9.
~ It was beautiful spring day. The Point Man was sitting on a park bench and watching his wife push the boys on the swings. Dominic and Daniel were inseparable as always. They swung side by side and never really parted in their play time. Darcy was out of the hospital now, and she and Phillipa were playing with Barbie dolls as far away from the loud noise of the little boys as possible.
Darcy was finally home from the hospital. She still had to wear a face mask whenever she ventured outside. Her immune system was greatly compromised from the bone marrow transplant. She complained that her body still ached and she didn't run around as much as she had before the cancer, but her hair was coming back. His daughter was slowly returning to him.
Arthur chanced a glimpse at his other daughter. Drew was sleeping in the stroller. The baby too young to care about anything other then her mother and father, milk and sleep.
Arthur knew an uninvited guest was nearby. His work in dream extractions had left him with a keen sense for what wasn't supposed to be there.
"Stalking me now?" He called out to the figure behind him.
"Actually," Albert Castus said. His elegant accent charming and soothing. "Your wife invited me to Sunday dinner. She wanted us all to meet at a neutral location first, this park."
The older gentleman sat down on the bench next to the Point Man.
Arthur sighed and looked at his wife. Ariadne was looking back at the father and son on the park bench. A worried but determined gleam in her eyes. She wanted Arthur to have a relationship with Albert Castus. No matter how much the Point Man resisted.
"Figures." Arthur sighed.
The two men said nothing as they watched the children play.
"The youngest boy, he's blind?" Albert asked as they watched Dominic bounce off the swings and Daniel carefully follow him. Ariadne staying close to the boys as they were sure to get into trouble.
James was the odd man out. He was too old for the young boys, and the girls hated him. He stayed on top of the jungle gym and looked down at everyone imperiously.
"He was born blind. Yes." Arthur said. The Point Man shifted in his seat. "Did anything like that happen on your side of the family?" He asked.
"Not that I'm aware." Albert said simply. "Have you sought out any treatments? They can do wonders now."
Arthur shook his head. What right did this man have coming into his family's life now and giving his opinions on how to raise his children? He had forfeited those rights years ago.
Then, the memory of McClain came back to him. The lawyer was sneaker then Arthur could have imagined. It had been a hellish few days as Arthur found a new attorney and had his assets taken out of the old lawyer's control. Arthur suspecting if he didn't, McClain might bankrupt him out of spite. It was no stretch of the imagination to think that Albert had been intimated by the shifty lawyer and his powerful client.
"We have him in a good school for the blind. There is a doctor in Sweden who thinks he can perform a kind of transplant. He would see, but not like us. Not in the detail or colors we can." Arthur said. He could talk about trivial things with Albert. Technology was always a favorite of the Point Man.
"Snap it up." Albert said in surprise. "It will change his life. He can read books, see his mother's face. Chase after your oldest boy there." Albert nodded as Daniel tugged on Dominic's shirt.
Arthur chuckled.
"Daniel can hold his own against his older brother." He laughed.
"You were the same way when you were little. So independent. Never wanted help. You wanted to do everything on your own. Wanted to learn on your own. Drove us crazy." Albert said with a far away smile as he watched the boys.
Arthur turned to his father.
"Us?" he asked.
Albert sighed.
"Audrey and I." The older man said sadly. "When you were with us at the ballet, it was like we were a family. I tried to teach you to play piano. You wanted to hit whichever keys you wanted. You wanted to play your own made up songs. You wanted to everything your own way."
"Must have been disappointing to you. I didn't want to learn the right way." Arthur said bitterly.
"Not at all. I was proud of everything you did. I thought, still think, you're the best son a man could ever hope for." Albert admitted.
The two men didn't look at one another. They watched the kids play. Arthur turned his head away from Albert so the older man wouldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. All his life he wanted to hear just those words. Those exact same words from the man he thought was his father. But, to John, nothing Arthur did was good enough. John never even liked Arthur.
To hear them from Albert now, made a strange sensation grow in his body. As if his chest was loosening. His breathing coming easier.
"I am so very proud of you, Arthur. You're a fine young man. You have a beautiful family. One that you take care of. I'm very envious of it in fact." Albert admitted with a laugh.
Arthur said nothing as Daniel ran away from Ariadne and searched for the swings again. He was talking now and found he could use words to get what he wanted.
"I wanted more then anything to take you back to England with me after your mother died. I even hired an attorney to help me. Paternity testing was unheard of at the time. John's name was on your birth certificate. I had no chance to get you." Albert admitted.
"Why didn't my mother just divorce him?" Arthur asked.
"No one divorces John." Albert said. "No one leaves him. She was too scared to leave him. It wasn't just the lawyer, he had thugs who would have killed us."
Arthur nodded. Rich and powerful men always had people to do their dirty work.
"I bought a little house in Bath. I grow day breaker roses in the garden. My way of remembering your mother." Albert admitted.
Arthur scowled.
"You still send day breaker roses to the ballet in New York?" He asked. Remembering the pretty pink and gold roses that sat prominently at the Audrey Daniels table in the dinning room.
Albert laughed.
"Yes." He admitted. "Foolish old man that I am."
"Why didn't you ever get married to someone else? Have more children?" Albert asked.
"I still love your mother." Albert admitted. "I can't get over the love of my life, now can I? Would you re-marry if you lost Ariadne?"
Arthur shuttered. He didn't like to think about life without his wife. He couldn't even imagine a day without the pretty Architect. Albert was right. The Point Man wouldn't even try to find someone else.
Arthur briefly thought of Corrine. The kiss she had taken from him. The way the pretty nanny's lips had parted over his. Her tongue coming out and enticing him as he had kissed her back. How they had broken away and he felt a rush of heat to his face. An arousal start that he was ashamed of.
Arthur shook his head. He couldn't think about Corrine right now.
"Would you like to hold the baby?" He asked as he tried not show any emotion. It was normally easy for the Point Man to keep a stoney facade up. But Albert was breaking it down.
"Yes, I would." Albert said in a delighted voice.
Arthur couldn't help but noticed the similar movements and gestures Albert had to him. How Albert had the same long, lean body frame. There was little doubt, looking over the older gentleman, that this was Arthur's father.
The older man held Drew in his arms the same way Arthur was fond of holding her. Her chest to his. Her large head resting comfortingly on his shoulder as his careful hands held her. A large palm rested on her back.
"She's lovely." Albert said with a soft little smile. "I hope you and your wife aren't done having little ones."
Daniel let out a scream as Dominic pushed him off the swings. Ariadne was scolding her oldest and holding her youngest son close as the toddler cried.
Darcy and Phillipa only glanced at the boys before returning back to playing quietly.
"Kind of a sore subject with Ariadne and I." Arthur admitted. "I sort of tricked her into getting pregnant with Drew." He said nodding to the baby.
"I see." Albert said softly.
"We've been in marriage counseling for a few weeks now. I'm not sure how to fix it." Arthur admitted. He felt ashamed. "She loves the baby. But she feels guilty that she didn't want to get pregnant with her."
"Arthur, I won't pretend to know how to fix your marriage. Every marriage is different. Every marriage has troubles. But I think yours will be just fine. If your biggest problems are loving this little angel, you have it pretty easy." Albert said.
Arthur had to smile.
"We used to work together. Professionally, I mean. Now she has a job that she does without me. She loves it." Arthur said sadly.
"She's lucky then." Albert told him.
Arthur nodded.
"Ariadne doesn't trust me like she used to." Arthur said.
"Show you can be trusted again." Albert said simply. Drew waking and chirping in her grandfather's arms. A silver stream of spit running out of her full little lips and onto Albert's tweed jacket.
"She lied to me about her past." Arthur sighed.
"Oh, everyone does that. To get your mother's attention, I told her I was related to Sir Paul McCartney." Albert said with a roguish smile worthy of Eames.
Arthur laughed.
"You're not, are you?" The Point Man asked.
"Oh no. Paul's not nearly handsome enough to be related to us." Albert said with a chuckle.
Arthur looked at Drew's pretty little face. Ariadne in miniature.
"Our nanny kissed me a few weeks ago. She keeps hitting on me when I'm alone with her. I don't know what to do. If I tell Ariadne, she'll have one more reason to hate me. We can't find another nanny to help us out until Cobb comes back." Arthur admitted sadly.
"Tell Ariadne the truth about the nanny. It's that trust thing we talked about, son." Albert said.
"If I tell her the truth, she might blame me. Also, we'll be out a nanny." Arthur said sadly. He had thought of every rational way out he could. Until Cobb came home, Arthur was left with Corrine's little looks and whispers in his ear as soon as Ariadne was out of the room.
"The longer you wait to tell her, the worse it will be." Albert said.
The older man looked at his son.
"You didn't sleep with her did you?" He asked.
"No, of course not." Arthur said feeling sick. "She just kissed me. When were alone, she acts like we're in this secret affair. I've told her I love my wife. It's like she won't listen."
Albert nodded.
"We have to address this right away." He said as Drew cried for her feeding.
The older man turned to the baby.
"Yes we do!" He said in a voice meant only for her. The infant pacified as her grandfather talked to her in a way all babies responded to.
