Prologue
Once upon a time . . .
In the beautiful mountains of Austria, there lived a Mountain Girl. Now that she was no longer a child, she was able to escape the abusive life she was used to, and joined the convent of Nonnberg Abbey to become a nun. This was something she had dreamed of since childhood, but it was clear to the sisters that the Mountain Girl was not the right person to become a cloistered nun. Besides being outspoken and always late, the Mountain Girl could not stop herself from always singing and sneaking out to be on her mountain.
What the Mountain Girl didn't know was that she wanted something more out of life than to be a nun, but how she would find that out was something she could not imagine.
The Reverend Mother of Nonnberg Abbey was a very wise woman who loved the Mountain Girl the way a mother loves her daughter. She knew that the life of a nun was not for this spirited young woman, but she also knew that she could not just throw the Mountain Girl out or try to convince the mountain girl of the fact; the vocation of one's life was a decision belonging to the person alone. She wondered if there was a way she could at least point the Mountain Girl in the right path.
One day, in the late spring, the Reverend Mother received a letter asking if one of the sisters would be the governess to seven children until September. The letter was written by their father: a Sea Captain who was retired and also a widower. The Reverend Mother only knew this Sea Captain by reputation, but had heard enough to make her conclude that he was a fine man and a brave man. She also knew that his wife had died several years ago, leaving him alone with the children. For whatever reason, the Sea Captain was having a most difficult time managing to keep a governess for his children at his villa on the lake just outside of Salzburg.
Inspiration suddenly came to the Reverend Mother as to who she could send. Not surprisingly, the Mountain Girl was very reluctant to go and argued against it. But when the Reverend Mother told her this was the will of God, she accepted the job, resigned.
The Reverend Mother had no idea just how much of God's will it was that the Mountain Girl cross paths with this sea captain.
All the way to her new adventure, the Mountain Girl tried to work up the confidence she needed. She barely managed to hold on to it when she got her first glimpse of the beautiful villa. The butler let her in, and the Mountain Girl was even more in awe of the beautiful interior. Unable to keep her curiosity in check, she sneaked into the dark and gilded ballroom that took her breath away. She was in the middle of a Cinderella daydream when the doors were opened forcefully, revealing her employer.
The Sea Captain had expected a straight-backed, middle-aged nun waiting in his front hall. What he found instead was a wisp of a young woman, dancing in his forbidden ballroom, wearing the most hideous outfit he had seen on any woman. Usually, his strict tone and cold indifference would frighten women her age, but she seemed not at all perturbed. She even saluted him!
It gave the Sea Captain some satisfaction when he blew his whistle and received a look of complete shock from the Mountain Girl. Though the Mountain Girl did not know it at the time, it was in that moment the seed of something very profound was planted in her heart for this Sea Captain.
The sound of the whistle brought the seven children she would take care of downstairs, but in marching, military style, unsmiling and straight-backed. The Mountain Girl was shocked at what she saw: this Sea Captain treated his children so coldly, like sailors on a ship!
The children hated all governesses they had been given, because having a governess meant their father was free to go away to Vienna. Despite the way they were treated by him, the children still loved their father and held onto the hope that he would become the loving father he had once been again. So, whenever a new governess came, the children chased them away with pranks, and this twelfth governess was no different. They put a frog in the pocket of her dress, and at dinner, they put a pinecone on her chair.
The reaction the Mountain Girl made to sitting on the pinecone was just like her: completely unique and adorable. The Sea Captain couldn't help but be amused. What he didn't know was that it was in this moment that the seed of something very profound was placed in his heart for the Mountain Girl.
That night, there was a thunderstorm. Frightened, the children all ran to their governess's room, not knowing where else to go. She was somehow different from the other governesses they'd had: she was young and sweet, remembered all of their names, listened attentively to them, didn't tell their father about their pranks, managed to make them feel guilty about their initial treatment of her at dinner, and even helped the oldest sibling when she had been out meeting her love interest secretly on the grounds.
The Mountain Girl managed to cheer up the children by singing a song about her favorite things, and this led to a dance party and pillow fight in the room. Then the Sea Captain caught them, none to happy. He did not fire the Mountain Girl, but did give her explicit warning as to rules and discipline in his household and with his children. The Mountain Girl made an attempt to help the Sea Captain see that his treatment of the children was wrong, but he would have none of it.
Safe to say, they parted annoyed with each other. The Sea Captain went to bed frustrated and annoyed. The Mountain Girl went to sleep exasperated and defiant.
The next morning, the Sea Captain went away to Vienna and stayed there for three weeks, leaving the Mountain Girl alone with his children. Safe to say that she ignored his rules completely, and gave the children more fun and love than they'd had in four years. Their new governess made new clothes for all of them, including play-clothes out of old drapes. She took them on outings around town, including picnics and bike rides. But best of all, the Mountain Girl taught them all how to sing, bringing the gift of music into their lives.
When they saw their father again, they and the Mountain Girl were all singing and playing in the big rowboat. So happy were they to see their father that the boat rocked and tipped over, and they fell into the warm water, play clothes and all. The Sea Captain was extremely angry, ordering them inside to change.
The Mountain Girl, soaking wet, and the Sea Captain, extremely angry, confronted each other. The brave young woman held her own, saying everything that needed to be said to the sea captain. Not used to being the one being ordered around, the Sea Captain fired her.
Just then, he heard the sound of music coming from his house. The Mountain Girl told him that was his children singing. He went inside and watched and listened. Just like that, the walls the Sea Captain had built around his heart crumbled, and he was able to look at his children without pain again.
As if possessed, he came into the room and began to sing with them, shocking the children into silence. The song ended and they looked at each other. In the next moment, the children were embracing their father; they were a family once more.
The Mountain Girl witnessed this with tears in her eyes. The Sea Captain spotted her and she hurried tried to rush off, aware that she was fired. He stopped her before she could manage to leave, however, and apologized. He humbly acknowledged his faults and mistakes, and the Mountain Girl couldn't help but reassure him that he had the power to change things for the better. After apologizing, he asked her to stay, and she was more than happy to.
The tide between them had changed, but in what way neither of them had no concept.
The next few weeks were very happy ones indeed in the Sea Captain's villa. The children and their father became close again, and the Mountain Girl was only too happy to bear witness. But they were not the only people at the villa.
With him from Vienna, the Sea Captain had brought back two guests: a wealthy Baroness from Vienna he was courting, and an old friend lovingly referred to as "Uncle Max." Both of them seemed to notice something that the others had not: the growing attraction between the Sea Captain and the Mountain Girl. To the Baroness, this was an annoyance, but brushed it off as something her Sea Captain would get over.
This, however, was far from the case, as she would soon discover.
Indeed, the Mountain Girl and the Sea Captain were becoming closer, even friends. Often they looked after the children together, and had long talks with each other. Sometimes they would meet by chance on the grounds in the morning or in the evening and take walks together. The feelings between them grew nicely.
One evening, the Mountain Girl and the children put on a puppet show for the Sea Captain, the Baroness, and Uncle Max, which they greatly enjoyed. Afterwards, the children and the Mountain Girl managed to persuade the Sea Captain into singing for them. As he did, the Sea Captain's eyes fell on the Mountain Girl; he'd never realized just how beautiful she was. The gaze they shared was extremely intense.
The Baroness noticed this, and, in an attempt to get her Sea Captain's attention again, proposed he throw a "grand and glorious party" for her. Because this excited the children, the Sea Captain gave in, and held the party a week later.
But her plan backfired in the Baroness's face when she found the Sea Captain dancing with the Mountain girl outside in the garden, the children watching. The dance was the Landler, which was innocent enough. But when the dance became intimate, and their faces were inches apart, they stopped in the dance, staring.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the way they were looking at each other, and both of them seemed to realize just how much they felt for the other.
The Mountain Girl and the Sea Captain had fallen in love, though neither of them knew that yet.
The Baroness now felt legitimately threatened, and was determined to do something about it. While the Mountain Girl was trying to change for dinner, the Baroness practically cornered her in her room. She subtly revealed to the Mountain Girl what she and the Sea Captain felt for each other, and succeeded in scaring the Mountain Girl deeply.
Her mission was a success: the Mountain Girl fled the villa that night with only a note of farewell, and the next day the Sea Captain made his proposal to the Baroness.
The Baroness now had everything she wanted.
Or so she thought . . .