Filled anew with determination, Marina threw herself into preparing for trial. At first Sir Wolseley tried to keep her out of it, tried to tell her just to relax and try to steady herself before the trial. She had no interest in doing so, and Philip recognized that and gave her some work to do.

"We'll need to collect as many witnesses as we can," he told her. "Whoever can be a witness to your interactions with Mr. Abernathy, but also character witnesses – anyone who will testify to your good character."

Marina grinned wryly. "What good character is that?"

Philio returned her grin, though his eyes were dark with lack of sleep, and there was a new wrinkle between his eyebrows where his worried frown had become permanent. "I'm sure Ms. Braithewite would be willing to make something up for you," he pointed out. "I think she quite likes you."

Marina nodded. "Very well – Celeste and I shall spend some time out walking today, finding witnesses for our trial." She looked at him, sitting at his desk surrounded by books. "And what will you do? Are you catching up on all the work you've been ignoring for the past weeks?"

He looked up at her sheepishly, and she knew he had not been doing so. In fact, despite his assertion that he could not represent her, she knew he had been working on her case. Those late night sessions reading books on evidence and criminal trials were not for the sake of their local clients needing wills.

"You had better take care of our paying clients," she scolded him. "Celeste needs plenty of food, which means the bills need to get paid."

"Yumm!" Celeste agreed.

Philip smiled at her. "I will. I'll finish Mr. Stein's will today and bring it to him."

"Good. Now, Celeste and I have work to do. We will see you on our return." Marina took Celeste's little hand and they walked out into the bright day.

It was a beautiful warm day, and Marina hated it. Everything good grated on her nerves. It reminded her that the world did not care about her situation – that it would continue to be beautiful weather for everyone else whether she went to prison or not. It felt like a reminder of all the things she stood to lose.

Well, she would just have to win.

They visited Harriet first, since her testimony would be key. She was working in her father's field when they found her. Marina admired her strong arms as she straightened up, smiling broadly to see Celeste. When asked if she would testify on Marina's behalf she eagerly agreed. "I'll get Edward to come testify too," she offered. "He saw how nasty Abernathy was that day – he knows what he's capable of, given the chance."

"Thank you Harriet."

"Of course!"

Celeste held out her arms to be picked up and Harriet happily obliged, swinging her around in a big circle.

"When this is all over, I want you to come over for dinner," Marina said. "We'll make you some delicious cakes, won't we Celeste?"

"Yes cakes!" She gave Harriet a big messy kiss before they continued on.

They came home to find a crowd in the office. Sir Wolseley had set up on her desk while he was in town, and he had an even messier style than Philip. Marina eyed her desk jealously, but she was willing to let him have it for now.

Ms. Braithewite and Ms. Hurst were also in the office, chatting loudly with Sir Wolseley. They all got to their feet when Marina and Celeste came in. Philip, naturally, was too absorbed in his work, and didn't even notice their arrival.

"Marina my dear! This is simply awful!" Ms Hurst exclaimed, coming forward to comfort Marina.

"He's a real bastard!" Ms. Braithewite agreed, which got Philip's attention. He jumped to his feet and covered Celeste's ears.

"Miss Braithewite!" he hissed. "Please watch your language in front of my child!"

Gloria just rolled her eyes at him, and she gave Marina a tight embrace as well. "Is there anything we can do to help?" She jerked her head at Sir Wolseley, and said in a slightly quieter voice, "This one keeps telling us we don't need to get involved, but surely there is something we can do."

"I didn't say that exactly…" Sir Wolseley protested.

"Best to just let her get on with it," Philip told him. "Miss Braithewite will be a great help – she'll just do it her own way." He and Gloria exchanged looks, then he turned to Marina and asked in a softer tone, "Did you have success today?"

Marina nodded. "Harriet and Edward will testify for us." Philip nodded, satisfied, and leaned over his work again. Marina turned back to her friends. "Let's go into the sitting room and discuss."

Marina made tea and they sat together in her little sitting room, talking strategy for the trial. Celeste fell asleep on her lap while the women talked, and Marina caressed her curls to comfort herself.

Miss Braithewite had no direct connections with Mr. Abernathy, but she was friendly with the lord who owned his land. For Marina, it mattered less that she could help at trial, and more that she was there, and that she wanted to help, no matter that the stink of a criminal trial and the ensuing scandal might wash off on her too.

Philip popped in late afternoon to tell Marina he was going out to drop off Mr. Stein's will. "Will you ladies be staying for dinner today?" he asked the others.

"Oh! No thank you – you don't need us intruding on you like that!" Gloria said, getting to her feet. "I hadn't realized how late it was getting." Miss Hurst got to her feet as well. "We should be off – but do let me know if you need anything at all."

Marina gently eased Celeste's head off her knee and saw the two women to the door. "Thank you for your support – it means so much to me."

Miss Hurst stopped and took Marina's hand, looking her in the eyes. "Mr. Abernathy is wrong, and he will pay for what he has done," she said softly and firmly. It was strange, but for some reason, Marina believed the words when they came from this small woman more than she had believed them from her own lawyer. There was something almost wicked about the way she looked – as though, if the court didn't punish Mr. Abernathy, Miss Hurst was prepared to do so.

Miss Hurst kissed Marina lightly on the cheek. Gloria smiled fiercely at Miss Hurst and took her elbow as they left. "Now, will you come have dinner with me tonight? My house is awfully quiet…"

Marina heard their conversation drifting out into the night as they walked away, arms linked.

Sir Wolseley did join them for dinner, so it was a slightly more formal affair than usual. Though it could never be very formal with a two-year-old at the table.

"It is certainly lively," Sir Wolseley remarked at one point, and Marina thought back to her family dinners when she was a child. With all the children and farm hands around the table… Now that was a lively dinner table! She looked over at Philip and suddenly wondered if he wanted more children. She had never given it much thought yet, but she thought then that she would like to have more children, that she would like to have more noise in the house.

She frowned and looked back at her plate. There were things to deal with first, before she could think of having children. For one, there was this little business of the trial to deal with. And then – the even bigger hurdle – there was Philip's reticence with physical intimacy. She grinned to herself at her thoughts – at least she still had her sense of humour.

She had expected Philip to leave all the dishes and cleaning up to her, with his senior in the room observing. She should have known better though. Philip wasn't one to worry about the perceptions of others. He never paused in his discussion of the case law while he tidied up of course. Marina observed him for a little while, noting how good he looked with his sleeves rolled up, chatting amiably. He had gotten excited about some point of law and started waving his hands around and splashed water on his face and chest.

Marina brought Celeste upstairs while he and Sir Wolseley were still talking. "We can't stand around here ogling your father all night!" she whispered to Celeste. "Let's get you ready for sleep."

She was just getting Celeste down in her crib when she heard a soft knock at her door.

"May I come in?"

"Of course you can," Marina said, and was annoyed at how waspish it sounded. "Please, come in."

Philip entered shyly. He still rarely came into her room, though she had been visiting him in his room almost every night. He was still awkward in her space, with her things. He still tried not to look around, though what he was afraid of seeing she couldn't guess. There wasn't much about her he had not already seen by this point.

"Sir Wolsely's gone back to the inn. He'll return in the morning," he told Marina, then turned to Celeste. "You all ready for sleepy time?"

Celeste pouted a bit. "No. Wanna read."

Marina shook her head. "No young lady, don't be trying to manipulate your father like that. We all know he's too soft." She turned to grin at Philip, who looked sheepish. "You were really going to cave in to her demands?" she whispered to him, to which he shrugged. She laughed and turned back to Celeste. Once she was tightly wrapped in her blankets, she usually fell asleep quickly enough. "He really is too soft."

Celeste chuckled. "Papa too soff."

Philip mock frowned at them. "All right now, that's enough teasing from you two. Goodnight my dear." He kissed Celeste's forehead.

"Papa?"

"Yes darling?"

"What's bassard?"