Prologue: Kurt's journal entry: 

If you're reading this, I guess it's time for you to know what really happened to me. No, I didn't leave as you may have once thought. I met a man, a wonderful man who was good to me and who brought me more joy than any other person on this very earth.  He was the only person I have ever loved and although we had to live our lives in secret, I loved him for the rest of my days.

As I lie here writing this now, I'm sharing with you only what I can recall. You'll have to forgive me as my memory doesn't serve me as well as it used to in the days of my youth. 

There's snow on the ground now, but when we met, everything was new, as many things tend to be on the first day of spring. The air was warm and filled with the sweet perfume of honeysuckles. The grass, lush and green, the crops were plentiful. One hadn't a care in the world and why should one? In times before the war, one should consider himself lucky to be alive….. especially if he were to be suffering from the "affliction".

It wasn't unheard of, the "affliction", but it certainly was not widespread. No, the affliction itself wasn't like scarlet fever or any other disease or illness you might have heard of. Instead, it was much worse. They tell you when you're old enough to sit on your daddy's knee that you're created in God's image. "We are the children of God", they say, but what happens when a child of God begins to have feelings that aren't natural? That's what happened to me. I was what you'd call "unnatural", unfit of walking this earth simply because I felt stimulated by the company of men rather than that of women. Now, before you start to fear for my life, know that I never told a soul--not until him. No one knew--and really still--no one knows now except for you, but you won't tell my secret, will you? 

I saw him one afternoon as I took my buggy to town. Normally, I'd let the workers go on about their daily duties and take the carriage out and about to fulfill necessary tasks for the day, but it was so lovely that I could not stay indoors. As I passed by one of the fields of a large plantation, there he was working in his own field, mending the fence. 

Most ladies about town would gossip over such matters, saying that a man with money mending his own fence isn't fitting of a gentleman, but I believe that such tasks are admirable amongst those who love their own land. After all, if you don't love your own plantation, you don't deserve to own it in the first place. 

His slicked back hair was beginning to curl around his face as his forehead glistened with tiny beads of perspiration. Upon first glance, I found him almost too beautiful to cast a longing gaze…longing gaze being as quick of a gaze I could make without raising any suspicion. Naturally, I called out to him. 

"Afternoon!"

"Good afternoon!" the man replied jovially as he began to wipe the moisture from his brow.  

"Lovely weather isn't it?" I replied, trying not to show too much interest.

"It is for now," the man replied. "Word about town is that a storm's to be blowing in soon."

I smiled. "Then let's hope we can all make the best of this warmth before the rain blows in and we all catch death from the dampness."

The man let out a hearty laugh. "That we should." He paused, "Forgive me. I've forgotten my manners. The name's Anderson, Blaine Anderson. I'd shake your hand, but I'm afraid that I'd dirty your riding gloves."

I peered down at the ivory gloves that gently clutched the reins in my hands in slight surprise. Such accessories among most men would go unnoticed, but there was something different about this man. An enigma in his own right, Blaine Anderson was a puzzle to be solved, a box to be opened, and I hoped that I could soon find the key. 

As my smile grew wider, I gave a soft reply. 

"Kurt Hummel."