Chapter Twenty-Three
All in all, Jerome spent eight nights in Newgate before being summoned to attend the House of Lords, during which time Ava, in defiance of his instructions, visited him twice.
The first occasion was on the second day.
“Ava!” He sprang up from his chair, where he was sitting before the table under the window, writing.
“Jerome!” She flew into his arms and hugged him, and he lifted her slightly off her feet in an exuberant hug and kiss, so delighted to see her that he forgot for a moment the impropriety of her visiting him here.
“My love,” he murmured against her hair.
“Oh, Jerome, I’ve missed you so!” she said tearfully.
“And I have missed you, my darling, but you really shouldn’t be here. It’s not seemly.”
“I don’t care about that. Everything is so horrid without you. And people are saying the meanest things! It is all too dreadful. Poor Sophie is suffering too because of it, and I was afraid Letty would be angry about it, but she has been a tower of strength.”
“Letty is the very best,” he said quietly. “I never fully appreciated her until this year. Come sit on the bed with me and tell me everything that is going on. But I warn you, the bedclothes may contain passengers who will want to ride home with you.”
“Urgh!” Ava wrinkled her nose but sat anyway.
“Lady Mostyn has been stoking the fires, and gossip is rife. Whenever I enter a room, people stop talking! It’s awful.
Most people are keeping their distance from me.
A few have given me the cut direct, but the majority are waiting to see what the outcome of the trial is before cutting ties with me completely.
But I will remember who stood my friend and who did not.
Robert has been marvelous. He has considerable influence, you know, and his steadfast support of your innocence has been wonderful. You know how starched up he can be?”
Jerome nodded with a smile.
“Well, he has been coming the Grand Duke with everyone and that has given them pause. And then there is Mama. She has been absolutely magnificent. She quarreled dreadfully with Lady Mostyn. For you must know, I told Mama what you told me, and Rob backed me up. We were able to convince her that she had been duped by Lady Mostyn. Rob had tried to tell her earlier what you had told him, but she wouldn’t listen then.
And, of course, Rob told Ashford and Pendrell as well.
So, the three of them are standing buff for you. And Rey as well, for what it’s worth.”
“I’m obliged to him,” he said sardonically, not particularly heartened to hear that Ava was in contact with Lannister.
“You mustn’t mind that I spoke to him. I had to tell him the truth for I could not bear him to think there was anything in the rumors. They are quite outlandish, you know.”
“What are the rumors?” he asked, bracing himself.
“There are any number and each more lurid than the last. The latest is that Charis was with child, and she confronted you on the cliff, and you threw her off!” Ava’s indignation at this horrendous lie would have been comical if the situation weren’t so dire.
How are we ever to recover from this scandal?
“I am so sorry you are being subjected to this. Perhaps it would be better to stay home and not go out in society?”
“What, and let them think you are guilty? Never!” said Ava, her eyes flashing blue fire.
“Oh, my darling, I do love you,” he said with a besotted grin and kissed her.
A little while later he said unsteadily, “You must leave, sweetheart. I appreciate your visit more than you can know, but you shouldn’t be here.
Promise me you won’t come here again. I am confident I won’t be detained for long. ”
“I shall visit you as often as is needful,” she said firmly, with a martial light in her eye. “No one will keep me from my husband’s side.”
He considered arguing with her and decided not to, for there was another point he wanted to make instead.
“Very well, my love, but I hope that you are being discreet in your dealings with Lannister, for the last thing we need is for the gossips to link your name with his in anything clandestine with me locked up. You do see how that would look, don’t you? ”
She screwed her face up and nodded. “It’s horrid and completely untrue, but yes, I do see. I will be careful, I promise.”
*
He also received visits from Robert, Ashford, and Pendrell, who all assured him of their support.
When Rob came to see him, one look at the man’s face was enough to tell him how much strain he was under, and Jerome winced with guilt.
“I’m so sorry, Rob,” he said.
“Nonsense! This is not your fault. It’s that wretched woman’s malice.”
“But you’re not sleeping!”
Robert’s face twisted in a tired smile. “That’s not down to you, old chap. My son and heir is going through a period of not sleeping. And I confess on top of that, my little brother is causing me some anxiety.”
“Kenrick?”
Rob rubbed his eyes and nodded. “Be glad you don’t have siblings to cause you grief!
I thank God for Heather and Hereward. They at least never give me any gray hairs.
As for Ingrid, I dread the day she is released from the schoolroom.
I’ll be white haired in a week once we launch her on the ton! She will make Ava look like an angel.”
“Ava is an angel!” said Jerome, bristling instantly in Ava’s defense.
Rob smiled tiredly. “I will say marriage seems to suit her. Perhaps the secret to managing Ingrid will be to get her married as soon as possible. Then she will be someone else’s problem!”
“What’s Rick done?” asked Jerome, glad to be talking of something other than his own problems.
“Ruined a young lady and refused to do the honorable thing! I’m so angry with him—there is only so much even my credit can withstand. The Layne name is getting rapidly tarnished.”
Jerome winced. “Who—?” The door opening cut off his inquiry in mid-stream as Emrys and Deo came in, and the conversation reverted to his situation.
Jerome sustained a second visit from Sir William on the seventh day of his incarceration to inform him that his case would be heard in the House of Lords in two days’ time, and to brief him on his strategy for the defense.
“You will no doubt be forced to make a statement and questioned by the prosecution, who will attempt to twist your words to convict you. I straightly advise you to stick to the facts as you know them. Do not allow the prosecution to cozen you into surmises or speculation. I will do the rest. I am confident of full exoneration.”
Ava’s second visit was on the heels of Garrow’s and principally to assure him that he was certain to be successful.
At least that was her avowed reason. He wondered how much of it was to reassure herself.
Holding her close, he took solace from her unwavering belief in him and swore that once he was free of this terrible consequence of his past actions, he would spend the rest of his life trying to be worthy of this wonderful woman who, despite all this shame and scandal, seemed proud to call herself his wife.
Thus, Jerome arrived at the House of Lords in a hackney, accompanied by two Bow Street Runners—who were acutely uncomfortable escorting a peer of the realm—and entered the halls of Westminster with a heart that beat too fast and, despite Sir William’s encouraging words, a sick pit of fear in his stomach.
He was as immaculately dressed for the occasion as his circumstances allowed.
And if his linen wasn’t as crisp as he would like, he hoped none but the most discerning eyes would notice.
Even so, he knew, and it dented his confidence.
Then he thought of Ava, and he set his shoulders back and lifted his head.
Her love would sustain him through this, and then they would be reunited once more and able to put this terrible episode behind them.
He walked into the chamber with, if not quite his usual nonchalant air, then at least pride in his bearing and the knowledge that, linen or no, he was still one of the best-dressed men in the room.
The buzz of conversation in the room was loud, for the space was full.
It was a long, high-ceilinged chamber with six magnificent gold chandeliers and half-circle clerestory windows along the outside wall to afford light.
The lower three quarters of the walls were dressed in red brocade wallpaper and red hangings hung over the entrances at the front of the room and behind the King’s Throne, which was the focal point of the room’s design.
Rows of seats lined the walls, and platforms down either side provided a second tier of seating.
The upper portion of the walls and ceiling were painted cream, so the overall effect was of red, cream, and gold opulence, accented by wood paneling on the high dado line below the windows and in the red upholstered pews upon which the lords sat.
Several rows of these also occupied the center of the room, and at the rear, behind them, the table at which the bewigged learned gentlemen of the bar sat or stood.
It was to one end of this large table that Jerome was guided to take his seat beside Sir William, robed in black, with his long wig upon his head.
At the other end was Sir Nicholas Connyngham Tindal with his client, Lady Mostyn, who was the only woman in the room.
Between them were sundry fellows in smaller wigs, whom Jerome surmised to be attorneys or clerks of court as they were all busily scribbling.
Lady Mostyn stiffened at the sight of him and glared malevolently at him. He stared back, unsmiling, determined that she would not provoke him into revealing shame or guilt. He inclined his head in acknowledgment of her and then took his seat.
The house quietened, and after some preliminaries the case got under way. The charges were read out, and the prosecution made the opening address. Lady Mostyn did not speak, leaving the address to her counsel.