With the boys and Louisa occupied by the bicycles, Maria led the girls back toward the terrace, and pulled out a length of rope she'd gotten from Gus.
"What is that for, Fraulien?" Brigitta asked.
"Have you girls ever learned to skip rope? It can be lots of fun, and it is good exercise as well," Maria replied.
"I remember having a rope to skip with, before Mother...I mean, when I was much younger," Liesl stated. She blushed a bit, and looked a bit nervous.
"Liesl, I want you-all of you-to feel that you can speak of your mother with me. I know the memories I have of my own mother are very precious, and I'd like you all to feel comfortable sharing your own." Maria looked at each of the girls in turn. Liesl's eyes were filled with tears, while Brigitta looked surprised and poor Marta and Gretl just looked puzzled. It suddently occurred to her that the little ones probably didn't even have real memories of their mother. Before Maria could speak, Brigitta did.
"Father doesn't like us to ever speak of Mother. He says it is so we won't be sad, but I think it is really because he doesn't want to be reminded of her." Maria was impressed with the observation the little girl had made. She'd wondered the same thing, after finding no trace of the late baroness anywhere in the house that she'd seen so far. And yet, she'd noticed he wore what she assumed was his wedding ring when he'd handed her the whistle the day before.
"Well, let's not puzzle about that now. I'll have to think about what we can do." She reached over a squeezed Liesl's hand, and then ruffled Marta's hair. "Liesl, you said you remember skipping rope?"
Soon the girls were engaged in taking turns turning and skipping-Liesl being so much taller, she mostly turned-and soon they all were laughing, especially when Brigitta got twisted in the rope as her two little sisters couldn't swing it up over her head. Maria left Liesl in charge for a moment, and went back inside to find Frau Schmidt. After checking a few rooms, she located her in the dining room, setting the table for afternoon tea.
"Oh, Frau Schmidt, I've been looking for you. Do you think we'd be able to have tea outside, on the terrace? The children are having such a lovely time outdoors, I'd hate to have to bring them back inside on such a beautiful day."
The housekeeper turned to look at Maria, and looked thoughtful before speaking. "I don't see that there's a problem with that, Fraulein. After all, Captain von Trapp did say he was leaving you in command of the children." The older lady smiled, a leaned toward Maria to whisper, "I think it is wonderful that you are allowing them to be children again. I'll have everything brought outside for you in a few minutes." Maria smiled back, and then thought of something else.
"You don't happen to know how to sew, Frau Schmidt, do you? I've almost finished one dress for myself so I needn't wear this one anymore, but I believe I could use some help making the children's clothes more quickly, so that they don't have to worry about their uniforms." Maria looked hopefully at Frau Schmidt, and beamed upon hearing her response.
"I do indeed, Fraulein, and I'd be happy to help you. Perhaps this evening after the children retire, we could work on them?" Maria nodded, then excused herself to return to the children.
She returned to the terrace, and found the four girls now sitting on the grass nearby, in the shade of a large, leafy tree. Maria instructed them on how to bind the rope so it wouldn't tangle, and sent them in to wash up for tea time. The governess then made her way back to the tool house, where three of the bikes had been scrubbed clean, their chains oiled, and just needed their tires filled with air.
"Children, I'm so pleased with the progress you've made. I do hope you've thanked Gus for the assistance I'm sure he gave. We can finish up the rest of them over the next day or two, and then perhaps we can take a ride through the village by the end of the week." The three children beamed at their fraulein, and Louisa ran back into the tool house to return their tools to Gus.
"Thank you, Louisa. Let's go on back and get cleaned up now, and Frau Schmidt will have brought our tea out to the terrace by the time we're ready."
"Tea, outside?" Kurt exclaimed. "We haven't eaten on the terrace since...since..." he looked to his brother for help.
"Since your mother died?" Maria finished his sentence quietly. "I've told the other four, and now I'll tell you all. I want you to feel comfortable talking about your mother, or anything at all, with me. I don't wish you to keep secrets or hurts inside-it's important to talk about things, especially memories, as speaking about them helps keep them alive." She looked from one boy to the next, and they both nodded. When Maria turned to Louisa, though, the girl wouldn't look at her and in fact turned her face away. Before she did, Maria noticed the steel doors that slammed down in her eyes. Beautiful blue eyes, that were so much like the captain's.
As the seven children enjoyed small sandwiches, cookies, and tea in the afternoon sun, Maria asked them all sorts of questions; their favorite and least favorite school subjects, colors, foods. By the end of the conversation she knew Friedrich loved history and maths and disliked carrots; Liesl enjoyed studying French and didn't like the sciences as much; Kurt loved all foods and wanted to learn to cook, as he'd read that all the famous chefs were men; and Brigitta read everything she could get her hands on and wasn't terribly fond of oatmeal for breakfast. Marta adored pink –which Maria already knew from their meeting- and Gretl liked having fairy stories read to her and wanted a cradle for her baby doll more than anything. Only Louisa was a bit closed off, though she did admit to enjoying collecting bugs and other critters to scare away previous governesses. After extracting a promise of "no spiders", Maria suggested taking a walk about the grounds of the estate, so she could see a bit more of her new home.
The eight of them had walked nearly the length of the property and back, the children excitedly chattering about everything they could point out, and when they arrived back at the villa it was time for dinner. Maria led the children inside to change for the evening meal.