Chapter 23:

As Henry opened his eyes the next morning after a great night's sleep he had rarely had, he thought back to the events of the previous day. Abigail had picked him up to dance in the middle of the floor and he had followed her. They had danced together in front of the townspeople without caring what they might think or say.

They were going to be together now, and no one could stop them. They were the ones who had the right to decide after all.

When Henry finally succeeded in erasing the stupid smile from his face, he stepped outside to breathe in the cold, wintry air of the city. He headed straight for Gowen Petroleum, he had so much to do. He had been so diligent about avoiding Abigail the past week that he had not been able to do much work in the end. He had a lot of work to finish.

On his way to the main building of his business, the former mayor of the city passed the mercantile. From outside, he gave Ned a friendly gesture as he was accustomed to doing now. Then, finally he stopped. He wondered if it would be a good idea to look around. Indeed, before falling asleep the day before, he had decided to write a letter to his son Christopher. He had spent hours writing it, throwing, burning drafts. No letter ever seemed good enough to reconnect with his son. What could he be telling him in this letter? I am sorry I was never there for you? Excuse me for all these wasted years? How have you been since? It all sounded ridiculous no matter how he turned his long sentences.

Finally, he was able to put aside his frustration to write a letter from his heart. He had never dared to reconnect with his son until now. He had always feared his rejection and not being able to measure up if they ever saw each other again. His ex-wife must have told him so much horror about him, and Henry knew they were, for the most part, all correct.

He had not been an exemplary father or husband, far from it. He had always been attracted by money and he always thought it was better to bring gifts to his son and his wife than to spend time with them. He was working and when he came home at night when they were living in Hamilton at the time, his wife and son were already in bed. Finally, one morning like any other, he woke up and was hardly surprised to see divorce papers lying on his nightstand where his alarm clock had gone off. He had simply left the house after signing them, his 5-year-old son not even seeming to know who he was.

As Henry finally made up his mind to enter the mercantile business, he handed the letter intended for his son to his friend Ned. As he dropped the letter and saw it being deposited in one of the mailboxes behind Ned, Henry felt his heart race. What if his son never wanted to reconnect with him? What if his son wanted to reconnect with him? What would he do? How would he make up for lost time and act like a father? He did not know what it was like to be a father. For him, until now, it had only been a title with no responsibilities. Also, he had to tell Abigail about his past. After all, she had given him hers with Theodore Richardson.

Just hours after arriving at the office and opening his first file, the door opened. Henry looked up, annoyed that someone was already bothering him when the day had only just begun.

"Cody?" Henry exclaimed in surprise.

He watched the young boy close the door behind him and walk towards his office. Henry stood up.

"What is happening? Aren't you at school?" asked Gowen, worried.

Had Cody skipped school to tell him about his relationship with his mother? Was he going to tell him he did not want them together? After all, despite what he had thought that morning about he and Abigail being the ones to decide their relationship, he had forgotten about Cody. Henry knew perfectly well that if Abigail's young son disapproved of their relationship, she would definitely give up on him. The thought suddenly made him dizzy as he walked over to Cody.

"No, Mr. Gowen, I'm here for the internship!" Cody said quietly, with a big smile on his face.

Henry inwardly slapped his forehead.

"Yes! The internship." sighed Henry, overwhelmed. "I'm sorry, Cody, I completely forgot."

"It doesn't matter sir. Mrs. Thornton only wants us to come and spend the week with the owner of a business in town. I can just watch you work."

Henry returned the smile the young boy was giving him.

"No, I'm going to give you things to do after I've explained a little bit about how a business works, okay?"

"Okay, Mr. Gowen." Cody shook his head, looking happy to be in Henry's shop.

"You can call me Henry, you know." Henry said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "I didn't know you would be the student who would spend the week with me. Especially after what happened last week…" ventured the former mayor.

"We had chosen our companies long before last week, Mr. Henry." Henry smiled at the name Cody decided to give him. "I was upset with mum, but it has nothing to do with this internship."

Henry nodded silently, not entirely satisfied with the young boy's response. He did not know if he was angry with him or not for his affair with his mother. But it seemed judicious to him not to ask him any more questions about it. After all, they were going to spend the week together. They would have plenty of time to confide in each other.

"Alright, Cody. You can sit across from my desk on this chair." Henry pulled out the chair in question so Cody could sit in it. "And I'm going to explain to you a little bit what I do, as the leader of the company."

Note: A small chapter on Henry! It's time to talk about his past, now! How could this week with Cody go well?

Do not read the rest of my note if you have not seen episode 7 of season 9. I learned that Minnie had bought out the shares of Abigail's café. Needless to say, I am devastated. It's as if all that remained of her presence in Hope Valley had just gone away... In short, I am very saddened.