Twilight Romance: Flash Marriage to Mature Tycoon – Episode 71
Summer’s appeal hearing began on the morning of Ray and Jocelyn’s first anniversary. Her attorneys argued that pretrial publicity, Astor influence, and emotional pressure from Violet had made the guilty plea involuntary.
Ray and Jocelyn attended without cameras. They had canceled no celebration because none had been scheduled beyond dinner and cornbread. The hearing would not steal a grand event from them.
Prosecutors presented recordings of Summer negotiating the plea with independent counsel. She had understood every charge and rejected several earlier offers. No Astor representative participated.
Summer claimed fear for Violet drove her confession. The judge reviewed her repeated efforts to subpoena, surveil, and manipulate her daughter. Concern did not explain the pattern.
Violet remained at school. Her written statement asked the court not to confuse her absence with forgiveness or hatred. She wanted the legal process to end without requiring her pain as entertainment.
Summer’s attorney requested release pending full review. Prosecutors cited her previous escape, shell accounts, and false identity documents. The risk of flight remained substantial.
The judge denied release. He allowed a limited review of sentencing procedure but left the conviction intact. Summer would remain in custody.
She turned toward Ray as deputies approached. “You chose her over your family,” she said. The accusation had lost its power through repetition.
Ray answered that Violet and Jocelyn were his family, but he had not chosen one woman as a possession over another. Summer’s own choices created the distance between them.
Jocelyn said nothing. Closure did not require one final victory speech. She had already reclaimed the parts of her life Summer tried to control.
Outside, reporters asked whether the hearing ruined their anniversary. Ray said anniversaries measured a year, not a perfect day. Marriage continued through inconvenient mornings as surely as romantic evenings.
Jocelyn declined further questions. They drove to the small house, changed out of formal clothes, and began cooking together. Ray had finally learned to cut vegetables evenly.
Violet returned after school with a small cake. Harry arrived carrying Caleb, while Mary brought the same sparkling cider used when Jocelyn accepted her national role.
No one mentioned Summer until Violet chose to. She admitted relief at the denied release and sadness that relief was necessary. Jocelyn told her conflicting feelings could share the same room.
They ate beef stew around the crowded table. Ray burned only one edge of the cornbread, which everyone treated as ceremonial tradition.
After dinner, Jocelyn and Ray exchanged one new promise as planned. She promised to ask for help before exhaustion became martyrdom. He promised to reveal fear before it became control.
They wrote the promises in a small notebook Violet had labeled Annual Marriage Maintenance. Ray objected to the unromantic title and was overruled.
Later, alone, Jocelyn asked whether he regretted spending their anniversary in court. Ray said the day belonged to their real life, not an advertisement for happiness.
They danced in the living room where their first physical closeness had ended in embarrassment. This time, neither slipped, and no towel complicated the moment.
As the song ended, Ray’s phone displayed the final shareholder vote on separating his roles. The reform had passed. Within thirty days, he would no longer be both chairman and chief executive of Astor Group.