Hello my lovely readers,
First of all thank you so much to the people who left such wonderful reviews! You made my day! I've been struggling wether or not to portrait the baroness as a kind person or as a somewhat more vicious/mean person, but i think i've figured it out XD but you'll read more about her in the next chapters. Again, my grammar and spelling aren't flawless but I can live with that (for now)
Hope you enjoy this chapter, if you have any tips or constructive criticism I love to hear them to improve my writing, and of course all other notes you wish to leave behind in the review section are welcome!
Happy reading,
Em
PS: I'm thinking about changing the name of the story, if you have any ideas leave them in the review section or PM me if you have an idea or even if you have ideas for the story, I love you guy's input!
As they pulled away Georg took both her hands and folded them tightly in his before bringing them to his mouth to softly kiss them. "Is this why you left?" He asked his hands still wrapped around hers. She softly nodded. "Wait," he walked up to her bags and picked them up. "If we go trough the gardens and take the backdoor no one will notice our, lightly, disheveled state" he smiled at Maria. To his surprise Maria took the carpet bag from him so that one hand was free for her to grab with her other hand. The rain had now almost magically stopped, but that didn't make the walking along the muddy road much easier.
Suddenly Georg stopped walking. "Maria…" He put her guitar case down and moved his hand to stroke her cheek "Marry me?" He asked his eyes searching for hers, but she didn't look at him. Instead of the happy smile he had been expecting her face looked troubled. "The party…" She softly started as though she was more talking to herself than to him. The baroness's words spooked trough her mind again. There is nothing more irresistible to a man than a woman who's in love with him… He should get over it soon enough I should think… Men do you know... "I… I… No… the baroness… she… I…" She winced away from his touch and took a step backwards. She kept mumbling "Maria..." She stopped mumbling once he heard him say her name "Maria, did the baroness say anything to make you this uncomfortable?" Of course! Thinking back, he remembered seeing her walk up the stairs right after Maria went up. "Maria… The baroness… I was never in love with her…"
"of course not. Men will get over it soon enough." She looked at him "At least that's what she thought, that your little infatuation with me would blow over soon enough." Tears now started forming in her eyes and she used her hands in an attempt to wipe them away. She let out a sad chuckle before she started sobbing softly. "Please- please, can we go back to the villa?" She hated being in a vulnerable position like that "I'll stay until tomorrow morning, so I can say goodbye to the children" She grabbed her bag and started walking again. "Maria plea-" Georg tried
"Wasn't this party meant for proposing to the baroness anyway?" she cut him off "I am only in the way of things, only a little infatuation that will go over with time. You don't really love me captain. You only need me, momentarily." She stopped walking waiting for the captain to reply, but at first he didn't say anything.
"Did the baroness tell you that?" He asked his voice dark "what makes you think you can believe what she says over what I've just told you?" Still not wanting to turn around she stayed right where she was before speaking again "I... I don't know…" Maria looked down at her feet "To be quite honest with you captain, at the moment I really don't know anything, and I'd rather go back to the villa and not discuss this subject any further" She started walking again as did de captain, he quickly came to stand in front of her causing her to stop walking to make sure she wouldn't bump against his chest.
"Not discuss this subject any further?" His voice now grew angry "Maria, I just proposed to you!" Now even the captain was on the verge of tears "Whatever the baroness has told you, she is just, well, if anything very threatened by you" He now started pacing in front of her. Maria's naivety wasn't really making his explaining much easier "threatened? By me? I- Why would she be threatened by me?" She asked her brows knitting together due to her honest curiosity. "Simple, you're the only other female living under my roof, well except for my staff members of course," he started summing up Elsa's possible motives as he stopped pacing to stand in front of her again "She is obviously threatened by how well you handle the children and how much they like you," He smiled, he too noticed how smitten the children were with her "And I think by now she must have noticed that I find it quite hard to keep my eyes off of you…" He looked deep into her eyes. Her mouth made the o shape but no sound would come out, only a soft breath. She cleared her throat "But that's just it! You- you may not be able to keep your- keep your eyes off of me now," She was now blushing furiously "but that will all just blow over soon." She averted her eyes away from his.
"Maria, I have only felt this way with only one person, I can't seem to stop thinking about you wherever I am, I dream about you at ni-" "Well then you must know that dreams are just a misconception of reality, and that how true to real life they may seem, that they never come true." She cut him off "Some Dreams can come true, you just need to believe in them!" Georg tilted her head to look at her again "Hmpf" She huffed "that's easy coming from your mouth, a retired naval officer having to do nothing for his money but just to sit on his butt all day! People like you make dreams come true by paying for them!" Maria had her fair share of broken dreams, and certainly didn't believe in dreams coming true "If all dreams came true, my wife would still be alive." He told her, his voice flat. "Oh- I- Captain- I-" She stuttered not sure what to say.
He moved closer "inheriting your fortune doesn't make you a bad man, and being in the navy isn't necessarily an easy job." She moved her head down. "I'm not saying that all dreams come true," He gave a sad smile "but sometimes you just need to dream the dream and find out if it came true afterwards" He lifted her head up to look at him again "I want to dream that dream with you, I want to be that proud man watching you walk down the Isle, I want to love you every day for the rest of my life" A tear rolled down her cheek and Georg used his thumb to wipe it away which made a soft smile appear on her lips. "Close your eyes," he told her letting out a chuckle he continued "I know it's not really easy standing outside in the cold, but close your eyes, and imagine your perfect life" She closed her eyes and focused really hard. She thought her mind would do the thinking and she would see an image of herself as a nun at the abbey but instead she saw a whole different image. She saw Georg and the children walking up to her mountain, picnic baskets and toys in their hands. A usual outing she presumed, but then she saw herself coming up. Instead of carrying a picnic basket of a toy of some sorts. She was carrying a baby. A baby… Was this… their baby? It became clear when Maria handed Georg the baby and moved to stand on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on his cheek. The perfect family. Georg watched her tightly closed eyes and focused expression change as her eyes relaxed and there appeared a soft smile on her lips slowly growing bigger. She let out a contempt sigh as her eyes fluttered open.
"And, was that a dream worth dreaming" He asked her. Was it a dream worth dreaming? Was that what she wanted? She bit her lip and softly nodded. He smiled as het took her hand in his and kissed it and then placed it to rest on his shoulder. Automatically as if she had already done so for years her other arm moved around his other shoulder so that her hands were touching behind his neck. At the same time Georg's hands had already moved around her waist. She leaned in standing on her tiptoes kissing him softly. He softly licked his his tongue over her bottom lip and like a key to a lock her lips opened and their kiss got more heated as Georg gently explored her mouth.
"Maria, I need to make a promise to you," He pulled away from their kiss "I'm going to talk to the baroness tomorrow, to tell her that I can not marry her" He stroked her cheek with his fingers "and then tomorrow afternoon I will ask you to come to the gazebo and ask you the question again, if you will marry me" Maria let out a small giggle "I think you should know the answer after," She moved her hand back and forth in the space between them "This" Now her cheeks turned a light peach color referring to the kiss they just shared "Even so, I want to do this proper, like you deserve, a proper proposal, not two words in the in the middle of a muddy road," right that moment it started raining again "In the rain…" He added with a chuckle
"hmm, I love you…" She started but she was not sure if she should call him by his name, but that quickly got solved by Georg adding it for her "Georg…" She repeated him "I love you… Maria…" he gave her lips a quick peck "The villa isn't that far, I think, from what I can make out of my surroundings" He laughed "So if we run now, we'll wo-" Maria stopped him "We already are wet no need to rush anything" She laughed "but I understand if you need to get back to the party of course…" Right. The party. For a short blissful moment he had managed to completely forget the party. "Maria…" he started "No, Georg, it's ok I understand" even though her face did show a hint of sadness she reassured him with a peck on the ckeek.
"lets go!" She said before grabbing her bag and his hand. Georg gave her hand a light squeeze as they started walking to the villa. "only one dance with Elsa and I can call this whole charade quits" He said more to him self than to Maria but she decided to say something about it anyway "How do you think she will react?" She asked "Hmm?" He mumbled because he didn't fully hear her question "The baroness, I mean, she must have been, I don't know, looking forward to this night and would be hoping for a proposal I suppose…" Georg was silent for a moment before starting to speak
"Well of course it would be best not to tell her about… what err, happened tonight," even though Georg didn't love Elsa he surely didn't wish her ill will. She, just as him, was a widow looking for a second time at marriage, but he couldn't spend his life running away from his pain in a loveless marriage that seemed convenient in their high class society. Georg hoped she would see it that way to and they could part in a civilized manner and he could announce his engagement to Maria in the papers one week later. But this could easily become one of Salzburg and Vienna's most talked about gossip.
"Maria, there is something you need to understand, high class society and its people, it's a cruel world full of gossip going around at the corner of every street and every salon." He sighed looking up at Maria with a sad smile awaiting her answer. "but what could they possibly be gossiping about? We didn't do anything wrong did we?" She looked up at him question written all over her face.
Oh Maria… My naïve Maria.
"No Maria, we didn't, but they don't know that," he squeezed her hand tighter "gossip goes fast and some people are willing to believe anything," he cleared his throat "Like how you seduced me into your bed and became with child out of wedlock and I was forced to marry you to cover up the scandal, or that I couldn't keep my hands to myself, that I became a rake again just like in my naval days, that I wasn't faithful to my wife when our ship docked in Italy or France or wherever, people can say hurtful things Maria" Georg gave Maria a sad smile "but we- I- You- I never seduced- nobody actually did any of it! Right? I mean you never…" Her last sentence faltered as she didn't know how to ask a particular question like that "Maria, I have been faithful to Agathe from the day we got married" He answered slightly angered at the thought of her possibly thinking otherwise "Sorry, I shouldn't have questioned you…" She looked down at her shoes "No that's ok, what I'm trying to say is, If you ever hear stories like that, Ignore them," He brought her hand up to his lips to kiss it "You and I, we know what's going on, and that's all that matters, even if the maids or staff members say anything, Ignore it." Maria slightly nodded her head in understanding "As for the engagement, I want to do it properly, I'll call my sister so she can be our chaperone" his sister Hede would come if he'd call her, and of course Max would be around for a while, but he wasn't really sure what good of a chaperone he would be…
"A chaperone?" Maria asked looking up at Georg "to cause as less fuss and gossip as possible, it would be best for there to be chaperone, besides Hede will love you, she can help you plan the wedding, she can help you find your new wardrobe… help you teach the ropes about being a Baroness and co head of a big household such as," he paused looking at her before adding "ours," she smiled at him "ours," She tried out the word letting it roll off of her tongue "Wait, find a new wardrobe? Plan the wedding? Georg I've never planned anything in my whole life! How will I be able to plan a whole entire wedding!?" Maria stopped dead in her tracks "Hede and Frau Schmidt be able to assist you with the planning, you'll do a great job" He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze "As for a new wardrobe, You'll need a some dress suites, new housedresses, a few nice evening gowns, som-"
"All that clothing, just for me?" She asked him not even being sure if she would be able to wear all those clothes even within a year! "yes specially for you, a baroness" Georg simply answered her question "my love," he put his hands on her shoulders as he turned her around to face him "It will be alright, trust me," he kissed the top her head and he could feel her relax beneath his hands "you'll be there to help me too right?" He smiled "I'll be right there to spoil you every step of the way" he said in a playful tone "Not spoil me, help me!" She lightly slapped his arm "I knew what you meant," he chuckled "but sometimes you deserve a little spoiling" He grabbed her hand again and they started walking back to the villa. From where they walked they could almost see the the gates. "hmmm, I think that could be up for debate, and if so then certainly not all the time!"
Almost reaching the gates Maria felt herself getting more nervous for she didn't want to get caught wandering the grounds like this… with the captain… Georg could sense her uneasiness when her hand tightened in his grasp. "If we walk around this way and take the back stairs nobody will see us" He reassured her and it seemed to work for she let out a relieved sigh "But why have back stairs there, would seem rather useless for anyone to use wouldn't it?" Maria knit her brows together in curiosity "Well," Georg chuckled "If you must know, the only people really ever using it were me and my late wife, when we wanted to go for a… late night swim… in the err… lake… and when we didn't want to wander the grounds all…" before he could finish Maria's face turned bright red "Oh… Yes… a set of stairs like that might be useful in err… moments like that" Georg opened a small side door and motioned for Maria to go up "You go ahead to your room to get yourself cleaned up, I can come by a little later if you would like? To kiss you good night…" He whispered the last part in her ear She nodded her head at him "I'd like that" before making her way up the stairs
Once in her room she rested against her door letting out a deep sigh. Could this really be happening? Maria made her way to her bathroom deciding to take a quick shower before putting her dress in the tub to soak.
Georg on the other hand felt he could use a long shower, preferably a cold one, but of course there was little to no time for that. He quickly decided to switch his suit and head back downstairs. Did that really all just happen? Georg was beyond happy to know that Maria felt the same way he did. He fixed the cross around his neck before making his way down the stairs where at the foot stood a not so happy baroness…
I wasn't really sure about the part where Maria kinda gets all angry at Georg with the "the trouble with you rich people" thing, but coming from a poor farmers family I think that could be a subject where she would be passionate about and I thought I would just add that in there.
Thanks for reading my story!
