So thanks for the reviews and follows! I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment, but I think this will have to do. I don't own these wonderful characters.

B is for Burden: one character shares a burden with another

"Max, talking to me about the festival right now would be the very worst thing you could do," Georg practically spit the words at his friend following him into the study.

"No, not now. I'm not a fool." The impresario headed straight for the bar cart. He held one of the decanters toward Georg questioningly as a sort of peace offering, but the Captain shook his head and exhaled to calm down. Max poured himself a drink and settled into a leather chair near the desk.

"I'm home barely two hours from my honeymoon," Georg muttered as he tossed a telegram on his desk toward Max. "And this." Max made no move to look at it.

"I'm pretty sure I know what it says," he mumbled. "Herr Zeller paid a visit this afternoon while the children and I were at the venue. Asked if we had heard from you, if I knew when you'd be coming home."

"What? What did you tell him?"

"What do you think? Georg, I may not take sides when it comes to politics as a rule, but I definitely lean heavily toward your side when it really matters. I told him that as far as I knew, you were still blissfully enjoying your honeymoon with your new bride." Georg relaxed only slightly. He leaned his elbows on his desk and began to massage his temples to ward off the headache that was beginning to roar.

"I should still be enjoying my honeymoon."

"Poor timing. You had no choice but to come home. Of course, I wish you had enjoyed at least one more night in Paris," Max lamented. Georg shot him a warning look.

"I know, I know. Your children do not sing in public!" Max drained his drink, placed the glass down heavily on the corner of the desk and stood up. "I'll leave you to your thoughts." He headed toward the door but stopped and turned before leaving. "Are you going to tell Maria? About the telegram?"

"I don't know. I suppose I have to tell her something." Georg leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "I don't want to upset her with this."

"Yes, well, don't underestimate her." With those parting words, Max left.

If there was one thing Georg had learned about his bride, it was to never underestimate her. His first impression of her left a bit to be desired, to be sure. When he had requested help from Nonnberg, he pictured an ancient, unsmiling wall of a woman that not only understood discipline, but probably helped God write the definition. Instead he got this slip of a girl dressed in the most hideous dress who most impertinently balked at every rule he put before her and clearly knew nothing about being a governess. He was sure his children would chew her up and spit her out. He was so very wrong. By midsummer he no longer saw her as that slip of a girl but as a woman, a beautiful woman who enchanted his children, captured his heart and changed his life.

But this was different. She was just getting her footing in her new life. She assured him that becoming his wife was the easiest thing in the world she had ever done and even an abbreviated honeymoon was proof to them both that she was who she was always meant to be. As for motherhood, it was as simple as changing a hat; the only adjustment she needed to make in that regard was getting used to hearing herself called Mother. Loving the children as her own simply carried over.

Yet, everything else was new and he was sure a bit daunting. She had given up so much for him and his children to be thrust into his world, a foreign place she didn't understand completely yet. He tried to ease her into the life as a baroness, to give her time to get used to ordering servants and help navigate which invites for tea and luncheons were sincere and which were simply to trot her out for scrutiny. He knew she was determined to learn restraint, to walk when she wanted to run, smile when she wanted to laugh. He saw the way she stared across the lake at the mountains where she told him she always felt the most free, the look in her eyes when the faint peeling of bells from Nonnberg could be heard on a quiet afternoon. And he loved her for it, and for shrugging all those concerns away with a radiant look of contentment. How he loved her!

It wouldn't be fair, he told himself, to add this to her load. He couldn't ask any more of her than he did when he married her. Max was right and he shouldn't underestimate her. But she deserved only joy during this new beginning. He owed her that and much more.

He picked up the telegram and shoved it into his pocket. He knew what had to be done, but it was a life-changing step and at the moment he couldn't see his way to make that choice. He needed courage enough for both of them. With a weary sigh he got to his feet went to find her. He could hear her voice coming from the sitting room and he paused outside the door before interrupting.

"But what do you do after he stops loving you?" He heard Liesl ask the question, her voice laced with sadness and resignation. He couldn't bring himself to think of his daughter having a love life, never mind a heartbreak.

"Well," he heard Maria muse slowly. "You cry a little and then wait for the sun to come out. It always does." Georg smiled at how experienced Maria sounded giving such advice, his young bride straight out of the convent.

"Sometimes I feel the world is coming to an end…"

"And then you feel it's just beginning?" Maria asked with a laugh. "It was that way for me, Liesl. And for you it will be just as wonderful. I promise."

He quickly realized that she was talking about the time she came back after running away. Not his finest moment, he had to admit. But he was confused. He waited for a sign, any indication that she came back for him. Instead she calmly congratulated him on his engagement and wished him every happiness. It wasn't until much later that she admitted to him that it was the greatest moment of torture her heart had ever experienced and that it took every bit of strength she had to say what she did. He remembered telling her he didn't realize, wished he had known, would have spared her any way if he had. She simply laughed and said it didn't matter since it all worked out beautifully.

He heard laughter and took that as his cue to interrupt and send Liesl away. Once they were alone, he pulled out the telegram. She stared at it and then at him. Her face dropped and became serious as she stepped closer to his side. Just having her closer made him feel his courage fortify.

"What is it?"

"Berlin…" he said, unable to hide his hostility as he explained the content of the telegram. He prepared for her helpless tears. He waited for her cry about the unfairness of it. He waited.

"I knew something like this would happen," she said in a sad hush. "I didn't think it would be so soon." She was calm in her concern and her eyes never left his face. She looked at him expectantly, trusting him to tell her what they would do… together.

"To refuse them would be fatal for all of us," he said quietly. "Joining them would be…unthinkable." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew what had to happen and amazingly, he could tell she knew it as well. It would be dangerous and terrifying, but none of that could be read in her demeanor. He reached for her and drew her to his side with a light kiss to her temple. He wanted to offer her comfort before asking her to share his burden but as her arm came around his waist, he knew she already was. She was strong. And he would be stronger with her by his side.

Next: C is for Cradle