5.

~ Arthur stood outside the the New York City Ballet. A stunning Art Deco style building that, while his mother was alive, it had been a place of warmth and safely. A place of music, dance and magic. After her death, he never came back here.

He was surprised to find the doors were unlocked apparently there was some kind of try out for the annual production of The Nutcracker. Little girls and boys were waiting in line to audition. All of them very young and overly adorable in various costumes. Arthur thought of Darcy in her dance costumes and felt his chest tighten.

He found a small, thin young woman with a clip board and approached her.

"Excuse me." He whispered.
"You'll need to wait in line. Mr. Ward will see your child shortly." She said to him in a bossy voice. The tiny woman had the body of a 13 year old but had to be in her late 40's at least.
"Thomas Ward?" Arthur questioned.

"Of course. He's been with the company for decades and he won't give your child any preferential treatment." She said as she eye balled all the stage mothers like they were an advancing army.

"My child is not auditioning for anything. My name is Arthur. My mother was Audrey Daniels." The Point Man said.

~ It was amazing how the tiny ballerina's attitude changed when she found out who he was.

"I remember you when I first came to the company. I was no older then some of the kids trying out today. You were just this little boy running around back stage like you were home." The woman told him pleasantly.

"I always thought fondly of this place." Arthur said as the tiny ballerina took him to the practice area.

"You probably don't remember me, it was so long ago. My name is Evangeline Dahl. My stage name of course. Everyone called me Evie."

"Hello, Evie."

"We hoped to see you after your mother passed away. Thomas was just so broken up about her passing." She said as, on perfect, graceful, little feet, Evie skipped down the aisle like gravity were nothing.

"Thomas!" She called as a tall and slender man was casually watching a pair of six year old try and keep rhythm with a piano player.

Arthur could not help but look at the person playing. A faint, distant hope to see large hands and a black tweed jacket. The form behind the keys was a grumpy looking woman who kept pounding out the same chorus as the director watched for any potential in the pee-wee dancers who would play faeries, mice and angels for the production.

"Evie! I am busy! Again! He commanded the little girls in pink. And learn your left from right, please!" The tall, muscular man said with exaggerated exhaustion.

The little girls looked ready to cry as they started the number again.

Evie wadded into the seats and whispered something in the director's ear. He immediately snapped to attention.

"That's lunch!" he called out.

The chubby piano player looked at him in shock as the director stood and gracefully skipped out of the seats.

Thomas Ward had not changed at all since Arthur remembered him. He had a few more gray hairs, a few more lines to his face, but he was instantly recognizable.

"Arthur? Oh my!" He said in a feminine delight as Evie looked on. A big smile on her face. "Look at you. So like Audrey! Oh how I miss her! Where have you been? Why haven't you called or come by to see us before now! Don't you know how much we loved you?" He said scooping the Point Man up in a warm hug and not letting go.

~ Arthur had to admit it was nice to be back in his mother's world.

Thomas had his assistant finish the auditions as took Arthur to lunch in the elegant restaurant that catered to the company dancers only.

Arthur looked at the large portraits of New York City's greatest dancers hanging on the walls of the exclusive club. All of them were done in oil and stood proudly on the rich wallpaper. His mother's portrait held a pride of place over the exclusive Audrey Daniels booth Thomas sat them in. Half a dozen day breaker roses were placed on the table under her image.

"I always sit here. I like to be close to Audrey." Thomas said as he ordered them a light lunch.

Arthur looked up at his beautiful mother. Her costume pink and and sage green. Little roses were laced into her dark hair as she stood elegantly on her toes. One graceful arm extended upward, her other arm reaching below. Her back and head looking like she might lose balance they were dipped so far back. It was a difficult pose to do, but her body was beautiful and fluid even in the portrait.

"We all loved her." Thomas said sadly. "It was such a tragedy. Her death. We put on the production of Sleeping Beauty in her memory. It was her favorite you know."

"Really?" Arthur said and smiled. He looked over the day breaker roses at the table. They were just starting to wilt.

"Her favorite flowers." Thomas explained. Reading Arthur's thoughts. "I can't tell you how many arrived after she passed. We had no idea how many admirers she had. The roses actually sold out of flower shops and they had to send more!" Thomas laughed.

"Fans still send them? After all these years?" Arthur asked nodding to the fresh flowers.

Thomas pretended he didn't hear.

"Now, tell me what is going on with you! I haven't seen you since you were 8 years old and being tortured by this little girl at school. What was her name?" Thomas asked.
"Becky." Arthur said bitterly.

"Tell me everything that has happened to you. I want every detail, I keep wondering about you and now you're here!" Thomas said in a gossipy voice of happiness.

So, Arthur explained about his long relationship with Becky. He explain how it ended. His mother's old friend gasping in horror at the drama of it. Arthur told him about Ariadne. Getting married and his father passing. About adopting Darcy and having the two boys.

"Daniel was born blind, but he's in a special school now. He's learning, and it's been really great for him." Arthur said reluctantly.

"I saw you in the paper. When the old dragon died." Thomas said. "Sorry, I know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, but your father was a terrible... well... troll!" Thomas said and looked ashamed of himself.

Arthur laughed.

"I mean, he should have been living under a bridge or something! Your mother deserved better." Thomas said.

"Yes, well, I hadn't seen him in a long time." Arthur admitted.

"I also read about how you saved his company. Business news always boars the pants off me, but I saw your picture and I just flashed Audrey!" Thomas said waving his hands happily. "Your wife is so beautiful! Is she a model or actress? She has this face to die for!"

"No, she studied architecture." Arthur said. "But I plan to tell her you said that when I get home to Paris." Arthur laughed.
"Paris!" Thomas exclaimed. "I heard you were living in Paris. Alright, I forgive you for not stopping by sooner. Paris is a bit of a schlep."

"Thomas." Arthur said after awhile. The two had eaten and were enjoying the view of city. "Darcy, my father's natural daughter, she was diagnosed four months ago with leukemia."

"Oh dear God!" Thomas said in horror. His hands to his chest. "I'm so, so sorry! You poor little lamb! Your mother, and now your little girl!"

"It's alright, were looking into bone marrow and she's getting treatment." Arthur said as his mother's friend looked like he might cry.

"The thing is, I'm supposed to be her half brother. But, when I got tested for a DNA match for bone marrow, the lab said there was no way I could be related to her. She is Becky's daughter and she has my father's- she has John's eyes. I know she's his biologically. It got me to thinking that John might not be my real father." Arthur said as Thomas was looking at his tea cup and not at Arthur.

The male ballet dancer looked ready to cry. He looked up at the portrait of Audrey.

"Oh Audrey, please forgive me. I know I promised I would never breath a word of this to anyone. But he needs to know." Thomas cried.

~ Arthur waited with Thomas until the elegant little dinning room was empty.

"Back in the late 70's this place was completely different. It wasn't so reserved as it is now. The young people ran the show. There was new ideas and exploration. People did theater nude and it was just a much happier time. Your mother and I were both 16 and life was so wonderful. She was this shy but brilliant dancer. I was her leading man in every production. We danced so well together, like we were in love or something. She was my best friend and we stuck together and protected each other. There is nothing like working with your best friend. It's not even work when it's with someone you love." Thomas smiled.

Arthur nodded. That was how he felt when he worked with Ariadne.

"Anyway, she started to date your father. I never knew what she saw in him. He was so much older then her. She was only 19 and he was 30. It was ridiculous. But he got her into the clubs and she looked good on his arm. I never thought it was serious. When he wanted to marry her, I begged her not to. I didn't like how controlling he was. He would have her driver take her to practice and then she had to call him when she go there. Call him at break and call him at lunch. Then, call him before the driver picked her up. She was never allowed to go anywhere alone." Thomas explained.

Arthur remembered how cruel and controlling John could be.

"She thought it meant he loved her, but there is a difference between someone who loves you and a controlling... Dick. That man saw Audrey as his possession, not his wife. It wasn't her fault she sought comfort elsewhere." Thomas explained. "She was only human."

"Comfort? With who?" Arthur asked. His heart was beating fast. So close now. He was so close to answers.

"His name was Albert Castus." Thomas said.
"He played the piano? He was British?" Arthur asked.

"You remember him?" Thomas asked in surprise.

"I remember a man. He played the piano and... I knew he cared for my mother." Arthur explained.

"He loved her. They had a passionate love affair. He was just a poor student at NYU. He was studying music and art. He worked here when Alfie took sick and they put her in the nursing home."

"Alfie?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, sorry, before your time. Althea Gross. She had been playing piano in the orchestra for 60 years. They even named the damned the pit the Althea Gross Orchestra Pit. We thought Alfie would get better, why we never took her off the programs. It would have crushed her to see she had been replaced. Also, Albert was just a student, and the people who ran things back then didn't want to give credit to a young, foreign born student. No matter if he was more talented then any piano player I've seen." Thomas explained in a catty conspiratorial voice.

"Albert Castus." Arthur murmured.

"After your mother passed away, he left the company. Back to England and I don't know anymore." Thomas said sadly.

"Why didn't I ever know about any of this?" Arthur asked. "You knew who my real father was, you never said a word."

"Audrey made me promise never to tell you. I knew all her secrets. I told her you had to know someday, but she was so scared of John. The old beast said he would have his lawyer, the fat ass McClain prove she was an unfit mother. That McClain would tie custody up in courts so long that Audrey would be penniless and still lose you. She never trusted McClain because she knew he would do whatever your father wanted." Thomas explained.

Arthur had to sit back. McClain had always been a good friend to Arthur and his family. Never would he have thought that the old lawyer would do such a thing.

"Why didn't they just run away together?" Arthur asked in shock. "When she found out she was pregnant? Did he not want me?"

"Albert want to. Believe me! He was so happy when he found out about you. But, John would have found them. Found them with ease. Your real father was a poor kid here on a work and student visa. He had nothing to offer your mother. All they had in the world was you and this place." Thomas said raising his hands above his head indicating the company. "She would bring you here, and he could see you. For those few hours, you three were a family. He love you and your mother so much."

Thomas got a little misty eyes.

"Bull shit." Arthur suddenly snapped.

Thomas sat back. Shocked.

"I'm a father. I'm a husband. I love my wife and my children more then anything. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. I would never allow my children to think another man was their father. I would never allow their mother to live with a horrible man just because of money. I was his child, he should have fought for me. He should have fought for us." Arthur said as he stood up.

Thomas was begging him to stay, but the Point Man swiftly left the dinning room. Not even looking back at his mother's portrait.

He never felt so betrayed by his mother. Why hadn't she done more to protect him? Why had she allowed him to live alone with the dragon, knowing he had a real father out there?