Disclaimer: I don't own the Sound of Music ... except on DVD.
Author's notes: If you've been keeping up with the story, this chapter is new. It replaces the previous chapter 4 (which has now become chapter 5). Confused? Don't be. Just read :) Let me know what you think!
This chapter was a tough one. I wanted it to emphasize the strengths Maria brings to the marriage, since the previous chapters are a little "Captain-heavy" (as if that's a bad thing) and Maria is shown in a fairly passive light.
Chapter 4
Maria had left Austria once before in her life for a short visit to Germany—where the language was the same even if the accent was different. Now, as she stood in the bustling Parisian train station, a delightful cacophony of foreign sounds played upon her ear. She was captivated above all by the modulation of her husband's voice as he haggled with a driver about transporting them and their luggage to their hotel. She couldn't understand a word of the conversation, but she loved hearing his familiar tone diverted into such unfamiliar sounds.
Another train arrived, disgorging scores of passengers onto the platform, and the resulting sea of humanity held such interest as to tear Maria's attention from her husband's strong jaw and sharp profile. Her gaze roved from person to person as she played at distinguishing the Parisians from the visitors, the French from the foreigners. There were women with aquiline noses and haughty expressions, harried parents dragging their children hurriedly through the crowd, finely dressed young men with slick hair that glinted under the electric lights, a couple reunited after a seemingly long absence—all fodder for Maria's expansive imagination.
Her eye, however, fell quickly upon a sight that replaced the playful expression of her eyes with one of profound sympathy. A young girl who looked to be about Marta's age was sitting against a pillar several feet away. She was shabbily dressed, alone, and wearing a distinctly forlorn expression.
A whisper of indecision flitted briefly across Maria's features. Then, chin firmly set, she stepped away from her husband's side and strode toward a nearby cart where a man was selling bread. She pointed to a large bun, took from a small handbag the francs Georg had given her on the train, and murmured a self-conscious "Merci" to the vendor as he wrapped the bun in paper. She made one additional purchase—a delicate bunch of lavender—then stepped toward the pillar where the girl sat.
Maria squatted down in front of her and gave her a bright smile. "Hello," she said, and the girl looked up quizzically at the sound of her foreign tongue. "I bought you some flowers. They smell wonderful." Maria brought the lavender to her nose and inhaled deeply. "Here." She held them out to the girl, who regarded her with a confused and wary expression. "See how good they smell?" She sniffed them again, closing her eyes with exaggerated contentment. Comprehending at last, the girl sniffed the flowers, and a shy smile crept across her face, kindling a light in her eyes.
Maria smiled broadly in return, and the girl relaxed visibly, her smile widening, revealing a deep dimple in her cheek. "I thought you might like them. You can keep them." She pushed the stems gently into the child's yielding hand.
"Are you hungry?" Maria asked, unwrapping the bun from the paper. The girl gazed keenly at the bread. "I'm starving," Maria continued, rubbing her stomach to mime hunger. "I've been on a train all day." She tore off a piece and put it in her mouth, then held the bun out to the girl, who, less reticent than before, broke off a healthy chunk and began to eat. She met Maria's eye and was graced with a friendly wink as they both chewed contentedly through the crusty bread.
"You know, I'm quite sure I'll have a meal awaiting me at my hotel," Maria mused theatrically as she swallowed her first mouthful. As if making a sudden decision, she pressed the remaining bread into the girl's hand, indicating that she should keep it. "It would be a shame to spoil my appetite."
The girl beamed up at her, but then something beyond Maria's shoulder caught her eye and her smile faded. Maria looked around to see that Georg had come up behind her. She stood and turned to face him, wiping crumbs from her blouse. "Are we ready, darling?" she asked expectantly.
"Yes, everything is arranged." He paused, smiling down at her, and his voice softened. "It looks like you're already making friends in Paris."
Maria chuckled and glanced toward the pillar, but the girl had disappeared.
"I think I scared her away," Georg added, shaking his head ruefully. "I do seem to have that effect on children."
Touched by the wistfulness in his voice, Maria stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. She enveloped his hand in both of hers as they began to walk. "Oh, Captain, it has nothing to do with you per se," she explained encouragingly. "It's just that you're so ... tall."
A short burst of amused laughter escaped his lips. "Tall? Is that what you call it?"
"Mm-hm."
"I thought perhaps terrifying was a more applicable term."
"Even I was frightened of you at first," she replied, teasing him. "Until you blew that silly whistle."
"Oh, I can be a bit of a tyrant," he said, taking both her hands in his and pulling her around gently so she was facing him. "You, however ... are an angel." He brought her hand—the one that wore his ring—to his lips. "I have something for you."
He reached into his jacket and pulled from an inside pocket a delicate bunch of lavender. He held it up to his nose and inhaled lightly, then tilted it downward so she could smell it too.
She laughed a crystalline laugh.
"I was watching," he admitted with a half-guilty shrug, his eyes overflowing with tenderness.
It was amazing, Maria mused absently as her gaze melded with his, how two people could suddenly be alone in a busy train station.
"Nothing," she murmured, lowering her eyes to look once more at the delicate flowers he held between them, "could convince me that you have ever been anything but gentle, kind, and completely soft-hearted."
"Ah," he breathed, running a hand through her hair and tilting her head back up so he could see her face. "What about being a father who didn't know his own children and dressed them in straitjackets?"
She laughed sympathetically and cocked her head, looking him straight in the eye. "Darling, you aren't allowed to quote me being peevish—at least, not today." He chuckled, enchanted, and she reached up to caress his cheek. "Besides, as a father, you were just a little ... out of practice."
A comfortable pattern of domestic bliss had developed in the von Trapp household during the week following the Captain and Maria's engagement. Each evening, the family sat down to supper and the children would talk excitedly about the events of the day and concoct plans for the next. Then, when plates were clean and the food began to settle comfortably in their stomachs, the party would reconvene in the family room. Still basking in the glow of Maria's return, the children would sit around her as she sang, told them stories, or taught them a new song that she had loved as a child.
Sometimes Max would interject a timely joke or a comic tale that would send the children into a fit of giggles. Sometimes the Captain would join in the singing, powerless to resist any invitation that Maria's eyes held out to him. Most often he was content to sit and watch her, to let her voice wash over him, to see how beautifully she interacted with his children. Her inherent ability to understand and respond to each of their personalities continually astounded him—the way she addressed Liesl as an adult, the particular attention she paid Marta, the knowing looks she shared with Brigitta.
When a contented languor had begun to bewitch them all, Maria would announce that it was time for the children to go to bed. With only a few grumbles of complaint, the children would say goodnight, and soon thereafter Maria would excuse herself for a moment to check on them and tuck them into bed.
On the fifth evening, however, instead of taking her leave as usual, Maria turned to the Captain and held out her hand. "Coming, darling?" she asked, as if they had come to some kind of understanding beforehand. He looked up at her blankly, then at her outstretched hand. With a bewildered glance at Max, he got to his feet and obediently accepted her hand.
"Please excuse us, Max," Maria said. "We'll be back shortly." Max waved them off, chuckling as he turned his twinkling eyes back to his magazine.
Her fingers entwined lightly with his, Maria led the Captain through the grand entranceway; then he paused on the landing and cast her a quizzical look, unsure of what she had planned.
"I always say goodnight to the boys first," Maria explained helpfully, pulling him toward the staircase.
When they reached the upper level, she rapped lightly on the first door, then opened it a crack and poked her head in. Kurt was sitting on his bed, absorbed in picking at a scab on his knee. Maria gave him a look of exaggerated sternness, and he pulled his pajama pant leg down, grinning sheepishly. Friedrich was propped on his elbow, reading a book by the light of his bedside lamp.
"Goodnight, you two." Maria said warmly.
"Goodnight, Fraulein Maria," Kurt replied, flopping back onto his pillows.
"Goodnight, Fr—" Friedrich began but then stopped when he noticed his father standing in the doorway just behind his governess. His face twitched slightly. "Goodnight, Fraulein Maria. Goodnight, Father." He looked gravely pleased.
Kurt had sat back up. "Goodnight, Father!" he exclaimed jovially.
"Goodnight, Kurt. Friedrich." The Captain nodded at each of them.
Maria shut the door with a gentle click and guided him down the hallway to where the soft glow from an open doorway cast a triangle of light on the carpet. Brigitta too was reading a book in bed. Louisa was combing her thick blond hair, and Liesl sat gazing out the window across the lake, still dressed in her dinner clothes. Each looked around at the sound of Maria's voice, and they looked at each other with pleased surprise when they saw their father standing beside her in the doorway.
"Goodnight, Father. Goodnight, Fraulein Maria." Brigitta's large eyes sparkled as she marked her place and closed the book.
Liesl smiled playfully as she stood up from the window seat and performed a dainty curtsy. "Goodnight, Father. Goodnight, Mother. — I'm just practicing," she responded innocently to the startled look on her father's face. Louisa couldn't contain a giggle.
"Goodnight, ladies," the Captain said archly, a smile tugging at his lips. His hand traveled to rest on Maria's shoulder as he pulled the door shut, leaving the two of them alone in the dark hallway. He placed a kiss on her forehead, and she snaked her arm around his waist as they continued on to the nursery where Gretl and Marta slept.
When they looked into the nursery, they saw the two girls sitting on the edge of Marta's bed looking through a picture book and talking quietly to each other.
"Hello, girls," Maria's musical voice interrupted their murmurs of conversation. "Are you all ready for bed?"
"Yes!" Gretl replied, bounding off of the bed to stand at Maria's side. "But I can't sleep until you fix my hair," she announced gravely.
"Come sit over here," Maria replied, taking her hand and leading her to the child-size vanity that sat beside the window. "Do you want it in a braid?" Gretl nodded enthusiastically and began chattering away to her governess as the latter ran the brush through her long sandy hair.
The Captain, left standing just inside the doorway, looked over at Marta, who had turned her attention back to her picture book. Glancing around as if for some kind of support, he finally moved over to the bed and perched himself somewhat stiffly beside his daughter.
"Hello, what have you got here?" he asked her, fingering a page of the book.
She looked up at him shyly. "It's a story about a princess."
"Is that her?" he asked, pointing to an illustration of a young woman in a flowing pink gown. "She's very beautiful."
"Her dress is lovely," Marta volunteered sincerely, running her finger down the length of the gown.
"Shall I read it to you?"
She looked quickly up at him and nodded, suddenly smiling and revealing the gap left behind by a recently lost tooth.
When Maria turned her attention from Gretl a few minutes later, her eyes glowed with sudden warmth at what she saw. Marta was sitting beside her father, her arms wrapped loosely around his arm as her head leaned against it, completely captivated by the story. As he reached the last page and closed the book with gentle and slow finality, his daughter gazed up at him adoringly. He dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head and helped her settle down onto her pillow.
"Goodnight, darling," he said and received another flash of a smile in return before she closed her eyes and turned onto her side.
He felt a slight tug on his trousers and looked down to see Gretl with her head cocked back, looking up at him. "Goodnight, Father," she said.
He reached down and lifted her high into the air. "Goodness, you've gotten big!" he exclaimed, kissing her on the nose as he brought her down to rest on his hip. He dropped her gently onto her bed and somewhat awkwardly tucked the covers around her little body. "Goodnight, Gretl."
"Goodnight, girls," Maria echoed, as she flipped off the light and gestured for the Captain to follow her out of the room.
When the door was shut behind them and they were alone again in the dim hallway, the Captain, suddenly self-conscious, stiffened somewhat and cleared his throat. "Shall we rejoin Max, then?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"In a moment," Maria replied, looking up at him with shining eyes before moving onto her tiptoes and pressing her warm and inviting lips to his. She felt him relax into her touch.
"Was that my goodnight kiss?" he murmured, one eyebrow raised flirtatiously.
"One of many, I hope," was her irresistible reply.