3.

~ "Harold, when you're old enough, you'll come with to the office with me, and I can show you how to run a business." Arthur told the young boy who looked at him adoringly.

Arthur was seated at a desk, a litter of papers around him as Harold helped him arrange them.

"Will I run factories like you?" Harold asked hopefully.

"Not like Arthur, you'll be a lot better." Ariadne told him as she combed out Olivia's hair.

"Don't listen to you're mother. If she ran things, we would be bankrupt from giving people money for doing nothing." Arthur told the boy. "The first things you need to know about business is supply and demand. It always needs to be in a balance. If something is not a good investment, do not invest in it. Never spend money on something that offers a poor return."

"Arthur, I think he's bit too young for this." Ariadne sighed as Olivia squirmed out of her grasp and demanded to be put down.

"Nonsense." Arthur said. "Perfect example, Harold. I am willing to spend a lot of money on clothing and dresses for your lovely mother. Some might feel this is a frivolous expense, but a woman like your mother makes a man like me look very good."

Ariadne rolled her eyes as Harold gave her a little grin.

"Missus, you have a telegram." Maura said as she intruded on the family time.

"Harold, don't listen too much about business. I would like you to be a nice doctor and help people." she told the boy.

"Don't fill the boys head up with nonsense." Arthur scoffed as he watched his wife leave.

"Now, when we talk about price and expense, always use real dollars. Never use percentages or adjustments, and never trust anyone who is unwilling to give you an estimate in real dollars." Arthur went on.

"What's a percentage?" the boy asked.

~ Ariadne tried to not to feel too happy Arthur had such a good relationship with Harold. Her convenient husband had come by Cobb's home every day to see her and the children as well as Mr. Cobb. They hadn't told their friend that they planned to re-marry or that she was pregnant. Mal had passed just a few weeks ago and the house was still in mourning.

She intended to stick by the lie that it was Fredrick's baby till her dieing day. Then take her secret to the grave. Arthur seemed willing to accept a child that was Fredrick's. He would hate her forever if he knew it's true paternity.

She looked over the Western Union envelope and saw the return address was from Blue Rivers.

'Eames'. She thought worriedly.

She swallowed hard and ripped open the envelope. Bracing herself to read the hate her former lover had for her.

Ariadne.

Please respond to this telegram.

Our mutual friend, Mr. C. R. Eames had found himself once more in my hospital.

I was not able to convince his mother to come collect him.

He is very ill and needs care after a suicide attempt last week.

He will have a court date as soon as he is well enough.

Please, come and make a plea on his behalf.

The judge may excuse him if you testify.

Regards,

Robert Fischer

Fischer Charity Hospital

Ariadne was breathing hard as she tried not to become ill. Her morning sickness starting for this child starting earlier than with Olivia.

Eames was back at Fischer's hospital. He had tried to kill himself? Juniper wasn't coming to help him? This was all her fault. She should have never left. He most likely did this because she had left him. Eames was always emotional and with her sudden departure...

~ "Are you to be our new father?" Harold asked Arthur as the boy sat on his knee and Olivia glowered at the both of them. She wasn't completely sold on Arthur, but she certainly didn't want to share him with the likes of Harold.

"It seems so." Arthur said with a laugh.

"I'm glad." Harold told him.

"Are you now?"

"Yes, I was worried that Mr. Eames would be our new father. Mother always spent time with him while my real papa was at the war." Harold said.

Arthur made a face.

"How long was your father away at war, son?" Arthur asked.

"He left over a year ago just after he married mother. He never came back home till after he died."

"Did Mr. Eames come home?"

"Oh yes, sir. He and mother were always in her rooms. Maura told us we were not to bother them." Harold said. "Mr. Eames is a fine gentleman, and a war hero, but he didn't seem to have time for us. He was always wanting to be around mother."

"I see." Arthur said.

"I'm very glad you're to be our new father and we're to live with you and learn about business. I think I should like to be a businessman." Harold said.

"You shall be a businessman. You're sister to." Arthur told him grumpily.

His was mind working quickly.

A click of the door and Ariadne had come back in the room.

"Hello, madam." Arthur said as he moved Harold off his knee. "Son, take your sister and go play. I need to speak to mother alone."

"Yes, sir." Harold said and took Olivia's hand. The two children leaving the adults as soon as they got their kisses from Ariadne.

Arthur looked at his convenient wife skeptically.

"Are you alright, Madam?" he asked taking in how scared and upset she looked.

"No, something serious has happened." Ariadne told him.

"Indeed." Arthur said darkly.

"Eames, he came home from the war... he's at Fischer's hospital after a suicide attempt." she told him.

"Fischer hospital?"

"Yes, just after you left for New York, I collected him from the hospital. He almost drank himself to death." she told him.

"How fortunate you were there." Arthur said.

"Arthur, please, none of your loathing for your cousin just now. His mother isn't responding to Fischer's calls and suicide is a real crime in England. I have to go and retrieve him." she told him.

"Eames seems intent on destroying himself. Who are we to interfere?" Arthur said coldly.

"Arthur!" she snapped.

"I had the most interesting talk with Harold just now." Arthur said. "He told me how Fredrick hadn't been home from the war in over a year. That Mr. Eames came home, and you spent a lot of time with him."

His next words were in a very dangerous tone.

"In your rooms."

Ariadne blinked.

"Fredrick came home a few months before he died. He was wounded and didn't want Harold to see him." Ariadne told him.

"So, you hid him from his son?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes."

"You were intimate with a wounded man?" he asked doubtfully.

"With my husband." Ariadne said coldly.

"I see."

"It's the truth." she insisted. "Fredrick was home."

"And Eames was in your rooms. If I ask Maura, will she tell me how she kept the children out so you could be with your lover?" he growled.

She couldn't think.

'God, he knows.' she thought.

"Go to England." he said and stood. "Go rescue the man you love. If you want Eames over me, I won't stand in your way. That's his child inside you, isn't it"

His voice looked disgusted at her as his eyes turned cruel.

"If you leave me for that rouge, madam. Do not expect to be welcomed back. No more money, not even support for Olivia. You've wounded me through the heart, madam." he growled.

"I've wounded you?" she said in a whispered voice. "Do you have any idea what I've gone through in the past few years? Believing you were dead. Marrying a man to save myself from total destitution. Fredrick didn't even care for me, he wanted someone to look after Harold. Then to have Fredrick come home from the war a cripple and blind. To have to drain his wounds every day. To hear him scream in pain because the morphine wasn't working anymore? To know I would bury him to? Of course I needed Eames. I needed him to love me. I was alone in another country and he was there for me."

"Yes, I'm sure he was. He was always there for you, wasn't he?" Arthur said in a deep, angry voice.

"Stop it!" she cried.

"Go back to your lover. Olivia stays with me. Harold to if that is the kind of life you would expose them to." he said hotly.

"You will not be taking my children away from me, Arthur." she told him.

"I will if their mother want's to run off with a degenerate drunk. Any judge would give me custody." he said arrogantly.

She stood up. She was no longer the scared desperate girl she had been when she had married him. She was no longer his convenient wife.

"I think we've said all we need to." she told him coldly. "I'm taking my children back with me to England to help my friend and your cousin. You can sue for custody, but you will fail. All I have to do is explain how Olivia isn't yours and we lied about our marriage."

"Ariadne." Arthur said. His voice an icy warning.

"Goodbye, sir." she whispered and didn't look back.