25.
~ "Arthur?" Ariadne called out nervously. The police men in their uniforms scared her even as her husband stared them down defiantly.
"What are you talking about?" Arthur growled.
"It seems with Mrs. Brandon's arrest, as well as this most recent... moment of poor judgement, social protocol dictates we take her in for evaluation." Doctor Fisher said in his self righteous tone.
"Moments of poor judgement?" Arthur snarled.
"Yes, she saw a doctor to terminate her pregnancy this afternoon?" Fisher inquired. "Officer Cobb decided not to press any charges, but he was required by the state to report the incident to the board of mental hygiene. I'm afraid your wife will have to come with us. Please, tell her to come downstairs."
"Arthur?" Ariadne cried softly. She was afraid now. The worst, the very worst was happening now.
"Ariadne, stay there." Arthur said and held up a hand to her. Her husband turned back to the doctor.
"My wife is in a delicate condition. I want her at home where she can rest. She had a stressful day already and I won't have you or your thugs upsetting her." he said.
"Sir, I'm afraid you have no say in this matter. Extreme measures need to be taken on behalf of the unborn child. Mrs. Brandon will be taken in, quite possibly until birth and then re-evaluated to see if she is mentally competent." Fisher explained.
"Briarwood is a privatized hospital. You make a profit off your so called patients!" Arthur snapped. "She's not going anywhere."
Fisher rolled his eyes and pulled a document out of his breast pocket.
"This was sighed by a judge. Failure to hand custody over will result in your going to jail." Fisher said.
Ariadne watched as Arthur stanched the paper from Fisher and read it quickly.
"This says you only have the right to keep her a week." he said.
"For evaluation. Then, I'll determine if it's safe for her to leave." Fisher said.
"Arthur." Ariadne whispered as she knew what would happen now.
Fisher looked up the stairs at her. No shoes, short hair, dress that was already loosened from the evening and too thin for the chill outside.
"Mrs. Arthur Brandon," he said stiffly as though she were a dog. "Come downstairs. There's a good girl."
"No." Ariadne said defiantly.
Fisher raised his brows at her.
"Let's not get started on the wrong foot." he said.
Arthur had finished reading the court order.
"I'm coming with her. Just till she gets checked in." he said.
"I'm afraid not." Fisher laughed. "We must begin treatment right away."
"Arthur!" Ariadne cried as the two police men, both of them so much larger that her, were climbing the stairs to get her.
"Stay away from her!" Arthur shouted and lunged for the biggest of the men in uniform. As if expected, the ape like officer turned and neatly caught her husband.
"There, there, son. It's just for a few days." he said in a thick Irish accent. "These doctors, they know best."
"Arthur!" she cried as the other officer took a vice like hold of her wrist and pulled her downstairs.
"Get your hands off my wife!" Arthur snarled as the other cop held him at bay.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" she screamed.
"Now, I am an expert at dealing with hysterical women." Fisher said. "You need to calm down or you'll spend your first night in treatment and it's been a very busy day for you already."
"Arthur!" she screamed as the police man picked her up.
Her husband was struggling and fighting against the Irish cop. All the noise roused Mrs. Marsh from bed who went on the defense about this invasion in the family home.
Ariadne was too small, too weak to fight the big cop who pulled her outside and into a waiting hospital carriage that was little more than a white paddy wagon.
"There's a good girl." Fisher was saying as the cop pushed her in the back and she heard the lock click into place. Her bare feet already cold from the soon to be winter.
"When we get back to the hospital, help the orderlies take her to my exam room. I want to start treatment tonight." Fisher was saying to the cop as she screamed to be let out.
She could hear her husband shouting and trying to fight the police man. She heard his deep voice threaten Fisher with a lawsuit and to release her this moment. She heard the neighbors dog barking at the disturbance and heard Fisher belittling her husband.
~ The horse was kicked into a trot and her pulse raced as she realized this was real. This wasn't a bad dream or a simple misunderstanding. This was really happening to her. She was going to the dreaded mental institution where all women who didn't smile and act happy went.
~ Briarwood started as a terberculos hospital. When a more modern sanitarium opened up in warmer climates, the state decreed it as a place for mental hygiene. There was no shortage of patients. People who drank too much, who had sexual deviations, or who thought too radically were placed here for treatment. The women's ward was a small but a quickly growing building on the far side of the spacious grounds.
"Into my exam room." Fisher ordered an orderly and a nurse. "I'll need to start treatment on Mrs. Brandon."
The nurse looked at the doctor suspiciously.
"We don't even have a chart set up for her yet." she said.
"Court order, and I'll fill out all the necessaries." Fisher told her gruffly.
Ariadne was still struggling agains the cop and it took him and the orderly to pull her into the doctor's exam room.
"On the exam table, gentlemen." Fisher said as he pulled off his neck tie and looked over Ariadne as if she were a troublesome pet. "There are restraints on the end of the table. Secure her hands, please." he added.
"Doctor?" the cop asked.
"This is a mentally disturbed woman who is a danger to me. I need to examine her and I don't want her to attack me." Fisher said darkly. "Now, secure her arms with the restrains."
The orderly didn't look at Ariadne as she cried, screamed and tried to free herself. He pulled out leather and metal restrained and lashed her writs to the exam table. The cop copying his instructions as she tried desperately to pull free.
"You'll only hurt yourself." Fisher was saying as he watched their progress.
She was panicking now. She didn't want to be restrained like this by this horrible man who had invaded her home and literally kidnaped her.
"Let me go!" she screamed as Fisher nodded to the two men to leave. The doctor checked her restraints as she struggled to free herself. Her legs kicking at him and wishing he was in range for her to hurt him.
But Fisher seemed like he knew enough to stay away from her kicking legs.
"Now, now." he said darkly. "Don't make me gag you. All this shouting, you should be ashamed."
"Let me go this instant! My husband-"
"If your husband was a decent man, you wouldn't be so out of control." Fisher said as his hands were suddenly on her dress; pulling it up.
"Stop it!" she gasped in horror.
"I'll need to examine you." he said calmly as his hands found her panties and started to pull them down.