The Sound of Music Chronicles

Part II

Interlude

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A/N: Thank you my reviewers! This one if for you:-)

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Chapter 03

New beginnings

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"Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

Mother Theresa

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"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

Thomas Merton

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It was not the smell of strong coffee and freshly baked bread that woke up Maria morning after Captain von Trapp returned from Vienna with his guests. It was the unlikely sound of hoof beats outside, just outside the windows of her bedroom.

"Who on earth is up at this ungodly hour?" she grumbled, sinking deeper under the cover. Glancing at the clock in her bedside table she saw that it was indeed early, the sun had barely rose.

Well, she had no wish to rise herself, not just yet. She still had at least half an hour to linger in bed if she so wished. Yesterday had been a tiring day in every possible aspect, and by the time she was finally able to fall into bed, she was so tired that she slept instantly, a deep, dreamless slumber. Now, nearly eight hours later, she felt that she hadn´t rested nearly enough to feel whole again.

Lazily, she yawned and stretched content. It would be another beautiful day in the Salzburg countryside – she hoped it would. She knew it would be, she had no doubt about it. It did not matter that it would be a difficult day at first. The Captain would be expecting her in his study precisely at ten, after the children had their breakfast. Thinking about confronting the fearsome sea captain again in the light of day made her feel edgy after all the events of the day before. She had not seen him again after his fervent apology on the stairway – shortly after that he had left with his guests, to dine in the city and they had not returned until she and the children had retired.

"I want you to stay. I ask you to stay."

A shiver ran down her spine. She let her arms fall to her sides and savored the new feeling. Her toes curled. How interesting! It was very strange but oddly pleasant, but truthfully it wasn´t something that she had never felt before. Only yesterday while she was arguing with the Captain, at some point she was overcome with that same peculiar sensation. And earlier, that first day, when she first heard that foolish boatswain whistle, when she fell from the oak tree on top of him, when she…

Maria sat up, punching her pillow in exasperation. No, she wouldn´t have it, she would never ever admit it, not even under torture that he was the cause of her body reacting like that. It would make her as silly as Theresa, drooling and rolling her eyes over photographs of movie stars she found in magazines she managed to smuggle into the Abbey.

"Well, there is one reason why the Reverend Mother was wise not to send Theresa in my place. Knowing her as I do, she would melt into a puddle at his feet after only a first good look at the Captain. It would be terribly embarrassing to us all, imagine that! At least my higher purpose in life makes it easy for me to behave in a more dignified manner, as far as dashing sea captains who belonged to the pages of a novel concerned."

She didn´t think it had anything to do with the temperature in her bedroom either. She was warm enough under the covers, and the night had not been particularly cold. No, definitely not cold. For some reason, thinking about the intense look in the Captain´s eyes when he said those words made her feel rather… warm.

Troubled eyes like the ocean after a storm…

She got up with a jolt.

"For God´s sake, Maria, don´t be ridiculous. Stop that nonsense at once! What is happening to you? You´ve never even seen the ocean!" she exclaimed, noting that her voice did not sound as loud clear as it should be. It was hoarse and raspy, her throat ached when she tried to swallow – an obvious consequence of her fortuitous fall on the lake. She cleared it, and then tried to sing a few notes.

"Do, re, mi, mi…. miiiiiiiiiiiiii…"

Nothing came out, at least anything that resembled the crystal clarity of her own voice.

"At least that partly explains the shivering," she shrugged. "I must be coming down with something. It was foolish of me to believe that fall in the lake had any consequences other than my damaged pride. Ah ha, there it is! It is a perfectly logical explanation for everything, isn´t it?"

She´d never been seriously ill a day in her life, she hardly remembered how a fever felt. But she certainly would not start now, not if she could avoid it. No, she could not let such a disgraceful thing happen to her, considering all the trouble she had to go through just to be able to wake up in that house that morning. Well, it would pass soon enough after a cup of the cook´s steaming, strong coffee. She might even be able to sing along with the children later in the afternoon.

Still, she resumed her mumbling.

"First things first. Captain von Trapp is a handsome man. Period. Accept it, deal with it. It´s a fact. Live with it. There are billions of men like him out in the world – although I am yet to glimpse one of them -, and he is just another one. He is not the most handsome, I am sure there must be other sea captains twice as dashing as he ever was, but he… He is just… who he is. Admire him, if you must, like you admire that engraving of Michelangelo´s David in your art history book. But never allow yourself to behave like a silly twit like Theresa because of this simple, plain fact that even a nun can realize."

There. She sighed happily, feeling suddenly renewed. It was like today was her first day in the household.

A new beginning…

All of her previous mishaps no longer mattered, yesterday´s events had erased them all, as if they never happened. Sitting on a pinecone and yelling her head off, falling from a tree on top of Captain von Trapp, falling on a lake with his seven children, standing before him in an horribly revealing wet dress – the mere thought of it was no longer enough to make her flustered, as it was only the day before. Actually, given a few more hours, she wondered if she would not be able to laugh at her little misadventures. What mattered in the end was that Captain von Trapp had noticed her good intentions, he had given her his full trust…

Well, perhaps half his trust, if she were absolutely honest with herself. Well, may be one quarter of it, but she could live with that.

Maria did not doubt for a second that he would still cling to some of his outdated ideas about the children´s upbringing. No, he was much too headstrong, too pigheaded to admit defeat so easily. Yet, at least from now on she expected that he would be just a little more reasonable and listen to her, hopefully without threatening to send her back to the Abbey every time she committed the ultimate sin of contradicting him. And the Lord knew that she planned to contradict him a lot in the future. He was much too used to having everything his way; he could use the challenge of discovering that the world did not revolve around him and his beliefs. It was time someone showed him the light.

Oh, but there was so much to do!

Together, they would have to find a way to make music lessons fit into the children´s tight schedule. Maybe in due time, when she felt more at ease in his presence, she would ask permission to bring down that famous grand piano from the attic. Yes, music lessons and a reasonable amount of time for them to play and just… be children. That shouldn´t be so - revolutionary, even for a man like Captain von Trapp! Convincing him to go along with her marvelous plans would be her hardest task, but she was willing to compromise if she had to. After all, Rome was not built in a day! He would need time to adjust to her new ideas, time to get reacquainted with the children.

Time to love them…

The memory of his soulful eyes when he uttered his earnest apology invaded her thoughts again, and she shook her head, as if trying to banish it. No, she had no time for that now. Not now! Perhaps it was best if she woke up, took her morning shower and got ready for the day ahead, instead of lying in bed indulging herself in musings about a certain sea captain who, although quite obviously a handsome devil, was the most infuriatingly difficult man she ever had the misfortune to meet. And that was what should be the first thing on her mind as far as the man was concerned.

The sound of hoof beats grew louder, and she heard voices too, although she could make out what they were saying. Her trained ears recognized Captain von Trapp´s deep baritone. The other male voice was much lower, not so easily recognizable, nevertheless she could tell that it belonged to a much younger man. Was he the equerry, perhaps?

Curiously, she walked to the window, opening it and taking a moment to breathe the crisp morning air, uttering a silent prayer, thanking the Lord because she was simply still there. Only then she lowered her eyes to the garden below, looking for the source of the inopportune noise that had wakened her from slumber.

She had to blink once or twice to believe what she was seeing. Her jaw dropped, and she scratched her eyes. Maybe she was still asleep, still dreaming about how wonderful life could be in that house if the children´s father wasn´t so irascible. There, a few feet below her window, she saw him from the back. Oh, she would recognize that silhouette anywhere by now: Captain von Trapp, about to go out for a morning ride with his eldest son, Friedrich. They looked quite a sight too, the Captain in full riding gear, and Friedrich wearing his play clothes.

"What a formidable pair they make," she thought, giggling. "Oh, Friedrich, you poor dear!"

While she was making those play clothes, she tried to find something that was more appropriate for the boys, since she had a feeling he would resent wearing something… flowery. She found nothing she could use. Kurt who had been blessed with a whimsical sense of humor, said he did not mind. Friedrich remained silent at first, but when she insisted, he told her that he would not want to stand out from his brothers and sisters. He did not rebel, he wore his play clothes in a curious detached, debonair manner, which told her that he was very much his father´s son. But deep down, Maria could not help but believe that Friedrich longed for clothes that were more appropriate to his age and gender. Yet, this morning, he did not seem to mind wearing the play clothes again.

The Captain was riding that terrifying stallion of his, named after the god of the underworld – Hades – or was it Pluto? It hardly mattered. The fact was that Maria was not very fond of horses and, Hades or Pluto; it would not be that beast that would change her mind about them.

Next to his father, Friedrich was mounting a smaller horse that looked much friendlier to Maria. His father was holding the reins to both animals, and it look like he was giving his sons a few instructions before they left. Maria could only imagine that Friedrich most probably had not ridden a horse since his mother had died.

Her newly acquired experiences with the higher classes led her to suppose that it wasn´t a very nice thing to intrude on their privacy by spying on them like that, she motioned to leave the window.

It was when Friedrich saw her.

"Fräulein! Over here! Good morning!" the boy waved gleefully.

It was impossible not to smile and wave back, the boy´s cheerfulness was rather contagious. She tried to speak too, but her voice would not come – she really would have to do something about her sore throat urgently! Instead, she simply returned the greeting waving back enthusiastically.

The look in Friedrich´s face made her proud. No wonder he did not mind wearing the play clothes, she realized that for the first time she saw the boy genuinely happy. She had been right in all her conclusions about him, things that she had shouted to his father´s face the day before. That the boy needed his confidence, his attention, he needed to be treated like the firstborn son that he was.

Her gaze automatically shifted to the boy´s father. The Captain´s greeting wasn´t nearly as effusive.

"Not so loud, Friedrich, you´ll wake up the whole house this way," he said to his son, but his tone was amiable, vaguely conspiratorial, rather than censorious.

"Apparently, the lord and master of the house is in a good mood that morning," she thought, smiling and shrugging. "It must be a rare thing to see, indeed."

However, her amusement did not last for long. The Captain raised his eyes and acknowledged her presence with a nod that was almost imperceptible. For a second or two, he held her gaze. From a distance, she could see the already familiar shadow of a smile in his lips and in his eyes. Her own smile froze, and then turned into a silly grin. In response to that, his face became impassive; ever sign of amusement instantly gone.

"It is very curious, that little smirk of his," she mused briefly; now biting her lips she tried to maintain a serious face to mirror the seriousness of his. "It is almost like if he is afraid to allow himself to smile… No, perhaps afraid is the wrong word for him, I don´t think he fears anything. Recalcitrant, perhaps? It is either that or he is mocking people all the time, which would not be a very nice thing to do at all. Oh, I can´t tell what it is, it´s infuriating. It is just as I thought before, he´s a Sphinx!"

Nevertheless, there was something very discernible about him, at least to Maria. That occasional, brief glimmer in his eyes was only the only hint of the man she had seen the day before, the man who had apologized to her and asked her to stay.

"You see, I´m following your advice," his eyes twinkled, as she bravely faced him.

It was when she made the mistake of smiling to him. Openly.

The Captain´s face hardened even more, if possible. The Sphinx was back, mask and all, inscrutable as always.

"Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope for you at all, Captain, and also what was the Reverend Mother thinking when she believed I would be of any help to you," she thought.

She took a step back, now, for some reason, overly conscious of the fact that she was wearing nothing but her nightgown.

"Oh, I wish one of these days I were properly attired when I confront him," she thought, her face flaming.

A dowdy gray dress, then a wet dress, and twice in a nightgown. It did not matter that it covered her more decently than anything else she had, it was still a nightgown and no one was supposed to see her in it.

He, on the other hand, always seemed to be impeccable.

"It must be the blessing and the curse of his upbringing," she thought, moving away from the window at last.

If she stayed only a while longer, perhaps she would have noticed that, just before the riders disappeared into the woods, Captain von Trapp turning his head one last time, towards his governess´s window…