The Wishing Ring
It all started on a Tuesday night at the very end of June. Maria was in the nursery, reading to Marta and Gretl before tucking them into bed. She was trying very hard not to think about tomorrow's date, although after all these years, it really shouldn't have bothered her anymore.
After she'd kissed the little girls good night, she returned to the schoolroom just in time to hear Louisa scoff, "She's not going to want that old thing!"
"What old thing would that be?" Maria asked.
Friedrich piped up from a corner. "Go ahead and show her! She'll think it's sweet, and it is kind of a coincidence that it turned up when it did." He turned to Maria. "There was a phone call today."
"From Nonnberg Abbey," Brigitta interrupted. "The Mother Abbess said she was going to be away tomorrow, so she was calling a day ahead of time to wish you a happy birthday."
"Why didn't you tell us that tomorrow's your birthday?" Liesl asked.
"Oh," Maria fumbled, "I – I don't know. Birthdays aren't such a big deal, you know, once you're grown."
The truth was, it had been years since anyone had fussed over her birthday, not since she was a little girl living with her mother. Certainly not in her uncle's home, where her birthday was, at most, a chance for him to complain about how fast she was growing, continuing to require new shoes and clothes before the old ones were worn out. And birthdays might be noted, but they weren't really celebrated, in the austere halls of Nonnberg Abbey.
"Anyway, we were talking about doing something special for you ," Brigitta explained, "On our birthdays, I mean back when we were young, you see…"
Maria bit back a smile at that. "You don't have to fuss. Just the fact that you care about it is special enough."
Brigitta held out her hand insistently. "Look, Fraulein Maria. It's our wishing ring. And it's yours for the day tomorrow." The ring was small and not especially impressive; even Maria could tell the metal was brass and the light-blue stone was only glass.
"Wishing ring?"
"It was Mother's," Kurt explained. "She let each of us wear it on our birthdays when we were little. She used to say that when you wore the wishing ring on your birthday, all your wishes would come true. We hadn't seen it in years, not since…" he fell silent.
"And then it turned up just after Reverend Mother's call," Louisa finished. "We'd looked and looked for it all these years and suddenly there it was, out in plain sight on the big table in the nursery!"
From everything Maria had heard, the wishing ring sounded like exactly the kind of charming, fanciful gesture the children remembered their mother for. "Oh, children, that is kind of you, but I'm not sure I should be borrowing such a precious gift from your mother."
"Why not? It's just a silly game, " Liesl said.
"Your father might not like it. You know how he is when it comes to her-"
"It can be a secret just between us," Friedrich told her. "And you can give it back to us when your birthday's over. Father's not going to know the difference," and Maria knew he was right. Captain von Trapp had been unusually distracted lately. Baroness Schrader had temporarily returned to Vienna - errands, she said, to prepare for the grand and glorious party they'd be having in a few weeks - and he'd been preoccupied ever since, and strangely quiet.
"This magic," Maria chuckled. "Did it work? Did you all get your wishes?"
"You have to remember that this was when we were very little, you know. Like Marta and Gretl are now. Mother told us that the trick was to know what to ask for," Louisa said, pausing before she added, "I never really understood what she meant by that."
"Mostly," Friedrich chimed in, "we wished for things children want, you know, cake. Presents. No school. Wishes that could probably come true. I don't know what Mother asked for on her birthday, or if she ever got it."
There was a brief, awkward silence while they all stopped to reflect that the Baroness von Trapp most certainly had not wished for what fate had given her.
"Well," she bustled. "I'm sure it's going to be a lovely birthday. It's almost as though a wish has already come true for me."
"Fraulein Maria," Liesl said slyly. "You didn't tell us how old you are."
"Twenty-four tomorrow," Maria replied cheerfully. "Ever so much older than all of you. Even you, Liesl. Now. About bedtime for you, Kurt, and Brigitta…"
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The next morning dawned cool and rainy, but the weather didn't faze Maria; she was excited that someone would be celebrating with her for the first time in years. She had just finished washing up when she spotted the wishing ring on her nightstand; shrugging, she slipped it on her finger and went to her wardrobe to pick out a dress.
I wish I had something special to wear for my birthday, she thought, and opened the armoire to find a brand new dress, golden-yellow like the sun, waiting for her. Come to think of it, Frau Schmidt had mentioned dropping off some clothes that had belonged to her niece, Maria remembered. How nice to have a new dress for her birthday!
On her way to breakfast, crossing the landing, she spied Franz polishing the big mirror in the foyer. Just as she did every day, Maria greeted him, knowing that he'd only glower a curt reply. Franz no longer intimidated the way he had when she first arrived at the villa, but just once, she thought, she wished that man would greet her pleasantly.
"Good morning, Franz."
"Good morning, Fraulein!" Franz stopped to smile and give her a genial nod before returning to his mirror.
Maria was taken aback for a moment, and then shrugged. Surely someone had told him it was her birthday.
She didn't think much more of it until after breakfast, a festive meal with her favorite breakfast dishes and a pile of homemade cards from the children. Maria exclaimed her thanks, over and over again, and buried her face in the extravagant bundle of pink roses tumbling out of the vase at her place.
"Pink roses are one of my favorite flowers," she declared. The truth was, Maria loved edelweiss even more than the roses, but those grew only high on the mountains. It would be a whole day's trip to get them, and they'd be wilted and brown by the time they made it to the villa. Someday, she'd love to have edelweiss on her birthday.
"Tell me, Fraulein," the Captain asked, emerging from behind his newspaper at the other end of the table, "what will you do for your birthday today?"
"We're going to do schoolwork in the morning, just like always," she said, waving away the cries of dismay from her charges. "I was hoping for a picnic this afternoon, but not with this rain. I wish the weather could have been nicer, but I'm sure we'll find something special to do."
They made their way to the schoolroom, despite a temporary crisis when Marta was unable to find her colored pencils. "Just once, Marta, I wish you would pay attention to where you leave your things,"Maria admonished her, but within moments, Marta remembered she'd left her pencils in the kitchen, and within minutes, everyone was hard at work.
It was because of Kurt that she finally started to pay attention. The boy loved telling and hearing stories, but hated reading with a passion. He turned up his nose at every single book Friedrich had adored. For the hundredth time that summer, Maria sighed, "Oh, Kurt, how I wish you'd learn to love reading the way Brigitta does." Not ten minutes had passed before she found Kurt curled up in the window seat reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was nothing short of a miracle, something she'd been wishing for.
Maria stopped cold. The yellow dress. Franz. Marta's pencils. Kurt's book. As if on cue, the schoolroom filled with golden sun; perfect weather for a picnic. The wishing ring, she thought. It must be! It couldn't be.
She managed to push away any silly thoughts about a wishing ring, at least until they entered the dining room for lunch and there was a gleaming vase full of edelweiss, freshly picked, at her place. "What-how…?" she stuttered with surprise, looking to the Captain.
"Don't ask me," he shrugged, "they were here when I arrived at the table. On time, unlike you and your charges," he added coolly.
Maria wasn't sure what to think about the edelweiss, so she turned her attention to the children, and their plans for an afternoon picnic. But she found herself sneaking little peeks at the Captain. Lately, Maria had become quite fascinated by her employer. He didn't frighten her as much as he had when she first arrived at the villa, and she admired the way he'd devoted himself to patching things up with his children. Starting with the day they'd had that horrible argument, and especially since the night of the children's puppet show, he'd been nothing but kind to her. But there was something curiously reserved in his manner, as though he were holding back some kind of secret. She was insatiably curious; give her any mystery, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"Captain," she blurted, "I wish you'd join us today. For the picnic."
He raised an eyebrow, and she waited for a long moment for him to decline, hoping he'd at least be polite for the children's sake.
"Why, thank you , Fraulein," he said at last. "I believe I will join you. But I draw the line at climbing trees," he grinned.
Maria clapped her hands and rejoiced along with her charges, even as a part of her tried and failed to form a mental picture of the Captain climbing trees. Now that was something she wished to see.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Five hours later, seven von Trapp children, their father and their governess returned to the villa, sunburnt, dirty, exhausted and exhilarated. Maria could no longer deny that something strange was happening. Every time she wished for something, even without thinking about it, she got her wish, starting with the amazing sight of Captain von Trapp, jacket- and tie-less, climbing a tree to retrieve the boys' kite.
She even did some cautious experimenting. Keeping the late Baroness' advice in mind, she was careful about what she wished for.
"It's a bit chilly. I wish I'd brought sweaters for the little ones," she told Liesl, and was hardly surprised to find two small sweaters tucked in the bottom of the picnic basket.
"I wish the children wouldn't squabble over who needs to carry what down the mountain," she said to the Captain, and basked in the peaceful, friendly chatter that accompanied them home.
"Gretl's been trying so hard to master the bicycle. I hope she gets the hang of it soon," and sure enough, in the hour before dinner, the littlest von Trapp finally got the hang of it, wobbling triumphantly round and round the drive while her brothers and sisters stood by and cheered.
"How I hope it's schnitzel for dinner," she thought, and it was.
Dinner was a festive affair that went on until bedtime. The older children began reminiscing about past birthday celebrations at the villa; Maria couldn't help noticing the stories were as new to Marta and Gretl as they were to her, and her throat closed at the memory of how Marta's birthday, just weeks ago, passed unobserved by her father. But then Maria reminded herself of how much had changed.
After schnitzel came a towering chocolate cake filled with jam. And gifts! A new straw hat to replace the one blown away on the lake last week, a silver-trimmed comb, a new wallet, a scarf the color of apricots, made of soft silk.
"There's one more thing that comes after the gifts," Friedrich winked at Liesl, who rose from her seat.
"Line up everyone," the girl directed, "not you, Father, or Fraulein Maria, just the rest of us. We always ended birthdays with a good-night kiss. After that, especially for you, Fraulein, tonight we'll get ourselves to bed."
The Captain watched with amusement from his end of the table as each of the children in turn, from Gretl all the way to Liesl, filed by Maria's chair and kissed her good night before disappearing upstairs. Then he stood, and with an awkward little bow and a quiet "Good night, Fraulein," retired to his study.
The empty dining room was awfully quiet. Maria felt a little sad that this perfect day was almost at an end, but her heart was full of love and gratitude. She stirred an extra lump of sugar into her tea while she thought about things. About how this was the first family birthday she'd had in years, almost her whole life, really. About how next year, hopefully, she'd be a novice sister, and she'd never again have a birthday like this one. She wondered if she'd ever tell anyone at Nonnberg about the wishing ring; probably not, because they'd think her either blasphemous or insane.
Of course, she'd have to leave these lovely presents behind at summer's end. But no one would be able to take away her memories, or the birthday kisses. It was a bit of a puzzle, how content she felt at this moment, even though she was away from her true home at Nonnberg Abbey. She'd gotten everything she'd wished for all day. In fact, she felt like she might have everything she'd ever wished for.
Except … it was the silliest thing, but somehow, she wished she'd gotten a birthday kiss from the Captain, too.
The very thought turned her cheeks pink. Now that, she thought to herself, was something she probably should not have asked for, and was possibly beyond the wishing ring's capabilities. For a moment, she wondered what the Captain would wish for on his birthday. It was hard to envision him blowing out the candles on a lavish cake, although the man was full of surprises.
Birthdays. It occurred to her that she didn't know when the children's birthdays were, other than Marta's. There would likely be at least one more before the summer's end, and she'd like a chance to make them special. She could stop and get the dates from the Captain on her way up to bed, before she forgot.
Just like she had dozens of times before, Maria knocked on the door, waited for the deep rumble of his reply, and pushed open the door to the Captain's study. The next thing she knew, she stumbled; a sharp blow sent her reeling and she lay sprawled on the rug while a white-hot pain shot through her head.
In an instant, he was crouching by her side. "Fraulein Maria?" he exclaimed. "Oh, God. Are you all right?"
"I'm – I'm all right," she muttered, dazed. "What happened?"
"It's all my fault," he lamented. "These crates were delivered at dinner time and I told Franz to leave them here. I should have had had them moved out of harm's way."
Maria saw now that there were two rugged packing crates just inside the door; she'd tripped over the smaller one and, on the way down, had apparently hit her head on the corner of the taller one. "I'm fine," she said again, although she didn't feel fine at all. She lifted her hand to the stabbing pain in her forehead, and recoiled when her fingers came away sticky-warm and red.
"Fraulein! You're bleeding! "
"It's nothing, Captain." She tried to stand, but almost instantly, her knees buckled and she'd surely have fallen to the floor if he hadn't put a strong arm around her waist. She was too dizzy to be embarrassed as he led her to the big leather couch.
"Sit, sit down." He pulled a large white handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it gently to her forehead. Even though her head ached terribly, Maria couldn't help noticing that the Captain looked surprisingly rattled for a military hero – surely he had seen blood before? - and greatly relieved when Liesl appeared in the doorway.
"Father, I came down to ask you- Fraulein Maria! What's happened? You're bleeding!" Liesl flurried to her side.
"Liesl," her father directed, "don't wake Frau Schmidt. You can find clean towels and water. And the first-aid kit."
"What a shame, and on your birthday, too!' lamented Liesl, scurrying away.
The Captain settled next to her, holding his handkerchief in place. It was a little awkward, being this close to him, close enough to notice that he smelled awfully good, like pine trees and cologne, a clean masculine smell. Not ten minutes ago, Maria had been silly enough to wish he would kiss her, but now she was squirming uncomfortably under his warm blue gaze. Her eyes dropped to her lap, and she gave a little huff of annoyance when she spied the wishing ring on her finger. Stupid ring, causing trouble for a silly girl like me, she thought.
"What's that?" he asked.
Maria's heart dropped. Where the Captain was concerned, it was best to steer clear of any mention of his late wife. She curled her fingers, hoping to hide the ring from his sight.
But he merely said, "Is that the wishing ring? I haven't thought of that game in years! Did any of your wishes come true?" he asked with a wry smile.
Marveling at what a few months had done to the man, Maria admitted, "well, yes, a few things. Starting with a new dress when I got up today, though I think it was a hand-me-down from Frau Schmidt's niece. But after that – I'm not so sure about what was happening," she confessed.
"Like what?" His voice was kind. Maria appreciated the way he was trying to distract her until help arrived.
She was feeling a little lightheaded, but ticked through the day as best she could. "Well, first, Franz was friendly to me. That never happens. Marta found her pencils, and Kurt read for an hour. The weather. Edelweiss at lunch. You – ehrm - you came on our picnic," she fumbled, leaving out the part about tree-climbing. "Sweaters for the little ones. Everyone getting along so well on the trip home from the mountain. Gretl riding her bicycle. Oh, and schnitzel." She frowned. "I think that was all of them. Too many to be a coincidence, don't you think? It was like all day long, I got everything I wished for."
"You are worse than the children, Fraulein," he laughed. There was a twinkle in his blue eyes, and no sign of the subdued, distracted Captain she'd observed recently.
"Captain? I don't understand, sir."
"Every one of those things can be explained. You admit that you know where the dress came from. I told Franz this morning that he could take a week's leave in Berlin, though why he'd want to do that is a mystery to me. As for the rain, it's a mountainous country, the weather changes all the time, something you've surely noticed over the short course of your life. Frau Schmidt certainly has, which explains why she packed the sweaters. I bought the edelweiss for you; it was an easy choice, given where you grew up, and it pleased me to keep my involvement a secret. But the real point, Fraulein, is that most of those things are your own doing. You have taught the children confidence and persistence and responsibility, inspired them to do their best, and I don't find it all surprising that they have behaved accordingly. You have the staff in your thrall, thus the parade of your favorite foods all day. And," he finished, almost grudgingly, "you surely understand why I joined my family for the afternoon. We've been through all of that."
Maria didn't know what affected her more deeply: that he thought so highly of her after only several weeks, or that he had bought the edelweiss.
"Edelweiss," she said weakly, "are impossible to get down here."
"Not when you have money," he scoffed. "All it took was a call to the florist and a full wallet. Fraulein, you ought to learn to be a realist. It's like my wife used to say about the ring: be sure to wish for things you have a shot at getting." He peered at her forehead. "I don't think you'll have to worry about a scar, but you're going to have quite a bump there. Surely you didn't wish for that."
Her head did hurt terribly, but still, there was something cozy about the moment, the two of them nestled together in a golden pool of lamplight on the big, comfortable sofa, and the firm, gentle press of his hand against her aching forehead. She could hardly believe this was the same Captain von Trapp who had terrified and infuriated her for weeks.
"Oh, I don't know, Captain. I rather like believing that there's always hope. We don't always get what we wish for, of course. But then the sun comes out. It always does, you know."
There was no mistaking the sudden, icy edge to his voice. "Then, Fraulein, why don't you use that ring, and the last hours of your birthday, to wish for the Germans to leave Austria? Or for- " he hesitated, "- for the ones we've lost to somehow magically reappear? The men I served with. My wife. Surely these things would be mere trifles to a sorceress like you. Just ask the ring to bring them back!"
The Captain's eyes had grown flat and dark, and it felt like the temperature had dropped ten degrees in the study.
She jerked away from him, blinking away the sharp, slicing pain in her head. "Captain von Trapp. We are talking about a game, for heaven's sake. A children's game. Moreover, you are talking to an orphan." She let her eyes sweep the room. "A penniless orphan. You don't have to lecture me about the wounds no one can heal."
Shame flickered in his eyes, and his face softened, just as it had the day of their argument by the lake. "I'm sorry," he sighed deeply. "I thought our fighting days were behind us, Fraulein. I don't know what came over me. There is just something about you. Or about the two of us, lately, that …"
Before he could finish his sentence, the room was full of sound and noise, of all seven children who, apparently, hadn't gotten to bed despite Liesl's promises and now hovered around their governess. The Captain carefully cleaned and dressed her wound, distracting Maria and his anxious audience with a story about how he'd once been ordered to patch up an Admiral's dog.
"Now. Fraulein. Do you think you can walk to your room with some assistance?"
"I'll try," she said, rising unsteadily to her feet. "I'm sure I'll be good as new tomorrow."
"You," he said sternly, "will stay in bed tomorrow. At least until Dr. Apfel comes to check you over. I'll call him first thing in the morning. Actually, perhaps I ought to call him now, just in case."
"Captain, there's no need, really," Maria began, when they were interrupted by Gretl.
"Father. You forgot something!"
"It's not polite to interrupt, Gretl darling."
"You said to, if it's an emergency. And you forgot something important when you were taking care of Fraulein Maria."
"What's that?" the Captain smiled.
"You forgot to kiss her to make it better."
Maria felt her cheeks turn red. She couldn't bear to look at the Captain, but she heard the discomfort in his voice.
"N-no, Gretl," he chuckled weakly. "That sort of thing is only for you. Because you're a little girl. My daughter."
"But Father, " Brigitta pointed out, "Fraulein Maria could be your daughter, you know. She's young enough. She's twenty-four today, and you're-"
Maria had to bite down hard on the inside of her mouth to hold back a giggle at the strangled sound the Captain made. He had been awfully kind to her, so despite her aching head, she came to his rescue.
"Gretl. Brigitta. Captain. There's no need for all this fuss. It's quite all right," she said, trying to keep her voice light and breezy.
But Captain von Trapp had the strangest look on his face. "Who knows? Perhaps Gretl has a point. It might make you feel better." There was something, something in his voice she couldn't quite recall ever hearing before.
His hand curled around the back of her neck, as if to keep her near. She had only a moment to see the sparkle in his eyes and the hint of a wicked smile before she felt the tickle of his breath on her face, and then he kissed her lightly on the forehead. His lips were warm and surprisingly soft, and lingered against her skin just a moment – or two – longer than she'd have expected. Even after he withdrew, he left his hand against her neck.
He cleared his throat. "So. You've got a bad bump, and a nasty cut. But I think you'll live."
"I never doubted it," she retorted shakily, although at this moment, Maria wasn't so sure. It might have been her injury, or the kiss, but somehow, her legs felt like rubber and the room swam around her. How she wished she could stop blushing!
But her cheeks only turned redder at his next direction. "You can't possibly make it upstairs on your own. Hold on, now." Before she could protest, the Captain had swept her into his arms and was bearing her out of the study and up the stairs, with the children hooting and laughing in a knot around them. She couldn't do anything except wrap one arm tentatively around his neck and wish for this mortifying ordeal to be over. So she'd gotten her kiss, but why wasn't the wishing ring helping her now?
Once they were all in Maria's room, he abruptly took his leave, shepherding most of the children away and leaving Liesl behind to help her wash up, get into a nightgown and climb into bed. "I'll leave the ring on your nightstand until morning," Liesl whispered. "Now try to get some rest."
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Once Maria was alone, she remembered her prayers. In consideration of her aching head, she stayed in bed.
"God bless everyone at the villa and at Nonnberg Abbey. And thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful birthday. I do understand, of course, that every one of these blessings came from You. Maybe the Captain was right and I was able to help a few of them happen, I don't know. But Captain von Trapp was wrong about the ring. I wished for him to kiss me and he did. Surely, that was the ring's doing. There's no other possible explanation."
Realizing that the Lord probably wasn't interested in her disputes with Captain von Trapp, Maria hastily finished her prayers and closed her eyes, though she knew sleep would be elusive. Her head ached, and her thoughts floated aimlessly from the kiss, to the puzzle of why she hadn't wished to be back at Nonnberg, to the edelweiss, and back to the kiss. Why did it matter to her that the ring was responsible for the Captain's kiss?
Within moments, there was a soft knock at the door, which opened to reveal Captain von Trapp, silhouetted in the light from the hallway. He was dressed in a smoking jacket and slippers, and carried a folded, bright-red blanket.
"Captain? What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to keep an eye on you tonight." Without another word of explanation, he closed the door behind him, settled into the large armchair next to her bed, and pulled the blanket around himself.
"Really, Captain, I'm fine. And I don't think it's proper for you to be here." Maria felt cheeks turn pink.
"Don't argue with me. This whole mess is my fault. I've seen men go to sleep after lesser blows and not wake up. As for the impropriety, you have nothing to worry about, I assure you."
Through clouds, the moon lit her room just enough for Maria to spy the Captain's form filling the chair next to her, but though she couldn't make out his features. She was too tired and sore to argue any further, and the room fell silent for quite a while, long enough that she thought he might have fallen asleep. But after the big clock in the foyer struck midnight, he spoke again.
"So. Your birthday has ended. Did you enjoy it?"
"Yes, sir, of course."
"Good. And now, Fraulein, it's my turn to set the record straight. About-" he cleared his throat. "When I kissed you. You think a stupid ring made me do it? A bit of junk?"
"You – you were eavesdropping on my prayers?" she said furiously.
"I was coming to check on you. It's not my fault you pray so loudly."
Somehow, it was important for her to prove her point, even if it was embarrassing to admit the truth: "You're wrong, Captain. About the ring. I wished that you would kiss me, for my birthday I mean, and you did. And you're not going to convince me that would have happened anyway. There is no other explanation."
"O-ho!" he cried gleefully, and in the dim moonlight, she saw him throw aside the blanket, leap to his feet and begin pacing the room. "That's where you're wrong. There's a perfectly logical explanation for that kiss."
"What? That you were negligent enough to leave a dangerous obstruction in my way?" she flared.
"That isn't the explanation I had in mind, no." Captain von Trapp sounded amused. "Every single thing that happened to you yesterday, including that kiss, happened for a reason. Not-" he hesitated – "not a logical reason, perhaps, but a reason nonetheless. And, now that it's no longer your birthday, and that blasted ring has lost its powers, I can prove it."
Without warning, he stopped his pacing and sat on the bed next to her. Maria let out a squeak of alarm, but he quieted her.
"Shh. I'm not going to harm you. If you would be willing to sit up for a moment, I can prove to you that it wasn't the ring. That's all. Aren't you curious?"
Curious barely began to describe her state of mind. Dazed, her heart pounding in her chest, Maria sat up. Seconds seemed to last for hours as she relaxed into his now-familiar scent, and felt his fingers trace the curls at the back of her neck. At last, his lips brushed hers: warm and soft. The gentle press of his mouth grew firmer for another moment or two, and then he drew away from her.
"Now do you believe me? It couldn't have been the ring, not this time."
Maria didn't know what to think. Gentle hands on her shoulders helped her lie down again, and briefly caressed her aching forehead. "Now sleep. You'll feel much better in the morning."
She felt his weight leave the bed, and saw him settle back into the chair, but somehow, something seemed unfinished, a sort of tension that filled the air between them.
"For so long," he said quietly, "between the things I saw at war and then what came after – well, I suppose I began to ignore the suffering of others. And I turned my back on the blessings I still have. It was unkind of me, to suggest that you've had no troubles in your life. Even without knowing the details, It's obvious that you've had a hard time of it."
Maria blew out a big sigh. "I've had my share of blessings too, Captain. Including spending time here. To find a place where I feel so at home, so safe, so appreciated, it's..." She stopped abruptly, shocked at what she'd just admitted to.
He didn't say a word about Nonnberg, didn't interrogate her about why the Abbey wasn't her home, her safe place. She couldn't have explained it if he had asked, really, but she was so grateful she didn't have to try. Of course, she was at the villa temporarily, but at least for tonight, she was home. She was loved. And now Maria understood what her greatest wish really was, the one she could never have asked the ring to grant her.
What happened next should have shocked her, but somehow, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. He rose again, and without a word, stretched out alongside her on the bed and gathered her into his arms. It didn't seem strange at all, now she knew his touch, his breath, his scent. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, not with layers of clothing between the two of them, anyway. It was the easiest thing in the world to tuck her aching head under his chin and relax into his embrace, to fall asleep, knowing for the first time in her life what it felt like to be protected against the world by the love of a family.
The next thing she knew, morning sun filled her room. She was alone. On the big chair next to her bed lay a neatly folded red blanket. She looked over at the nightstand, but the wishing ring had vanished.
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THE END
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I wrote this story for the October Proboards Halloween prompt to write about the supernatural. Which didn't entirely work out to be the point of the story, did it? Or did it? Hats Off to lemacd, who came up with some of the cleverest ideas for this story. All shortcomings my own.