I Am Not Yours

He's Back

November 1913

It didn't take long for Henry to realize that it was wrong and irrational of him to force Nora to choose between him and Bill. He apologized to her the next day and told her that he would like to take up her offer on leaving town to start over somewhere new....Immediately. Nora thought it was a little soon but she agreed and they made their way to Union City, ignoring the warning that there would be terrible weather in the valley and the possibility of a threatening flood nearby.

Nora begged Henry to stop or slow down several times, but he didn't want to go back...especially since he had heard from an anonymous source that Bill and the federal investigators assigned to the mining accident that killed all of the widows' husbands were getting closer to finding more incriminating evidence against him. Ever since he had received that telegram in the mail the day before the storm, Henry knew that he could not stay in Hope Valley much longer.

His urgency to leave town, however, could not have come at a worse time. Hit by the storm, the town's people all worked together to keep each other safe while Henry and Nora crashed just outside of town and Mr. Gowen was thrown from the vehicle, knocked unconscious.

In town, once Bill had realized Nora and Henry were nowhere to be found, he set out to look for them with a tip from Dottie on where they were headed. It didn't take long for Bill to locate them and he carried Henry up into his own car before driving them to the Union City hospital where they stated that they weren't sure Henry would make it.

Much to Bill's chagrin, he did.

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December 1913

About a month had passed since the flood and it was now a week away from Christmas. Lee and Rosemary Coulter were on their honeymoon whilst the town began to prepare for the holiday festivities under Elizabeth's orders. She had taken over Rosemary's job as the Christmas organizer and planner and Abigail had been quite impressed with her progress considering she had been overwhelmed by such responsibilities in the past. Though Abigail didn't have much room to talk when it came to responsibilities since she had been given some of the mayoral duties while Henry remained in the hospital.

"The morning stage just came in..." Clara said as she entered the cafe's kitchen one morning.

"Is there a problem?" Abigail asked as she noticed the displeased look on Clara's face.

Clara looked at her mother-in-law with sad eyes. "He's back."

Abigail, with a hint of both confusion and worry, rushed toward the exit of the cafe. She had heard word from Union City that Henry would not be arriving for another week or two in his condition. Although, the widow wondered what sort of terrible shape that man could even be in. He didn't seem like the type who could even get sick let alone injured.

She immediately bit her tongue at her own thoughts the second she stepped outside in front of her cafe. Looking toward the stagecoach, her jaw dropped slightly at the sight of Henry Gowen...the invincible man...struggling to sit in a wheelchair given to him by the hospital. He had a white sling on his left elbow and a bitten pride wore on his face.

"Careful! I don't want you to fall." Nurse Faith Carter tried to help him.

"I'm not gonna fall unless somebody pushes me." Henry said in a familiarly stubborn tone.

"Let's get you home." Faith said as she got him straightened out in his chair. "You should save your strength."

"And you should save your breath. I'm just fine." With his right hand, he began to wheel himself away from Faith and toward the mayoral office.