CHAPTER 54
"No further questions," the defence lawyer states and sits down.
The judge looks around the room, and declares that this is a good point to leave proceedings for the day and he calls an adjournment until tomorrow. The courtroom is cleared and we all retire to our side room to confer with the lawyers. The fact they are all smiling widely says to me that this is going well.
"Mr Grey, Mrs Grey, how are you?" the chief prosecutor says as he walks up to us his hand outstretched.
Christian accepts his handshake and nods at him.
"I think things went as well as could be expected" Christian says politely.
The lawyer beams at him, "Mr Grey, today exceeded expectations by a mile, the defence have no case. Tomorrow we have Mr Cross giving evidence of what happened; we have Mr Taylor's testimony of the crash and then you sir. Today was about getting the facts out there, about what they did, tomorrow we go for the human angle the consequences of their actions. Hopefully if things go well we will get Mrs Grey on the stand as well tomorrow. If not, she will be the final witness on day three before we give our closing statement. Then it will be the defence's turn, but as things stand at the moment I am expecting the defence to try and go for a plea bargain again, as they know they don't have a hope in hell".
I feel Christian grip me a little tighter as the lawyer says these things, and I know Christian is worried about me going on the stand, but I want this, I want them to know what their actions did.
"I can't wait" I say with a confident smile.
The lawyer turns and looks at me and returns my smile. I glance at Christian who still looks worried so I carefully place my hand on his chest directly over his heart.
"I need to do this; I need to tell the court what happened. I need to do it" I say firmly and I look directly into Christian's eyes as I say it.
I see him nod slowly, understanding the silent message I am sending him.
As we are talking our friends and family join us, Grace has arrived and she walks up to me and hugs me tightly.
"Ana darling how are you?" she asks, "I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner, I tried to get but we had an emergency at the hospital".
"Hi Grace, I'm fine and thank you for coming" I say as I return her hug.
Kate and Eva walk over and I am hugged again, and I watch as Eva turns and hugs Christian who is talking to Gideon and Carrick and whispers something in his ear. He smiles and nods at her and then looks at me.
The room eventually starts to clear. Kate and Elliott are the first ones to leave and they promise us they will be back tomorrow. Grace and Carrick leave when the lawyers go as Carrick has been in deep conversation with them, discussing the trial. I walk over to Gail and hug her tightly and thank her for organising the refreshments and food, but she waves it off and makes light of it.
"Jason is giving evidence tomorrow," I say quietly to her.
She nods, "I know, I'm not looking forward to hearing what he and Mr Grey went through that day," she says soberly.
Just at that moment Jason walks over, "Gail, Mr Grey has said we can head off if we want to, and to take the rest of the day off".
Gail smiles and she gives me another quick hug and I watch as they leave hand in hand. Eva and Gideon say goodbye soon after and eventually it's just myself, Christian and John Flynn left. John is in deep conversation with Christian, he has his hand on his shoulder and Christian is nodding. I have kept a discreet distance away to give them privacy and I decide to go and find Luke. I open the door and look outside and I find Luke is sitting waiting outside with Ryan and they immediately stand when they see me.
"Are you ready to leave Mrs Grey?" Luke asks politely.
I shake my head, "No not yet, Christian is talking with John at the moment. I'm thirsty though, is there anywhere we can go for a drink?" I ask.
Luke nods and offers to get me something. As I am about to open my mouth to answer, I feel a strong arm around my waist.
"Are you ready to go baby?" Christian says, I turn and smile at him.
"I am, but I'm really thirsty and I was asking Luke is he knows of anywhere we could go for a drink" I say.
Christian nods, "Why don't we just head back to Escala and have a drink there, I need to talk to you," he says.
"OK" I reply and we head off.
We arrive at Escala and as we enter the great room I kick my shoes off and throw my purse on the sofa.
"What did you want to talk about Christian?" I ask as I pour myself a glass of water.
Christian sits down on the sofa and pats the seat next to him. I walk over and join him and he immediately reaches for my hand and raises it his mouth and kisses my knuckles.
"I wanted to thank you for having the foresight to arrange for John Flynn to be at the court. It really helped, I felt myself getting more and more agitated today when I saw Garrett sitting there, and having John to talk to and process things with, when the day ended helped a lot".
I smile, "You are more than welcome, I would do anything and everything within my power to make you feel better you know that don't you?" I say.
I think for a moment then ask him something which I was wondering about, "what did Eva say to you today?" I ask as I recall the interaction.
Christian smiles, "she just said I did well today," he says, "I suppose, she was referring to the fact I didn't have a full on meltdown in the court room when I saw Garrett".
oooOOOooo
The next day we enter the court room ready to face the day's proceedings. We take our places and our family and friends are once again seated behind us. Gideon is the first up this morning when things begin. I glance around at Eva and smile as Gideon strides purposefully to the witness stand to face questioning. I grip Christian's hand tightly. Today he will hear what it was like for us when he went missing, and my guess is his reaction won't be a positive one.
The lawyer stands and gets ready to question Gideon and I take a good look at my friend as he stands there, his public mask firmly in place waiting to speak.
"Mr Cross, can you tell us in your own words the events of the day in question?"
Gideon nods and looks across at me and his impassive mask slips a little as he smiles at me.
"Mrs Grey was in New York with me at the time, along with Luke Sawyer her Close Protection Officer and during a meeting we were having, it became apparent that we needed to speak to Jason Taylor regarding an issue which had brought to our attention. Mr Sawyer and Mrs Grey tried repeatedly to contact Mr Taylor but were unable to do so. Both he and Mrs Grey found this highly unusual, however they were not overly concerned to begin with as Mr Taylor was accompanying Mr Grey to Portland in Charlie Tango – Mr Grey's helicopter and if they were in the air they would be out of contact as Mr Grey insists on all cell phones being switched off during flights. However, Mrs Grey became anxious when time elapsed and they were still unable to make contact with Mr Taylor and so Geoff Welch was contacted to discover if Mr Grey had arrived in Portland as expected. Mr Welch returned with the news that Mr Grey had never arrived at his destination, and that the helicopter was missing. As you can imagine, Mrs Grey immediately wanted to return to Seattle upon hearing this, and she became quite distressed".
I feel Christian grip my hand a little tighter as he listens to this.
"I immediately took charge of the situation, and liaising with Mr Sawyer and Raul Huerta who is one of my Senior Security Operatives I arranged a large team of my security detail to fly out to Seattle ahead of us, to help organise a search party and introduce themselves and liaise with Geoff Welch and his security team. I accompanied Mrs Grey to Seattle, while we are on route, Mr Sawyer and Mr Huerta and spent the flight co-ordinating a search for the helicopter, via email and cell phone. We arrived back in Seattle quite late – I am not certain of the exact time but I think it was around midnight or just after, and we went to Mrs Grey's home and set up a command post there, in Mr and Mrs Grey's home security office, and I was in constant communication with my team who were searching for the missing helicopter. It became apparent from conversations Mrs Grey had with Welch and experiences my team were having with him on the ground, that Welch was being evasive and was hindering the search. It was during this time Mr Ryan and Mr Fisher, two off duty security team members of Mr Grey's team, arrived and offered to help. Mrs Grey received a telephone call from Jose Rodriguez who started making strange comments which made her suspicious, the call was taped by the security team and Mr Rodriguez made comments regarding Mr Grey which suggested he knew about the disappearance of the helicopter".
I glance over to Jose as I remember that call, but he is sitting with his head down, not looking at anyone.
I'm not 100 per cent sure what was said between Mr Rodriguez and Mrs Grey, as I was in and out at the time, I was on my phone liaising with the rescue team, but I heard parts of the taped conversation later. Mrs Grey's team managed to enhance the call and it was established that Mr Hyde and Mr Garrett were also there when Mr Rodriguez placed the call as they were heard making comments in the background, and I believe they both mentioned Mr Grey by name. The comments Mr Rodriguez made, and from the location of the call, which he made to Mrs Grey made Mr Sawyer suspicious and he sent Mr Ryan and Mr Fisher to check out the hangar at Boeing Field where Charlie Tango was kept. They subsequently found the compelling evidence which was shown yesterday of the breach of security at the hangar. It was shortly after Mrs Grey's conversation with Mr Rodriguez that I got notification from the search team that Mr Grey and Mr Taylor had been found. It was just a text at that point telling me that they had been found and that they were alive. Mrs Grey hadn't heard anything from Geoff Welch and she called him, she was angry that she had to find out that her husband was safe, from someone other than the man whose job it was to ensure the safety of Mr Grey and she relieved him of his position at this point, due to what she saw as his incompetence in handling the situation".
I smile, as I vividly remember my moment when I told Welch he was fired.
"I arranged transportation for Mrs Grey and Mrs Taylor to go to Portland hospital, where Mr Grey and Mr Taylor had been taken and when we arrived I went with Stephan, Mr Grey's pilot, to join the salvage team in retrieving and securing Charlie Tango".
Gideon stops speaking and takes a drink of water, as he was talking I remembered all of what he was saying, the memories of that night etched into my brain. My attention is drawn back to Gideon as he starts speaking again, and I listen carefully interested to hear what happened after he left me at the hospital, as after that I didn't see him again until the next morning.
"Stephan and I flew to the crash site in my helicopter, and the salvage team briefed me on their findings and that they had suspicions that Charlie Tango had been sabotaged. I helped co-ordinate the salvage team and organised another team to fly out from New York to help, when I received a call from my security officer Raul Huerta who had gone to Welch's office at GEH to secure it after Mrs Grey had fired him, in case Mr Welch decided to try and access it. He informed me that he had found some interesting things regarding Mr Welch, and he requested I return to Seattle to discuss it with him. So, I left the crash site and flew back to Seattle, where I was briefed by Mr Huerta on his discoveries, and I took the decision there and then to put Mr Huerta in temporary charge of GEH security and we worked through the remainder of the night gathering the entire GEH security team and informing them of the change of leadership, and with the help of members of Mr Grey's team we secured all aspects of GEH security to prevent Mr Welch from gaining access, and implementing changes to improve security. I liaised with Mr Sawyer, and he informed me that he was at the Heathman Hotel with Mrs Grey, and that my man Jez Hamilton was at the hospital, supervising security there. When we had completed the procedures, I arranged to drive back to Portland to support Mrs Grey and I slept in the car for most of the journey. When I arrived, I met up with Mrs Grey and Mr Huerta had arranged for the entire GEH security team to be at a meeting at the Heathman hotel with Mrs Grey, where they informed her of their suspicions and concerns about Mr Welch. We briefed Mrs Grey on the developments and the information we had uncovered about Mr Welch and I then I accompanied Mrs Grey to the hospital to see Mr Grey".
The lawyer stands up, "Thank you Mr Cross for that detailed recollection of the events of that time, no further questions".
The defence lawyer stands up and looks at Gideon, "Mr Cross what exactly was the evidence you and your security team uncovered on Mr Welch?" he asks mildly.
Gideon stares at the lawyer with an icy expression, "The details of the information uncovered are part of public record now, and were fully disclosed to the court yesterday by the security team when they were questioned, they prove the link between Mr Welch and Tony Garrett and the reasons behind Mr Welch's poor decision to allow himself to be blackmailed by Mr Garrett, and leave Mr Grey's security vulnerable to attack," he stops speaking and glares at the lawyer, who swallows hard.
"Thank you Mr Cross no further questions" he says and sits down.
I wonder if this man is a proper lawyer, as he doesn't seem to have the first idea, either that or he knows the situation is hopeless and he is just making a show of looking as though he is doing something.
The next person up is Jason, as he is called I release Christian's hand and move to sit in the seat vacated by Jason, Christian turns and smiles apologetically at Gail. This is going to be hard for her and she needs support, as much as Christian to get through this.
Jason stands waiting for the lawyer to speak, he looks every inch the military man he once was. I wonder what he did when he was in the military, I've seen him in deep conversation with Ray at times, and I recall Welch's comments that were recorded saying he was a bona fide hero.
"Mr Taylor, can you tell the court in your own words the events of that day as you recall them". Our lawyer says to Jason calmly.
Jason nods and begins to speak.
"My name is Jason Taylor and I am the Chief Close Protection Officer for the Grey family, my primary assignment is Mr Grey, and I accompany him wherever he needs to go. My position was such that I made decisions regarding security, and liaised with Geoff Welch to get them implemented. I take my orders directly from Mr Grey and no-one else".
He pauses before for continuing, letting that point settle over the jury, he takes a sip of water at the side of him.
"On the day in question at 0900 hours, Mr Grey and I left Grey House in Seattle for Boeing Field to fly to Portland in Mr Grey's personal helicopter known as Charlie Tango. We left Boeing Field at approx 1015 hours and our estimated time of arrival in Portland was 1130 hours. As we were leaving Mr Grey received a message from Andrea – his personal assistant, to inform him that the University had called requesting to put back the meeting by one hour. Mr Grey asked me if I would like to see Mount St Helens as we had time to spare, as he had been made aware that the no flight zone had been lifted and I agreed, as I had never actually seen that particular landmark from the air before. The flight was light hearted and enjoyable. I commented to Mr Grey that it was a real privilege to see Mount St Helens and I thanked him for giving me that opportunity, then we made our way to Portland".
He stops and takes another drink and his face clouds this is it, this is the part neither Gail nor I want to really hear, I reach for Gail's hand and she looks at me knowing what is coming next.
"As we were flying in the vicinity of Silver Lake, all hell broke loose. Alarms started to go off and lights started flashing in the cockpit and it became clear very quickly that something was terminally wrong with the helicopter. I looked at Mr Grey and he said to me that I needed to brace myself for a crash landing, he was calm and collected and at no point did I lose confidence that he would get us down somehow".
Jason looks across at Christian as he says this and I see Christian nod, I lean forward and touch his shoulder and he reaches back and grasps my hand tightly for a moment.
"The helicopter was rapidly losing height and I don't know about Mr Grey, but I was absolutely terrified at that point, but I held it together so not to distract Mr Grey and I recall he spotted a clearing and he tried to guide the helicopter towards it, by this point we had lost all power and were rapidly plummeting to the ground. I heard Mr Grey mutter something about Mrs Grey and I closed my eyes and put myself in the crash position and braced myself for the impact. That is the last thing I remember, as the next thing I knew I was waking up in the ICU at Portland Hospital with my wife by my side".
Gail is silently crying and so am I, we are clinging to each other and Christian turns to look at us, regret and turmoil in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispers to Gail, but Gail smiles at him and shakes her head.
"You have nothing to apologise for sir," she says politely.
The defence lawyer is staring at Jason clearly at a loss for something to say, he knows this is over it is obvious he wasn't expecting the personal nature of the testimony, but he pulls himself together to ask a question.
"Mr Taylor, before the helicopter left Boeing Field, were all the safety checks completed?" he asks.
Jason stares at the man with utter distain.
"Mr Grey is fanatical about safety, it is his primary concern in everything he does, so yes – the standard procedural safety checks were completed before he arrived, but he re-did them as he always does, but he wasn't expecting to have to check that the engines were in tact and not tampered with as that isn't part of any procedural standard check," he says sarcastically.
The lawyer looks suitably uncomfortable at these words. "No further questions" he says quietly.
Jason steps down from the stand and returns and as I stand to let him retake his seat, I hug him tightly and he looks surprised, but returns my hug stiffly. I go back and sit down next to Christian who is ramrod stiff. I know Jason's testimony has upset him and I whisper to our lawyer to request a break so Christian can gather himself before taking the stand. Our lawyer glances at Christian and nods.
He stands and the judge accepts our request for a recess, as we are leaving the courtroom I look at John Flynn meaningfully and he nods discreetly at me. When we reach the side room we have been occupying, there is once again food laid on for us. I go and fill a plate of food for myself and Christian and pour Christian a drink and then I take them over to him, he is in deep conversation with John, but he turns and smiles at me as he takes the plate from me.
"Thanks baby," he says quietly.
I rub his arm reassuringly and leave him to his conversation with John and I walk over to Gideon and he wraps his arm around me and presses a kiss to my cheek.
"Gideon, I just want to thank you again for everything you did that day, I was sort of preoccupied with finding Christian, and I had no idea of the lengths you went to for us," I say as I look up at him.
His blue eyes soften and he smiles at me, "Ana, you don't have to thank me for anything, it was nothing, I was in a position to help and I did, do you seriously think I'd let you go through what you did alone when I had the resources to make things easier?" He says dismissively.
I shake my head, "I don't mean that, you worked through the night, you were there on the ground co-ordinating everything, when you could quite easily have been at home in New York sleeping" I say.
Gideon sighs, "Ana, I've explained this to you before, you and Christian are my family and I take care of my family," he says firmly with a tone of finality that says 'do not contradict me'.
I put down my plate and hug him tightly.
"Thank you" I whisper, his arms go around me and he returns the hug.
"You are welcome" he whispers.
I break away and go to Gail and Jason, I hug Jason again and turn to Gail, "how are you holding up?" I ask.
She smiles at me, "I'm fine Ana honestly, It wasn't pleasant listening to what happened, but Jason did what he had to do and I am so proud of him, and I don't blame Mr Grey for anything at all," she says, and she rests her head against Jason's shoulder.
Once again Welch's words come to mind, and before I can stop myself I am asking the question.
"Jason what did you do before working for Christian? Welch said you were a bona fide hero, and it seemed to be the fact that you had been hurt more than anything else which convinced him to pull out of his brother's plan," I say.
Jason goes red and looks uncomfortable, and the atmosphere is suddenly very oppressive around us, "I was in Special Forces Mrs Grey and as such I can't discuss what we did" he says flatly.
I nod "I'm sorry Jason, I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that it was rude," I say quickly.
"Not at all Mrs Grey, you were interested, but I honestly can't tell you," he says, then he smiles "well I could, but then I would have to kill you and I don't think that would go down too well with Mr Grey, and I like my job" he adds flippantly.
I laugh and the atmosphere is light again.
We are all called back to the courtroom and I immediately look for Christian, he looks to be his normal self now, and I know that John has helped him through whatever issues he was having with what Jason had said.
"Ready?" I ask as I sidle up to him and slip my hand in his.
"I am" he says confidently.
He pauses and puts his hand on my shoulders.
"Baby, are you sure you will be ok with what I am going to say? It wasn't pretty and I'm not going to pull any punches, the lawyers want me to tell it as it was and as the events of that night rerun on a loop in my head I will have no problem recalling everything, but I don't want them in your head too" he says.
I step towards him and wrap my arms around his waist. "Christian stop worrying about me, I want to know. I need to know what you went through and I will be fine" I say quietly.
We go back into the courtroom and Christian pauses he presses a kiss to my lips and walking slowly and carefully he makes his way to the stand, while I sit down in my seat. Gail has come to sit beside me taking the seat Christian normally occupies to support me, like I did for her. This is going to be hard to listen to but I do need to hear what my husband went through that night.
I look around the court room and there is a sense of expectation in the room, Christian's testimony is the one everyone has been waiting for. The jury are fixed on him and I know that if Christian does this right we will be home and dry. I look at Christian who is leaning his crutches against the stand, and then he shuffles and grips the stand.
Our lawyer stands and faces Christian, "Mr Grey, first of all are you quite comfortable, do you need a seat, as you are still recovering from your injuries?"
Christian holds up his hand, "I'm fine" he says simply.
"Mr Grey, in your own words, can you describe the events of the day in question, for the court?" He asks.
Christian nods and takes a deep breath, his impassive mask is firmly in place and he begins to speak in his calm clear voice. I glance at John and he smiles and nods, this gives me confidence that Christian will get through this ok.
"My name is Christian Grey and on the day in question I was due to fly to Portland for a meeting at the University regarding a grant I was providing. My wife had left Seattle earlier that morning for New York and I was missing her".
He glances at me and his eyes soften slightly, he regains his composure and carries on.
"We – that is Jason Taylor and I, left Grey House for Boeing field. I undertook all the usual procedures, and as we were about to leave I received a text from Andrea, my PA that the people I was meeting with at the University had been in touch and asked to put back the meeting by one hour. I put to Taylor the idea of having a look at Mount St Helens, seeing as we had some time to kill. He seemed keen and I was eager to see it as well. The flight was going to plan, although I did feel something wasn't totally right with the helicopter, but I couldn't put my finger on what. She just didn't seem as responsive as normal. Anyway, we checked out Mount Saint Helens and then started to make our way to Portland it was when we were in the vicinity of Silver Lake all hell seemed to break loose, the cockpit was lighting up like a Christmas tree and I had alarms going off. It became apparent very quickly I had complete engine failure and that we were rapidly losing altitude. I won't lie, I was terrified. I had no idea if I was going to be able to land in one piece. I was flying low and all my instincts told me there was no way I was going to be able to bring her down safely, and so I called on all my experience as a pilot to try and get us down unharmed. I told Taylor to brace himself for a bumpy landing, but I didn't tell him that in reality I didn't think we were going to make it".
He stops and looks at me again, I am gripping Gail's hand and Christian searches my expression before continuing. He continues to look at me when he speaks again.
"All my thoughts were of my wife, I wanted to survive because of her and it gave me the strength to do what I had to do, to get us down safely," he pauses and returns his gaze to the lawyer.
"I decided the best thing to do and the only thing I could do was to try and treat my helicopter, the way I fly my glider and get her down that way, and the plan seemed to work as we approached the ground all my thoughts were of my wife and although she wasn't there I told her that I loved her and braced myself for the inevitable impact. We hit the ground hard and with the impact something broke which caused us both to be thrown clear. I heard Taylor moaning so I knew he was alive, but as I tried to stand and get to him to help him, I discovered I couldn't move my legs. I crawled towards him and I checked his pulse and discovered that he was alive but he appeared to be unconscious. I wasn't in any position to move him, so I took off my jacket and covered him with it to keep him warm, I took my phone and sent a SOS distress call and our location to Welch".
I gasp as he says this, and I turn to glare at Welch who puts his head down, unable to meet my gaze.
"I tried to move myself closer to Taylor so that we could conserve warmth and give us the best chance of survival and I waited as that is all I could do. I spent the hours waiting, talking to Taylor and reassuring him we would be found and everything would be ok, he didn't answer me but I kept checking him periodically and satisfied myself he was still alive. I occupied myself with thoughts of my wife to keep my morale up".
He pauses and takes a long drink of water, I notice his hand is shaking slightly and my heart is breaking for him having to relive this again. I can visualise him lying next to Taylor unable to move and just waiting, trying to stay positive and reassure himself that Taylor was alive. I realise that it must have brought back the terrible memories of when his mother lay dead on the floor in their apartment when he was a child and he lay beside her dead body for days until they were found.
Christian begins to speak again and I listen carefully.
"Eventually, a rescue team arrived, but I didn't recognise any of them. A man called Jez Hamilton introduced himself to me and he told me that he and the team had been sent by Gideon Cross and that he was in Seattle with my wife co-ordinating the rescue and salvage. I didn't question at the time why Gideon was in co-ordinating everything rather than Welch, I just assumed Ana had asked him to help, and he had taken charge. Taylor and I were airlifted to hospital and Hamilton assured me he would be joining me at the hospital as soon as he had co-ordinated the savage of Charlie Tango. We arrived at the hospital and Taylor was taken away and I was moved to a private room, they had put me in a brace so that I was unable to move and the enormity of what had happened began to hit me, I realised that there was a chance I'd be permanently paralysed and as much as I didn't want to think about it, so I started to make plans in my mind to divorce my wife as I couldn't in good conscience ask her to stay with me if I was going to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life, she deserved better than that".
He looks across at me and I shake my head at him. He smiles slightly and carries on.
"But my wife had other ideas, she arrived at the hospital and told me in no uncertain terms that I was being stupid and that there was no way on earth she would allow me to even think such things, and from that moment on, she has been beside me and been my rock throughout the entire ordeal, and I couldn't have got through it without her. She gave me the will to get well and when it became apparent there was no permanent physical damage, it became my mission to get myself mobile again - for her, and I pushed myself to get back on my feet and she was at the forefront of my mind when I was going through the tough physio sessions".
I am looking at Christian as he says this and he is talking directly to me, he looks away suddenly.
"Ana told me the next day, of the information which had come to light about Welch and what Raul and his team had uncovered, and I won't lie I felt crushed that he had betrayed me, over the next few weeks, more and more came out and the extent of the sabotage became apparent, all of which has been shared with the court on the first day of this trial by my team and Gideon's team".
He stops. Oh that was good, he got in that fact, so that the defence had nowhere to go, he described the emotional and human side of the crash, but also added the facts for good measure reminding the jury again of the undeniable stack of evidence we have, and what they have already heard – my husband is one smart man.
"Thank you Mr Grey," our lawyer says he has a smug expression on his face as he hands over to the defence.
"No questions at this time," the defence says tightly.
Christian grabs his crutches and carefully steps down from the stand and slowly walks over to me, Gall stands and retakes her seat next to Jason and I can't help myself, I stand up and fling my arms around my husband. He responds to me by letting his crutches crash to the floor and holding me tightly for a moment, before we both remember where we are and I bend to retrieve his crutches and we sit down quietly.
Our lawyer stands up again and calls my name. I look at Christian and give him a reassuring smile before standing as I move away Christian keeps a grip on my hand until the last possible moment.
I walk confidently to the stand and wait to be spoken to. I am so ready for this, and I know I am perceived as the weak link, I won't have such an easy time with the defence as everyone else has because of my links with Jose and Jack and I am anticipating a rough ride.
