Adulation / h.s

74

Another month went by and Rosie's bump continued to grow. She felt proud to walk around with her bump on show although with the cold winter weather she had to buy bigger coats to fit her.

She took a deep breath opening the double doors to the court room. It was her turn to take the witness stand against Jonathan.

With Bella out of hospital and safely at her mums, the trial had begun against him. She had agreed to answer questions as a witness.

She was nervous, she had never been in a court room before and the fact she had to stand and speak in front of lawyers, solicitors, a judge, a jury and Jonathan watching. It was overwhelming to say the least.

Harry wasn't allowed in as it wasn't a public case so he decided to stay home ready for when she got back. Being nearly six months pregnant now she was only getting slower and more emotional. He wanted to support her the best he could.

When she was called up to the stand she felt her fingers tremble. She saw Bella on one side of the room, Jonathan behind glass on another.

She took the oath before turning to the barrister for Jonathan.

"Hello, Miss Bellevue. Thank you for taking the stand."

"It's okay," She felt her voice shake and took another deep breath.

"Now, I respect that you are pregnant so I don't wish to make you feel pressured or at all anxious but I do need to ask questions."

She nodded. "Of course. That's your job,"

There was a low rumble of laughter in the courtroom. She didn't say it to be funny, she was just pointing out the obvious like he did with her pregnancy.

"So how well would you say you know my client?"

Rosie swallowed. "Not the greatest amount. I would say from what I know of him was more from what Bella told me."

"Would you say you have a friendship with my client?"

She shook her head. "Not at all,"

"And why is that?"

Rosie looked Jonathan in the eye. "From day one I didn't like him," She looks back to the barrister. "There was something about him, something didn't feel right. He spoke down to Bella a lot - even in the early stages. Insinuated that she wasn't intelligent."

"So you took an instant disliking to him? Correct?"

"I wouldn't say instant disliking. At first I just didn't quite trust him then as we did more things like double dates and days out I disliked him."

"Have you ever seen my client get physical with Miss Turner?"

"I never witnessed him be physically abusive with Bella but from being a teacher and being responsible for safeguarding and understanding the five different types of abuse that there is, I would say she definitely suffered emotional and mental abuse. I also noticed bruises on her arms which at the time she lied about."

"Why didn't you report this?"

Rosie frowned. "Because the police wouldn't count it as anything even if I did."

"Am I right in thinking you showed up to my clients home one evening in July? You accused him of kidnapping Bella, correct?"