Page 57 of Raymond's Forever

“Are you okay?” Raymond asked gently, and sucked in his breath when she looked at him. Her entire expression showed anguish.

“No, can we go back to the hotel room?”

“Sure,” he said, but looked around.

“I’ll go with her,” Ilsa said, and took Amelia’s elbow in hers. Thirty minutes later, Amelia was laid out on one of the beds in the room she was assigned to, and couldn’t stop crying. When she felt the bed dip behind her, she never moved. The only saving grace was she smelt Raymond’s cologne, and she rolled over to bury her face in his chest, and cried harder. It was a good fifteen minutes before she was able to stop.

“Sh, I got you.”

“Why were they so mean? I didn’t do anything to them, and I sure as hell didn’t do what they accused me of.”

“I know that, and hopefully the jury knows that. I know you don’t want to hear this, but that’s how lawyers work, they cut down the person suing their client, to try to make them look bad. I believe I presented strong evidence and can only pray that the jury will make the right decision.”

She lay there for several more minutes, then finally lifted her tear-stained face to him. “I’m sorry for losing it.”

“You didn’t lose it, and this is not a laughing matter, nor is it funny, but your expression during the opposing teams summation moved a lot of the jurors. When I made my own closing arguments, they never looked at me, all twelve of them couldn’t take their eyes off you.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No,” Jason said from the doorway. “Are you okay?”

“I will be, I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. Your reaction was the perfect response to them misaligning your character. It proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what they said about you not only hurt you professionally, but also personally. The hardest part of this entire trial is that now we wait. We can’t do anything until the jury comes back.”

“Will they be sentenced when the verdict comes in, or is there a waiting period?”

“It usually depends on the individual judge. They have the decision, and right, to sentence immediately, or wait and weigh all the options. I’ve been doing some research on this judge, and in the past, he has been known to sentence immediately.”

“Oh,” she said quietly, then sighed heavily. She got off the bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face, and collect herself. When she came out, she wouldn’t look them in the eye.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about,” Raymond said firmly as he handed her a cup of coffee. “Your reaction was from the gut, and wasn’t fake, the jury will see that.”

They stood or sat drinking coffee and making idle conversation while they waited for the call that the jury was back.

“I have one more question, then I’m going to drop it until after we get the call.”

“What’s that,” Raymond asked.

“How soon after the jury returns with their verdict can we get the hell out of here? I want to go home.”

Raymond rose from his seat, went to her, gathered her in his arms, and held her tightly. With the fingers of one hand, he gently lifted her chin and kissed the tip of her nose. “That same day.”

“Thank you, I’m going to go pack.” She left the three of them in the ‘men’s’ bedroom, and went into the women’s. When Raymond started to go after her, Ilsa stopped him with a hand on his arm, and a shake of her head.

“Let her process.”

He knew she was right, but it was hard seeing the woman he loved torn up like this. But he settled back in his chair, and made sure he could look into the adjoining room to watch her movements.

CHAPTER 22

“All rise!”the bailiff called out, and everyone stood as the judge entered, then they were told to sit down. As she sat, Amelia looked at the empty table before her, and was suddenly hit with a wave of anguish as the judge asked the jury if they had reached a verdict. It had been three days since they had been released to go deliberate.

A woman stood, and looked directly at the judge. “We have, your Honor.” She picked up a folded piece of paper, handed it to the bailiff, and he took it to the judge. The judge unfolded the paper, read it, made some notes on his own paper, and handed it back to the bailiff. Amelia had always thought that process had been made for TV drama, but when it was her own drama, she just wanted to scream at them to read it out.

“Counselor, have your clients stand,” the judge said sternly, and watched as Dr. Perkins, Dr. Ervin, and their lawyers stood. The bailiff had returned the paper to the jury forewoman.

“Proceed,” the judge nodded to her.