Maria sighed as she gazed out at the barren rose garden cringing in the bright white February sunshine beyond the French windows of the schoolroom. Everything looked so crisp and clean after the relentless rain of the morning and early afternoon and she longed to be part of it.
"Fraulein Maria, what are you looking at?" asked the youngest Von Trapp boy, who was becoming increasingly inquisitive as he often did when boredom took hold. The question slightly startled Maria.
"The garden."
Kurt wrinkled his nose in confusion. "Why? It's all so ugly."
"Shhh" Brigitta hissed, clearly annoyed by her brother's interruption to her afternoon reading of Othello. Maria looked pointedly at Brigitta but with a certain warmth and understanding in her eyes.
"Every season has it's beauty, Kurt", Maria explained in a low whisper mindful that the others were diligently working. "Now, how is your French grammar coming along?"
Kurt winced as his governess picked up his workbook and chuckled.
"I can see that we have quite some work to do before we read aloud to your father." She teased. Glimpsing the slight look of dejection in the boy's posture, Maria added "Though I must say that your handwriting is becoming very like your father's."
"Really?" The young boy beamed.
"How would you know?" Louisa teased, earning exasperated looks from Liesl and Brigitta although all three girls enjoyed the blush that appeared in their governess' cheeks.
Oh help, Maria thought. The girls always managed to catch her out when it came to her unrequited and entirely secret feelings for their father. There was clearly nothing more alluringly romantic and thrilling to a young girl's mind than the thought of a fairytale romance between baron and maid.
"He wrote to me. When I was at the Abbey." Maria cleared her throat and picked up her sewing before taking a seat in the heavy wooden armchair at the head of the room. "Which is why I came back." She looked up and realised all eyes were on her. Apart from Gretl, who was asleep with her head on her desk.
"What did it say?" Louisa asked. Maria rolled her eyes and pretended to unpick a stitch in the hem of the dress she was making for Marta. "Oh please tell us."
"You know very well what it said." Maria laughed slightly as she spoke. "But that was all a very long time ago so do all get back to your revision before your father arrives and sends me back to the Abbey for failing to maintain discipline!"
The children sighed in defeat and became engrossed again in their studies. As Maria fiddled with the hem, she thought back to the very short letter.
Fraulein Maria,
The children and I understand that your vocation to God may prevent you from ever returning, so I will keep this brief.
The baroness has departed for good so there is no prospect of the children having a mother in the near future.
I therefore ask that you come back to the children, if only for a short while. They need you.
Sincerely,
Captain Von Trapp
Maria could still feel the thickness of the cream monogrammed writing paper between her fingers. Approximately six months had passed since her return but she was no closer to finding her life. The letter now lay in her bedside drawer amongst her very few possessions including a withered daisy chain made by Gretl and a small brown leather notebook given to her by the Captain on Christmas Eve. Whenever the doubts about her path in life crept up on her, she would remove the letter from the leather notebook and read the plea from the Captain. It usually steadied her mind and reassured her that it was god's will for her to help the children.
The grandfather clock in the hall chimed three and the children, apart from Brigitta, eagerly began to pack their books away. As Maria looked up from her sewing, she caught Friedrich's eye as he was about to wallop Kurt in retaliation for some provocation that she didn't witness. Wanting to show that they were mature young men, the boys instantly stood taller under her glare made do with some harmless arm punching instead. Maria smiled and jumped to her feet. It was time for music practice.
"Right, let's.." Maria's words and the children's chattering was interrupted by a haggard cry for help.
"Frau Schmidt! Franz..." Came the strangled plea from the hall. The cry was awful and Maria ran to the door of the schoolroom but turned back to see the children following her. Footsteps, doors slamming, and panicked voices swept in from the hallway.
"Wait here children." Maria whispered as calmly as she could "Liesl, look after them."
With that, she ran into the hall and froze in horror. Absolute horror.
Max was crumbled in a heap at the top of the stairs against the grand front door, his face blackened with soot "Help him.. not me!" He brushed Franz off in frustration and called out for a doctor. Maria ran up the stairs to Max, losing her shoes in the process. She dropped to her knees and grasped his bloodied hand, her heart and ears pounding in the confusion and chaos. His whole body heaved as he struggled for breath. "Don't look around, my dear." He rasped as he looked over her left shoulder towards Frau Schmidt and Franz who were shouting to the staff to bring water and call a doctor. For a moment, Maria was confused. Then she started to turn around, despite Max grabbing her arms weakly "Don't...Fraulien... please..." she turned anyway.
"Captain?" She breathed as her eyes adjusted to the mass of dark grey fabric, black shoes, and burnt flesh lying between Frau Schmitt and Franz. "Cap... oh God" It was him. The green collar... it was him. His face and lifeless body disfigured by blood. The chaos evaporated around her and left only him. She crawled to him and lifted his bloodied head to her lap. "Captain?"
