. When I arrived at the desk they had no
reservation in my name and the
receptionist told me the hotel
was packed, so I thought I would come up and complain
to the management.

Give me a pillow
and I’ll be happy to sleep in the bathtub.”

Florentyna held
her head in her hands.

“Why are you
crying?”

“I’m not, I’m
laughing. Bella, you deserve a king-size bed and you shall have one.”
Florentyna put the phone back on the hook and then picked up the receiver.

“Yes, Miss
Rosnovski?”

“Is the
Presidential Suite free tonight?”

“Yes, miss.”

“Please register
it in the name of Miss Bella Hellaman and charge it to me. She’ll be down to
confirm in a minute.”

“Certainly,
miss. How will I recognize Miss Heliaman?”