Maria Rainer had not meant to fall asleep the night that the man she loved was scheduled to come home.
In fact, she had meant to be awake when he came home, if only to see him walk in. To be sure of this, she'd set herself up in one of the guest rooms, because the window looked down to the front of the property. It granted a perfect birds-eye view to anybody coming or going. Maria had taken a comfortable chair in the room, set it right by the window, wrapped herself in a blanket and kept her silent vigil.
All the time, she was thinking of how she would tell Georg what she needed to tell him. How much she loved him. His confession had been perfect, beyond anything she could have dreamed of. Hers needed to be equally as special, just as special for him as it had been for her. It had to be extraordinary!
This isn't a contest, her conscience had reminded her. He will be happy as long as he hears it from you. That's all that matters.
As usual, her conscience was right. So she'd resolved to not think about that until she saw him, and even then, just let it come naturally. But with my outspoken nature, it might be shouted. Lord knows, she'd wanted to shout all week! She missed him desperately.
Unfortunately, exhaustion had made a sneak attack, and she'd fallen asleep snuggled in the chair, her forehead leaning against the window pane. No car headlights roused her from sleep that night.
The next morning, Maria woke to distant cries. Disoriented, she unstuck her forehead from the glass pane and rubbed her eyes. Where on earth am I? Then, looking around, she remembered, and with a gasp, realized it was morning. "Oh, my goodness!"
Maria nearly tripped over the blanket she had wrapped herself in springing out of the chair and going for the door. In her nightgown and slippers she ran towards the source of the noise: the calls of the children for her.
"I'm here, I'm right here!" exclaimed, screeching to a halt outside of her own room; some of the children were in it, some were just outside.
"Fraulein! We thought you'd gone!" said a very relieved Brigitta, immediately hugging Maria, who looked shocked the children would think of that.
"You weren't in your room, and you didn't wake us up," explained Louisa. The little ones had come out of Maria's room and were now hugging her too.
"Oh, children, I'm sorry," said Maria, and immediately her mind thought of what she could tell the children. "I had . . . I was reading a book, last night, in another room, and accidently fell asleep without meaning to. What time is it?"
"It's nine-thirty, Fraulein," said Frederich, always eager provide an answer when he knew one.
Maria slapped her palm to her head. "Oh, just my luck! I'm so sorry, children." She noticed that all of the children, were still in their pajamas. "Well, let's get you all dressed and then I'll explain to Frau Schmidt why I've made you all so late."
A little while later, Maria was leading the children down the stairs when Marta tugged on her hand. "Fraulein Maria?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"How long should we let Father oversleep, then?"
Maria at first did not comprehend, then remembered that she had slept through Georg coming home! The previous night, she and Max had told the children that Georg would not be home until late at night, and would want to some time to sleep a little more after a long car ride. So the children were under the strictest orders not to disturb him until he was awake. He was home . . . now she wouldn't have a moment alone with him until the evening, most likely . . . well, at least it gave her more time to calm the butterflies that were beginning to jitterbug in her stomach.
To answer Marta's question, Maria answered, "We will let him sleep for as long as he wants, Marta. He'll come down when he's ready. We just have to be patient."
"We, Fraulein Maria?" asked Liesl, with a mischevious smile.
Maria flushed a little, and immediately hurried the children into the dining room, where Frau Schmidt was setting up the breakfast plates. She greeted them with a smile; Maria wondered if she was imagining things, but the smile seemed almost forced. "Ah, there you all are!"
"Frau Schmidt, this is all my fault, I can't believe I overslept –" began Maria hurriedly, but Frau Schmidt held up a hand.
"It's quite all right, Fraulein, the breakfast is still hot. Come, children, let's settle in." As the children all took their seats, she approached Maria. "Could I have a private word with you?"
Feeling a sudden sense of unease, Maria nodded and the two women left the dining room. Frau Schmidt led her out of earshot of the children, turned to face Maria but didn't seem to find the words.
Maria was beginning to feel the unease in her chest rising. "Frau Schmidt? Is there something wrong?"
Frau Schmidt sighed and spoke, as if each word took an effort. "As you know, Franz and I are up quite early in the mornings. He went out to the garage in order to check on Captain Von Trapp's car and get anything he forgot to bring in. When Franz arrived, his car was not there."
Maria's heart seemed to stop for a moment. "I see . . . then the Captain is . . . not here?" she asked in a small voice.
Frau Schmidt shook her head. "I went to his bedroom to confirm."
He wasn't home . . . when he said he would be home by now . . . "Do you know anything else, Frau Schmidt? I mean, have you received any word at all? Any message about a delay?"
The older woman sighed and shook her head again. "I would have told you if I had, my dear. After I discovered the Captain was not home, I immediately called the hotel he was staying at in Vienna – he'd left me the number in case of an emergency. But when I called there was no connection. The phone line is down."
Now Maria was beginning to feel her unease be replaced with alarm. "What do you mean, the phone line is down?"
"Well, I don't know for sure but I have a pretty good theory. Yesterday morning, I got a call from my cousin, who works in Vienna. She happened to mention that a very big storm was headed to Vienna for that night. It would certainly explain why the phone lines in Vienna are down."
Maria nodded slowly, one bit of the mystery solved, but not the one she most cared about. "What about Ge – the Captain?"
"My best guess is that he stayed in Vienna last night in order to avoid driving home in a dangerous storm. He's a logical man, and that would be the logical thing to do."
Maria allowed herself to be a little relieved by this information, but all the same, she longed to know the facts, not theories. Knowing she would not get them until the phone lines were up again, Maria decided to do what Georg would do: keep calm, show strength, do everything possible at the moment, and keep an eye out for answers.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Maria asked, "Is Max awake yet?"
"I don't think so, dear."
"Well, Frau Schmidt, could you wake him up and fill him in on what's happened? And let me know the moment we're able to connect to Vienna?"
"Of course." And with that, Frau Schmidt headed up the stairs towards Max's room.
Maria walked slowly back into the dining room, trying to convince herself that everything was all right, Georg was safe in Vienna, and was probably on his way home right now . . . she had to believe that. How else could she tell the children their father wasn't home yet?
Oh, Lord, give me strength, she prayed silently as she entered the dining room to greet the seven children.