A Secret Life_ The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland - Charles Lachman [36]
“He must marry you,” he told Maria.
That was what Maria had hoped he would say.
The young minister did not know Cleveland, but his law partner was a parishioner of St. John’s, so there was that connection. Avery reached out to Cleveland, and when they met, the hulking lawyer “acknowledged his fault” and said he would be willing to make financial provisions for Maria. Man to man, however, he told the minister that he was uncertain whether he was the father of the unborn child. It could be his. Or it could one of the other men Maria was having relations with. That, at least, was how Cleveland saw it. According to Cleveland, Maria had fixed on him because he was the only bachelor among her paramours; the others involved in the “scrape” were all married.
Assailing Maria’s morals clearly resonated with the minister; Avery emerged from the meeting agreeing with Cleveland that marriage would be “impossible.” “Doubtful paternity” had reversed Avery’s decision.
Later, he explained his reasoning. “I do not wish to palliate his offense, but I must say that I think he did nobly, far more than most men would have done under the circumstances. I am of the belief that when a man acknowledges an error, and does everything in his power to atone for it, he is entitled to forgiveness and respect. If it were not so, what kind of a world would this be?”
Now Maria came to the realization that it was over with Cleveland. There was no chance of a wedding. The impending birth of her child put her in a state of depression mixed with intense anxiety. Meanwhile, Cleveland made arrangements. He approached the city’s premier obstetrician, Dr. James E. King, who agreed to attend Maria at the delivery.
The child was born September 14, 1874, at Buffalo’s only hospital for unwed mothers, St. Mary’s Lying-In Hospital, and he was named Oscar Folsom Cleveland, after Cleveland’s best friend.
“Mr. Cleveland wanted him to have that name,” said Mrs. Baker.
As Maria recovered from the physical ordeal of giving birth, a plan was hatched. Dr. King had a sister-in-law by marriage, Minnie Kendall, who lived with her husband, William Kendall, in a grungy apartment in East Buffalo near the stockyards. Dr. King had decided he would hire Minnie to take care of the newborn, and as she was about to give birth herself, she would also be the wet nurse.
Two days after Oscar was born, Dr. King arrived at the Kendalls’ apartment carrying the baby in his arms. Dr. King said he had come directly from the hospital to make an arrangement with Mrs. Kendall and leave the baby with her.
Minnie Kendall’s antennae went up; something about the whole business was putting her on edge. The sore on the top of the baby’s head was also troubling.
“I don’t want to take it,” she said.
Dr. King was adamant. He was expecting the Kendalls to take the baby. When she asked the baby’s name, “They told me to call him Jack,” Mrs. Kendall said. Dr. King gathered the blanket and all the baby clothes monogrammed with the initials “M. H.” or the full name “Maria Halpin” and said the Kendalls had to replace everything. He also told them never to speak about this day again.
Twelve days later, Mrs. Kendall gave birth to her son, William Harrison Kendall.
Mrs. Kendall met Maria Halpin once, when Dr. King instructed her to bring the baby to Grover Cleveland’s law offices (see Prologue). Mrs. Kendall was dismayed to see her brother-in-law joking and in cahoots with this Grover Cleveland while Maria Halpin stood there in tears. Mrs. Kendall also got the strong impression that some kind of business transaction was being conducted between Cleveland, King, and Maria.
Mrs. Kendall returned home with Oscar, or Jack, as she continued to call him. For the next year, she nursed and raised the boy.