Chapter 20:

Abigail threw open the mercantile door. Ned jumped when he saw the mayor of the town come in, looking beside herself. There were a few customers in the store who looked at her with incomprehension.

Abigail walked directly towards Florence, who she knew was behind the phone relaying calls to the citizens of Hope Valley.

Florence looked up when she found herself in front of Abigail and stood with trembling legs when she saw the expression on the town mayor's face. She knew perfectly well why her friend was here. The night before, being unable to sleep, Florence had watched the sleeping city from her window. She had then seen Abigail returning, she guessed, from Elizabeth or Rosemary.

Then she saw a silhouette of a man. At first, she was worried. She thought it was some strange man who was hanging around in the middle of the night. Florence did not know what to do. Should she go out to save Abigail?

Then finally, she had been relieved to recognize Henry, when he had passed under one of the lights in the driveway. But then she saw them kissing and Florence was left speechless. She immediately closed her window curtain and went back to bed. For her, it was clear. Abigail was unconscious. She did not know what she was doing. She had been bamboozled by that crook Henry Gowen. Surely, he must have taken advantage of her distress with Theodore Richardson's story. And as Abigail was much too nice, she had let Mr. Gowen seduce her, it was obvious for Florence.

The next day, Florence had decided to report what she had seen to all that would listen. She had decided that if Abigail had betrayed her by courting the man who had killed 42 miners, she would betray her by telling everyone what she had seen.

She knew deep down that what she was doing was wrong. She had always been a gossipmonger, but when it came to her friends, she only told Molly. And that's what she did first. When she told her, Molly had turned white. She too had put on a kind of betrayal face. Abigail could not date Gowen. It was almost unnatural. A woman so nice to such a man? Impossible, the two women said to each other.

As Florence now found herself face to face with the town's mayor, she regretted what she had done. It was stupid. And she knew it perfectly when she received a slap from her friend. Shocked to see Abigail getting so angry for the first time, Florence took several steps back.

"Are you happy with yourself?!" Abigail exclaimed beside herself. "How could you do this to me? Wouldn't it have been better to come and talk to me about it?!"

"You and Henry?! Seriously? You have nothing to do together. It is very inappropriate." Florence resumed anyway.

Initially, she had planned to lay low but eventually, seeing Abigail getting upset made her own anger rise.

"You will never stop judging others, Florence. You cannot do otherwise. You can't mind worth business." Abigail continued.

Florence just listened; her cheek flushed where Abigail had slapped her.

"I feel like you don't understand." she resumed after a moment. "I can't believe you ever considered being in a relationship with this man. He killed your husband and your son. It is completely insane!"

"Henry didn't kill anyone, and you know that perfectly well." Abigail protested.

"Yes, and he didn't steal our town? He didn't get in the way of your café. He didn't collaborate with Rye Wyatt. And now he gets into trouble with his business again. What more do you need?"

"I love him, Florence. I'm not asking you to understand. Leave us alone, that's all I want. I know what Henry is worth. I know he's a good man and I don't need your approval." Abigail said sadly. "I just thought we were friends. And that you would have been there to support me."

Florence says nothing. Seeing no response from the one she had previously considered her friend, she turned to leave and noticed Molly standing in the doorway. She walked past her then stopped. She turned again towards Florence and said to her:

"Anyway, you don't have to worry about it anymore. Henry and I broke up because of what you did."

Abigail headed for the exit, passing through the middle of Ned and the few customers who still stood there, not daring to move a finger.

When she was finally out of the mercantile, Abigail took a deep breath. She absolutely had to calm down. She was completely on edge. She went back to the cafe trying not to think about Henry who had just broken up with her. She had ruined everything. She should not have asked Henry to take a break so everyone would forget about the rumor. He was right. She was selfish. She loved Henry and that's all that should have counted. Why had she told him such horrors? Maybe they were not meant to be together after all? Florence must have been right. They must have been very mismatched.

When she closed the cafe door behind her. Abigail turned around with her eyes closed, her back against the door, sighing. Florence was her friend, and she had slapped her. What could have been going through her head?

Abigail opened her eyes to see Cody sitting at the kitchen table staring at her.

"Oh! Honey! Where were you? School is over for over an hour." Abigail asked, approaching her son.

Cody said nothing and continued to stare at his mother.

"Are you okay Cody?" asked her concerned mother when he said nothing.

"Is it true that you are in a relationship with Mr. Gowen?" Cody suddenly asked.

Abigail says nothing, stunned. This rumor had even touched her son when she absolutely wanted to tell him herself. This made her even more angry with Florence.

"The kids in my class teased me all day." Cody stood up to look his mother in the face. "And they left me out. They didn't want me to stay with them. Even Robert didn't want me today."

"That'll pass them Cody."

"No! You do not understand! My friends heard their parent say that you were doing anything! That you were dating a criminal." Cody lost his temper. "No child wants to stay with me now."

"Cody, you know very well that Henry is not a criminal. He brought Becky back to us last Christmas, and he paid for everything he did…"

Cody just looked at his mother and then ran off to his room.

Abigail stared at the stairs her son had climbed for a full hour. She was devastated. She did not know what to think or what to do. She had literally alienated the entire town.

After a while she began to cry, finally realizing that Henry had left her.

Note: Well, it's getting worse and worse it seems... Thank you to those who continue to read my fiction!