Wife of John Edwards aide breaks down as she tells of his hidden affair Asked by a prosecutor why she went along with it, Mrs Young put her hands together, pressed them to her chin and bowed her head as if in prayer. As she began to weep, US District Court Judge Catherine Eagles dismissed the jury to give her time to compose herself. Edwards sat back in his chair and put two fingers to his pursed lips. As Mrs Young dabbed her tears with a tissue, the former US senator from North Carolina glanced at his watch. Once the jury returned, Young answered the question. "I felt like everything had been dumped in my lap," she said. Everybody was on board but me. ... I didn't want the campaign to explode and for it to be my fault. I ultimately decided to live with a lie. During the call, Edwards suggested that it would only be a one-day story if Andrew Young took responsibility for the baby. "'Nobody cares about two staffers having an affair,'" Mrs Young recalled Edwards saying. Ms Hunter had earlier been paid as a videographer by one of the organizations linked with Edwards, who is accused of deliberately using money from two wealthy donors to hide Hunter as he sought the White House. Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six counts related to campaign-finance violations. He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted on all counts. At issue are payments from a wealthy Texas lawyer, Fred Baron, who served as Edwards' campaign-finance chairman and an elderly heiress, Rachel "Bunny" Mellon. Mr Young, who testified last week under an immunity agreement, has acknowledged that he kept about $1 million in payments from the two campaign supporters. Earlier in her testimony, Cheri Young said she had doubts about taking the "Bunny money" and using it to cover up the affair, but "I heard Mr. John Edwards tell me on the phone that he checked with the campaign lawyers and that this was legal." Though Mr Young testified last week that the couple spent much of the money provided by the donors to build his family's $1.5 million home, the couple also supported the pregnant mistress out of their checking account, paying for her medical care, a BMW, a $2,700-a-month rental house and a monthly allowance of thousands of dollars in cash. Mrs Young said she agreed to handle the money because if the public found out about Edwards' affair with Hunter, the campaign and her husband's job were in danger. I cannot tell you how disgusted I was. Why me? This was my husband's fight," she said. Now I had to fix it. After reporters for the National Enquirer tracked Hunter down in December 2007 and the Youngs agreed for Andrew to issue a public statement accepting paternity, they embarked with the pregnant mistress on a cross-country odyssey of private jets and luxury retreats, all paid for by Baron. Eventually they settled into a $20,000-a-month rental mansion Baron paid for in Santa Barbara, California. Mrs Young said Ms Hunter chose the location because that was where her "healer and spiritual advisor" lived. Mrs Young said Hunter also had her write checks totaling thousands of dollars to the New Age healer, Bob McGovern, whom the mistress said she wanted to be with her when she gave birth. There was also tension between the Youngs' family and Ms Hunter. "We were not allowed to touch the baby," Mrs Young testified. My kids were not allowed anywhere they might breathe on the baby.