Remembering
It had been almost two weeks since Georg read Maria's note. And he remembered the children's reaction like it was yesterday. He also remembered Brigitta had spoken his thoughts. He hadn't believed her note either.
And Georg knew he was living in a lie. Early one morning he had stepped out on the balcony outside his room. He was angry at himself. He spoke out loud.
"How did I let Elsa convince me we should marry? My heart didn't belong to her then and it still doesn't. And how did I allow myself to lie to my children when I told them I was very happy? And why did I tell them to go play, knowing fully well where they would go."
Georg continued to remember that day.
He had watched them walk away; as Elsa had also done. And Max who had been the silent observer had thoughts of his own.
They certainly don't look like a happily engaged couple. I wonder if I should tell Georg my suspicion that Elsa said something to cause Maria to leave. Maybe now is not the time.
As it had approached dinner time that day, Georg had begun to worry about the children. He was now standing outside the villa's door to the veranda.
His worry had been put aside the moment he heard their voices. He hurried to meet them. He had put on a pleasant face and begun a conversation with them.
"I can't believe my children are late for dinner. Kurt, didn't your stomach timer tell you it was dinnertime?"
Kurt was tongue-tied. Friedrich rescued his brother. "He did tell us he was hungry. We had walked further than I thought."
"Did you stop somewhere?"
Georg remembered his children's silence. Then he heard Marta laugh. "You tell me, Marta."
"We went berry picking, Father."
"All afternoon," he remembered asking.
His memories of their fabricated tale still made him laugh. And he remembered they didn't suspect a thing when he had told them Frau Schmidt would eat with them because he had an errand to run. He knew he would be back in time to have dinner with Elsa. Something he really didn't want to do, but knew he must.
Georg had stirred up dust he had driven so fast down the lane. As he got near the Abbey, he had to slow down. He parked his car on the street beside the Abbey. He almost ran up the hill. Georg easily found the rope to pull to summon the Sister on duty.
"How may I help you sir?"
Sister Sophia really had no idea who he was. She heard. "I'm Captain von Trapp. My seven children came by earlier asking to see Fräulein Maria."
"Maria Rainer, sir?"
"Yes, that Maria. May I speak to her?"
"I'm sorry sir. As your children were told, she's in seclusion. She hasn't spoken to any of us."
"Can you at least tell her the children were here and I inquired about her?"
"I'll let Sister Margareta know. I'm sure she'll bring Maria her evening meal."
"Thank you; I'll check back another day."
Georg didn't tell her how desperate he was to talk to her. He planned to return tomorrow.
When he returned home, he heard the feeble attempt of the children trying to sing about their favorite things. Liesl saw him. She excused herself.
Georg knew Maria was right; she wasn't a child. She was very much like Agathe. She was sure of herself and begun to challenge him as she had that afternoon. He remembered her words. If you don't believe us then you must have some idea of where we were.
She asked him. "We're you able to speak to Fräulein Maria?"
"No. she's still in seclusion."
"How long do you think she will stay in seclusion?"
"I really don't know."
"Will you go back tomorrow?"
He nodded.
Liesl may have been only sixteen going on seventeen but she had memories too. First were her memories of her romantic encounter with Rolf. She had been very playful with him even to the point of twirling his hair with her fingers and then being coy about wanting to kiss him. Even a later rather unfriendly encounter with Rolf hadn't diminished her memories of that evening in the gazebo.
She also had memories about the evening her father had sung Edelweiss for them. She remembered how he had initially refused but succumbed not only to her Fräulein's prodding but also to prodding from herself and her brothers and sisters.
She remembered sitting near him on a chair; she could see him and her Fräulein. Her Fräulein's gaze never changed; she looked directly at her father and seemed to be dreaming. And she noticed her father stared at her but broke his gaze and looked at the Baroness. But it was her father's little shrug of his shoulders and small demure smile at her at the end of the song that had confirmed her suspicion that her father felt something more than friendship for her.
What neither knew was that it would a while before either spoke to her.
When Georg returned to the Abbey the next morning, the Reverend Mother spoke to him. They sat in the room used to meet a potential new postulant and her parents.
"Captain, Maria came to me immediately after morning prayers; she had decided that her life wasn't here at the Abbey. I tried my best to change her mind about leaving here but it wasn't to be. I did give her the money you had sent here; I felt she needed it."
"Can you tell me anything about where Maria may have gone?"
"I don't have a good answer. My first guess is that she went back to Vienna. I know she did sewing and embroidery for a shop there. She could probably find employment there and earn enough money to pay for a room in a boarding house.
"Another possibility is that she returned to her home in Tirol. I know she grew up on a farm there. You probably don't know that Maria is an orphan."
"No, I didn't know."
"When she was just two, her mother died, probably from pneumonia. She told me an elderly cousin of her father cared for her. It was a few years later when her father died. I know she had a guardian that the state had appointed to care for her.
She still lived on a farm until she completed secondary school. She moved to Vienna to attend a university for teachers. She had a most remarkable story to tell when she arrived here. After years of denying God, she had fully embraced her belief in Him and wanted to thank Him by becoming a nun.
"She had great difficulty following all our rules. She was an excellent fifth grade teacher. Both are reasons I sent her to fulfill your request".
"Do you think she's teaching somewhere?"
"I really don't know. But it is a possibility."
"Thank you Reverend Mother, you've been most helpful."
Georg drove away pondering his next move. For the next couple of days he had thought about nothing else but going to Vienna. Now he had to fabricate a story. He told Elsa.
"You'd be bored listening to five navy men talking navy talk."
Liesl helped her father. She told her siblings. "It isn't often Father has an opportunity to visit with his crew from his last mission."
And so with Isabel's help, who also knew the real reason, they kept the children busy for the day. Georg had left for Vienna before daybreak. He knew he would arrive in Vienna when all the shops opened. When he arrived, he had no difficulty locating Hattie's Designer Dresses.
The shop keeper greeted him. "May I help you?"
"Is this the shop where many university women work?"
"Yes, it is."
"Did a Maria Rainer ever work here?"
"I'm very protective of the young women who work here. Tell me how you know Maria."
"She was sent by the Mother Abbess of Nonnberg Abbey to look after my children for the summer. Something happened and she left. The Mother Abbess would only tell me she was distraught and desired to leave the Abbey. She had suggested she may have returned to Vienna."
"Yes, Maria did come back here. Did you know your eldest daughter had a boyfriend?"
"Sadly, no."
"According to Maria, he was a boy from school who also delivered telegrams to your villa. One day when she had taken the children to town she met him. Liesl was almost in tears because he told her he had more important things to do than visit with a school girl. He was even rude to Maria.
"She saw him here in Vienna one day wearing the uniform of Hitler's Youth Army. It frightened her and she left here. I have no idea where she went."
"Thank you, madam. I can see myself out."
Now Georg wondered why this boy would have been in Vienna. He then thought a most terrible thought. Was he sent by Herr Zeller? The idea that this boy may have coerced Maria to go with him made his stomach tie up in knots the thought was so revolting.
During his entire trip home, he prayed it wasn't true.