Tuesday Morning
Maria woke up slowly, halfway opening her eyes. She felt different, and it smelled like the Captain. What? Oh, that's right. It all came crashing back to her. Oh dear God, I slept where he sleeps every night. I'm sleeping in his bed. All of a sudden, she was able to process everything that had happened. She must have fallen asleep the minute she hit the pillow last night. She glanced at the grandfather clock by the bathroom door which said it was only 6 AM, so she was about to go back to sleep for another hour until she caught sight of the Captain.
All thoughts of sleep went completely out the door. The Captain was standing at the other side of the room by the couch, which he had obviously slept on, because there was a rumpled blanket over the cushions. Every inch of Maria felt awake, though, because the Captain was facing the window, and clearly was getting dressed. He obviously had just showered because his hair was wet, and he was already in grey dress pants. The only thing missing was a shirt.
Maria's mouth went dry as she watched the muscles on his back and how they moved as he bent over to pick up his undershirt. He slipped it on and then buttoned his dress shirt, and turned around.
Maria must not have closed her eyes quickly enough, because the Captain said, "Fraulein?" and she opened her eyes guiltily to find a smirk on his face. Uggh, he knew she was watching. "I didn't mean to wake you." Oh no, his voice was deep and husky and this man was going to be the end of her, she knew it. She tried to talk but her voice failed her. "I-I just woke up. Don't worry, you didn't wake me."
"Well, you could go back to bed. It'll still be another hour before the children have to get up and I know we had a late night last night."
Maria couldn't help it as her mind went right to a vivid picture of how they could have been spending their late night instead of how they actually spent it.
The Captain obviously knew what he had done, and he had the audacity to wink at her!
Maria thought her heart was going to give out, this man was so attractive.
He turned back around and picked up the blanket, folding it over the couch. Maria looked up and remembered what she was going to ask the Captain before sleep overtook her the previous night.
"Captain?"
"Yes?" Before she could ask her question, the Captain said, "We're going to be spending quite a bit of time together over the next week, I think it's alright to call each other by our given names, don't you?"
Maria nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose so. Anyway, I was going to ask you why is there a mirror instead of a ceiling?"
The Captain looked up for a second and explained, "Oh, I had that installed when we first moved in to the house. I was in trouble with a small mob who decided they wanted to attack me. We hadn't installed security measures yet, and I was paranoid, so I installed the mirror so I could see every corner of the room. Eh, I was young and impulsive, and my parents left me a lot of money. I thought it looked neat and I was under the impression it would keep me safe, and so here it is."
Maria nodded. She loved it.
She sat up. "I can't go back to sleep. I guess I'll get dressed. Could we talk more about the ball and everything after I take a shower before the children wake up?"
"Sure," the Captain nodded. He turned around and walked back to the armoire, and Maria headed for the bathroom.
She showered and got ready in 10 minutes, and met the Captain back in the bedroom.
They both sat down on the couch.
The Captain started with, "Honestly, there's not much more for me to tell you other than Fritz's cousin lives in Salzburg with his wife. Their names are Klara and Axel. They don't have any kids and very strongly oppose the Nazi force. Klara is a technological genius, and Axel knows a thing or two about defense. The two of them have agreed to come over and help us in the days up until the gala."
"Oh, that's great!"
"Mmhmm. We're meeting with them tonight at 9. Klara will help you pick out a dress tomorrow morning for the ball and Axel is going to train you and teach you a few good moves in the off chance that you do find yourself alone for a second and the Nazis try to take you. Klara has a plan for how we can get in to the room that holds the file in the Bodor house. She'll tell us the plan tonight and we'll have until Saturday to prepare."
"Wow. You've really thought this through." Maria was impressed.
"Yes, well, I had a long, long train ride, and a very long discussion with Fritz," the Captain replied.
It was only 6:30, and there was a bit of silence during which Maria and the Captain were deep in their own thoughts.
The Captain jerked up; he clearly just remembered something.
"What?" Maria asked.
"I have to show you this place before the children wake up! Come on!" the Captain grabbed her hand and they headed out the bedroom door with Maria once again wondering why this was happening and where they were headed.
"Captain, we still have half an hour before the children get up. Slow down," Maria requested as the Captain walked briskly down the hall and proceeded down the stairs.
He did as she asked, and they continued down the stairs. They finally reached the ballroom, and the Captain stopped in front of a certain spot in the wall.
"What are we doing, Captain?"
"Maria," Maria's heart skipped a beat as she heard him use her first name, "I thought we agreed to just use our given names, did we not?"
"Oh, I forgot!" she said.
He pulled out a key from his pocket and inserted it into a tiny hole that was barely noticeable in the ballroom wall, and a door swung open.
Maria gasped in shock.
"I have a secret…place…underneath the house. No one knows about it. I used to go here a lot after my wife died just to be away from everything. Now I come down here to work out – I installed a pool and have training mats and weights and things of the sort."
He led Maria down the stone steps, and turned on a light.
She looked around in awe. The walls were stone. It was a room about the size of two ballrooms, and there was a swimming pool to the left and on the right there were training mats, bars, weights, and black benches.
"This is where we can do everything to prepare for Saturday," the Captain said.
