4.

~ Becky was their only hope. Darcy's biological father, the man Arthur always thought was his father to, had no living relatives. Hopefully, Becky would be a match and be would willing to help.

Arthur was on a red eye to New York an hour later. He checked into a hotel before going to the woman's prison.

"I'll talk to her." He whispered to Ariadne over the phone. She had to stay with Darcy back in the Paris hospital and their two boys at home.
"She has to help Darcy. That's her child." Ariadne cried softly.

"How are you doing?" He said laying on his empty hotel bed. He was about to fall asleep and he missed his wife already.

"I'll be fine. I have the boys in bed with me. I'm not lonely." Ariadne laughed.

Arthur felt his body hurt. He wanted to be home with them. He never liked sleeping alone.

~ "It's a medical emergency." He explained to the Warden.

"I understand that." The lady Warden explained.

She was a no nonsense steel haired woman in her early 50's. Her body small and plump, but she seemed to think like a man in what must have been a hard job. Arthur liked her right away.

"Miss Lawson talks a lot about you in group therapy. She hasn't made much progress in knowing what is real and what is not."

"It was my home she broke into. It was my wife she tried to kill." Arthur told her as he and the short Warden walked to the visiting area.

"She is due for release soon. She may get out early if the parole board thinks she has changed. Giving bone marrow to her only child will work in her favor. Are you sure there is no other alternative?"

"Trust me, I wouldn't be seeing her if there was another alternative." Arthur said.

His stomach was churning and he wanted to throw up.

~ Becky looked younger. Not so manic as the last time he saw her. Last he saw her was in his home in Paris after she had tried to murder Ariadne in the bathtub.

"Arthur, I'm so glad to see you." Becky said with a serene smile.

"Becky." Arthur said as she sat down opposite to him. Her hands reaching out for him. The Point Man pulled away. He didn't want to touch her.
"Why didn't you come before?" Becky asked. Her face hurt.

Arthur looked into her chocolate eyes. He took in her freckles, her crooked smile. His heart loosened slightly at the memory of his first love.

"Becky, Darcy needs your help." Arthur said.

"What happened?" Becky asked. Curious but not scared or concerned. Not the face Ariadne made when she had listen to the doctors talk about Darcy.

Ariadne looked like a deer in the headlights over fears of Darcy's health. Becky only seemed mildly interested in her only child. It was like Arthur was telling her the plot to a movie.

"She has leukemia and she isn't responding to the treatments. She needs bone marrow." Arthur said.

"You're technically her half brother. You can do that." Becky said in a dreamy voice.

"I'm not a match. I-" he couldn't tell Becky anything personal about himself.

"John always knew you weren't his real son." Becky said in a hateful, tormenting voice.

Arthur's head snapped up.

"He always knew your mother was a whore. Why he hated her so much. Why he hated you both so much." Becky said with a shrug.

"Becky, Darcy is your daughter, she needs your help." Arthur pleaded.

"Our daughter." Becky said looking hurt. "She calls you papa. She loved you like a father the first time you met her. I was watching the two of you meet that day at my house. I was so happy. I had been waiting for you to come back and meet our daughter. To come home and be a father to her. I never worry about her because I know you're taking care of her. Until I get out and we can be a family again."

Arthur felt ready to throw up. He loved Darcy. He loved her enough to do this for her.

"Becky. Please help Darcy. Please... please help our daughter." Arthur whispered.

His stomach soured as Becky's eyes fluttered and she looked like she was on a wonderful drug.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that. When I'm out, I'll come to Paris and we can go back to the way things were. I want you to know I forgive you for being with that other woman. I know you were lonely and you felt like you had to marry her." She said.

"Becky." Arthur growled. "I need you to give Darcy bone marrow."

"I know you do, Arthur." She said sadly. "But don't you see? This is natures way of fixing my mistake. This is our chance to start over. To erase what I did. To give us a fresh start. When I'm out, we can be together. We can start over."

"Becky!" Arthur shouted making the short lady Warden jump.

"Arthur, it's will be fine. This is meant to be. Darcy was just a mistake. I know you love her but we can start fresh now! I forgive you for that other woman. We can start our own family as soon as she and Darcy are out of the way. As soon as all of them are out of the way!" Becky pleaded.
"You fucking BITCH!" Arthur shouted and stood.

He wanted to throttle Becky and must have made a reach for her, because the next thing he knew, guards were pulling him away.

"You BITCH!" He was shouting. "You won't life a finger to save your daughter's life? You BITCH!" He shouted as Becky was crying and saying she still loved him.

~ The Warden handed him a hot cup of tea.

"All she talks about is you. Saying how you're waiting for her when she gets out." The short lady said.

Arthur could barely hold his cup. He had never been so angry.

"My daughter is going to die." Arthur said. Remembering how thin and sick Darcy was looking. Her wild hair gone and she looked like a strange alien.

"I'm so sorry." The short Warden said.

"When will Becky get out?" He asked.

"A year or two. There is a restraining order against her for you and your wife, but that might not stop her." the Warden said soberly.

"How are they letting her out?" Arthur asked in disbelief.

"Good behavior. Responsive in group. Not to mention the fact we are overloaded and the crime happened in another country. Her passport will not be made available to her. But she can still get to you if she wanted to."

Arthur stood up and left the woman's prison. How could he tell Ariadne he failed their daughter?

~ Arthur didn't go back to the hotel room. Instead he went to McClain's office.

"So good to see you, Son." The family lawyer said giving him a hug. "How is Darcy doing?"

"Not well. She needs a bone marrow and Becky might be a match. But she's refusing to even be tested. She wants Darcy to die." Arthur said angrily. He had never been filled with this much hatred for someone in his entire life. He could never forgive Becky now. If Darcy died, Arthur felt sure he would die to.

"Can we force her to be tested and give bone marrow?" Arthur asked.

"No." McClain said sadly.

"She's in prison. She can't have too many rights. We can get a judge to make her." Arthur argued.

"You can't force someone to donate anything. You can't force them to even give a sample. I'm sorry." McClain said.

The Lawyer looked over the Point Man.
"How are things with you and Ariadne?" He asked at last.
"Better." Arthur admitted.

"Yes. Nothing makes a marriage stronger then fighting for a child's life." The lawyer admitted.

"I wanted to be able to donate bone marrow, but we found out that I'm not really Darcy's half brother. I'm not really my father's child." Arthur said wryly.

He looked at McClain. The old lawyer, who had know the Point Man all of his life, looked at his fat, pudgy hands.

"The less said about that out load, the better. Your father's estate and will might be called into question if other people found out." McClain said somberly.
"You knew." Arthur said. It wasn't a question or an accusation. "You knew I wasn't his."

"Course I knew. I knew your mother since she was 19 and first on the society pages with John. He treated her like a trophy girlfriend, then a trophy wife. That's all she ever was to him."

"How could you never tell me? Even after he died?" Arthur asked. He was calm and collected. All his anger was used up.

"If I did that, the will, the company, would have been divided up and your entire inheritance would have been lost. He was the only father you knew. How would it help you to know the truth?" McClain said sadly.

"Because it's my life!" Arthur reasoned angrily. "I need to know where I came from. Just like Darcy will one day. I need to know who my real father was. Why he didn't want me."

"He wanted you. But your mother was too terrified to leave John. You remember what the old man was like. He threatened to take you away from her. He could have made good on that threat to. Money buys anything. There isn't a thing on earth money can't buy."

"McClain, who was my father?" Arthur asked.
"I never knew him." McClain said.

"The hell you didn't." Arthur said. His voice was accusing now.

The old lawyer sighed.

Arthur shook his head.

"I remember a man. He was at the ballet company. He played the piano, he had an English accent." Arthur started to say. Memories of girls in fluffy tutus running around. His beautiful mother. A man with long fingers and an English accent. A man who smelled of tobacco. Of being safe and happy there in that place.

"Look at your mother dance, Arthur. Isn't she beautiful?"

"No, I can't help you." McClain said breaking Arthur's thoughts. "I'm sorry."

"You have been closer to me then anyone, I am asking you to help me find out who this man was." Arthur said standing up as McClain also stood and waddled out of the room.

"I'm sorry Arthur." McClain said leaving his office.