*flashback*
September 1916
"You're not really going to tell my headmaster about the alcohol, are you?" Becky asked her mother as they pulled up to the girl's school to drop her off.
"Yes, Rebecca, I am. It is the responsible thing to do." Abigail told her daughter. "Then after I speak with him, I need to head back to the train station as quickly as I can to catch the next train back to Fulton Hills. Your Nana's doctor will be arriving with her wheelchair first thing tomorrow morning and I want to be there in case they need me to help her with it."
"I know, Mom. But you promised you would come and visit my school some day."
"I will, sweetheart. If I find some time to next month, then I will. I promise." She kissed her daughter's cheek before they stepped out of the stagecoach.
As soon as Abigail's feet touched the ground outside, she lost her balance briefly as her vision slightly blurred. Becky turned to see her mother's reaction to seeing her school for the first time when, instead, she noticed her mother wobble a little. "Mom? Are you okay?"
"Hm?" Her mother regained her balance. "Yes, dear. I'm alright. I may have just stood up too fast."
"What do you think?" The teen girl looked up at the building ahead of them.
"It's wonderful." Abigail smiled, placing a hand on Becky's back. "I am so proud of you….Your first day of the last year of school. How are you feeling?"
"Excited." Becky smiled at her. "This year we get to apprentice with a real architect. Go out and experience what the job is really like after we graduate." She smiled proudly before her smile faded only slightly. "Do you think my parents would be happy for me?"
"Yes, of course, Becky. They would be so proud of you and your accomplishments. And they would want you to be happy and proud of yourself too." Abigail rubbed her back. "Come on…let's go on in and see your headmaster."
After the pretty successful meeting with Becky's school principal, Abigail went with her daughter to see the room that she stays in whilst at school and they said goodbye before the older of the two headed out to make her way to the train station. She arrived back in Fulton Hills about twelve hours later and made it back to her parents' house on time to try and catch about three or four hours of sleep.
When she woke up, she got dressed and went downstairs to start breakfast. Yawn after yawn, the woman realized just how exhausting travel can be at her age. She started to wonder how Becky does it so often.
Once she had scrambled the eggs and placed them on a large platter for her father and her son to be able to help themselves when they woke up, she placed a few sausage links in the frying pan and turned the temperature down so she could have a seat at the kitchen table as they cooked. She yawned again and rested her elbow on the table, setting the side of her head into her hand as she closed her eyes for a minute. It was only a minute…but long enough for her to dream about Henry. In the dream, he sat by a pond, awaiting her arrival and as soon as she joined him, he smiled at the water. She sat beside him, only focused on the man as she listened to the nature around them. He never looked at her and she wondered what had him so intrigued that he keep his gaze upon the water. Abigail finally turned her head to look at the pond water herself and it was green. In the dream, she opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the ribbit of a frog that appeared on the single lilypad floating atop the green pond.
The sound of the sizzling sausage awoke Abigail before she could dream much longer and she stood from the kitchen table to quickly tend to the food on the stove, hoping she hadn't burned it. She spent most of the morning thinking of the dream and how happy and at peace Henry seemed in it. She, again, began to wonder why he hadn't gone to say goodbye the morning she left Hope Valley.
It wasn't long before Cody and Jedidiah woke up and joined her in the kitchen to enjoy their breakfast. Abigail brought Vivian a plate of food on her cot in the living room and once everyone was done eating, Cody and his grandfather helped with the dishes and went outside to start the farm work.
It was in their absence that Vivian noticed her daughter hadn't eaten. "Are you alright, dear? Why didn't you have breakfast?"
"I am okay, Mom. I am just not very hungry."
"You still need to eat."
"I need to sleep." Abigail corrected. "I believe I only got about two and a half hours of sleep last night."
"Yes, I heard you come in quite late. How was Becky's school?"
"It was good. It's a great place and her principal is a very nice man. I told him about what happened this summer and he was very reasonable. For the first semester, he wants Becky's curfew to be an hour earlier than the rest of the kids' just to keep an eye on her and if he sees no flaws in her behavior then he will lift it."
"Becky is a very good girl, that should be no problem." Vivian said.
"That is exactly what I was thinking." Abigail smiled before she let out another yawn.
Before her mother could address it, there was a knock on the door and Abigail went to answer it, allowing the doctor and his assistant inside with Mrs. Adler's new wheelchair. They were there for about an hour or so, teaching Vivian how to use it and teaching Abigail how to help her with it until they both felt comfortable enough to say their goodbyes.
"Finally, a way to move around on my own." Vivian said the moment the doctor and his assistant were out the door. She wheeled herself into the kitchen, grabbing her teapot and placing it in the sink before turning on the faucet to fill it with water. "Would you like some tea, dear?" She asked her daughter in a pretty chipper tone. "Now I can be a proper hostess in my own house."
"Mom, you are not a hostess. I am taking care of you." Abigail said after following her mother into the kitchen.
"I am perfectly healthy again. I just can't walk. And you have been taking care of everyone else. Now, sit." Her mother demanded.
Abigail chuckled a little and did as she was told, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Alright, but if you need help, do not feel hesitant to ask. Especially if anything is too high for you to reach. Understood?"
"Yeah, yeah. Would you like Chamomile or Peppermint?"
"I will take either one." The mayor stated before resting her elbow on the table once again and she rested her head in her hand.
"I will make you some eggs and toast as well." Vivian said, struggling a bit to wheel around the small kitchen at first, but she quickly got the hang of it, learning the best angles to turn the chair in to fit around the room. Abigail let out another yawn. "Then you are going to go and take a nice, long nap."
"May I ask you a personal, and perhaps inappropriate, question?" Her daughter wondered.
"Go on." Vivian told her as she started to crack some eggs into a bowl.
"How old were you when your body began to change again?" Abigail asked. "Into an older woman?"
"Hm?"
"I have not had my monthly in quite a while. And I am getting more tired lately. Yesterday at Becky's school…I was a bit dizzy for a moment."
"Well….you ARE 42. I do suppose that was definitely close to the time my body started to act that way. I believe I actually may have been younger. I think I was only 40. I cannot say that I recall exactly. But it is nothing to be worried about, dear. It happens to us all. Getting old is, unfortunately, a part of life."
Abigail sighed. "I know. I just…don't feel that old."
"Darling, Peter would be around 25 years old if he were alive today. Rebecca is about to graduate college. How do you NOT feel old?"
Abigail laughed at her mother's words. "I suppose you are right. I just don't feel ready to think about my last days yet."
"Look at me, sweetheart. We were certain that I was finally at my last days. And now I feel wonderful. Don't you be thinking about your last days before I have even had mine. Okay?" Vivian reassured her.
Her daughter smiled. "Okay….You are right. It could also just be stress and exhaustion from all the travel back and forth and dealing with Becky's arrest and the cafe and taking care of the town's legalities and Cody and Henry. It is just so much all at once."
"You deserve a break, Love. That is why I am going to take care of you now until you go back to Hope Valley and get that Henry Gowen to put his head back on straight so HE can take care of you."
"Oh, Mom-"
"Not, 'oh, Mom.' You are in love with that man and he is in love with you. It is time the both of you stopped acting like teenagers and-" Before Vivian could finish her sentence, her daughter fell forward, landing on the floor beside the table as her chair tipped over with her. The woman in the wheelchair gasped, calling her daughter's name to wake up before she began to yell for her husband outside.
Jedidiah had, luckily, left the solid backdoor in the kitchen open so he and Cody heard Vivian's cries through the screen door from the chicken coop in the backyard. Both men ran to her, entering the kitchen from outside.
"Mom? Are you okay?" Cody felt his heart pounding as he saw Abigail unconscious on the floor. "What's wrong with her?!" He began to panic.
"She just passed out. I am not sure." Vivian told them.
"Is the doctor still here?" Abigail's father asked.
"No. He's just left. Maybe five minutes ago."
"Is she sick?!" Cody asked nervously.
"Cody." Jedidiah spoke calmly, taking hold of his grandson's shoulders and leaning over to be at eye level with him. "Go and see if you can find the doctor's stagecoach, son. He shouldn't be too far. Bring him back and everything will be alright. I promise."
Cody took a deep breath to try and calm down before he ran toward the living room, going out the front door and running down the road toward town to try and retrieve the doctor's stagecoach before they were too far.
"Doctor! Doctor! Stop! Wait!" He yelled once he found them, waving his arms as he chased behind the stagecoach.
The doctor's assistant looked out the stagecoach window, peeking his head out to look behind them, seeing the boy wave them down. He told the driver to stop and soon, Cody was able to catch up to them. Out of breath, he approached the stagecoach door just as the doctor opened it. "Cody, dear boy. What is it? Is it your grandmother?"
"No…No, it's my mom. Something is wrong with her. You've gotta come quick. Nana said that she fainted, but she didn't wake up when I asked if she was okay."
"Alright, alright. Take a deep breath, son. Get in." The doctor said, moving over in his seat to give Cody some room to join them in the stagecoach. He told the driver to turn around and go back.
Once they made it back to the Adlers' house, Abigail had already woken up and was helped to the living room sofa by her father. "Hey, Doc." Jedidiah said once he, Cody, and his assistant stepped inside. "Would you be able to take a look at her?"
"Of course." The doctor said, going to kneel in front of Abigail with his medical bag. "Abigail. How are you feeling?" He asked her while he opened his bag and took out his stethoscope to listen to her heart.
"I am fine now. I just hadn't eaten yet today and I haven't had much sleep. It is nothing to fuss over." Abigail tried to reassure everyone.
"Nothing to fuss over?" Vivian repeated as she wheeled herself into the living room. "You fainted and fell out of a chair. You could have hit your head."
"I didn't, Mom. I promise. My head feels fine."
"Can you tell me exactly what happened?" The doctor asked.
"Well…I was sitting at the table, talking to Mom when I started to feel a bit dizzy. I've been quite tired since I woke up so I just assumed it was from lack of sleep. Then it got very dark and I woke up with Daddy helping me sit up on the kitchen floor."
"Tell him about yesterday too." Vivian added. "She was dizzy yesterday. She told me." Her mother told him for her before she could.
"Have you been getting dizzy a lot lately?" The doctor asked as he took out a flat, wooden stick to check her tonsils with as he held down her tongue for a moment with it.
"No. Not too often." Abigail responded to him after he removed the stick from her mouth. "I've been so overwhelmed and busy lately. I am sure it all just caught up with me."
"You said you hadn't eaten this morning? Why not?"
"I was just focused on feeding the three of them first." She told him.
He nodded a bit before placing the stethoscope earpieces in his ears again and he listened to her heart once more before placing the flat piece on her back. "Take a few deep breaths for me please." Abigail obeyed and did as he said. "Huh…" The doctor kept listening for a bit, humming every now and then.
"What is it? What's wrong with her? Is she sick?" Cody asked him.
"Frederick? Can you come and have a listen?" The doctor said to his assistant, taking the stethoscope off and handing it to the younger man. Frederick also listened for a bit before looking up at his boss. He removed the stethoscope and handed it back to the doctor who moved the flat piece of it to Abigail's stomach. "Have you recently had your monthly, Abigail?"
"No…Actually, I was just talking to Mom about that. I haven't for a few months now. I am 42, Doctor. Though, it is hard to admit it." She softly chuckled. "Why are you listening to my stomach? AM I sick?" She wondered.
"No, um…You have two heartbeats." He told her, removing the stethoscope from his ears again.
"She has two hearts?!" Cody asked, both confused and intrigued.
"In a manner of speaking, yes." The doctor chuckled and stood up. "Hers…and her baby's."
"What?!" Her parents both said at the same time.
Abigail felt her entire body grow warm and she gulped, now feeling sick to her stomach and she looked at her son, whose eyes had widened.
"There must be a mistake." Abigail said to break the silence in the room once she got her voice back. "I-" She thought for a moment and gulped again before looking down at the floor in front of her. "I had been feeling kicks and movements. I just….thought it was…indigestion or nerves."
"How long has it been since you've had your last monthly?" The doctor asked as he stood up.
"I can't really remember. It was…" Abigail thought for quite a while before she finally remembered. "In the Spring…Before I came here to take care of Mom. I haven't had it at all since I came here, now that I think about it."
"Your mother took ill around April. Does that sound about right?"
"Y-Yes…." Abigail slowly looked up at him and Frederick. "I remember now because I finished my monthly the day before Becky's birthday."
"That will put you at….five months along. Your baby will be here just in time for the New Year." The doctor smiled at her. "Do you have any questions?"
"N-...No." She looked at the floor again.
"We will come back for a full check up next week when my schedule allows. Right now, I have another patient to get to as long as you truly are okay."
"Yes….You can go." She told him without looking up. "Thank you."
The doctor and his assistant left again as Jedidiah walked them to the door. He turned around to say something to Abigail, but before he could, she had stood up and headed upstairs to her room.
"Abigail? Sweetheart…" Her mother tried to follow her, the wheels of her chair hitting the bottom of the stairs and she groaned. "This…damn chair!" She sighed and moved to the side, looking at her husband. "Well?...Go after her, Jedidiah!"
"What am I supposed to say?" Her clueless father asked.
"Make sure she is alright, of course." She said as if to say 'duh' afterward.
The older man sighed, knowing he wasn't the best at having heart to heart conversations, but he obeyed his wife, going up the stairs after his daughter.
Cody, confused, sat down on the sofa in the living room. "My mom is having a baby?"
Vivian wheeled over in front of the couch to her grandson and placed hand on his knee. "I am sure she can explain, honey. But for now, I think she needs some time to process it all herself before we ask her too many questions." The blonde boy looked up at the woman and nodded in understanding.
"Hey, Peanut." Jedidiah knocked on Abigail's open bedroom door upstairs. "Can I come in?"
Abigail sat on her bed, staring down at the wooden floorboards beneath her feet as she nodded. "Sure, Daddy." She looked at him and tried to force a smile.
The man slowly stepped into his daughter's room and sat down beside her. "You really had no idea?" He asked her softly.
"No. I mean…I had a few of the same symptoms as when I was pregnant for Peter, but this one was different. Maybe it's my age, I don't know. I never got very sick like I did with him. And I haven't really gained that much weight. My stomach has gotten a LITTLE bigger, but I thought it was my age, you know? And all the food at the cafe. I mean, I try a lot of my own recipes before I put them on the menu, it never occurred to me that I-" She looked at her father beside her. "No, I had no idea." She finally gave him a definitive answer.
"Who is it?" He asked right away.
"I-"
"Was it someone who hurt you? If it was, I will kill him."
"No…No, Daddy. It's nothing like that. What happened was also my choice. I…I love him."
Her father let out a sigh, releasing any anger he had inside from his previous assumption. "I can guess it is that Gowen fella."
"Yes." She answered him. "Are you ashamed of me?"
"Why don't you two get married?" He asked.
"It is not that simple, Daddy. You know our complicated history. And he's…he is very hard on himself. He says that he does not deserve me and that I deserve better."
"He's right. You deserve a gentleman who wouldn't use you and your body like this." Jedidiah told her.
"Daddy, I made the first move." She told him the truth. "I know that it was wrong, but…we couldn't stop."
"Couldn't stop? How long has this been going on for?" He wondered.
"A-About four or five years…I believe."
"Five years so when-..." He sighed. "Right after Noah died."
"I understand if you are upset with me. I made a terrible misjudgement call that started all of this, but I do not regret it. And I did not plan to fall in love. Especially with Henry Gowen, of all people. But he is the father of your unborn grandchild and I would appreciate it if you would give him a chance. And as far as marrying him goes…I would love to. But it is his decision too and I will not force him into it just because of the baby. All of us deserve better than that."
Jedidiah rubbed his chin with another sigh. "You are right….But if I find out that he hurts you or this family in any way-"
"I know, Daddy." She softly smiled and hugged him from the side. "Thank you."
"Mom?" Cody's voice came from her bedroom doorway.
They both looked over to see the 13 year old standing there and Jedidiah graciously left the room and went downstairs.
"Hi, sweetheart. You can come in." Abigail smiled at Cody.
The boy very slowly made his way into his mother's bedroom and he took a seat beside her on the bed. "Is it true? I am going to be a big brother?" He asked her with less than any emotion in his voice.
"I believe the doctor." She admitted to him with a nod. "Does that upset you?"
Cody shrugged. "I don't know." He looked up at his mother beside him. "How are we going to tell Becky?"
"I am not sure yet. I am still trying to figure out how to believe it myself."
"Is it Mr. Gowen's?" He asked her curiously. "Is he the dad? Does this mean that he is going to be MY dad too?"
"Slow down, darling. Yes, the baby is his, but right now, I have to figure out how to let him know. It wouldn't be right to tell him in a letter, but I don't have the time or money to travel back to Hope Valley right now to tell him in person…Nor do I have the stamina for that either."
"So you aren't going to marry him?" Cody sounded a bit disappointed.
"It's a bit complicated right now. But it is something that I would definitely consider…IF that is what he wants. But Cody…there is something I need to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"I need you to keep this a secret from your friends right now. And no writing about it to Mr. and Mrs. Coulter or to Mrs. Thornton either, okay? Most people will not understand." She told him.
"What do you mean?"
"Because Mr. Gowen and I are not married….a lot of people will not take it well to hear that I am pregnant. Okay?"
"O-Okay." He reluctantly agreed. "I promise." He meant it, though he did not understand why that would be such a big deal. But he listened to his mother and kept his word.
Once she had calmed down a bit, Abigail went downstairs to the living room to speak with her mother about everything and the moment Becky came home for Thanksgiving break, Abigail told her and discussed it being a secret with her as well. Her stomach finally began to grow more and she tried to write Henry several letters telling him, but she never had the courage to send them.
*present day*
June 1917
"You're kidding." Beatrice said to Henry in his office at Gowen Petroleum the morning after Becky's surprise graduation party. "You and the mayor? That is YOUR baby?" His ex wife had a hard time believing him at first. "You actually weren't lying about sleeping with her."
"No…I wasn't." Henry told her, holding back a roll of his eyes. That morning, he could not stop smiling at breakfast and Beatrice could tell something was up. She, annoyingly, followed him all the way to work trying to convince him to tell her why he had been smiling. And she knew it had nothing to do with him and Abigail finally telling the town at the party that they were more than friends. "You remember how you and I met, don't you?" He asked her with a hint of sarcasm.
"Yes, you and I met when I was a prostitute in a brothel….so of course WE had sex before we got married. But the perfect little mayor having sex with you before marriage and having A BABY? That, I didn't see coming." Beatrice admitted.
"You need to keep that part to yourself." Henry said. "I don't want Abigail's reputation ruined here because of me."
"How did you charm her into your bed, Henry?" She asked.
"I didn't charm her into anything….SHE kissed me and SHE made the first move passed that kiss. I was just as shocked as you are right now when it happened."
"And now you both have a baby together." The brunette woman snorted a little. "So Christopher has a half sister….Let's hope you get a chance to be a better father this time around."
"Oh my goodness." Florence Blakely softly whispered to Molly Sullivan outside of Gowen Petroleum when they overheard the conversation between Henry and Beatrice inside.
Both women looked at each other with shocked eyes.