Author's Note:

This chapter is again from 1920s Kurt's point of view. He's getting on well with Lottie, and he's starting to think it might be kind of nice to be married to her, if marry a woman he must.

Happy reading, and by all means share your thoughts, I love to hear from you :-)

Chapter 7: Preparations

November-December 1925

The next time Kurt went to the Dalton, he slipped into Blaine's dressing room and left the brooch there with an explanatory note. He was confident the brooch would soon be in the right hands. Blaine would see to that.

With a spring in his step, he walked into the ballroom and looked for Lottie. When he arrived at her family's table, though, he found that Lottie was quarrelling with her mother, while her father looked on in stony-faced silence and her uncle chuckled.

"Is this a bad time?" Kurt asked.

Both ladies shut up and turned to face him.

"Kurt!" said Lottie with a pout. "Tell Mutti she's wrong. You'd still like me if my hair was in a bob, right?"

Her mother huffed. "Lieselotte! The idea! It's outrageous, the way girls ruin their looks for fashion these days. And the dresses they wear are indecent!"

Lottie turned to Kurt with a beseeching expression. Clearly, he was supposed to support her. And he would. Only, he very much hoped that wouldn't make his future in-laws angry.

"I'm sure Lottie would look stunning with a bob cut," Kurt said. "It would frame her face beautifully."

Lottie beamed at him, patting his arm and then turning to her mother again, "See, Mutti! I told you so."

"But I'm sure Kurt wouldn't want you to make an exhibition of yourself wearing a dress that shows your whole legs!"

"Mutti, don't exaggerate! Gretl and Susan's dresses have a hemline below the knee."

"And so shapeless! So unflattering! You might as well wear a potato sack."

"That's exactly the point, Mutti. I don't want men to stare at my chest wherever I go."

"And those fringes at the bottom! It's like the dress is so old it's fraying at the edges."

Lottie rolled her eyes. "Mutti, please…"

"There are also dresses that have scalloped hems," Kurt said, sitting down and taking a pencil and one of his father's business cards from his inside pocket to draw on the blank side, a girlish figure with bobbed hair wearing a dress with a V neckline, capped sleeves, a geometric pattern and scalloped hems.

He showed it to Lottie and her mom.

Lottie was ecstatic, and said that this was exactly what she had in mind. "And you can't say this isn't stylish, Mutti, it just oozes style!"

"It's a lot nicer than what your girlfriends are wearing, yes."

"Admit it, Mutti, I'd look great in this!"

"You sure would, Lotte," her uncle assured her. "Kurt, my boy, I didn't know you could draw like that! Quite impressive. Ever draw car designs?"

Kurt beamed at Mr. Hartz and admitted he had tons of car sketches at home.

He heard a loud sigh next to him. "Onkel Franz, don't! I haven't even gotten the chance to dance with Kurt, and there you go talking about cars again!"

"Sorry!" Kurt and Mr. Hartz said in unison, and then they laughed.

Kurt offered Lottie his arm, but before she got up, she took the business card with the sketch and opened her beaded purse to put it in. "I can keep this, right? I want a dress just like it. And look, Mutti, he drew my silver shoes with it, look at them shimmer!"

Lottie's mother looked at the sketch again. "Franz is right, you're quite an artist, Kurt. And I like the dress, yes, it's lovely. But your hair, Lotte, you've got such lovely long hair, why would you cut it all off?"

Lottie shrugged and hopped off her chair. "Because it's less work."

She tugged Kurt towards the dance floor, chattering about how her girlfriends were all following the new fashion trends and had short hair and the new style of dresses, and she was the only one left that looked just the same as always.

"Mutti is a darling, but she's SO old-fashioned!"

Kurt hummed in commiseration and twirled her around.

"You'd let me wear whatever I liked, right?" Lottie asked.

"Of course," Kurt promised her, and then they were both smiling as they continued to whirl around the dance floor, perfectly content and in agreement.

Three dances later, it took only one glimpse of Blaine's expression for Kurt's mood to plummet again. Blaine was singing his heart out, but he looked absolutely miserable.

Kurt had to make this right somehow.

K&B

A few days later, he'd come up with a plan. He'd tell his father he was preparing to propose to Lottie, looking for a ring and thinking up a speech and such, so that Burt wouldn't ask too many questions if he stayed away for quite a long time. He'd hint the same thing to Lottie and her family, so that they wouldn't feel too suspicious, either, if he missed an evening to dance with Lottie. And he'd write to Blaine and ask if they could get together one last time, to say goodbye. After that, he would be the good dutiful son, go propose to Lieselotte and live unhappily ever after.

He rolled his eyes at his own dramatics. When all was said and done, he was pretty sure he'd be reasonably happy. Lieselotte was a nice girl, and he was going to work as a car salesman instead of in his father's store.

It was just… What wouldn't he have given to be able to share his life with Blaine instead…

When he told his father of his proposal plans, Burt didn't seem surprised in the least, and with a conspiratorial smile, he handed Kurt a ring box. "I dug out your Nana's engagement ring for you. It's a lot fancier than the ring I gave Lizzie, but hey, it was all I could afford at the time and she was happy with it. And as soon as I could get her something nicer, I got her the rose brooch."

Kurt admired the sapphire and diamond ring. "Thank you, Dad. It's beautiful. And it suits Lottie's eyes exactly."

"Ooooh, and he knows her eye colour by heart already…"

Kurt felt his cheeks heat up at his father's teasing, but couldn't help but feel relieved that Burt genuinely seemed to believe Kurt was in love with Lottie. That imbued him with confidence for the conversation he would need to have with Lottie's parents, and after that the proposal. Only, what would he say?

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"So how do you go about asking… You know. What do you say?"

Burt grinned. "Well, first things first. Seeing as you bypassed the parents last time, with the brooch, I'd advise you to ask her father for his blessing first now."

Kurt nodded vigorously, and Burt guffawed at his anxious expression and clapped him on the back.

"No worries, son, I'm sure he's forgiven you. You're a good kid. Serious, respectful, and a hard worker. He'd have to be blind not to see what a great match you are for his daughter."

Kurt felt warmth bloom in his chest. He'd never gotten such praise from his father, and it felt amazing.

"As to what you say, well… To her parents, you say that you will always treasure her and treat her like a queen. To her, you tell her you love her and you want to spend the rest of your life with her. That's all you need to say, really."

Kurt nodded again. "Thanks, Dad."

"So this is it, huh?" Burt mused. "I never thought you'd get married before Jeremy. You never seemed to show an interest in any of the girls we introduced to you. But I guess it's better to keep looking until you find the right person than to flit around trying everyone out."

Burt sighed. "Lizzie would have been so happy for you. Well, good luck with everything. Can't wait to meet your girl!"

K&B

Kurt had to wait a few weeks until an opportunity presented itself for him to speak to Lottie's parents without Lottie around.

When Lottie announced one evening that she wouldn't be there the next night because she was attending a friend's birthday party, Kurt felt nerves slam through him. All right then, he'd be paying her parents a visit while she was out…

As they left The Dalton, Kurt hung back and asked Lottie's uncle for the Hartzes' address, and Mr. Hartz gave it to him with a wink and a "Good luck!", already guessing what Kurt needed it for.

The following evening, all spruced up, Kurt rang the bell at the Hartz residence. Mrs. Hartz let him in herself, which he took as a good sign, and smiled at him encouragingly as she showed him into her husband's office.

He stumbled his way through an interview with Lottie's dad, who was still gruff with him, and questioned him thoroughly. Kurt must have acquitted himself better than he thought, however, because when he'd given all his answers, Mr. Hartz smiled, actually smiled, shook Kurt's hand firmly and told him he'd be happy to have him for a son-in-law.

"If Lottie says yes," Kurt hedged. He was reasonably sure of her affection, but you could never know for certain.

Lottie's father laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "I don't think you have to worry about that. Welcome to the family!"

Mrs. Hartz hugged Kurt when he emerged from the office. "I'm so happy Lotte has found such a sweet boy to love!"

Kurt took her hand between his. "I will treasure her always, Ma'am, I promise you."

She wiped away a tear and squeezed his hand lightly before she let go.

"Ma'am, if I might ask you something? I would like to know Lottie's ring size. For the engagement ring. It's a family heirloom, like the brooch, but it needs to be sized correctly, of course."

Kurt took the ring from his inside pocket and showed it to her, and she ooh'ed and aah'ed over it, as he'd known she would.

She went to fetch her daughter's jewellery box, and a quarter of an hour later, Kurt left the house with the exact measurements for the ring and a lighter heart than he'd had in a long time. Everything was falling into place.

At the jeweller's, he was told the resizing would take at least a week. "Plenty of orders this time of year, sir. It's getting close to Christmas. Drop in next Saturday to see if it's done."

Kurt wasn't in much of a hurry, but the nebulous promise of Saturday suited him well. If he was late meeting Lottie in Dalton's ballroom, he could blame it on the jeweller.

He dropped a hint to Mrs. Hartz that the proposal would take place that Saturday if the jeweller got the ring ready in time. "I might be a bit later than usual. If Lottie's worried, tell her it's a surprise."

"What's a surprise?" Lottie's voice came from behind him, and Kurt whirled around and stammered something incomprehensible.

Lottie's mother laughed. "If we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, now, would it, Lottie?"

Lottie pouted, but then perked up again. "Oh… I will have a surprise for you too, soon! Right, Mutti?"

Her mother sighed but nodded, and Kurt smiled at Lottie, guessing it would have something to do with the dress he'd drawn for her.

Kurt wrote a letter to Blaine as well, asking him to take his break early on Saturday because he wanted to come and see him one last time.

With all his plans set in motion, all he could do now was wait for Saturday to roll around, and then soak up every moment he got to share with Blaine, trying to make enough memories to last him a lifetime.