Looking over my options hanging in my closet, I realized that I had no suitable dress for the tea that afternoon. So after breakfast, and armed with a few recommendations from my kindly landlady, I headed into town to see what I could find on short notice. Luck was on my side, and at the first shop I tried, I found a very pretty dress with thin straps and a v-neckline, designed in a floral print to just a few inches above the knee, and a sheer cream-colored fabric the rest of the length of the skirt, which fell to a little below mid-calf. I had some cream wedge-heeled sandals that would be just right, so I hurried back to my room to shower and dress before Mikhail's arrival.

Mikhail arrived just as I was coming down the stairs. Dressed in a pale blue shirt, sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows, with a navy tie and light tan vest and trousers, he looked handsome and summery. He complimented my appearance, looking me over appreciatively, and we left. As we walked along the boardwalk, he commented, "So, I hear that you had a run-in with the glorious Mrs. Bennett yesterday."

I looked at him, startled, and said, "Well, yes, I suppose so. But how…?"

"It's a small town—word gets around, you know," he replied with a smile. "Actually, I heard of it from Erik at breakfast. He was surprised that you stood up to her and gave her as good as you got—if not better. He's a little terrified of her, so he was most impressed."

I blushed a little, replying with a laugh, "Well, as I told the clerk, I'm not impressed by money. Then I quoted Tennyson at him."

Mikhail shook his head. "Sadly, I'm not as familiar with the poets as I should be. Which quotation did you employ?"

So I repeated the lines to him: "'Kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood.' From his poem 'Lady Clara Vere de Vere.'"

He smiled and tucked my hand into his arm. "Ah, yes, very fitting, indeed. Well, just to warn you, she and her daughter are sure to be there this afternoon. She makes a point of attending every possible social function, welcome or not," he said, rather drily.

I just smiled up at him with a grin as I squeezed his arm, saying, "I'm not afraid of her."

"No, I didn't think you would be," he laughed.

We had lunch at a sidewalk café near the boardwalk, then strolled along the boardwalk to the house featured in today's tour. It was located in the "old money" neighborhood just north of town, on a small bluff overlooking a private-access beach. The house itself was a superb Victorian monstrosity, with towers and gables and porches and chimneys, all heavily embellished with architectural gingerbread. It was situated on a very large lot, and the gardens included a small formal garden, a croquet lawn, both a cutting garden and a potager, water features, and a folly. The hostess led everyone around, explaining all the different plants and flowers and giving a history of the gardens, which had been designed by a famous landscape artist nearly a century before.

The tour lasted about an hour, and then everyone gathered on an expanse of lawn where tables and chairs had been set up. Mikhail led me to a pair of seats near to where a chair and music stand had been set up for him. He retrieved his violin, and began to play. He'd chosen a selection of pieces, mainly from Mozart, Handel, Mendelssohn, and Pachelbel, that fit the occasion perfectly.

Afterwards, as he was carefully returning his instrument to its case, Mrs. Bennett came bounding up noisily. "Mikhail! Oh, Mikhail!" she called as she trotted along the lawn towards him. "I've saved a seat for you, darling boy. Why don't you join Lizzie and me for tea?"

He looked up for just a moment, replying as he finished closing and latching the case, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Bennett. I've already engaged a partner for the afternoon. You remember the incomparable Miss Alice Tremayne, of course?"

She gave me the briefest of venomous glances, saying, "Oh, it's you." The turning her back on me again, she looked imploringly at Mikhail. "Please do join us, Mikhail. You deserve so much better than… than that little tramp."

A collective gasp went up from those around us, and people gathered around to see what was happening. I sat in my chair, unperturbed by her insult, and just looked up at her with a neutral expression. I watched Mikhail out of the corner of my eye, though, curious as to what his response would be. Would he feel a need to defend me, or would he hesitate to interfere in a quarrel between two women—if it could be called such, that is. I felt pretty sure that if it had been a man insulting me or causing me trouble that he'd have stepped in, even fighting if necessary. But he neither could nor would go to that extreme with a woman.

Mikhail set his case down and slowly straightened up and turned towards her. I shifted a little to see him more clearly and was surprised to see such naked anger in his eyes. I feared he was very close to losing his temper, and I wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

"May I remind you, Mary Bennett, that you are speaking of the woman that I love more than anyone or anything in the world. Take care, lest you arouse my anger," he said coldly.

She recoiled slightly before his visible ire, then holding out her hands in supplication, said, "But Mikhail, can't you see? You're bewitched, I tell you—bewitched! You'd never even mentioned her name until a few days ago, and now you have eyes for no one but her! What of… what of Lizzie? How can you turn your back on her—on both of us—like this?" She turned back around, glaring at me resentfully as she looked me up and down. "You! Just look at you! You don't belong here—you don't deserve someone like him! You, you're just a social-climbing, money-grubbing little floozy!"

Seeing Mikhail's face beginning to flush red with anger, I opened my mouth to speak before things could get out of hand. But before I could get a word in, her daughter stormed her way up to her mother. Everyone gasped in shock when she stood before her and slapped her resoundingly across her face. Her mother reeled and sat down hard on the chair Mikhail had recently vacated, too surprised to speak for the moment.

Elizabeth glared down at her mother, her pale grey eyes flashing as she snapped, "That will do, mother! I've had all I can take from you. You stand there acting so high and mighty, insulting a perfectly lovely lady like Alice for supposedly being beneath you, when you yourself are only the daughter of a horse trader and a cigarette girl! If Daddy hadn't fallen in love with you, who knows where you would have ended up? But you've chosen to ignore your past and pretend that you're better than you are, and you look down on decent, respectable people who are superior to you in every way—at least, in every way that really counts."

Mrs. Bennett's face turned ashen at her daughter's tirade, but Elizabeth wasn't done yet. Pacing angrily back and forth before her mother, she continued to berate her. "You keep after Mikhail, trying to match him up with me, carrying on about what a great pair we'd make and blah blah blah. But you've never once asked me how I feel about the matter—because you don't care! You only want Mikhail to marry me because you're in love with him! What were you thinking, mother? If he'd married me, would you have attempted to seduce him once he was safely installed in our house? It's embarrassing and pathetic to watch you chasing after him. I don't blame him for being so attracted to Alice—she's not only beautiful, she's also sweet and kind. You never stood a chance, mother, and it's high time you face facts for once in your life!"

With that, she turned on her heel and stalked off, leaving her mother utterly deflated and flabbergasted and the guests all dumbfounded behind her. I looked at Mikhail, who likewise looked at me. He slowly shook his head, looking completely stunned as he threw up his hands. I stood up and stepped over to him, giving him a quick kiss before whispering, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go talk to her."

I ran in the direction she'd fled, eventually catching up to her in the small orchard, sitting on a broad wooden swing suspended from a massive limb of an old apple tree. As I approached her, I saw tears glistening on her cheeks. "Elizabeth?" I said gently as I came up to her. "Are… are you okay?"

She nodded slowly, not looking up at me. After a moment, she said quietly, "You were best friends with Ruby when you were a girl, weren't you?"

Taken aback by her unexpected question, I felt the blood drain from my face, as was usual when I remembered my unfortunate playmate. "Y-yes," I stammered. "Yes, I was… but how…?"

"It took me a while to make the connection. I was pretty young at the time, you see—only seven. She… she was my cousin. My favorite cousin. I idolized her. I was heartbroken when she died. I just didn't understand, of course, that my beautiful, fun cousin, so full of life, was gone and never coming back. I think I even remember seeing you once. Daddy had taken me with him to visit my aunt—his little sister—and her family, and I remember soon after we arrived, Ruby returned from a ride with a friend of hers. I can't remember the friend's name anymore, if I ever even knew it, but I remember she was a pretty girl with pale gold hair and stormy blue eyes and that she rode an adorable white pony."

"Lady," I interrupted softly. "Her name is Lady. Yes, that was me, now that you mention it. I remember the day, I think—coming back after a long ride through the woods with Ruby one autumn day and seeing a man and a towheaded little girl standing there talking to her mom, and how excited the little girl and Ruby were to see each other. I went home soon after that, so I wouldn't intrude. It was only a few months later that… that she…."

"That she died," Elizabeth finished when I faltered. She looked up then, and we stared at each other for a moment, both of us silently shedding tears of grief for a life too soon ended.

Elizabeth slid over on the wide board seat and patted the vacant spot next to her. I sat down beside her and we rocked the swing lazily to and fro, lost in our thoughts.

"You know, I hate when she calls me Lizzie," she said out of the blue a few minutes later. I started slightly, then looked over at her. She sat watching me, her eyes expectant.

I smiled a half smile, saying, "I can't really blame you for that."

"But… I don't really like Elizabeth that much, either. It sounds so…."

"Formal?" I suggested. She nodded and looked down. Thinking out loud, I mused, "It doesn't really fit, I guess. It's too stiff and formal for you, I think. But Betty and Bess don't suit you at all, either. I wonder…."

"Yes?" she asked as she looked back over to me.

"Beth," I said, trying out the sound of the name. "I think… I think Beth would fit you perfectly. It's sort of soft and pretty and gentle, yet courageous and dependable, too… which is how you seem to me to be."

"Beth…" she said, contemplatively. "Yes, I think you're right. I like it. I think I'll go by Beth from now on. No more Lizzie." She stood up and said, "I turn twenty-one in a few days, and then I inherit Daddy's property and money. Mother's only had the use of them until I reach my majority."

"Oh?" I said, puzzled as to why she was telling me this.

"So I don't think you—or Mikhail—need to worry about her anymore. She won't have more than a tiny allowance of her own after that, so she'll need to keep in my good graces to keep living in the style to which she's become accustomed. Daddy did it on purpose, of course—he loved her, but he was no fool. She tried to keep me under her thumb, but she failed. I had intended to keep quiet and just go along with her until after my birthday, partly to keep the peace and partly because I know how spiteful she can be. But I just couldn't take it anymore when she lit into you, especially not once I'd remembered who you are. And the way she fawns all over Mikhail just disgusts me. So…."

"Thank you, Beth," I said, smiling up at her. "It was pretty amazing the way you stood up to her. I had thought she had you completely cowed, but now I see how wrong I was."

She nodded acceptance of my compliment as she turned to leave, then hesitated and turned back to me. "If you wouldn't mind… I'd… I'd like…."

"Yes? What would you like?" I asked as she trailed off.

"I know since you were such good friends with Ruby, you must be a good person, and so… I wondered if we could be friends, too?"

I stood up and looked at her for a moment. "I'd like that," I replied as I gave her a hug. "Now… shall we rejoin the party?"

We walked back together, arms around each other's waists as we chatted together. When we reached the party, I gave her another little hug and returned to my seat while she returned to hers. Her mother had apparently left, leaving an empty spot on one side of her, but she looked more relieved than anything by the vacancy.

I sat next to Mikhail, who stared at me in astonishment. "Did I just see what I thought I saw?" he asked as he offered me a platter of tiny sandwiches.

I selected a few of the sandwiches, responding, "I don't know. What do you think you saw?"

"It looked to me as if you had conquered the skittish, yet surprising, Miss Elizabeth, despite her mother's rancor towards you."

"You're being dramatic," I chided him with a smile as I reached for a bowl of salad. "Oh, and it's Beth now, not Elizabeth."

He raised an eyebrow at me, looking so perplexed I couldn't help laughing. So as we ate, I filled him in on my conversation with Beth, and her revelation. He hadn't heard the story of Ruby, so I gave him a very abbreviated version, not wanting to spoil the tea with tears.

Afterwards, he said that after Beth and I had left, Mrs. Bennett, looking pale and sick, had gotten to her feet and staggered off to the house without so much as a look or a word. As far as he knew, she was still there, probably lying down on a sofa somewhere recovering from the shock of her daughter turning on her in such a manner.

Later, as we strolled through the gardens hand in hand, I looked up at him questioningly and asked, "So… if Beth hadn't charged in and confronted her mother, what would you have done? You looked beside yourself."

"I was," he admitted, letting go of my hand and putting his arm around me. "I was on the verge of losing my temper completely, so it's fortunate that Eliz… that Beth stepped in. I don't know what I would have done. I do rather lose control at times, as you have unfortunately witnessed."

"I could see that you were close to losing it, and I was about to speak up myself right when Beth dove in. Then I was too astonished to say anything."

"I admit that I was a little surprised that you just sat there and let her speak to you like that. I, well, I didn't think you'd just sit and take such abuse," he said, with a very slight reproof in his voice.

I laughed, saying, "I didn't say anything, because I didn't care what she said or thought of me. Her opinion has no weight with me, and if it did with anyone else, well—their loss. They should know what she is like by now, so if they base their opinions on her own, well, it's a shame. But I wasn't going to get into a screaming match with her just because she threw a hissy fit and called me a few names."

He squeezed my shoulders, then he led me over to a small bench buried in a honeysuckle arbor. As we sat hidden within the tangle of vines and sweet blossoms, he leaned over and kissed me. "You know, whenever I think I love you as much as it is humanly possible to love someone, you go and prove me wrong again," he whispered, kissing my throat. I smiled up at him and put my arms around his neck and kissed him as the shadows lengthened and the birds sang their evensong all around us.

Disclaimer: Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns, and most locations and characters in this story belong to Natsume Inc. and MarvelousAQL Inc. The story's plot and some characters & locations are my own invention.