4.
~ "A bassinet?" Cobb was laughing.
Arthur was looking at the overly frilly baby things. He was growing confused and he couldn't decide which bassinet to pick out. The sales lady was no help at all as she showed him Gothic style cradles with lacy bed clothes.
There was too many styles to look at. Too many factors to consider. If he was picking out clothes for himself or Ariadne, he could finish the job quickly. Not so with a baby. He had to select something she would like.
"Kid will have nightmares." Cobb chuckled as they looked at a particularly menacing cradle with spires.
"She gave me one job." Arthur sighed; feeling defeated. "One job, and I'm failing at it."
"So you and Ariadne are getting along then?" Cobb asked. A smile flashing over his face as his eyes sparked happily. A teasing look that tormented his friend.
Arthur bit his lip and tried not to smile.
"Yes. We are." She said formally.
Cobb chuckled and patted his old friend on the back.
"I'm glad. She seems to be good for you to. You look... happy." His friend concluded.
"I am happy." Arthur said. He had enough of all these ugly cradles and bassinets.
"Ma'am. This will do." He told the shop lady. The businessman in him making a sharp, tactical decision and selecting a baby bed that was well made, but very plain.
"Wonderful. Now what about the bedding?" Cobb asked casually.
Arthur sighed and grumbled.
~ Yuseff proved to be just as capable as Arthur had hoped.
"We could provide phone service to the North of England very well from Blue Rivers. A hub there would be logical." he concluded. His neat little accent and knowledge compensating for his sloppy appearance. Yuseff was the type of man who had the know how, but not the capital or foresight to put his plans in motion. He would need Arthur for that.
"How soon could it be operational?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, a few months if we can have a building at the ready." Yuseff told them. "What with the happenings with Germany and Russia, we will need a fortified communications grid."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.
"Don't you read the papers?" Yuseff asked.
"He's been too busy picking out baby carriages." Cobb teased.
"What do you mean, Germany and Russia?" Arthur asked.
"There are rumblings about invasions. Discontent over there. It might affect us sooner then we like." Yuseff told him in a whisper.
"You can't mean war." Arthur stated.
"I do, sir." Yuseff told him. "Great Britain has increased its military spending by at least 50%. What else can it mean? If there is war, this country will be in it."
~ "Arthur, these are just rumors." Cobb assured his friend.
"I hope you're right." Arthur asked as he received a telegram from his business manager in New York.
After leaving Yuseff, Arthur insisted on wiring all his factory floor managers. All of them reporting the same news.
"Great Britain had been ordering large amounts of parts from my factories." Arthur said.
"What kind of parts?" Cobb asked.
"Well, we normally send them for cars and boilers; but the specifications, seem to be for tanks." Arthur said.
"Oh God." Cobb said in silent shock. "All those battles and unrest in Eastern Europe, what are the chances it will come here?"
"Very good. Why else would England be financing such a reserve of weapons?" Arthur asked.
"You and Ariadne should go back to the states." Cobb said suddenly. "It's safer there."
Arthur was already ahead of him.
~ Ariadne felt herself slowly come awake. Her eyes feeling heavy and her vision blurry.
"There you are, ma'am." A disembodied voice called to her. "Drink this, it's just water."
Ariadne saw a white habit come into view.
"Arthur?" She croaked as the strange woman gave her water.
"No, ma'am." The woman with the white habit said. "You just rest. Doctor's orders."
"My baby." Ariadne said and tried to feel at her abdomen.
Her arms were restrained over her head.
Her mind fought against the haze as she realized her arms and legs were tired to a narrow little bed in a room she had never seen before.
"Where am I?" She shouted to the nurse. Her thinking still not clear as she tired to remember what had happened.
"Rest easy, ma'am. Think of the baby." The nurse said.
"What have you done to me?" Ariadne cried as she tried to free herself of her restrains. The nurse seemed lost as to what to do and opened the only door in the small bedroom.
"Mrs. Abbot?" She called out to the hallway.
Ariadne was pulling at the bindings when she felt a strong hand pull her down by the hair.
Mrs. Abbot's ugly face was inches above hers.
"Let me go!" Ariadne screamed.
"The water basin and towel." Mrs. Abbot commanded.
"Let me go! I'll serve you with walking papers myself!" Ariadne shouted at the housekeeper.
"You need to calm yourself." Mrs. Abbot told her casually. "It's night time and we don't want the doctor to come back out here tonight on account of you.
"Maura!" Ariadne shouted. A hope that her friend, wherever she was, would hear her cries.
With swift movements, Mrs. Abbot placed a towel over her face. She held her down by her hair as she poured water over her mouth and nose.
The towel clung to Ariadne's face like a second skin. Cutting off her air supply, but allowing water to pour down her throat and up her nose.
Ariadne immediately began choking.
"Are you going to be a good girl?" Mrs. Abbot shouted over the sounds of gasping, choking and struggles for air.
Ariadne couldn't breath. She was drowning as more water poured into her mouth and the towel prevented her from taking in air.
"Lady Percy won't stand for you misbehaving. Nor will the doctor. Says your a danger to the baby!" Mrs. Abbot said.
Mercifully, she pulled the towel away from Ariadne's face. The rush of sweet oxygen greeted her. She took great gulps of air as Mrs. Abbot was asking her if she was going to behave.
"Eames!" She screamed instead. Someone, anyone, had to hear her.
"I can see we're not!" Mrs. Abbot said curtly. Her torture of water continuing. Ariadne found she was drowning while tied to a bed. Her body fighting for air as she was sure her baby would die with her.
"Please!" She cried out as Mrs. Abbot asked her again is she was going to behave herself.
"Yes. I'll behave!" Ariadne cried as her hair and face were soaking wet. Her lungs rejecting the influx of water.
"Good. Now that wasn't hard, now was it? We not so prideful now, are we?" Mrs. Abbot said taking a dry towel and rubbing Ariadne's hair free of water.
"Change her bedding. We don't want her to catch cold." Mrs. Abbot told the nurse as she left.
Ariadne was in tears as the nurse left her tied to the bed while she put dry sheets on.
"My baby. Is my baby okay?" Ariadne asked the nurse in the white habit.
"Of course he is. You're lucky Lady Percy cares enough about him to protect him from your dark moods. You were out to hurt the baby." The nurse said.
"No." Ariadne told her. "Please, you have to call my husband, Arthur. Or my friend Eames. At least have my maid come and look after me."
"Lady Percy has left strict instructions that we look after you." The nurse said.
"Listen to me!" Ariadne growled. "My husband pays the bills at Blue Rivers. NOT Lady Percy. Lady Percy has no money to pay for yours or doctor Miller's services. He wouldn't want anyone but Maura to look after me. Go and get her!"
"Do I need to call Mrs. Abbot in here again?" The nurse asked.
A cold chill crept over Ariadne's spine. She shook her head.
"Alright then. Try to go to sleep, dear." The nurse said.