The year is 1945, the second great war had ended, Hitler had been defeated and Betty McRae stands in the middle of the dance floor at a small bar in Toronto, Canada, wide eyed and jaw dropped as Ivan Buchinsky places the ring on her finger. Ivan had joked about proposing before, but Betty always thought it was just that, a joke. Well this is no joke, she thinks to herself as he scoops her up into a tight embrace, much to the delight of the onlookers in the bar. Once he sets her down she looks around and finds Gladys Witham looking at her with a confused expression on her face, Betty just smiles and shrugs. And then she sees them, those blue eyes that had her smitten from the first time she saw them. Kate Andrews doesn't seem shocked or surprised, not even confused as Gladys had been. No, Kate has another expression on her face, one that Betty knows all too well from all those nights looking at herself in the reflection of a cheap bottle of whisky. Hurt is what she sees when she locks eyes with Kate. She doesn't know why Kate is looking at her like she just did the worst thing a person could ever do, but she does recognize the feeling she gets while looking deep into the eyes of the woman she loves. It's flittering, and gone almost as suddenly as it appears but the feeling of hope is unmistakable. However Betty doesn't have time to think about it because just as she is making her way over to Kate, Ivan scoops her up again, turning her around and planting a soft kiss on her lips.
"I'll get you the house you've always wanted," he says. "I promise."
It's all Betty can do to keep from crying, to keep a single tear from falling takes a lot more strength than people think, and Betty isn't as strong as she lets people believe, at least not when she's around her, or even thinking about her.
She finally manages to wiggle free of all the people in the bar huddling around her to congratulate her, all those fidgeting women clamoring to see her ring, which isn't much to look at, really, but it's all Ivan could afford and that was good enough for Betty. She makes her way outside for a much needed cigarette break and just as she is lighting it she sees a flash of red off the corner of her eye, and her heart jumps.
"Kate!" she shouts after the read-head, who stops dead in her tracks and slowly turns around, revealing a tear stained face.
"What's wrong?" asks Betty, as if she didn't already know, though a part of her just wanted to confirm her suspicions.
"I guess congratulations are in order," Kate ignores the question.
"Yeah, I guess," Betty answers, playing with the cigarette between her fingers. A moment of silence falls over them, it isn't an awkward silence or anything of the sort but a silence in which an understanding, an unspoken truth, if you will, passes between them.
"You don't want to marry him," Kate states, cautiously approaching the subject they have been avoiding all this time.
Betty slowly shakes her head and Kate takes a step forward.
"Then why did you say yes?"
"I don't know," Betty's voice comes out a lot shakier than she would have liked. "I guess I panicked. Besides," She takes a deep breath to keep herself from sobbing. "I'm never gonna get what I really want."
"And what is it that you really want?" Kate takes another step forward.
'You', Betty opens her mouth to answer, but before she can say the word that's on the tip of her tongue, the door to the bar swings open and out pops Ivan.
"Oh, there you are!" he says, gleaming with pure joy. He turns and sees Kate standing not a few feet away from Betty. "Oh hey, Kate! Did you hear the good news?"
"Yeah, congratulations," Kate forces a smile that she knows deep down is fooling no one. Except, maybe, Ivan.
"Thank you," Ivan turns to look at Betty. "You wanna come back inside? Everyone's asking about you."
"Sure," Betty answers, throwing away her cigarette. Ivan puts his arm around his fiancé as they enter the bar and Betty turns her head around to look back at Kate and flash her a sad smile. Once the couple is back inside Kate gives in to her emotions and begins to cry, sobbing uncontrollably with her back resting against the cold hard surface of the wall. She doesn't know if she's still got some fight left in her, after all, she can't give Betty the house she's always wanted.