Chapter 3: A Reason To Dream

April 1897

"So…Mr. Gowen…"

"Please. Just Henry." He looked at the 23 year old woman beside him as they walked through the forest, headed for the creek, each with a fishing rod in their right hand while Henry carried the bait in his other.

"Henry." Abigail corrected herself with a grin. "Do you often go fishing with two fishing rods?" She half joked, considering he already had two in the back of his vehicle.

Henry softly laughed. "Yes, actually, I do."

"And why is that?" She wondered.

"Easier to catch fish that way. If one pole doesn't catch one, maybe the other will."

"Ah." She nodded in understanding. "I suppose that's quite efficient when going alone. I have never thought of that before."

"It works really well." He informed her. "Though it'll be nice to have some company this morning." He smiled at her.

"I left the house early because I wanted to be alone." She admitted to him. "But I'll admit, your presence isn't too awful."

"Gee, thanks." The 29 year old man jokingly teased. Abigail let out a soft laugh that made Henry's smile grow. "No, no. I appreciate your honesty." He said. "I haven't been around very honest people lately."

"What do you mean?" She asked as she could hear the creek's water grow louder as they approached it.

"A lot of men in my line of work are a bit….greedy and conniving, I guess you could say. They don't exactly run business with a clear conscience."

"And you?"

"Me?"

"Do you have a clear conscience?" Abigail wondered aloud.

"I-...I'll admit that I am not perfect and I have done some things I am not entirely proud of…which is part of why I was transferred here actually."

"What did you do?" The dirty-blonde woman asked as they finally reached the creek and Henry set the bait down on the bank.

"What I always do. I did what I was told. But my men started to ask questions and when I told them they would be fired if they didn't stop and the questions continued, I refused to fire them. So my higher ups decided to get rid of me and found somebody who would."

"That is despicable." Abigail exclaimed. "I am sorry that happened to you. But at least they didn't fire you."

"Yes, that is what I tell myself every day."

"Have you ever thought of getting another job?"

"Like what? This is the best job I've ever had. I'm not sure I could even find something else that pays quite as well."

"Oh, well I am sure you could find something." Abigail stated while they got their fishing rods ready. "What's your dream job?"

"I…never really had a dream job before. I guess I was never thinking about it. I was always more focused on the pay."

"Why is that?" She took some bait from Henry as he offered it to her and she placed it on her hook.

"I, uh…grew up dirt poor. Lost my parents as a kid. Had no other family. No money. So I always just focused on ways to get out of my situation. Never paid attention to what would make me happy, just….what would help me survive."

"Well…what do you ENJOY doing?" Abigail asked him, hoping she might be able to help him discover a dream job.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have any hobbies? Besides fishing." She chuckled. "Unless you want to become a fisherman."

"No, no. I will pass on that." Henry chuckled as well, placing his bait on his own hook too. "Would you like to cast your line first?"

"No, no. After you." Abigail took a few steps to the side so he would have room to cast his fishing line into the creek. She clapped for him as soon as its hook disappeared into the sparkling water in front of them. "Not bad, Henry Gowen."

"Not bad?" He repeated. "Was that not good enough for you?"

"Oh! No. No. It was great…..Mmm, but I can do better." She smirked teasingly.

"Oh yeah? Show me how it's done then." Henry challenged her, taking a few steps to the side as well.

Abigail looked at the distance between them and raised an eyebrow. "I'd take a few more steps if I were you." She warned with little modesty.

Henry held back a snort that almost escaped him and he did as she said, stepping farther away from her. Not long after he did, he regretted almost laughing at her because she cast her line and it went even farther into the creek than his had gone and his smirk turned to a stunned grin. "Wow. You, uh…You had better wind than I did." He joked.

"Oh, is that so?" Abigail softly laughed.

Henry smiled more as he stepped close to her again, gesturing at the grass beneath them as if to ask her if she wanted to sit down. She thanked him and smoothed down the back of her dress as she sunk down onto the grass, Henry sitting after her.

"So you have five brothers?" Henry asked her after a few moments of a nice, comfortable silence.

"Yes. Five!" Abigail answered with exasperation as if just thinking about it exhausted her to this day. She chuckled, shaking her head a bit. "I would have liked to have at least ONE sister, but my mother and father were, understandably, exhausted with children by the time they had me."

"I wish I had siblings." Henry stated. "Perhaps I wouldn't have ended up all alone when my parents passed."

Abigail's smile faded as she looked to the man sitting on her left. "How old were you when they did? If you don't mind my asking."

"I was just about to turn fourteen." Henry replied.

"That must have been so hard. Especially at that age, you were too young to truly take care of yourself, yet you can still remember so much about them."

"Actually, I don't. I think I put so much of myself into work afterwards that I never gave myself time to think about them. And now I really don't remember enough. Not as much as I wish I did."

Abigail looked at her fishing rod in her hands before looking over at Henry again, wishing she could comfort him in some way.

"I'm sorry." Henry let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I don't usually talk to people in this way." He admitted.

"In what way?" She graciously asked him with a soft tone as though if he didn't want to answer, she wouldn't pry further.

"I don't usually talk about my past with others."

"Well…you can always talk to me." Abigail offered.

"Thank you. I'm not so sure I've ever connected with anyone this much before. Especially with a woman." He told her as he adjusted the way he was holding his fishing pole.

"Oh, I'm real easy to talk to. Plenty of men have told me."

"Is that so?" Henry wondered.

"Yes. I make friends with men easily." She chuckled. "I suppose that is why I had no problem getting acquainted with you so quickly."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well…Henry…I don't usually drive off with strange men I just met." She smiled at him beside her before shivering a bit as the morning breeze blew against their exposed skin.

"Cold?" Henry asked her, taking off his suit jacket before she could even answer and he placed it over her back.

"Oh…Thank you." Abigail smiled, pulling the jacket over herself more.

"Of course."

Henry smiled at her beside him as she kept her eyes on the fishing line in the water, unaware that the man with small gray specks newly forming in his hair had continued to watch her. His gray-blue eyes studied every inch of her face while his own smile never faded. He had never met anyone like her before nor had he seen anyone so beautiful. His heart pounded harder the longer he looked at her and he felt like a different person. He thought about her questions about his dreams and started to wonder what he could dream about. It seemed silly to him…wanting to dream at his age. He was nearly 30 years old and figured it was much too late for him to dream now. But Abigail made him want to dream. And furthermore…he wanted to dream about her.

"We should make this a routine." He suddenly broke the silence.

"I'm sorry?" Abigail said, having been lost in her own thoughts.

"Every morning, we should meet here." He suggested hopefully.

"Oh, that-...that would be lovely." She said with a soft smile. "Though…I cannot stay too long. I must get back soon to start breakfast."

"You must stay until you've at least caught something." Henry demanded.

"I suppose you are right. I have to prove to you that I'm the best fisher WOMAN you've ever met." She smirked at him.

Henry softly laughed, getting lost in her eyes for a moment before he looked at her lips and slowly leaned a bit closer to her. Abigail noticed where his eyes were and just as his lips were about to touch hers, she pulled away.

"Um, He-Henry." She said, causing his eyes to look back up to hers. "I'm…married."

"Oh." Henry pulled away as well. "I…I didn't….see a ring on your finger." He said, turning red with embarrassment.

"We…had to sell it to move here." Abigail told him. "Noah promised he would buy me another once he'd saved up enough."

"Noah Stanton?" Henry said, suddenly realizing something. "The new miner." He sighed. "I feel foolish. I didn't pay attention to your last name."

"It's alright." Abigail said reassuringly. "You didn't know. And I should have told you."

Henry looked out at the water without another word.

The atmosphere turned from a comfortable silence to an uncomfortable one and Abigail looked up at the sky, noticing the sun had risen a bit more. "I really should be going. My son will be waking soon and he will wake his father once he notices I am gone. And Noah needs all the sleep he can get."

She started to reel her fishing line back but Henry stopped her. "Leave it. I'm staying."

"Yes, of course. The man who fishes with two poles." Abigail softly laughed but noticed that Henry didn't even crack a smile. She frowned and stood up, setting the pole down beside him and removing his jacket from her shoulders. "Thank you for a lovely morning, Henry. I will see you around town. And perhaps you can meet my family soon."

Henry barely nodded, keeping it to himself that he already knew her husband from work and he refused to watch her leave, bitterness and jealousy creaking up inside him as he started to make his own plans for Noah Stanton, his new employee.