August 1916

After the couple had gone a few more rounds, they had moved over to the sofa, Henry pulling his under trousers back on before Abigail sat in his lap with his gray suit jacket on. It was large on her but made her feel safe and warm as she laid her back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. They both watched the flames in the fire together while Abigail's head rested against Henry's shoulder behind her.

"Doesn't this feel nice?" She softly asked him after a long wave of comfortable silence. Her hands held his on her stomach to keep them there.

"Mhm." He answered her, holding her as if he would lose her if he let go.

"Imagine this every night for the rest of our lives. Don't you want that?" She gently slid her fingers across the back of his hands as he held her. Her bare legs laying across his lap grew goosebumps as the cold air fought the warmth that the fire brought to her.

"'Course I do." He told her. "Especially after the day I had at work."

"What happened?"

He softly sighed. "Nothing. Just having problems with the ledger. I've got three more shipments of oil to deliver by next week, but I am a bit low on business cash right now to pay the train fee."

"Have you asked Lucas for any help?" She wondered.

"No. No. I will handle it myself. He has enough on his plate with the saloon right now."

"He is your partner, Henry. If you need help with the business you both own, then you should at least be able to ask him." She began to slowly slide her hand up and down his bare arm.

"I will think about it." He told her, only half-lying.

"You should stop wiring me money to help with my mom." Abigail added. "It is only adding to your stress. And Carson says that stress is what made you sick in the first place."

"I've already told you, Abigail. I am not sick." Henry told her kindly.

"Well, you are not perfectly healthy either." She lifted her head off his shoulder to turn it and look at him. "Henry….please. You need to promise me that you will try your best to take care of yourself when I leave again." She placed her left hand on his right cheek to gently force him to turn his head and look at her. "It is very important to me that you do." She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips before sliding her hand down from his cheek and to rest on his bare chest. After breaking the kiss, she looked into his eyes and couldn't help but smile at the butterflies moving around in her stomach and she let out a soft giggle as they tickled her. "I don't think I have felt this happy in a really, really long time." She rested her forehead against his.

"I really make you feel like that?" He asked her for confirmation, surprised that he would be able to make anybody feel happy, let alone, Abigail Stanton.

"Yes. You do, Henry." She pulled her head away to look into his eyes again. "Is that really so hard to believe?"

"Will you be angry with me if I say yes?" He wondered.

"No. Because I want you to be honest." She told him truthfully, gently caressing his chest. "How are YOU feeling right now?" She asked him.

"Afraid." He answered her.

"Of what?"

"Hurting you. Disappointing you. Disappointing your family. People in town talking about you behind your back because of who I am."

"Let me tell you something, Henry Gowen." She softly smiled at him. "People already talk about the both of us behind our backs. Why not be happy while they do?" She took his chin in her hand. "We can't protect each other from the world. But we CAN try our best to be there for each other when times are hard. And Henry, right now times are a little hard for you at work. So to be there for you, I am asking…no, demanding…that until you are able to start again, please stop sending me your money. Okay? Daddy and I will manage for the time being."

"Is that really what you want?"

"Yes." She told him. "And if you don't listen, I will just wire the money right back to you." She smirked a bit as if to remind him that she can play at his game too.

Henry couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he read her mind once he saw her smirk and he kissed her again as if to agree. Soon, their kiss was interrupted by the ring of Henry's telephone coming from his home office.

Abigail gently pulled away and licked her lips. "Hm, you should get that." She smiled at him before standing up from his lap so he could go and answer it.

Once he was gone, she pulled his suit jacket closed tighter around herself before sitting back down on the sofa. Smiling to herself, she brought the collar of his jacket up to her nose to get a whiff of Henry's scent and she hummed.

Henry was not on the phone very long before he returned to the living room from his office. "Abigail…"

"What is it? Who was that?" She asked him, curiously.

"Nathan Grant."

"The Mountie?" Abigail sat up a bit more.

"Yeah." Henry sighed a little. "It's Rebecca."

The woman's expression softened with worry. "Becky? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing is wrong. She is at the Mountie's office. He didn't give me any details, but Nathan wants you over there as soon as possible."

Abigail stood immediately, beginning to get dressed in her undergarments again followed by her baby blue blouse and her forest green dress over it. Just as she smoothed her dress out and fixed her hairpin, her eyes fell to the stack of wrinkled papers on the coffee table beside Henry's book.

"What's this?" She asked, lifting the top paper up and seeing her name on the top left corner of it.

"Oh yeah, those are the letters that I wrote to you since I left Fulton Hills, but never sent." He watched as Abigail lifted up the whole stack. "I figured if you were still angry with me before you left my place tonight that I would give them to you anyway…To prove that I never stopped thinking of you after I returned to Hope Valley."

She let out a soft breath, quietly counting to herself how many 'attempted' letters she held in her hands. She counted no less than twenty. "Oh, Henry." She softly smiled to herself before going to him and kissing him on the cheek. "Aren't you coming with me?"

"No. I should stay here and do some thinking." He told her. "Just…let me know what's going on with Becky, okay?"

"I will." She nodded before gently rubbing one of his bare shoulders and she left, holding his letters to her heart, a part of her feeling so warm and whole inside, yet the other part of her felt worry and concern for her daughter.

Abigail managed to hide the letters inside the top of her dress before she entered the Mountie's office in town. She was shocked to see that Becky, along with seven or eight other teens her age were locked up, divided equally, between the two cells in the office. She froze for a moment, looking at the teens with wide eyes.

"Does somebody want to explain to me what is going on here?" She asked them all since Nathan was not present at the moment.

She heard a soft gasp from one of the cells and Becky stumbled passed her peers to hold onto the cell bars, smiling at Abigail. "Mommm. There you are. I told Mountie Grant you were probably with Mr. Gowen."

It didn't take long at all for Abigail to understand that her 16 year old had been drinking. The slurring of her words and her lack of balance gave her away, had the appearance and smell of the other teens not done so. "Rebecca Stanton." Abigail said in a tone of disapproval though she did not raise her voice.

Becky's smile faded as she realized her error and she gulped a bit, pulling her head out from between two of the cell bars. Her eyes slowly blinked and had she not been drunk, she would have begun to cry at the realization that this was the first time she had ever gotten in trouble since she met Abigail.

Just then, the Mountie office door opened and Nathan entered the building with a wooden crate of several empty alcohol bottles. It was clear to Abigail that they were the bottles the teens had been drinking from and her eyes widened again as she saw the amount of alcohol they had consumed.

"Oh, Mayor Stanton. You're here." Nathan said as he set the crate down on top of his desk. He let out a heavy sigh. "Found them all in the woods by Mrs. McCormick's cabin with a fire they had started."

"What happened?" Abigail asked him.

"Mrs. McCormick heard a ruckus outside and when she went to see what it was…she found these high spirited lads and lasses celebrating Laura's birthday together. She came here to inform me and I went to check it out. By the time I had arrived, they had already finished almost every bottle in this crate."

"Is anyone hurt?" She asked him.

"No, but aside from the fact that only two of them are of the legal drinking age in this province…alcohol has been banned for ANY age here, as you well know now."

Abigail sighed. "Yes, I do. But is it really necessary to press charges? These children all have a future. None of them will be able to get certain jobs or go to certain schools if this is on their record." She looked over her shoulder at Becky behind her before looking back at Nathan.

"I am sorry, Madam Mayor. There is nothing I can do." Nathan sighed again.

"What about the other children's parents? Have you contacted them yet?"

"No, ma'am. I decided to call you first and ask if you, as the mayor, think it is necessary to keep them locked up for the night."

"Hm…" She thought about it for a second.

"Mom? I don't feel so good." Becky whined from behind the bars.

"Not now, young lady." Abigail told her as she thought for a second longer. "Yes." She answered Nathan's question. "I think it is necessary that they learn the consequences of their actions."

"Yes, ma'am." Nathan nodded.

"In the meantime, I suggest you place enough buckets in each cell for the ones who may not have the stomach to handle their consequences. If you know what I mean." Abigail told him before turning around and walking over to stand in front of Becky. "I love you, sweetheart. But we will have a talk about this tomorrow."

"You're not going to leave us here, are you?" Becky asked her mom as her head bobbed drunkenly.

"Yes. I am. Though I never wanted to see you behind bars like this…I think it is important that you learn…" She looked around at all the other kids too. "...that ALL of you learn that what you did was irresponsible and illegal and you cannot get off without some type of punishment." She sent Becky one last look of disapproval before turning to leave the office while Nathan began to contact the other parents.

The next morning, Cody came down the stairs to the kitchen while Abigail was already dressed and making him some breakfast.

"Good morning, Mom." He said as he sat down at the table.

"Good morning, Cody. Did you sleep well?" His mother asked as she stirred up some flour, water, and sugar to start making her pancake mix.

"Really well." He told her. "I really missed my own bed."

"I know, sweetheart."

"Where is Becky?" He asked her, noticing the absence of his sister when he woke up.

"She is…out right now."

"Where did she go?" He wondered.

"She is….spending some quality time with her friends." She wanted to tell him the truth but was not quite sure how to bring it up nor was she sure how he would react to it.

"Oh…I wonder why she didn't tell me."

"Would you like blueberries in your pancakes this morning, dear?" Abigail asked him to try and change the subject.

"Ooo, yes, please." He perked up at her question with a grin. "Later today, Mr. Coulter and I are going to practice batting with my new bat that Mr. Gowen got for me at Grandpa's."

"That sounds like it will be very fun." Abigail smiled at him. "Have you shown your bat to Robert yet? I figured he would be excited to see it as well."

"No. He has been busy watching his new baby sister." He said, his tone a bit sad.

"Have you gone to meet her yet?"

"No. Why?"

"Because she is your best friend's sister. Don't you think you ought to go and meet her?" Abigail asked him.

"No. That'll be boring. Babies can't even do anything. They just lay there and stare up at the sky." Cody told her.

"That's not true. She is at the age now where they start to crawl and play and laugh. She may even try to talk now. If you go and visit with her, I am sure Robert will appreciate it. And maybe her first word will be 'Cody.'" She tried to convince him with a smile.

"Really? You think so?" He sounded a bit intrigued.

"It is a possibility." She sent him a small wink. "How about you head on over after breakfast? Maybe Robert can show you that babies are not as boring as you think."

"Hm…Okay." He smiled a bit again. "I suppose if babies were boring, Mrs. Thornton would not love Little Jack so much, right?"

Abigail chuckled. "A mother's love does not really work like that. I love you, don't I?

"Yes, but-..." He suddenly realized what she meant. "Heyyyyy!" They both laughed. "I'm not boring."

"No, of course you aren't, darling. I am just kidding." She smiled as her son laughed again with a playful eye roll.

They continued to talk as she made him his breakfast and he thanked her. After he finished eating, he went back up to his room to get his baseball bat so he could bring it to Robert's to show it to him and he grabbed his glove and ball and ran back downstairs, stopping by his mother to kiss her on the cheek before he went outside.

Soon, Minnie Canfield entered the cafe and began to work the food prep before the cafe would open. Abigail observed the woman's work ethic and smiled to herself, glad to know that her cafe was in good hands while she would be gone. Once she was certain that Minnie had things under control, she politely excused herself and headed on over to the Mountie's office to figure out what to do about Rebecca.

She entered the office slowly, almost afraid of what she might find as she entered the building. The door softly closed behind her and she stepped further inside to see that all of the teens were sprawled out inside the cells, asleep. In Becky's cell, two of the boys had hogged the cot together, sleeping in the foot-to-head position, whilst Becky slept with her back against the cold wall and her legs fell straight out in front of her. Two girls laid flat on the stone floor and another slept in the wooden chair with her back against the corner of the wall. The cell across from them didn't look too different as Abigail sighed, realizing that despite what had happened the night before…none of them deserved to have this ruin the rest of their lives. The Prohibition on alcohol in their province had only begun the day before and she was already beginning to see the cons of such an idea.

Luckily, Becky had fallen asleep close to the cell bars and Abigail had access to softly run her fingers through her daughter's hair through them when she crouched down near her. "Becky, sweetheart?" She brushed her dirty blonde hair behind her ear, knowing that the trick always worked to wake the 16 year old. "Wake up, dear."

Becky's eyes flinched a little as she quietly groaned, moving her head and slowly opening her eyes. "Mom?" She took a moment to realize where she was and once she saw that the night before was NOT a dream, she immediately felt ashamed, embarrassed, and angry with herself. Once she found the strength to lift her head, she looked around at the other kids in the cell with her, then back at her mom. "Can we go home now?"

"Not yet. I need to wait for Mountie Grant to return so he can let you out." Abigail let her daughter's hair go and stood back up. She folded her hands together as she looked down at Rebecca. "How do you feel?"

"Like my head is on too tight." The hungover teen said before she carefully attempted to stand as well, holding onto the cell bars for support. It wasn't too long before she had to quickly pick up the bucket she had slept beside to get sick into it.

Abigail sighed, reaching through the bars to gently rub her daughter's back. "I have no idea what went through all of your heads last night, but now you know that having a 'good time' comes with its price, don't you?"

"Please, not now, Mother." Becky said with her head still in the bucket.

Luckily for Nathan, she was done by the time he arrived and retrieved the ring of keys to let her out. Abigail thanked him before he let her know that he would contact her about the charges and she escorted her daughter home, Nathan allowing them to keep the bucket.

As they headed down the street, a few people sent Becky looks of shame or disappointment and they shook their heads. Soon, Abigail noticed that Florence Blakeley was headed toward the jail to pick up her daughter, Deborah, and she received the same looks that she and Becky were given. That made her feel a bit better to know that Rebecca was not being blamed for it all just because she was the mayor's daughter, but it also felt unfair for all of the kids to be judged this way.

"Have a seat." She told Becky as they entered the cafe through the back door and she pointed at the sofa in their tiny living room area by the furnace.

Becky winced at the bright white color of the sofa, it metastasizing her unnecessarily aching head. She tried not to look at it too much as she held the arm of it for balance and she sat, her eyes warily looking up at her mother who went to get a bottle of vinegar from her cabinet. Her daughter watched her pour some of it into a glass before returning to the living room area with it and the bucket which she set down in front of the 16 year old.

Abigail sat next to Becky and dipped her finger into the vinegar before rubbing it onto Becky's temples.

"What are you doing?" Becky asked her, trying not to feel sick at the smell of the vinegar.

"I am going to help you feel better before we have a long talk about what happened last night." She told her before holding the glass of vinegar in front of her. "Now drink."

"What? I am not going to drink that. That's disgusting." Becky refused, now realizing that this was the first time she ever disobeyed Abigail.

"If you don't drink, your head and your stomach will not feel any better any sooner." Her mother said, holding the glass even closer to her.

Becky got an instant whiff of the vinegar which made her feel nauseous again and she quickly grabbed the glass from her mom and drank a big gulp of it, plugging her nose in the process so the taste and smell would not be so strong. This was a trick she had learned while in the hospital for her illness when the nurses would force her to take terrible medicines.

"Thank you. Drink slowly and a little at a time." Abigail told her, her own stomach turning a bit as she thought about witnessing the girl getting sick earlier. She was not about to spend the rest of her day around a vomiting child, though she knew she would anyway. Whenever Peter was sick in the past, if Noah had the time, he would be the one to take care of him as being around anyone with an upset stomach would instantly give Abigail one as well. Once she accrued custody of Becky and Cody, she did her best to keep Cody healthy and Becky's illness when they met had nothing to do with vomiting. But luckily, Cody had not gotten sick yet around her and he spent most of his time with Appendicitis in the infirmary so she hadn't had to go through something like a stomach flu with him yet and, of course, the one thing that caused her to have to with Rebecca…was alcohol.

"Where's Cody?" Becky asked after taking her third sip of the vinegar and trying not to gag.

"He went to Robert's house for a little while." Abigail told her. "I wanted us to be able to talk woman to woman when I picked you up this morning."

"Oh." She gulped before drinking a little of the vinegar again and surprisingly, her nausea went away a little. "When are you going to yell at me?" Becky wondered.

"I am hoping that I will not need to yell at you at all. I just want to talk. But I cannot guarantee that I will not raise my voice at some point." She told her honestly.

"Can we just get it over with?" Becky asked her anxiously. "The suspense is killing me."

"I wanted to wait until you were well again." Her mom said.

"I know, but waiting is making me more nervous, Mother." She did not mean to speak with such an attitude.

"I understand that, Rebecca. But that is the point. You knew what you were doing was wrong and illegal and you did it anyway. That makes me feel very disappointed in you. What was going on in your mind last night?" Abigail asked, trying to stay calm and rational.

"I don't know. We just wanted to have some fun for Laura's birthday. We didn't even know about the whiskey until one of the 19 year old boys brought it. I thought it tasted disgusting but we started to play a game that the older kids taught us and soon, we had all had so much to drink that I couldn't even taste it anymore…Then eventually, I was having a lot of fun. I didn't think we would get in trouble because the 19 year olds said that they bought it before the new law passed. So they said it wouldn't be illegal."

"Well, they were very wrong. The ban on alcohol goes for everyone and it does not matter when the alcohol was purchased. Why do you think Mr. Bouchard had to close the saloon? He purchased that alcohol well over a few weeks ago, I'm sure, and WELL before the ban on alcohol began yesterday. He is still no longer allowed to sell or use it, because of the prohibition, okay? Same goes for those boys. And even so…you are only 16. You know you have to be 18 to drink it, don't you?"

"Yes." Becky looked down guiltily.

"That is why I am disappointed in you." She lightly rubbed Becky's back.

"We were just having fun. We didn't do anything that bad."

"You broke the law, darling. That IS bad." Abigail explained to her. "Whether someone got hurt or not…you still did something that you KNEW was illegal. So, yes, it is that bad, honey." She sighed. "I just wish Mountie Grant did not have to get involved, because now…this may be on your permanent record for good if he follows the government and presses charges on all of you who participated."

"What?! Does that mean that I will get kicked out of school?"

"I am not sure yet. It is a sticky situation now."

"I only have one more year left. You're the mayor. Please do something."

"It's not that simple, sweetheart."

"Please, Mom. I want to graduate. I want to be a great Architect. Can't you at least try?" Rebecca begged her. "This isn't fair. We were just having fun. The ONE time I am not sick or focusing on stacks of homework and I finally get to do something exciting, this happens to me. It's not fair!" She set the glass of vinegar down on the coffee table in front of them and turned her body more to face Abigail. "Please, Mom? Will you at least CHECK to see if there is anything you can do?" She took her mother's hand in both of hers and squeezed it. "What about Mr. Gowen? He was mayor before. Maybe he knows something."

"Rebecca, the only thing that I can do is be a responsible adult and let you deal with the consequences of your actions. I know it doesn't seem fair, but-"

The 16 year old abruptly stood up and looked down at her mother with tears in her eyes. "But you aren't going to do ANYTHING to help me." When Abigail had nothing to say, the teen huffed and ran upstairs to her room, plopping down onto her bed. She cuddled up to her pillow and began to cry.

Abigail could faintly hear her daughter's sobs from the sofa downstairs and her heart ached. This had been the first time she'd ever had to scold Becky and it was just as unpleasant as she had imagined, if not worse. Her eyes fell to Minnie in the kitchen who had unintentionally heard most of the conversation and Abigail tried to force a smile. Minnie sent her a small smile back before finishing the dishes she was working on.

Abigail stood and walked over to help her for a little while and she dried the dishes before putting them away. "Will you be alright to finish up the breakfast hours if I go and talk to Mountie Grant for a bit?"

"Yes, yes. Go." Minnie told her. "I can take care of things here."

"Thank you, Minnie. I really appreciate it."

"It is no trouble." Minnie smiled at her and continued to make some eggs.

After Abigail placed a long, light jacket on over her white blouse and maroon skirt, she thanked Minnie one more time before heading out of the cafe's back door. She had told a small fib to Minnie before she left about where she was headed. Yes, she needed to talk to Nathan. But first…she was going to take Becky's advice and ask Henry if he knew any way around this.