Chapter Two:
Peg peeked at the living room from the kitchen and sighed in relief when she didn't see the Baron. She looked at Hans Goof over her shoulder. "Hans, would you call the kids for me please?"
Hans stopped chopping the vegetables at once. "Sure thing, Fraulein Peg."
Peg stepped into the living room and rested her guitar case on one of the couches. She opened it and brought out her guitar, pulling gently on the string and smiling at the sound it gave. The kids came down the stairs, thankfully this time not marching like soldiers.
"Hi, kids, I just thought we should hang out and get to know each other." Peg sat on the couch and held her guitar on her lap.
The kids stared at one another in confusion.
"I'm guessing you don't know any song," she said knowingly.
Max burst into laughter. "Are you kidding? We know lots of songs!"
"Like baby, baby, baby, ooooooh," Pistol sang on top of her lungs. Peg winced.
"We've got all the Lady Gaga albums," PJ said proudly.
Peg shook her head. "I'm talking real songs. Let me help you out." Peg tried to play chords but failed miserably. This was the first time she held a guitar. After a couple of failed attempts, she set the guitar aside and decided to sing without music. "Let's start at the very beginning…hey!"
Nobody was at sight. The living room was completely empty and silent – except for the sound of Hans Goof chopping the vegetables in the kitchen. Peg huffed and strode up the stairs.
She found three doors, leading to three bedrooms. She really didn't want to walk into the Baron's bedroom by mistake. Faint sounds of excited boys and a video game drifted from the room on the left. Peg knocked on the door and walked in without hearing an answer.
She stared at the space-themed room with one rocket bed and turned her gaze to the boys playing the video game. "I'm assuming this is PJ's room."
"Mine, too," Max said, pressing on the control pad with excitement.
"I only see one bed."
"I sleep on the floor."
Peg gasped. "Why don't you have a bed like your brother?"
"My dad has yet to buy me one."
"How come?"
Max shrugged. "Not enough money, I guess."
"Not enough money? The man has a gigantic TV in the living room for crying out loud! He sure as hell can afford to buy his own son a bed."
Max gave an irritated shrug, seeming to hate the way her questions distracted him from the video game.
Peg rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. She assumed the room on the opposite side belonged to Pistol, so she knocked and walked in.
"Hey, honey, what are you doing?" Peg asked, noting dozens of dresses spread across the room.
Pistol was trying on a pink dress. "Getting pretty for the party."
"You mean the important guest coming tonight?"
"Princess Yvonne. Daddy is planning to marry her."
"Oh," Peg said sympathetically. "How do you feel about that?"
"Nothing."
Peg frowned. "You sure?"
"Uh-huh."
"I know it's hard on children to accept their father remarrying."
"Well, I'm not one of them."
"I see."
Peg crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Pistol, smiling knowingly when the girl flinched. Sweat gathered in Pistol's forehead and her lips trembled. All of a sudden, she threw herself at Peg's feet and exclaimed, "All right, all right, you got me! I'll tell ya!"
"Pistol, no!" PJ yelled as he and Max dashed into the room.
"What's going on?" Peg asked, throwing suspicious stares at the three young faces.
"We hardly know her," PJ said to Pistol.
Max glared up at Peg. "I don't think we can trust you."
"I'm your governess which gives me the license to invade in on your secrets. So, spill!"
The kids gulped and stared at each other. After a moment of eye-arguments between them, the boys hung their heads in defeat and Pistol looked up at Peg. "We don't want daddy to marry the princess," she admitted softly.
"Classic," Peg said sarcastically. "You think she's taking your mother's place, she hates children, she's stealing your father and you're planning on rescuing daddy."
The kids blinked.
"Not daddy," Pistol said and shook her head. "The princess."
"Say again?"
"We wanna save the princess from this sham of a marriage," PJ said.
"Dad only wants to marry her for her money," Max added.
"The old use-her-then-lose-her routine," Pistol concluded.
Peg stared between them in complete bafflement. "But… don't you hate her?"
"Hate her?" PJ said with an amused laugh. "We love her."
"She gives us lots of pocket money," Max added.
"And knows how to defeat the Tyrant t-002 in Resident Evil," PJ said. Max nodded with enthusiasm.
Pistol jumped up and down. "She's so, so, so nice. And she loves children so, so, so much. She does my hair and lets me try on her shoes and she let me do her hair that one time. And even though it turned into a nest-y mess, she agreed to let me mess it up again!" Her little face turned blue from talking too much that her brothers had to tell her to breathe.
Okay, that was unexpected. Peg scratched her temple and then shrugged. "All right then, what's the plan?"
"You're in?" Max asked with a raised eyebrow.
Peg smirked. "Yeah, why not? No one deserves to be stuck with your dad."
Peg lifted her dress so that it wouldn't get wet by the grass and peaked into the living room through the window. The Princess was in there – which Peg had already figured out considering the largest limo parked outside the house. Princess Yvonne was a beautiful blonde with sky blue eyes and a dimply smile. She seemed really nice… and tremendously rich. Each finger had a shiny ring holding a diamond so big her fingers were forced to part. A thick, fluffy brown silver fox fur scarf wrapped around her neck. Andthe finest and shiniest brand of leather high heels on her tiny feet.
Peg was not wallowing in envy. No, siree.
Hans Goof arrived with the punch. Peg snickered when Hans poured the punch into Baron Pete's pipe instead of his glass. Her soft snickers broke into a gale of laughter when Baron Pete blew into the pipe and bubbles popped out the other end. Hans Goof fled into the kitchen before his master exploded in his face.
Then came the whistle. Baron Pete blew on it and down marched the children like the obedient soldiers they were. They bowed and shook the Princess' hand. Little Pistol gave her a little kiss. The children then settled on the couch the opposite side of their father and the Princess.
Peg narrowed her eyes and tried to read their lips. The Princess asked them a question, they smiled politely and answered, and then Pistol went on about something in excitement and the Princess laughed. Baron Pete threw in a comment about Pistol and the little girl's face brightened in happiness.
Max began telling another exciting story until he caught the glare his father cast him and zipped his mouth shut. The middle child: always the whipping boy.
PJ apparently complimented the Princess on her looks, because he received a shy giggle from the Princess and a wink of approval from his father. He, then, proceeded by mentioning the "other woman" in his father's life to which Baron Pete choked on his smoke and stared at PJ in shock.
The Princess didn't look pleased, especially when Pistol and Max started reminding their father of the "other woman" from yesterday.
Peg smirked. Show time.
She walked to the front door and rang the bell. Hans Goof opened the door and before he could say a thing, Peg dashed into the house and with a shrill squeal she made her presence.
"Aw! Petey-sweetie!" She jumped into Baron Pete's lap and kissed him passionately. "I can't stop thinking about last night. I missed you so much. I can't go through a day without a kissie-n-snuggly. You spoiled me!" She demonstrated by kissing him and snuggling in deeper.
Baron Pete turned his baffled eyes to the Princess, whose eyes burned with rage. "I thought I was the only woman in your life."
"You are my cinnamon apple." Baron Pete tried to push Peg away.
"Oh, you dog," Peg said, smacking a new kiss on Baron Pete's lips. "That's your new beau?" Peg grinned at the Princess. "He never mentioned you, sweetheart. I wonder why."
The Princess grunted, jumping to her feet. "You dirty, rotten, two-timing, cheating bastard! It's over!" As she stormed out, Baron Pete tossed Peg aside and hurried after her.
"Aunt Yvonne," Pistol called after her pathetically.
Peg was caught by the sad faces on the children watching the woman who had been the closest thing to a mother to them walking out of their lives. Something swelled inside her, and an unexplainable feeling of guilt twisted her heart.
She heard Baron Pete's heavy footsteps pacing up to her. He regarded her with bloodshed eyes. "Did you see what you just did?" He glared at his children. "All of you! You chased away my ticket to a billion used-car dealerships scattered all over the world."
"But, Pop, I thought the whole reason for this marriage was for us to have a mother," PJ said pointedly.
Baron Pete's mouth hung open and then he gritted his teeth. "Right. Of course."
Max took Peg's hand and dragged her toward the Baron. "How about you marry Fraulein Peg?"
"What?" Baron Pete snapped.
"She's fun and cool," PJ said, and then Max leaned close and whispered in his brother's ear, "She's also the only person who can put you in your place." The boys snickered softly.
Baron Pete checked out Peg in the new dress he bought her and scratched his chin. "Well, she is easy on the eyes now that she's wearing something decent." He shrugged. "All right, what the heck?"
The children squealed as their father pulled Peg close and planted a kiss on her lips. "Why don't we sit together in front of the TV like a family?" Baron Pete said and scooped up Peg, carrying her toward the couch in front of the large screen. He sat on the couch with Peg in his lap, their three children settling on the floor in front of them.
Baron Pete grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
Suddenly, the Nazi Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler was on their big screen, looming over them with his creepy eyes and toothbrush moustache. "Austria is dead: long lives the Third Reich." Cue evil laugh. "One country down and soon the whole planet will fall under my feet."
"Indeed it will," a calm voice spoke behind them.
Everybody turned around and gasped at the menacing expression on Hans Goof's face that didn't suit him at all.
Peg's heart dropped to her stomach. "Hans, are you…"
"Indeed I am." Hans revealed the Nazi symbol on his shirt - which he'd been hiding behind his coat - and then extended his right arm straight in front of him. "Hail Hitler!" he saluted the Germany leader.
Peg swallowed and looked at the frightened children, wanting to comfort them but was too afraid to speak a word.
"Wh-wh-when did you…?" Baron Pete stuttered.
"I've been a member of the Party for quite some time. Ah-yuck!"
Baron Pete jumped to his feet, knocking Peg to the floor. "But, Hans, you're my most trusted servant."
"I am your onlyservant, you scrooge!" Hans Goof glared at the Baron furiously. "You couldn't bring yourself to hire a maid when you wasted all your money on this stupid TV." He brought a gun out of his coat and shot the large TV screen.
Everybody screamed in terror.
Hans Goof pointed the gun at them with a look of a lunatic. "I'm gonna kill you all, except for that little feller over there." He nodded his chin toward Max.
Baron Pete frowned. "How come?"
"Because…" cue dramatic pause, "He's my son."
Everybody gasped, except Baron Pete. "I knew there was a reason I hated him."
Max turned shocked eyes at Baron Pete. "You hatedme?"
Hans Goof pulled Max out of harm's way and pushed him behind him. "Step aside, Werner my boy!" And then he fired his gun.
"No!" Peg screamed and flailed, trying to escape the bullets that fired at her one after the other.
"Mom, mom!"
"Mommy!"
"Cherry-pie!"
Peg's eyes snapped open and she was greeted with the worried faces of her husband and children. She touched her body frantically, noting the lack of holes and blood as well as the blanket that covered her. She looked around her in shock; she was in her bedroom, safe and sound and surrounded by her family.
"Wh- what?" she stuttered. "That… what happened?"
"Lack-brain threw a hammer at your head and you lost conscious," Pete spat out in disgust, his hand brushing her hair in a tenderness that contrasted his tone.
Pistol climbed on the bed and sat on Peg's lap. "Are you okay, Mommy?"
Peg pulled her and PJ into a tight embrace. "Now, I am. Oh, God, that was most horrid nightmare."
"What was it about?" PJ asked.
"Oh, nothing."
Pete held Peg's hand, a look of sadness clouding his face. "I'm really sorry about the tickets, berry-muffin. To make it up to you, I sent the Goof to buy them for us."
"And here they are, ah-yuck!" Goofy walked into the room waving the tickets with excitement. "Front row seats in the middle."
Peg wasn't sure she wanted to see the play anymore, but she mustered a polite smile for Goofy's sake. "Thank you so much, Goofy."
Pete narrowed his eyes. "How much did it cost?"
"420 Dollars."
"WHAT? But one ticket costs seventy bucks. How many tickets did you buy?"
"I bought tickets for all of us. So, we can experience the joy together."
Peg's smile became genuine as she accepted the tickets from Goofy. "That's a wonderful idea, Goofy. Isn't that right, Pete?"
Thud.
"Pete?"
Her husband was flat on his back on the floor. "Oh, mama."
The End