January 1913

Over a month had passed since Henry and Abigail's infamous morning in his study and neither could manage to keep their minds off of the other. Every time they happened to be in the same vicinity of each other, they shared quick glances, sometimes making eye contact and forcing their eyes away. Anytime someone mentioned Henry around Abigail, she would recoil, either keeping her mouth quiet or going on and on as she questioned his choices as the mayor. Whenever Henry heard Abigail's name or walked by the cafe, he would feel a tightening in his chest and felt it was suddenly difficult to swallow. He'd rub his chest or comfort his throat with his hand before trying his best to think of something else.

"Hello, Lee." Abigail smiled as she saw her new friend walk into the cafe with his cane one morning after his accident at the saw mill. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, much better. Thank you, Abigail." Lee smiled at her, finding a table to sit at. "That Faith Tolliver is a great nurse."

"I've heard." Abigail smiled. "I hope she decides to stick around. It'd be nice to have someone in the medical field much closer to us than Union City.

"Indeed it would be." Lee agreed.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee? Our breakfast special?" Abigail offered him.

"Both sound lovely. Thank you."

"Coming right up." She gently touched his shoulder before heading back to the kitchen to get him a mug for coffee and began to cook him his breakfast of two eggs, a flapjack, and a biscuit. She returned to the dining room, pouring Lee his coffee. "Have they looked further into the accidents that keep happening at the mill?" She asked him curiously.

"We are looking into it." Lee nodded. "But I am pretty certain I know who it is."

"Oh?"

"Who else in town wants my business to fail?" He asked rhetorically.

"Henry Gowen." Abigail shook her head with disapproval, having the same thought as Lee had. "Oh, that man."

"Once we have more evidence or get a confession out of him, I should be able to start a lawsuit against him and recover all the money I've lost since the mill began to go belly up recently. And I'll be able to finally give my men the bonuses that they deserve."

"Hm…" Abigail looked up and off into the distance with a thought. "I am sure I could get somewhat of a confession out of him."

"Oh, that would be a miracle. I don't much believe in miracles myself, but if anyone could make that happen, it would be an absolute miracle that I shan't deny. Though that man is such a hot head, I'm sure we'll have to find all the evidence ourselves."

Abigail took another second to think before heading back into the kitchen to continue with the breakfast.

Later that afternoon, the Cafe was empty just after lunch and Abigail turned the sign hanging on the entrance door to say the cafe was Closed and she untied her apron before taking it off over her head and setting it down on the table in the kitchen. She smoothed down her dress and grabbed her winter shawl before leaving the back door of the cafe, heading toward the woods leading to Henry Gowen's.

Mrs. Stanton spent the entire walk toward his place contemplating turning around to head back into town, knowing that this was most likely the worst idea she'd ever had. But something refused to allow her feet to turn around.

When she approached his front door, she took a deep breath and stood up straight with confidence before using the large knocker on the door to announce her presence. Soon after, the door opened, and standing in front of Abigail was Dottie Ramsay, the ex-mayor's wife and Henry's new secretary.

"Oh…Hello, Abigail." Dottie said with a soft smile.

"Dottie? Hello. Are you two busy?" Abigail asked, a bit suspiciously seeing as a secretary shouldn't really be spending time at her boss' house.

"Oh, we were just signing some contracts." Dottie replied to her. "I was just leaving." She smiled and stepped outside passed Abigail.

"Should I come back later?" Abigail wondered.

"I don't see why you'd have to. He's just sitting in his study. As usual." Dottie smiled at her one last time before descending the stairs and heading home.

Abigail looked into Henry's corridor, just then realizing that Dottie had left the front door open for her and she hesitated to go in. Stepping one foot over the threshold, Abigail called out. "Henry?" She walked further inside and closed the door behind her. "It's Abigail. May I come in?"

Just then, Henry came out of his study, in a Navy suit minus his suit jacket. "How can I help you, Mrs. Stanton?"

"You CAN still call me Abigail." She told him.

"Can I?" He turned his back to her to walk down the hallway, expecting her to follow him, but she stayed put.

"Yes, of course."

"What can I help you with?" He asked from his living room down the hall passed his stairway.

"I-I came to talk about the saw mill." She tried to peek around the staircase to see him, but she couldn't.

"The saw mill? Shouldn't you be speaking to Lee Coulter then?" Henry asked, followed by the sound of a top coming off a bottle and liquid pouring into a glass.

"Lee has been severely hurt at the mill. The news has traveled all over town, I'm certain you have heard." She stated, already feeling annoyed by his fake cluelessness.

"It's still his mill." Henry said as though he couldn't be bothered.

Abigail rolled her eyes at his rudeness and waltzed herself right into his living room to see him seated in a great big, green armchair with a glass of Scotch in his hand. "It is still his mill, but somebody is rigging the place to result in several accidents and Lee is losing his equipment and his employees along with his customers."

"You are…here to confront ME, because you all assume that I am the one causing the accidents." He smirked, feeling a bit amused actually. "You can ask around, Abigail, I have been nowhere NEAR that mill since it was built."

"You've hired men to do your dirty work before." The woman pointed out. Henry's smirk faded into a scowl. "Just confess, Henry, and Lee won't press charges." She lied.

He refused to answer, sipping his Scotch and looking into the flames in his fireplace. "You can see yourself out."

That tone always sent chills down Abigail's spine. The tone he would use when he was extremely angry yet trying his best to keep calm. She had heard it many times, especially after the mining accident, and the more he used it, the more she recognized what it meant he was feeling. She stood her ground, ignoring the fear creeping up on her. "No."

"Excuse me?" He replied in the same tone, looking up at her again.

"No….I am not leaving until you either confess to what you did or you provide me with some evidence or information on the men you hired to do it." She stood up straighter, looking him dead in the eye to indicate how serious she was.

He bit the inside of his cheek, looking back into the fireplace as he hoped that ignoring her would cause her to leave.

Abigail glared at him and looked around a bit, her eyes falling to some papers that rested atop Henry's coffee table in the lounge. She noticed he had not seen her zoom in on them so she squinted her eyes a bit in order to read the small lettering better. At first, it was a bit hard to make out, but soon, she read enough to know exactly what those papers were. "You are trying to buy the land that Jack is buying for Elizabeth?" She let out a wry chuckle as she shook her head at him. "You certainly haven't changed."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You don't think I know what you did to Noah and I back when we first moved here? You sabotaged our chances of buying farmland and now you are sabotaging Jack and Elizabeth. Well, I won't have it." She lifted up his papers from the coffee table and placed them into the fire, watching them burn and suddenly asking herself what had come over her every time she was in this house.

Henry stood up in an instant. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He knelt down in front of the fireplace, trying to pull the papers out. "I was trying to buy the land for Nora!" He admitted in a panic, pulling at the papers through the flames, his hand jerking back every time he felt the heat against his skin. He soon pulled half the parchment out of the flames, dropping them on the floor and standing up to stomp on it in the hopes that the fire would go out. "I was going to build her a house!" He sighed once the fire was out and stood up straight, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Henry, I-...I am so sorry." Abigail genuinely apologized, stunned at her own actions. "I don't know what came over me." Henry bent down to pick up the burnt papers, standing back up and looking through them to see if they were salvageable. "I will let myself out." Abigail moved to step passed Henry toward the hallway which was behind him, but he stopped her, placing a hand up in front of her.

Abigail stopped and looked at him, her nerves now running wild and she knew that it was most definitely a mistake to come here.

"I didn't do anything to Lee Coulter." Henry said in a hushed, defeated tone. "I just want this all to stop."

"What?"

"The looks I get from everyone on the street. The thoughts of you that pop into my head. It needs to end." He looked into her eyes finally, keeping his hand up in front of her. "I was trying to buy that land to move further away from town. I had no idea Jack was looking to buy as well and that is the honest truth." He set his hand down so she could leave. "But you don't have to believe me. I know that you don't…You wanna look around for evidence? Fine. Be my guest….But then I never want to see you again."

Abigail gulped having never heard anyone say that to her in her life and she didn't understand why her body wanted to shrivel up when he said those words and she even felt the urge to cry. His sudden vulnerability and willingness to allow her to search his entire house made her….actually trust him….For once. She believed him. Every word that he said. And what stung was that she believed his last words. He never wanted to see her again. She didn't know why she cared so much about that, but she did…and she hoped she could take back the last five minutes. She would not have been so harsh with him when he was the one being calm and civil. She would not have thrown those papers into the fireplace. She wouldn't have even barged into his home uninvited in the first place.

She was, once again, ashamed of herself. Only this time…she knew that none of it was his fault.

"I really am sorry." She told him truthfully before leaving his mansion, asking herself how she could live with herself anymore. This had all affected her more than she had expected it would and she stopped halfway down Henry's driveway, turning around to look back at his house while her eyes were welling with tears.