April 1916

Henry had begun to avoid Abigail again for months after the Mistletoe incident with Rosemary at Christmas. It wasn't too hard to avoid the mayor considering she had become more busy once again. She was now preparing the town for the first telephone in Hope Valley whilst coming up with some more recipes for the cafe and helping Elizabeth with Baby Jack when she had the time. She wrote letters to Becky at school every chance she got and finally started to reply to telegrams from Mountie headquarters regarding a replacement for Jack. The Spring weather had finally arrived and she couldn't believe how much had happened in just one year.

She found herself thinking about Rosemary's attempt with the Mistletoe and how quickly Henry had left at the thought of kissing her around the others. She wondered why the thought of it seemed to repulse him so. Trying not to dwell on it too much, she focused on her work and her children.

She was surprised to hear, one morning, that Tom, the saloon owner, was going to sell it. His mother had fallen and been hurt out of town so he was moving back home to take care of her. Abigail wondered if there would ever be a year where no big changes were happening in Hope Valley and a part of her began to agree that it WAS the perfect town to write books about, something Elizabeth had been saying since she moved there.

Soon after the announcement of the saloon going up for sale, Bill Avery approached her about selling his share of the cafe back to her so that he could own his own business. Abigail chuckled and told him that she hadn't the money to buy the share from him though she wished she could because she'd rather own her cafe in full herself. But alas, her bank account would not allow it.

"If you are just saying no because Henry is your friend-"

"What does that have to do with this?" Abigail asked Bill when he said that.

"Henry wants to buy the saloon too." Bill informed her.

"It has nothing to do with that. Trust me. Because I would love to have the cafe all to myself. I don't have the money for that. Four thousand, five hundred dollars is a lot, Bill."

The sheriff sighed. "Don't I know it."

It didn't matter either way. Even after Lee and Rosemary convinced Henry and Bill to both buy the saloon together as partners, Tom confessed that he had already sold it to some out of towner. An out of towner who refused to respect the town's wishes in keeping the saloon quiet at night.

It took a Town Council vote and almost a whole new law to be passed by Abigail for Lucas Bouchard to agree to only keep the saloon open passed 10 PM two nights a week so that the families and the children of Hope Valley could get rest on school and work nights.

"Henry Gowen, do I detect a smile?" Abigail asked him as everyone began to leave the mayor's office after the vote.

"That's not a crime now, is it?" He asked her, stepping over to her with his suit jacket draped over his forearm.

Abigail looked down at her own feet with a blushing smile as she shook her head. "No." She looked back up at him "But you'd become so chummy with Lucas, I thought you'd be on HIS side."

"Friends reveal themselves." Henry said to her. "I don't go looking for friends, I look for opportunities."

"And you see one in Lucas?" She asked.

"Your words, not mine." He smiled at her. "You did real good today, Abigail." He said, more than proud of her.

"Thank you, Henry." She said softly as her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit.

Henry suddenly remembered that they were surrounded by others and he tipped his hat to her. "Good afternoon." He said to her and stepped by her, heading back to Lee's office for work.

She looked over her shoulder at him as he left, opening her mouth to say something, but nothing came out before she joined Elizabeth and the others in conversation.

"He was right about you, you know." Lucas told Abigail once she was the only one left on the porch of the mayor's office.

"Who was right about me?" She asked him.

"That Henry Gowen." Lucas stepped up onto the porch with his hands in his pockets. "I spoke with him earlier….before the vote. Tried to see if he'd side with me about it."

"Well, Henry is no longer a part of the Town Council for legal reasons." Abigail informed him.

"Yes, I know."

"So what did he say about me?" She asked again.

"That no matter what I did or said, you'd find a way to win." He chuckled a bit. "I never met a woman mayor before. But you are the toughest one to negotiate with." He admitted. "That's a good thing. Means you make sure you know what's best for your town."

"Well, I try."

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble, Mayor Stanton. I understand that the children need sleep and the workers have to get up in the morning. But I also have to make money too." Lucas said in the kindest way possible.

"I understand." Abigail nodded. "And that is why I believe our deal will work out for the both of us."

"Agreed." He nodded. "If you ever stop by the saloon…your first couple of rounds are on me." He winked at her before turning to head back to the saloon.

Abigail smiled a bit as she watched him leave, her eyes following him before they looked up at the balcony above the saloon where Henry's room was. She thought about how she wanted to go and see him tonight, but knew that might not be the best idea and she shook her head before getting back to work.

She was surprised the next morning to see that Henry, for the first time in months, was sitting in the cafe for breakfast. Walking by some tables of people as if she didn't even notice them, Abigail approached Henry's first. "Good morning, Henry."

"Good morning, Abigail." He smiled up at her.

"Didn't expect to see you here." She admitted. "I thought you'd be enjoying Lucas's new breakfast menu at the saloon."

"Caviar doesn't really make for a great breakfast." He told her with a friendly smile.

"Well…I will get you this morning's special then." She smiled back at him, thinking to herself that she missed seeing him at one of her tables.

"That would be lovely, thank you." He nodded at her, noticing the looks they were getting from the other tables, but he ignored them for now and continued to look through his newspaper at the stock market pages.

He had gotten so into what he was reading that he hadn't noticed Abigail return with his plate of food.

"Your breakfast is getting cold, Henry." She told him, approaching his table some moments later.

He finally looked up at her. "How's that?"

"What is so interesting?" She asked him with a slight chuckle though her tone sounded concerned.

"Oh, I'm just checking the stock market." He said, feeling his cheeks turn a bit red.

"You invest?"

"I dabble." He shrugged. "Actually, I more than dabble. I made quite a few profits in the last month."

"You certainly are restless, aren't you? Playing the market…..Making a bid to buy the saloon."

"I enjoy working for Lee well enough, it's just that I…like to keep busy." He lied to her, feeling ashamed to tell her that he still felt useless in the job he had now. He wanted to be a manager. An owner. He wanted to make a fortune again. To matter. To matter to her. "If you wanted I could invest some money for you." He offered, thinking that perhaps if he did that…she would see that he wasn't entirely useless.

"No, thank you. I'm not a gambler."

"Life is one big gamble, Abigail. The only question is…do you want to make a profit?"

She softly smiled at him with a hum before continuing her rounds with the coffee pot. He watched her with his own smile before looking back at his paper.

Later that afternoon, Lee convinced Abigail that Henry was a great investor and he had even made money for him. She confidently gave Henry five dollars to invest in a farming equipment company that he chose and he said he would get back to her about it later.

As soon as Henry heard the bad news about the farming company crashing, he was ashamed of himself for trying to coax Abigail into investing with him. He informed Lee of the bad news before going to Abigail and giving her ten of his own dollars, telling her that she doubled her money and it was best to pull out now. Abigail was ecstatic as she thanked him in the back of the cafe and she tried to start another conversation with him but he left before she could. She found his recent behavior quite odd and blamed Rosemary for making things weird with the Mistletoe.

It wasn't until later that Lee told Abigail about the farming company crashing that she realized what Henry had done for her.

That night, she joined the Coulters and Elizabeth in the saloon for a little bit while Laura watched Baby Jack.

"Oh, look. There's Henry now." Rosemary pointed at him as he descended the stairs, walking over toward the bar.

Abigail watched him through the people dancing together on the dancefloor. She thought for a while, ignoring what the others were saying to her before she looked at them. She opened her mouth to speak before realizing that Elizabeth was the only one there. "Where did Rosemary and Lee go?" She asked.

"On the dance floor." Elizabeth nodded toward their married friends.

Abigail looked over at them, seeing the large smiles on Rosie and Lee's faces and she smiled a bit as well. "Oh." She watched them dance for a while, missing that herself before her eyes fell to Henry standing at the bottom of the stairs all alone. "Elizabeth?" Abigail looked at her friend, handing her her glass of champagne. "Would you hold this for me for one second?"

"Sure." Elizabeth said, taking the glass from her.

"Thanks." Abigail said, her eyes fixated on Henry even before she headed over to him.

Henry finished his own glass of Brandy and set it down on the table in front of him as his eyes also became fixated on the happy couples enjoying themselves on the dance floor.

"Henry." Abigail's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned to look at her beside him. She reached into her purse, taking out the ten dollars he had given her that afternoon. "I believe I owe you this."

"What for?" He asked her, trying to act clueless, though the look on his face said otherwise.

"Because I understand this came out of your own pocket." She told him seriously. His expression immediately turned to shameful and apologetic. "You don't have to do that, Henry." She told him as if she was reading his mind yet again.

He softly sighed before gently taking the money from her. "Tell you what….you didn't lose all of it." He handed her five dollars back which she had given him to begin with.

Abigail looked up into his eyes, almost denying taking the five dollars back but she could see in his eyes that he would insist so she gently took it from him, placing it in her purse and closing it. "Henry, I knew the risks when I asked you to invest for me. Nobody's perfect." She added that last part as if to tell him something he should have been told for years.

"Don't I know it?" He tried to joke, Abigail sending him a soft smile as she knew that his jokes came at a time when he felt uncomfortable or like he had done something wrong.

They both nodded at each other before facing the dance floor again, watching the others sway together as one. Abigail felt hopeful as she watched them and Henry felt unsure. He opened his mouth, almost wanting to ask her to dance with him, but nothing came out. The woman beside him looked over to see his lips part and she wondered if he was going to say it. The former criminal looked into the mayor's eyes and he just sent her a cheeky smile before looking back at the dance floor just as the song ended.

He missed his chance.

Picking up his hat from the table in front of them, Henry looked back at Abigail and smiled again. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Henry." The woman said, a hint of disappointment in her tone as Henry left the saloon to go for one of his late night walks.

"Oh, Leeee." Rosemary whined to her husband from the dance floor. "Did you see that?"

"See what, Rosie?" Lee asked her in a slightly annoyed tone that suggested he DID see it, but was trying to mind his own business.

"Henry and Abigail." His wife said with a bit of frustration. "He was going to ask her to dance."

"You don't know that, sweetheart." Lee said.

"Yes, I do. I could see it in his eyes. And in hers! She wanted him to!" She sighed. "Oh, this is getting ridiculous. We need to do something. Look at her." She said as they walked back over to Elizabeth.

"Look at who?" Elizabeth asked, only hearing the last of the conversation.

"Abigail….Look at her over there all by herself." Rosemary gestured toward Abigail standing at the bottom of the stairs where Henry had left her.

"What about it?" Elizabeth asked.

"I am going to say it!" Rosie said to her husband.

"No, Rosemary."

"Say what?" The school teacher asked, setting Abigail's champagne glass down on a table behind them.

"I have GOT to find a way to get her and Henry to admit how they feel." The actress finally blurted out to her brunette friend.

"Henry and Abigail?" Elizabeth widened her eyes a bit.

"Tell me, Elizabeth. What do you see in her eyes?" She asked, looking at Abigail from across the room.

"I don't know…She's smiling." Elizabeth said with confusion as she and Lee both looked at each other.

"No, no! Look BEYOND the smile!" Rosemary demanded. "She's hurt. She's lonely. They need each other."

"I wouldn't say they NEED each other." Elizabeth protested, raising an eyebrow at her friend's husband.

"How does no one see that they are MISERABLE without each other?" The actress quickly clapped her hands together twice. "I've got an idea!"

"I'm afraid to ask." Elizabeth stated.

"We are going to have dinner. All of us together. Then Elizabeth, you will have some baby emergency with little Jack next door and we will all come over to your place as we leave Henry and Abigail alone to talk."

"If they wanted to be alone to talk, they would do it themselves, darling." Lee informed her.

"No, they wouldn't. Not with them both trying to hide what's really going on." The blonde looked back at Elizabeth. "I know you asked her to make you a promise, but Elizabeth you didn't see him last Christmas in that jail cell when they kissed."

"Kissed?" Lee turned his whole body to face his wife, feeling extremely left out. "Wait a minute. You knew about this?" He asked Elizabeth.

"Yes. I told her right away." Rosemary admitted.

"Told her what? What's going on here?"

"I went to bring Rip his dinner back when Henry was spending Christmas in the Hope Valley jail before his trial and Abigail was already there….and I walked in on them sharing a kiss. I told Elizabeth later when I left. It's not so much the kiss that was shocking. It was what I saw after Abigail left."

"What did you see?" Her husband asked.

"Oh, he looked so upset to see her go." Rosemary told him, sounding so sad for Henry. "And just now when he was going to ask her to dance, he had that same look on his face when the song ended. Now look at her. The mayor. The chef. The mother. She does everything for everybody in town. You can't tell me she doesn't look lonely."

Elizabeth watched Abigail kindly say hello to a few people who passed her by. She hated admitting it, but Rosemary was right. There was something in Abigail's eyes that made Elizabeth feel very sad. Even with a smile on her face, the mayor DID look like she was missing something. But could it be Henry? Of all people?

"Why don't we just talk to her?" Lee asked.

"Because. She is too strong and independent to admit how she is feeling." Rosemary said as if it were obvious.

"She's right." Elizabeth actually agreed. "Abigail is always doing things for everyone else. But rarely does she accept help from others. A dinner doesn't sound SO bad."

"Really?!" Rosemary asked with excitement. "So you will help?"

"Yes…I will."

"What about the promise?" Lee mentioned.

"I don't want to be the reason Abigail is unhappy." Elizabeth admitted. "And Mr. Gowen really has changed. He's become a better person…Perhaps that is because of her. If they really do fall in love…then maybe he will only grow from here."

"My thoughts exactly!" Rosemary grinned. "Think of it as an investment into our town's future. The mayor will be happy and the man who once used to bring everyone's mood down will now be happy. That will only bring more and more happiness to Hope Valley." The actress beamed and she hooked her arms with both her husband and her best friend as she giggled. "Cupids….It is time to draw back our arrows."

Elizabeth and Lee shared one more glance with the blonde sandwiched between them and they couldn't help but smile with a playful roll of their eyes and a chuckle.