The snow crunched beneath Maria's feet as she walked along the lake in the moonlight. She was thinking about her day; well, a certain moment of it. A certain moment that happened to involve the Captain.
Maria and Georg (he insisted on her calling him that when they were alone) had gone shopping to buy the children Christmas presents in Salzburg. They went to toy stores and clothing stores, had lunch together, and after, they drove along the little road to the top of her mountain before returning home. But on her mountain, she got that feeling again. The feeling that she got when she was with Georg. The feeling that she didn't quite understand...
"Oh, isn't my mountain just beautiful in the wintertime?" asked Maria with a sigh. "The view is wonderful, too. This is my favorite time of year to come up here."
"I have to agree. And I thought just looking at the mountains from the villa was a sight to see," said Georg as he walked up and stood next to her. They had parked the car at the end of the road and walked to the top of the mountain so Maria could show Georg the sight of her mountain and Salzburg covered in light blanket of snow. "The sky is beautiful, too. The blue matches your eyes," Georg told Maria. He looked up at her, and she blushed a light pink. Trying to avoid him seeing, she looked at the ground. "I was thinking that about your eyes, too. They are a lovely color," she said shyly, wringing her hands together. What would he think of her complimenting him? Maria had never complimented a man before. She couldn't deny that she thought Georg was handsome; he had a wonderful personality too. She thought of him very often, but she didn't understand why. Maria looked up, and Georg locked eyes with her, making her blush even more. She got a feeling in the pit of her stomach again, the one she got when she was with him.
They gazed at each other for a moment until Georg broke the silence. "Well, I guess we better get going. The children are expecting us back before dinner." They walked along the footpath to the car, when Maria lost her footing on a patch of ice. Georg helped her get back on balance, and offered her his arm. She took ahold of it so she wouldn't slip again. Holding onto his arm made Maria feel more at ease. "Are you okay?" he asked with a concerned voice.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Just lost my footing. It's a good thing I didn't fall down!" she said with a giggle. After a minute, they reached the car, got in, and returned to the villa just in time to play with the children before dinner.
Georg was looking out the window of his study, trying to relax before going to bed. The moonlight glittered on the light blanket of snow and the icy lake, creating a beautiful sight. Just when he thought it couldn't get any more divine, he saw Maria walking along the lake. What was she doing alone outside at this time of the evening? He left his study to get his coat and go talk to her. By the time he got outside, snow started falling. Following her foot prints from the villa door, he quickly found Maria walking in the snow. "Hello," he said quietly.
She turned around and smiled. God, she was beautiful in the moonlight; no, she was beautiful everywhere. The flakes of snow falling on her golden hair made her even more exquisite. His thoughts almost made him not hear what she said. "Hello, Georg. What are you doing out here?"
"Hm? Oh, yes. I was just wondering that about you, as a matter of fact."
"Well, I was just thinking."
"About what?" She looked down shyly, and he started slowly walking towards her, stopping a couple feet away from her. "You can tell me, Maria. You can trust me," he said. He had barely been able to stop thinking about her since she brought him back together with his children as a family. He didn't want to just be her employer and friend anymore. Did she think the same way about him? He regretted waiting until now to approach her about it, but he was never sure if she returned those feelings.
"Well... I was just thinking about today... While we were on my mountain," she said, blushing.
"And are those thoughts positive or negative?"
She looked down, thinking. "I'm not sure... whenever I'm with you, I get this... Nevermind. It doesn't matter." She started walking away from him.
"Maria, what do you get when your with me?"
She stopped walking and sat down on the bench by the gazebo. Georg sat next to her, and she looked up at him. She sighed and quietly said, "Whenever I'm with you, I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach. I don't understand. I don't think ill of you, I promise. My thoughts about you are good. I... I've actually been having more thoughts about you lately... I just don't understand." She looked down, not wanting him to look at her.
"Maria, I've been having more thoughts about you lately, too. Actually, since you changed my relationship with my children I've had more thoughts about you. And I get a feeling when I'm with you, like you do with me. Maria," he said, lifting her chin and meeting her gaze, "that feeling is love. At least that's how I feel. Do feel love for me?"
She looked into his eyes with a look of realization. With a slow nod, she said, "Oh, Georg, I've been in love with you all this time and I didn't even realize it! I don't understand why I didn't, it was so obvious, with all the signs: the feeling, the frequent thoughts..."
"Well, sometimes you don't realize so quick. Love is one of those things that doesn't usually happen right away." The snow started falling more, so Georg took her hand and they walked into the gazebo. The new couple stood in the middle of the glass building, and Georg grabbed her other hand and stood back, admiring her.
"Georg, I can't be in love with you. You're a Baron, a Captain, a man of honor; I'm just a governess, a plain old Fräulein. I have no importance in society."
"Darling, I don't care about your place in society, that doesn't matter to me. The way that you captivate me with just a look. The way you are with the children, the way you care so much for them; they love you as if you were their mother. The way you made me love again, after I thought I didn't have the ability to love ever again. Those things don't even begin to describe why I love you, they don't even start the list of things that make you all the more irresistible to me." He took a step closer to her, closing the space between them. He held her in his arms as she wrapped hers around him and laid her head on his chest.
Maria asked with a sigh, "Oh, how can this be happening to me? The Reverend Mother always says, 'When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.'"
"What else does the Reverend Mother say?"
Maria leaned back to look at him and said, "That you have to look for your life."
"And have you found it, Maria?"
She nodded, and Georg, leaning in, said, "I love you." He met her lips with his in a chaste but passionate kiss. He was surprised how quick she caught on, growing deeper into the kiss, getting as close to him as she could. After several moments of more kisses and some whispered words of love, Georg and Maria realized just how late it was getting. They walked into the house where they both fell into a peaceful sleep, knowing the other was right down the hall.
A few days later on Christmas day, the von Trapp children were sitting around the Christmas tree, openiing their presents. Marta ran up to Maria, who was sitting next to Georg on the couch, and exclaimed, "Look, Fräulein Maria, this present has your name on it!" She handed Maria the small box and ran back to her spot among her siblings.
"Hmm, I wonder who this is from." Maria wondered aloud to herself. The tag gave no clue telling who it was from; just a simple 'Maria' was written on it. She unwrapped it, her eyes widened at the sight of a velvet jewelry box. She opened it and there sat a ring with a diamond in the middle, with two smaller diamonds around on either side of it. She took it out of the box with an astonished look and lifted her head to see Georg, down on one knee with a smile on his face. The children all stopped opening their presents and looked over at them, the older girls with looks of adoration on their faces, and the younger girls and the boys trying not to giggle at the sight of their father and governess caught in a romantic moment.
"Maria," he said, taking her hand, "I love you. Will you please stay here as the children's mother, and my wife?"
With tears in her eyes and a wide smile, Maria accepted. "Yes! Oh, yes, of course!" She got down on the floor with him and threw her arms around him. The couple parted, and Georg took the ring from Maria and placed it on her finger. With a smile on her face, she said, "Oh Georg, I love you! This is the best Christmas I've ever had!"
Giving her a light kiss, Georg said, "I love you too, my darling Maria. Merry Christmas."