A Promise

The morning after Henry's proposal, Abigail was still reeling with disbelief and happiness.

After eating breakfast as a family, Henry and Cody made themselves scarce, Henry slipping out of the cafe and Cody heading upstairs as the women started arriving.

Abigail had invited Elizabeth, Rosemary, Florence, Dottie, and Clara over for tea. It was spur of the moment, but thankfully, they could all make it. She wanted to tell them all together and wasn't sure how long she could keep the news a secret. She was dying to tell everyone.

Even so, she carefully kept her hand unobtrusively hidden until the right moment. She and Becky shared more than one knowing look, but managed to keep straight faces and act like nothing was out of the ordinary as they all sat down in the back of the kitchen. Perching on the couch, between Becky and Clara, Abigail nonchalantly reached out and picked up the teapot, from the small table in front of the couch, and began pouring the tea as Becky and Clara helped pass out the filled cups.

Everything was perfectly normal, right up until Rosemary screamed, startling everyone except Abigail. She'd known Rosemary would be the one to notice first.

The other women looked at the usually vociferous woman in alarm as she, quite beyond words, merely squealed and pointed at Abigail.

They all followed the gesture, their eyes landing on Abigail's hand and the sparkling ring that adorned it.

In the next moment, Rosemary's excited screams weren't the only ones ringing through the room.

"What!"

"No!"

"Really?"

Abigail nodded and for the next several minutes, the sounds of excited, overjoyed chaos filled the room as hugs were exchanged left and right, the story of the proposal was told to a chorus of 'awws,' and the ring 'oohed' and 'ahhed' over.

Just as things were starting to settle down, the chaos finally running its course, Abigial looked at the six women in the room and said the one thing that had every last bit of excitement, squealing, and talking over each other, starting up all over again.

"And I want all of you to be my maids of honor."

)()()(

When Henry got to the saloon, his friends were already there. Jack, Carson, Lee, Bill, and Frank sat around a table chatting and drinking coffee.

It wasn't uncommon for the six of them to meet up to talk and pass the time like this, and seeing as they hadn't had the chance to do so for a few days now, none of them had suspected anything out of the ordinary when he'd briefly sought each of them out to suggest the get-together.

He nodded at them, acknowledging their welcoming smiles with one of his own as he took the last remaining seat, a cup of coffee already waiting for him.

"I'm glad you suggested this, Henry. We haven't gotten to do this lately," Jack said.

"Yeah, and with all the girls gathered up at Abigail's, it's nice to hang out with the guys," Lee agreed.

"Yeah, what's that about, anyway?" Bill asked. "You two coordinating your tea parties now, or what?"

Henry took a sip of his coffee to hide his borderline smile. "Maybe," he said vaguely.

Frank furrowed his brow at Henry. There was something different, something off about the way he was acting.

And apparently Frank wasn't the only one who had noticed.

"Everything alright, Henry?" Carson asked.

"Yeah, sure," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. He wanted to wait for just the right moment to tell them, but didn't know how much longer he could keep from just blurting it out. He looked at his coffee mug, fiddling with it slightly. "I'm pretty good, actually." His voice sounded normal enough to his own ears, and he might have managed to fool them, if not for the slightest hint of a smile that gave him away to two of his friends.

Bill and Frank shared a curious look, which Henry didn't miss. He narrowed his eyes as they stared back at him a little too knowingly.

"Let me guess," he said with a grin, "Cody?"

"He... might have mentioned something a couple weeks ago," Bill admitted.

"But he swore us to secrecy," Frank assured.

Jack looked around, seeing Lee and Carson just as in the dark as he was.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking between the three of them. "What're we missing?"

Henry smirked slightly as he took a sip of his coffee, then shrugged.

"I might have asked Abigail to marry me last night."

Shocked silence swept over them for a moment before it broke with spectacular fashion as his friends all leaped to their feet and started talking at once.

"What!"

"No way!"

"Congratulations, Henry!"

The next few minutes were a whirlwind of congratulations, handshakes, and pats on the back, before Bill momentarily broke the moment.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense."

"Yeah, what'd she say?" Frank joked.

Henry laughed and shook his head as he looked at his friends wryly.

"She said yes," he said dryly.

Bill and Frank laughed unrepentantly.

"Well, we figured it was a fifty-fifty shot," Frank teased before sobering and holding out his hand with a genuine smile. "Congratulations, Henry."

Henry took the hand gratefully, and happily shook it.

"Thank you," he said softly. "Now," he announced, looking at his five friends, "I expect all of you to be my best men."

"All of us?" Lee asked. "All five of us?"

"Six actually," Henry said with a grin, "Cody already said yes. But yeah, you're my closest friends. I can't choose between you. Besides, Abigail is planning on having six maids of honor."

"Oh, now we get to the truth of the matter," Bill teased, eliciting a laugh from Henry.

"Have you set a date yet?" Carson asked.

"Not the exact day, but Christmastime," Henry said.

Several small smiles broke out at that. He didn't have to explain the reasoning behind that decision. His friends all knew the significance of Christmastime to him and Abigail.

It had been right at Christmas when Abigial had stubbornly befriended him, against all of his vehement protests and bitter resentment.

It was nearly Christmas when Abigail had graciously brought him back to town, giving him a reprieve from the tent camp, and he'd repaid that kindness by rescuing Becky from the train depot.

And it had been just before Christmas when they'd shared their first kiss, and said "I love you" for the first time.

It was only fitting that their wedding be at Christmastime too.

After that, another round of handshakes and back patting ensued between him and his friends before they were all buying him more coffee (with the promise of a celebratory drink later in the day) and announcing the news to anyone within earshot.

)()()(

Leaving his friends after over an hour of talking and celebrating, Henry found himself walking toward the edge of town. As great as it was to share the news with his friends, and even more to have that amazing news to share, something was weighing on him. Something in the back of his mind prodded at him, refusing to let him alone.

Lost in thought, it took him a moment to realize why he was even headed out of town.

When he did, he paused, letting out a deep breath.

Setting out again, it didn't take long for him to find his way to his intended destination. He hadn't been out this way in... he didn't even know how long it had been. Years for sure.

His mood was solemn and sober as he weaved his way around the many crosses and other markers in the area. It wasn't a huge place, thankfully, but it was still much too large in his opinion.

Slowing his pace, he came to a stop before two particular crosses sticking up out of the ground, each inscribed with a name.

Noah Stanton and Peter Stanton.

He sighed.

"I... uh... I'm not entirely sure why I'm here," he admitted. "I just felt like I needed to come." He looked down at his hands where he was restlessly rubbing them together. "She was yours first. You both loved her first." He looked back at the markers again. "If I could ask each of your permission, I would. Since I can't, I'll just make you both a promise, here, before God. I promise you, I will spend the rest of my life doing everything in my power to make her happy."

The sound of footsteps startled him, and he turned.

Behind him, Abigail stood, a soft, adoring smile on her face. His breath caught in surprise and disbelief like it always did when she looked at him like that.

She stepped forward and wrapped an arm around him, leaning against his side as she looked at the two crosses.

"God sent me a good one, Noah," she said softly. "You would approve. Both of you." She looked at Henry. "I know it."

She kissed him tenderly before resting her head on his shoulder and looking at the engraved names again.

"You would both approve anyone who loved me this much."

Henry tightened his arms around her, holding her close, and let his eyes slip shut as he rested his cheek on top of her head. In his heart, he liked to think Noah and Peter had heard them and did approve.

Tell them thank you for me, he silently prayed as he pressed a soft kiss to Abigail's hair, his heart feeling complete, for perhaps the first time in his life.

The End


A/N And that's it for this storyline. I'm not completely ruling out more stories in this fandom, hopefully I will have more inspiration and write more for these two characters in the future, but I don't have any actual plans for the time being, so for now, this is it. Until we meet again! :)