December 1913

The next morning, Elizabeth dropped by the cafe to discuss some things with Abigail about the Christmas festivities. They had just finished speaking about Elizabeth and Jack missing the Mountie Christmas Ball when Cody approached them with his baseball glove.

"Can I go play with Robert?" He asked Abigail.

"Yes, if you are back in time to get ready for the pageant." She told him with a smile.

He turned to leave when Elizabeth had noticed that he was missing the signed baseball that Lee and Rosemary got him on their honeymoon. He explained to the two women that he traded it with Sam, the peddler, before leaving without another word nor explanation.

Abigail then approached Sam outside to ask him what Cody had traded it for and when she was told that he traded it to get a doll that one of his classmate's wanted, she felt so proud of him and almost cried right then and there. But thankfully, she held it together as Sam tried to ask her if she needed any more gifts to buy for Christmas before it was too late. She had told him no and that she had gotten something for everyone already. But then she remembered one person whom she did not get a gift for.

"You sure you haven't forgotten anyone?" Sam asked her.

"Well…there is Henry Gowen." She wasn't quite sure why she said it out loud. "But he doesn't want anything from me or…anyone else."

"Yeah, I saw him out for a walk this morning. He looked like a real sourpuss to me." The peddler admitted.

"That's him alright.'" Abigail almost chuckled at the word used to describe the current mayor.

"So why are you worried about him at all?"

"I don't know…Maybe because he is one of us…for better or worse."

Sam's eyes lit up a bit. "Have you told HIM that?"

"He didn't give me a chance. He said I was pretending to care to keep up appearances." Abigail repeated Henry's words with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Oh, that can't be true." Sam said to her.

Abigail looked at him, thinking about her conversation with Henry yesterday evening and a part of her started to understand why Henry might have thought that about her…But she knew that she truly did care about him. "It's not."

"...the best gift you could give Old Sourpuss…is the truth."

Mr. Bailey's words rang in Abigail's ears just as she took the first few steps up the stairs to the mayor's office, heading up to the room above it. She had figured he was there since smoke rose out of the chimney above town hall.

She stepped inside and softly knocked on the open door.

"I meant to lock that door." Henry said in a somewhat, exhausted tone before he looked at her from his chair. "I thought we were done here."

"We were….and then someone started me thinking." Abigail stepped further into the room until she was in front of him. "And I realized something…There's a reason you're here, Henry. There's a reason you came back."

Henry shook his head. "I don't need to listen to this right now."

"Yes, you do and you're gonna hear me out whether you like it or not." She counter-argued. "You came back to Hope Valley because this is your home." There she went again…reading his mind. "And the people here are your family. You need us, Henry."

"I don't know about that." He protested.

"You do. And the truth is….I need you. So you were right after all. I AM here for me. I have a town to run and I need your help to do it. And I won't let you push me away. I'll be back tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that….I am giving you a gift for Christmas. And that gift is a second chance. A chance to start over….Merry Christmas, Henry. And welcome home."

She turned to leave when Henry spoke up. "You're wrong." She looked at him again. "I came back because I have business to settle before I sell my house and move elsewhere."

"That's not true or else you would have already done that by now." Abigail didn't believe him. "I've seen you watch the others in town. You want what they have. And you CAN have it, Henry. You just need to open up your heart and stop being so stubborn."

"Open up my heart to whom?"

"Anyone. There ARE people here who want to help you, believe it or not." She stated.

"Well, I DON'T believe it." He turned his head to look into the fire, clutching his cane tighter in his fist. "I don't because I don't deserve it. Especially not from them."

"What does that mean?" She asked him, stepping even closer toward his chair.

"Come on." He sneered, turning his head to look back up at her. "You know better than anyone how badly I have hurt people here. Why would any of them care about me? Why would YOU?"

"Because that's just how we are in this town. We are forgiving and we give each other second chances. THIRD chances at times. And no matter what you have done in the past, Henry….you CAN be forgiven. But you have to show the effort that you WANT to be."

"And how do I do that?"

"Come to the Christmas pageant tonight. Watch the children in their play and spend time with us. Get to know everyone again with a fresh start. Let them know that you mean well and that you are not only invested in yourself." She suggested kindly. "Or don't….It's up to you. Just know that I tried." That last part was said to tease Henry a bit for what he had said to her the night before and before he could protest further, Abigail left.

She went straight to the saloon to begin helping set up for the Christmas play, knowing that Bill and Clara were set at the cafe starting on the Christmas feast.

"Abigail? Could you help bring the tables over to the back corner please?" Elizabeth asked her best friend once the cafe owner had arrived at the saloon.

"Yes, of course." She smiled and began to help some of the others pull the saloon tables toward the back. She soon noticed that Henry had left his newspaper on his table from the night before and she went over to pick it up. She had begun to fold it when she noticed what page he was on when she had interrupted him about firing Dottie. She examined the page, seeing that he had been looking in the job section and another page was dog-eared showing land for sale outside of Hope Valley.

Abigail felt her heart drop when she realized that what Henry had said about possibly selling his house was true and he had even begun to look for work in another town. She sighed, knowing that her recent speech to him was all for nothing and that he would probably skip town tomorrow without so much as a goodbye.

That night, Abigail was surprised to see that Henry had walked through the saloon doors during the children's Christmas play and she smiled at him as he nodded at her. Her speech had to have worked at least a little bit and he did end up staying and even helped her with town council questions a few times for the next month or so.

January 1914

New Year's had passed and Abigail had grown even closer to Frank but he started to travel again, spreading the word of God to others and helping those in need outside of town. She had grown to miss him and his warm touch on her arm at times that Cody and his attitude had begun to test her. She had gotten quite accustomed, now, to taking care of both Cody and the town business as the new acting mayor, but she would still need Frank's encouraging words at times that she felt exhausted or drained. And they usually always worked. But with him gone…she was beginning to feel useless and as if she were not cut out for all of the things that had been put on her plate. The cafe, Cody, the town. It was all quite a bit and to top it off…the railroad companies spent more than half of the year trying to get her to allow them to build tracks that would run through town.

July 1914

After a convincing speech from a man at the railroad company, Abigail agreed to possibly go forward with the offer and she even asked Henry for his advice. He told her that it wouldn't be a bad idea but just to be careful because businessmen know how to use sly words to get what they want unfairly. He was right...Just as Henry left after the meeting in the saloon about the train tracks, Mr. Campbell approached Abigail in a rage, asking her how she could betray him and his daughter Laura by agreeing to have the tracks built on his farmland, forcing them to move.

Abigail spent the next week trying to convince Jed Campbell that everything would be alright and that she was going to come up with a plausible solution. Ned Yost, however, argued with Jed that he was being given a great offer by the railroad of having a job with them and a brand new plot of land with a nice house. Mr. Campbell didn't care about that. He wanted to keep his home with his daughter.

Abigail had begun to feel overwhelmed with everything. Being the mayor while running a cafe and being a mother at the same time were difficult, yes. But not only that, she had to deal with missing Frank whenever he was gone too. And even when he was back in Hope Valley, he and Abigail hardly had time for each other due to her busy schedule.

The overworked mother was preparing the cafe's food one morning when Bill Avery joined her and Clara in the kitchen with a bouquet of pink and white daisies, Abigail's favorite flower. Bill told her that they were addressed to her but there was no mention on the card as to whom they were from. Abigail assumed they were from Frank, but when he walked into the back door minutes later, he informed her that they were not from him.

She carried on with her day before visiting Mr. Wyatt about the plans for the railroad and she told him about a new route that was possible to build the tracks on without having to evict Mr. Campbell and several other farmers' families. Mr. Wyatt refused her offer and hinted that he had sent her the daisies in the hopes of changing her mind about wanting the town to take a vote on the railroad coming to Hope Valley in the first place. Unfortunately for him, she was more stubborn and strong willed than he had expected her to be and she still held a town vote.

It was soon decided that they would not take the railroad unless they came up with a better plan that would no longer negatively impact the farmers. It only took Abigail one day to convince Mr. Wyatt to take the new land she had offered him and he accepted but only if she agreed to waive all taxes from the railroad company.

Hope Valley's citizens, including ones that even voted FOR the railroad were now more displeased than ever, complaining to Abigail that it was unfair if the company didn't have to pay taxes. It was all just so exhausting to Abigail and she caught herself beginning to pray to God to take all the responsibilities from her.

August 1914

Her prayers were soon answered within the next three weeks when she walked into the mayor's office to find Henry Gowen, standing inside behind the desk with a sheet of paper in his left hand and his cane in his right.

"Good morning, Henry. What are you doing behind my desk?" She asked him lightly with a small smile as she stepped inside and closed the door.

"Seems it's no longer your desk, Abigail. Your services are no longer needed as mayor." He stepped around the desk to happily stand in front of her. "Seems they've put a halt on the federal investigation against me, therefore I can return to my duties as mayor." He handed her the telegram to read with a proud grin.

"That's…" Abigail took the telegram and read it to herself. This was what she had wanted, yet….she felt so upset and a bit wounded. She handed the telegram back to him. "Well, congratulations are in order then." She said in a less than enthusiastic way.

"You did a great job, Abigail." He nodded, folding the paper and placing it inside the inner pocket of his jacket. "But I can see the responsibilities were beginning to get to you. You are the one everyone goes to in town…the one everybody likes. It's not in your nature to have to make hard decisions that can divide the town's opinion of you. I do a much better job of that."

"Of what?" She looked up into his eyes, almost as if snapping out of a daze where she hadn't heard most of what he said.

"Of making hard decisions that the town doesn't agree with. They all don't have a problem with disliking me." He leaned both his hands on his cane in front of him. "I'll gladly take that burden back from you."

"Of course you would." She turned to leave, but Henry gently placed a hand on her forearm to stop her.

"I hope there are no hard feelings."

Abigail looked down at his hand on her arm before looking back up at him. "No…of course not."

"Perhaps tonight you can join me at my home for supper." He gently smiled at her.

"I don't know, Henry." She shook her head, turning her body to face him more.

"Come on…Weren't you the one who told me to open up more? What do you think I am trying to do?" He asked her, finally releasing her arm.

"To be frank, Henry. I am a bit concerned that this is all some roose to get back at me for inadvertently taking your job." She admitted.

"That is not what this is. I give you my word. Though I am sure you do not take it lightly."

"No…I do not."

"Fine." He held back the usual sneer in his voice that he would get whenever she upset him and he brushed it off, going back to sit at the desk.

Abigail stood there and watched him for a moment before finally turning to leave the town hall, looking around at the residents walking by and she wondered how she might tell them all that the man they partially or fully despised was back in his chair as their mayor.

Her thoughts were instantly interrupted when she noticed a stagecoach across the road by the Mounties' office. A man was being loaded into the back with the help of Bill and Frank.

"Hello, Abigail." Elizabeth said, walking up beside her as they both approached the stagecoach.

The cafe owner was about to respond when she heard Bill and Frank talking about how Frank had single-handedly stopped the sniper in the back of the stagecoach by grabbing his rifle with his bare hands.

Elizabeth and Abigail both stopped walking at what they had heard and Elizabeth looked at her best friend beside her. "Did you know that Frank had gone with them to guard the stagecoach?"

"No…I had no idea." Abigail replied without taking her hurt yet angry eyes off of Frank.

Jack approached both ladies and reassured Elizabeth that he was okay before they hugged.

Frank had looked over at Abigail once Bill had left him alone. Before he could even begin to approach her, she turned to head back to the cafe without a word.

"Abigail!" Frank started to jog after her. With a reluctant sigh, she turned to face him though she wouldn't look him directly in the eye. "What's wrong?" He cluelessly asked her.

"You rode out of town on a dangerous job without even telling me." She told him. "Why?"

"It wasn't that dangerous." He tried to tell her.

"Ray Wyatt disagrees." She finally looked into his eyes, reminding him that Mr. Wyatt had just been raving about how brave Frank was for doing what he did.

"Should I have gotten your permission?" Frank asked her.

"It's not about permission. I can't tell you what to do, but I would appreciate it if I knew that you were going to possibly be in harm's way." She said sternly. "I'm just trying to understand you. You say you've put your past behind you and then you go and chase outlaws."

"They needed my help. I don't see the problem."

"The problem is that I would like us to be close. To communicate. To be honest." She started to get more frustrated, wondering why everyone around her was seeming to lose their minds.

"So now I'm not honest?" Frank started to feel frustrated as well but did his best to keep calm.

"I didn't say that." She shook her head.

"Hm. Then I guess we're not communicating." Frank pointed out. "Maybe we should give it a rest." He told her about their relationship.

Her jaw dropped slightly, about to protest before she asked herself if it was even worth it anymore to show ANYONE that she cared and she slightly shrugged. "Maybe we should." She agreed, honestly beginning to feel too overwhelmed and exhausted to fight for anything anymore.

Frank looked at her as if he had expected her to try and argue that they should stay together but when she didn't, he left without another word.

The woman's chest tightened and she felt a slight pain in it as she opened her mouth again to call out to him but not a sound escaped her throat. Instead, a lump formed in it and she felt her eyes slightly swell with the threat of tears rising in them. She forced them back and headed toward the mayor's office again.

"Did you forget something?" Henry asked her as she walked into town hall.

"Yes….I will have supper with you tonight." She told him. "But ONLY supper. Nothing more." She demanded.

"It was only supper that was on my mind, Abigail." He told her and something in his tone assured her that he was telling the absolute truth.

She looked at him as if anything that ever left his mouth consistently surprised her and she really liked that. Something about that man seemed violent. The way he looked at people. The things he would do to remain relevant…perhaps he had done something to make sure that federal case was dropped so he could be mayor again…the way he stood so calmly in all places…he seemed violent. Yet he wasn't. He had never physically been violent before and Abigail began to wonder if she could even picture him in a fight.

She couldn't.

He may not have been an innocent kind of man…but he most certainly would never grab a sniper's rifle with his bare hands and that drew Abigail toward his office right after her conversation with Frank.

She nodded and left the mayor's office again after telling Mr. Gowen that she would arrive at his house that night after the school's carnival for supper.