Chapter 16:

Abigail waited a few moments after her friends slipped away. She was sitting on the sofa in the living room. She stared at the opposite wall, her head empty. She could not think of anything anymore. She had just realized too much. That Theodore was a crook, that he had lied to her, but that, above all, humanity was lost. She had always had faith in everything. In people, in humanity, in their vocations and in their convictions. But now she realized that it was all wrong. Theodore had literally just made her lose the faith she had always had deep in her heart.

The door opened slowly, and Abigail saw Henry inside. She stood up abruptly and walked over to him. He quickly closed the door behind him and hugged her tightly.

For a few minutes, they did not speak. They just hugged, taking in each other's scent deeply.

"Abigail…" Henry whispered, cupping her face in his hands to look into her eyes.

"I was wrong." she suddenly declared.

"You couldn't have known..."

"No. Not about Theo." Abigail cut in. "I was wrong because, when I learned what Theodore had done, I had a feeling of immense emptiness inside me. As if I had lost my faith in humanity. But when I look you in the eyes, my faith is rekindling, and I remember that there are people like you. Exceptional people."

Henry smiled, touched and unable to say anything.

They moved closer and kissed slowly and gently. Henry caressed his love's face. He drew back a little and spoke:

"Do you want to tell me about what happened?"

Abigail nodded, took his hand, and led him to the couch where she had been sitting moments before. When they were settled, she told him what Bill had discovered.

"And that's partly thanks to you." Abigail finished.

"Thanks to me?" Henry asked surprised.

"Yes. Bill told us that you told him about your doubts when you saw a photo in Theo's wallet."

"Oh." Henry smiled.

Abigail smiled back and stroked his cheek gently.

"Thank you for being here, Henry."

The following afternoon, Abigail felt melancholy. She knew Theodore was in the penitentiary and was going to stand trial. Now she had to live with it and move on and she knew that Henry and her friends were going to help her.

Cody came running home after school.

"Mom! Mom!" he called, shouting.

"I am here sweetheart." she said from the kitchen.

Cody joins her there.

"Is it true that Mr. Richardson is a bandit? »

Abigail's expression fell momentarily, before waving her son over to sit next to her. He ran.

"Cody, Mr. Richardson is…" she hesitated. "It's true, he did something wrong and he's going to be judged for it."

"So, he's not your friend anymore."

"I don't think we will really have the opportunity to talk to each other again, in any case."

"You're sad?"

Abigail smiled a little.

"Don't worry boy, it will pass."

Cody nodded to his mom.

The kitchen door opened, and Cody and his mother looked up at it. Bill turned to the small family.

"Hello Abigail. Hello Cody." Bill nodded at them.

"Hello Bill, what brings you?" Abigail asked, getting up and approaching Bill.

"Listen, Abigail. I…" Bill hesitated. "I got the judge to have Theodore Richardson stay one more day in Hope Valley so you can talk to him."

The town mayor frowned in surprise.

"But I don't want to talk to him." Abigail declared.

"Abigail, I understand that you are upset by what happened. I'm not a fan of Theodore, but I think you would like to hear his explanations. Also, James is off to a penitentiary, so Richardson is alone in jail."

"Bill." Abigail sighed.

"He will be here until tomorrow morning. Think." Bill nodded to Abigail before slipping away.

Abigail looked thoughtfully at the door. Should she go to Theo to hear his explanation?

Finally, later that day, after much thought, Abigail decided to go see Theo. She slowly entered the prison and found Bill there, sitting at his desk. When he saw her, he immediately understood that she had come to speak to Theodore. He gave her a nod and left the prison to give them a few moments alone.

"Abigail!" Theodore exclaimed, clutching the bars of his prison.

Cody's mother slowly approached Theodore without saying a word. She just stared at him, a look of betrayal on her face.

"Abigail, let me explain, please."

"You lied to me. That's all you've done since we met. How could you do this to me?!" Abigail exclaimed.

"Yes, it's true, I lied to you Abigail." Theodore sighed. "I didn't have a brother named Jason who died of an illness. The truth is that we were evicted from our accommodation with my family in Canada. My father did not have his papers in order, and we had to return to France."

"There we lived in misery Abigail; do you understand? Do you know what it's like not to eat for days? Barely enough to drink. We slept under the bridges of Paris! The only little money that my mother managed to earn with her work as a cleaning lady, my father destroyed it in alcohol. My brother fired after a few years. And I was convinced that I could sell my paintings and my sculptures. I was sure they would sell for millions. I was so stupid." Theodore said breathlessly with emotion. "I didn't want to contact you; I was much too ashamed."

Abigail listened intently, desperate to know more about what had led him to become a con man.

"At 21, I left. And guess what? No one wanted to buy my paintings. Talk about an artist, I never had any talent." resumed Richardson. "I spent my days forcing entry to exhibitions so I could talk to the director and submit my paintings to them. But they all refused, constantly. Then one day, Mr. Smith spotted me at the entrance to an exhibition. I was a perfect target. I was almost a stranger to this country; I needed money, and I wanted to help my family. He told me his plan and I walked without hesitation."

"At the time it seemed honorable to me. He explained to me that I just had to go to the cities they presented to me and socialize with the traders. They had to trust me. He gave me a list of the first names of every important person in the town and provided me with a photo of the inhabitants. Then I had to introduce myself as an artist. James had told me that this way, people would buy my paintings."

"Then he was to come to town a few weeks later posing as a wealthy investor who wanted to exhibit my work. He proposed an arrangement to the mayor. The city had to pay a sum of money to help us set up the exhibition by promising in return a sum much higher than the city had invested. Then, of course, the exhibition never took place and we left with the money."

Theodore paused when he saw Abigail's face completely confused at his story.

"We've done this in countless cities. When we fled without doing the exhibition at the start, I did not understand. James hadn't told me everything and I really thought we were going to do exhibitions. But it was all a masquerade. But I was selfish. I didn't approve of what James was doing and I told him. I even said I was going to report him to the police. But it was enough that he waved the money in my face for us to start over and for me to follow him until today. Over 25 years."

"And the tears in your eyes when you told me about your so-called dead brother, and all the things you said to me?! They were lies!" Abigail's tone began to rise with anger.

"I didn't lie to you Abigail! My mother died in misery; do you understand?!" Theodore suddenly screamed, the pain of his past rising to the surface. "When I came home with the money for my parents after my first scam with Smith, I was so proud to be able to help them. But my mother had died alone and in misery. My father was gone, and I never saw him again, and I never want to see him again."

Theo calmed down for a few moments before continuing.

"My family was shattered the second we ran out of money." Theodore sighed in pain. "I love you, Abigail. I love you more than anything. You are all I have. I was telling you the truth. I've been with women, but I've never loved any like I love you. I am crazy about you. I looked for you everywhere. Part of me was still hoping to bump into you by continuing to do these scams in different cities. And it happened."

"When..." he hesitated. "When James gave me the list of tradesmen's names, I hadn't realized you lived there as you no longer had the same surname. Then, I noticed you directly in the photo of the city he had given me. You were gorgeous."

Theodore sighed almost dreamily.

"I recognized you right away. You always had this… this look full of ardor and passion. And I had a doubt for the first time in a long time. I couldn't do this to you. I never thought what I would do if I ran into you in one of the cities I was scamming. But in addition, you are the mayor of this one. I pestered James not to accept the city money and when you told me the other day that he did… I thought I was going to kill him. Literally."

"And then we had a fight because I didn't tell him I knew you. So, I had to keep my name and he didn't like it. Finally, in a certain way, he was right, the sheriff easily unmasked us thanks to that."

Theodore took a deep breath:

"I really love you, Abigail."

There was silence for a few moments before Abigail said with tears in her eyes.

"I believe you. We'll help you Theo, we'll…"

"It's too late. Sheriff Avery has already contacted the other west coast towns we've extorted. We will be judged for our crimes over 25 years. I'm not sure I'll ever see the light of day again."

"But… but we… we will help you… we will build you a shop to make and sell your works. I… you can't go to jail." Abigail was overwhelmed with emotions.

"This is how. My life was worth living for having met you, and for having found you. I hope one day you can forgive me."

"I forgive you Theo. I forgive you." Abigail said sincerely, shaking her head. She took Theodore's hand through the prison gate.

"I know…" Richardson cleared his throat, tears in his eyes. "I saw you with Mr. Gowen. That's what you wanted to talk to me about, isn't it?"

Abigail looked stunned into Theo's eyes.

"But how?"

"I saw you looking at him, it seems obvious to me that you love each other." A tear quickly rolled down Theo's cheek, which he wiped away directly. "I'm happy for you, really."

Abigail smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry, Theodore."

He nodded:

"I know, don't worry about me."

Abigail and Theodore looked at each other for a few more moments.

"So, I guess this is a goodbye?" Richardson asked sadly.

"I think so." the town mayor nodded gently.

They smiled at each other, remembering one last time, looking into each other's eyes, their beautiful young years spent together in their village.

Note: Voila, voila, this is the end of Theodore Richardson. But far from there the end of Henrigail. This story will at least have served to boost them both. Ready to see their sequel ?

Since the beginning I posted once a day. Now I haven't fully finalized the story yet so I will post less often but I am absolutely not giving up on this story! Stay tuned :)