November 1913

Henry had fallen asleep to the sounds of crackling fire in his lounge, a book left open on his chest in the green chair. The sounds of the fire were soon interrupted by an impatient knocking at his front door. At first, he hadn't heard them, assuming they were a part of his dream until soon, his body jolted awake and he realized they were real.

"Henry?!" He heard Abigail's muffled tone outside of his mansion. "Henry!" She shouted again.

The exhaustion on Henry's face quickly turned to confusion and soon, curiosity as he forced himself to stand with a yawn. Setting his book down on his coffee table. He stretched a bit while he walked down the hallway to the door. He took a deep breath to wake himself up a bit more and to prepare for whatever new thing Abigail would yell at him for before he pulled his Navy blue door open.

What he had expected to see on Abigail's face was definitely not what he had received as he first saw her on his doorstep that evening. "Abigail?" He said with an actual hint of concern in his tone when he noticed her eyes were red and puffy. "How can I help you?"

"This-...this was a mistake." She forced a pained smile as her eyes already seemed to well up with tears again.

Henry had seen her movements in an attempt to turn around and leave his front porch, but he quickly stopped her. "What is it?" He tried to get her to stay.

She hummed, thinking about staying before shaking her head no. "Nevermind. It was foolish to come here and bother you when you've got more important things to worry about. I don't even know why I-"

"You want to come inside?" He asked her, stepping aside to give her room to enter.

"I-...I-" She hesitated before seeing the look in his eyes and she felt as though her thoughts were right in needing to come here of all places. She slowly stepped inside, passing the mayor as he closed the door.

"Need to sit down?" He asked, realizing she really just needed someone to be kind to her right now and he decided that he would try to be.

"Yes…Thank you. That would be lovely."

Henry led her into the lounge, gesturing toward his sofa. The seemingly broken woman took a seat, smoothing down her lavender skirt as she did so. "Is that your favorite color?" Henry asked her as he sat diagonally across from her in his green armchair.

"I'm sorry?" Abigail said, not fully hearing what he had said.

"That purple?" He pointed at her skirt. "You wear it a lot. Is it your favorite color?"

"Oh!" Abigail looked down at her lap, smoothing out the fabric that covered it. "Lavender…yes. It is….No one ever noticed that before. Do I really wear it that much?" She asked him, having not even noticed so herself.

"Yes." Henry replied without hesitation. "It suits you."

"Oh, thank you." Abigail weakly smiled, her burden of why she had come here popping into her mind again.

"What's the matter?" Henry decided to break an involuntary silence.

"It's…Cody and Becky."

"The kids you look after." Henry said, having heard about them from around town, though in his attempts to avoid Abigail after their….discretions…he had never met Becky or Cody himself.

"Yes…." Her eyes welled up with tears again, the glow of the fire causing them to sparkle in her eyes. "Their Aunt…She has come to take them away from me. To Davenport."

"Nice city." Henry noted. "And you don't want them to go."

"No." Abigail almost whined as she answered him and a tear fell down her cheek. "I have grown to love them as if they were my own and I-...I know that this might sound selfish…but I need them here with me."

"Why is that?" Henry asked, listening to her words carefully and intently.

"They give me purpose again. I miss being a mother."

"I thought you said that the cafe gave you purpose."

"Yes, but so did they. They gave me more…And I don't mean to be greedy, but…I miss having children and I know that they should be with me. I can take care of them just as well as that…woman can."

"Is she not good with kids?"

"No…No, she's alright with them. Although she refuses to listen to ANYTHING Becky says about her dreams. She wants her to be this wealthy old housewife with 'Debutante' as the title, which is just a fancy way of saying-"

"An old housewife." Henry said at the same time Abigail did.

She looked at him, a bit in shock that he was understanding her exactly and she nodded. "Yes."

"And what about Cody?"

"Well, Cody keeps saying that he wants to stay here with his friends and where Elizabeth is his teacher, but their aunt will not listen. She is such a…..Debutante!" She said, trying not to curse out loud.

Henry let out a soft chuckle. "Why haven't you given her a piece of your mind yet?"

"Me?"

"Yes, YOU." He said light-heartedly. "You have no problem telling ME like it is all the time. What's so different about her?"

"I don't know….I guess I am just….trying to be civilized so she doesn't take them away without allowing us our goodbyes."

"That is understandable. But Abigail Stanton is a fighter. A damn good one too."

"Oh, is she?" Abigail chuckled a bit as well, wiping her tears away.

"Yes, she is. Did you hear about what happened when this…AWFUL man tried to take away hers and the other widows' rowhouses?"

"Hm, no…I don't think I've heard that one." She played along with him with a gentle grin.

"Well…she wouldn't take no for an answer and marched right up to the mine that had killed her family, leading all the other widows inside to prove to that big brute that she meant business and she would get what she wanted no matter what."

"Oh wow. Sounds like a very stubborn lady." Abigail softly laughed.

"No, not stubborn. Strong and brave." Henry corrected before getting a bit more serious. "I remember when we found that plank of wood buried in the mine and everyone fought over who it belonged to, but you….you knew the whole time, didn't you? It was Noah's."

Her smile faded a bit. "Yes…I knew."

"Why didn't you come forward?"

"It gave all the ladies hope that their husbands got to say one last thing to them before it was all over. Claiming it as mine would have only hurt them all again and I didn't want that. I thought it was best for everyone to feel it belonged to them."

"Because that is who Abigail Stanton is. She tries to do what's best for everyone. So….what do you think is best for Cody and Becky?"

"I-...I am not sure. Caroline, she-...can provide them with a nice big home in a fancy city. They can have all the most expensive food that they want. They can travel….Those are things that I cannot give them….But I can love them strongly and I do." Her eyes teared up again.

"Sounds like a tough decision." Henry said, matter-of-factly. "If you were in their shoes…which would you care more about? Do you believe that Peter grew up with any less only because you didn't have a fancy house?"

"No."

"Then there is your answer. Maybe ask them what THEY want and see if you can fight for this."

Abigail could not believe she was taking advice from Henry Gowen, especially since he was currently under investigation still for what had been happening at the saw mill and evidence was found in his vehicle…which was clearly planted. He was smarter than to leave the evidence where Bill and Jack could see. "You really think that's what I should do?"

"I think you should be Abigail Stanton." He told her with a soft smile.

"Hm…" She smiled to herself, looking to her left and into the fire. " I tried to tell them, Henry. I did." She looked at him again. "I told them that you had nothing to do with the accidents at the saw mill, but none of them believed me."

"Oh, it doesn't matter. I know it's just Bill trying to control my relationship with Nora. They'll find the real culprit and owe me an apology. Though I am sure I will not receive one, it doesn't matter. As long as YOU know that I didn't do it….And Nora, of course. That is all I care about."

"Still…it mustn't feel too good being accused again. I remember how the town looked at me when you had convinced them that Noah caused the mining accident. It didn't feel too great and I only had to endure it for a day. I can't imagine how you've felt the last year and a half being blamed for everything that goes wrong."

"YOU are one of the ones who continues to blame me though."

"Yes….I am. And I am sorry for that." She said, genuinely meaning it. "And thank you for letting me come in here and whine about my problems to you when you are going through so much now too." She stood up, about to leave.

"Why DID you come here? May I ask?" He stood up to walk her to the door, opening it for her as they reached it.

"Oh, I just needed to hear from someone who looked at things differently. Elizabeth was telling me that it didn't matter where they ended up as long as they had care and love. Frank kept talking to me about God and having faith in the Divine making destiny come true. And I was just sick of hearing everyone's stupid opinions that didn't fully answer my question."

"Which question?"

"Do I DO something about it?" She told him her main issue with the situation.

"If you truly care about them, then damn right you do." He told her.

She stood in front of his doorway, smiling at him as he said that, before something took over her and she kissed him, resting a hand on his left cheek as her free hand found its way to the mayor's ribs.

The kiss lasted a while, getting a bit more heated and passionate, the longer it lasted and soon, the blonde pulled away to catch her breath, her eyes staying down at the man's chest in front of her as she was afraid to look him in the eye just now. "I am…sorry. I don't know why I do the things I do with you." She turned bright red and softly chuckled to herself, feeling a bit flustered at her own actions.

"Do you need a reason?" He asked her, watching her face while she refused to look away from his chest. "In all honesty, I wish you would do it again." He told her and his words made her slowly lift her head to see the way he looked at her and she gulped, never having thought he would say something like that after the terrible things she had done to him.

Though she recalled that he had done some awful things as well and he had just admitted, minutes ago, into being fully aware of it. She wasn't sure which was better…him NOT knowing that he was hurting people with his actions or him KNOWING that he was hurting people with his actions. In this moment, she didn't really care which was worse as she could feel that something inside of him was good. She couldn't help but realize that maybe SHE could bring that good out in him. Maybe SHE…was what was best for him.

In that moment, she needed to know. She needed to FEEL that this was right and she crashed her lips against his once again in order to be absolutely sure.