'I can't believe it,' Jack says, shaking his head. 'You were called as a witness for Gowen's defense?'

'Trust me, I can't believe it either,' Bill grunts. He has joined Jack on his rounds; he knew the younger man would understand his problem. 'They say I couldn't be impartial because he saved my life. Can you believe that? Me, impartial, considering Henry Gowen? Nonsense.'

Bill has not seen Henry for a month now, and he can't say he is missing the man. A lot happened since he had transferred the ex-mayor to Cape Fullerton: Julie Thatcher visited her sister, Jack came home for good and started to plan his wedding with Elizabeth, Frank came back then went away again, and during all of this the railway is making a steady progress under the direction of Russ Wyatt. Bill is fairly sure that Henry does not care about all these people – but not completely sure. After all, Henry tried to help the community when Opal got lost. Nobody expected him to do it but he did it anyway, and he risked a lot with it.

'It doesn't make sense,' Jack agrees. 'You arrested Wyatt and Gowen.'

Bill scoffs. 'Apparently, they don't want me to feel beholden to Henry. As if they knew how I felt about him.'

However, Bill has to ask himself: how does he really feel about Henry? They are not on good terms, and he is fairly sure they won't ever become friends. Too much history between them. Nevertheless, Henry took a bullet for Bill, and truth to be told, that is very annoying. Before that Bill thought putting him in jail or digging him a grave would make no difference to him.

Now he wouldn't want to dig Henry's grave.

Maybe this is the reason he was called to testify for the defense. His job is to see the bad in people, and he sees a lot of bad in Henry, but of course, Henry's crimes will dictate his punishment, not Bill. As a character witness they will expect him to be just: he should talk about Henry's misdeeds and his good deeds, too. Equally. Bill Avery believes in justice.

So the real question is: what would be the real punishment for Henry? Serving ten years in a cell is awful enough, but what is it compared to serving the community that he failed not once but twice...? Why, now I sound like Abigail, Bill thinks. He can't know for sure if Henry plans to return to Hope Valley would he have the chance, but he knows that the man has nowhere else to go. It is prison or Hope Valley now.

Bill Avery believes in facts. Henry stole from the town, it is a fact. He saved Bill's life, and that is a fact, too. Once a snake, always a snake, Bill used to think, but snakes shed their skin, right? Maybe Henry could change over time. He might never become a good man, but he could be, well, less bad. A changed man.

Bill wishes he could go back to whole-heartedly hating Henry Gowen.

'Well, I will give the court the facts, and we will see how it ends for Henry,' he shrugs. 'The truth will come out.' Goodness, I really start to sound like Abigail.

Jack smiles because he didn't expect anything but facts and truth from Bill, and thinks he must tell Elizabeth about this turn of events.

Meanwhile at the café…

'You were called as a witness for the prosecution?' Elizabeth asks back in disbelief. 'Really?'

She is helping Abigail with chopping vegetables for the stew, tonight's special. Abigail, calm, level-headed Abigail looks very disturbed now. Elizabeth is slightly worried that her friend will cut her finger off accidentally in her current state. (She does not think of the time with a small smile on her face when she was not a kitchen expert, so to speak, and almost cut herself once or twice.)

'I can hardly believe it. How could I testify against Henry? Is that even legal? Can I testify against my predecessor? Don't they fear that I am biased, that I want to keep his job?'

The poor vegetables must be suffering under Abigail's unstoppable hands but there is no mercy for them.

'It is legal, it seems. Why else would you have been called as a witness?'

'I know, I know. It just doesn't make sense.' Abigail sighs, momentarily forgetting about the vegetables. Elizabeth uses the opportunity to change the meticulously chopped carrots and potatoes with new ones under Abigail's knife.

'Maybe you should talk with Bill about it,' she suggests. 'I expect he will testify, too.'

'Probably, yes. It's just… I am not sure, Elizabeth, that I can do this to him. I don't want to…' Abigail pauses, searching for the right word, '…hurt him.'

'Gowen hurt this town. He didn't care about anyone but himself.'

'You know that's not completely true.'

Elizabeth dismisses the interjection. 'Why do you care about him?'

'I believe that there is good in Henry. He saved Bill's life. He saved me. He has learnt to help other people.' Abigail recalls a memory, one that makes her smile. 'I remember how he came to eat here when the railroad's commissary thrived, and the café was empty all day.'

Back then she did not find the situation extremely humorous but time makes everything look better.

'Abigail…'

Elizabeth shakes her head slowly but Abigail stands her ground.

'There was a time when he wouldn't have done anything like that. His act was kind, and that is some word I would have never used to describe the old Henry Gowen. The Pacific Northwest Mining Company Henry was a different man, you must remember that. He has been changing for a while. Slowly, maybe, but surely. He deserves a second chance.'

'He had a second chance. Even third and fourth chances.'

'A last chance then. Should I be the one who takes it away from him?'

'Abigail, you are a just woman. Nothing you said as a witness, I say, nothing would be untrue. Think of this when you are afraid of hurting him and ask yourself. Can truth hurt?'

Abigail contemplates her friend's words for a while.

'Yes, it can,' she says in the end. 'But you are right. Testifying isn't about blaming someone, it is about truth and justice. When the trial of the mining company finally took place… When it has come to that Noah… I believed in my Noah!' She is trying to find the right words, until she says the one thing, the most important thing she wants to say. 'I believed in him when Henry tried to frame him for the explosion. It could have ended badly, it could have hurt my Noah's memory, but the truth came out and I never stopped believing in him.' Those were hard times, but she tries to gain strength from those days. 'I believe in Henry, too. Despite all those things he has done. For all those things he has done. I believe in him and I need to believe that the truth won't hurt him. Or even if it hurts him, I hope he can take courage from it to earn the town's trust. I think he is ready for that.'

Abigail remembers the day when Henry was taken to Cape Fullerton.
She was running to catch him; the café was full of customers that morning, and everyone wanted one more cup of coffee or one more scone. When she arrived in front of the jail, flushed and hopelessly trying to look composed, Bill was helping Henry down on the stairs. After all those walks the two men had taken together, they looked almost cozy.

'Henry! You are still here!' As soon as the words left her mouth, Abigail realised they could have been interpreted as words of reproach. 'I was afraid I had missed the chance to say good-bye,' she explained.

'That is very kind of you.' Henry seemed to be strangely calm and almost shy. 'I might be back sooner than you think…'

'I wouldn't be too sure of that,' Bill muttered.

'…but maybe not, so I want to thank you. For, you know, for everything.' He turned to Bill with a half-smile on his face: 'As much as it pains me to say this, it goes for you, too.'

Abigail could see that the gesture had surprised Bill, and she was astonished, too. Henry sounded so sincere – and so resigned. Like he was ready to face long years of prison. Abigail's real surprise lay where she realised how painful it was to see him this way. She wanted to reach out to him, to reassure him somehow, but she just couldn't figure out how.

'Time to get going,' Bill said after some contemplative silence.

'Take care of yourself, Henry.' It was all she could offered to Henry. That, and a soft kiss on his cheek.

'You too.'

Maybe the trial is her chance to reassure Henry, to help him believe in redemption, even if it means she has to testify against him. Elizabeth is right. If she can be just and use her testimony as an opportunity to give them the whole picture of Henry's character, the truth will come out.

'I will give the court my opinion, that is what I am going to do,' Abigail decides. 'I will tell them how Henry hurt this community and how he tried to make amends.'

Elizabeth smiles because the vegetables has escaped further torture. Abigail is back to her usual confident self, and Elizabeth can't wait to tell Jack this turn of events.

Author's note: Thank you for the support! Sorry for the short chapter, I had an excellent but very busy week. Next time: the trial!