A/N: Well, this turned out to be a bit of a crazy/family fun chapter with the von Trapp children at play here. They sort of "stole the scene" with the little ones unintentionally playing matchmaker.
Thanks to LandoLady for beta reading once again…
Enjoy!
Chapter 4While Matthew and Friedrich cleaned themselves up after working on the truck, Liesl directed the others to the dining room. A little apprehensive, she turned to Matthew when he came in, chewed on her lip, and took a deep breath.
"Thanks again, Matthew, you've been a great help for us today. I do hope you didn't miss out on anything because of this." She gave him a small smile when he shook his head.
"Not at all… Well, I might be a bit late for family dinner," he admitted as he looked at his watch and shrugged his shoulders, "but don't worry. I'm sure Colleen's told them what happened, so they won't miss me, I'm sure." He didn't mind being late or missing dinner altogether since he was sure his family would understand. Living on his own, he knew they had gotten used to his sometimes skipping a planned family meal.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that… I… well… maybe… would you… that is—only if you want to—eat with us…?" she stammered and felt her face flush warm under his gaze.
Mathew chuckled at her hesitation; she was obviously very nervous about the whole thing—he was, too. But looking at her siblings in the background he saw no one objecting to this idea. The little girls seemed eager to have him join. He was someone new to tell tales to, and he could only assume they would be about fairies and princesses. His baby sister Katie was the same age, and she was obsessed with princesses. Friedrich looked happy, too. He had found someone to talk mechanics with, while his younger brother Kurt was more interested in nature and food.
Liesl looked back at her siblings as well, and when she saw that everyone seemed to like the idea of having Matthew as their dinner guest, she sighed in relief. Now she only hoped he would accept the invitation. When she saw him nod in consent she grinned widely. Then she quickly moved to the kitchen and got an extra plate and utensils.
As she came into the dining room she saw that Friedrich had placed an extra chair next to his seat and was pleased knowing her brother would get to talk more about what interested him with their new friend.
Within a short while everyone was seated, and Liesl looked to the other end of the table where Matthew was sitting. Friedrich had already occupied him with talk about cars. With a pleased look on her face she started to help her younger siblings get their dinner.
The talk around the table obviously turned to their parents and how soon their baby brother or sister would come. It had been a great debate in the family about what sex their new sibling would be, or what they wanted it to be. Most of the younger girls wanted a baby sister, but both Kurt and Friedrich argued that the family was in dire need of another boy.
When they were almost finished eating, the phone rang out in the hall, and Liesl quickly ran out to answer it. Within a few seconds everyone else scampered out to join her, all eager to hear news from their parents. Matthew smiled to himself—he was starting to become very fond of this family and hoped he would be able to spend more time with them. Looking out at the group, he realized that one person was the primary reason for this longing. She was currently speaking very hurriedly into the phone. When her smile widened and she looked at her siblings with joy in her eyes, they knew the baby had arrived.
She quickly ended her phone call and turned to the others and said, "We got a baby brother, he is doing fine, and so is Mother! Father will stay there until tomorrow, and he said that we can all stay home from school. He will pick us up, and we can all visit Mother and our new baby brother."
The joyous scene before Matthew was slightly chaotic. Everyone was ecstatic over this news, the boys mainly because they got the baby brother they wanted. The younger girls were almost squealing in delight, jumping up and down. Then the discussion about names started.
Liesl looked over at Matthew and smiled a little apologetically over the noise level, but he only grinned even more. He was pleased the news from the hospital had been wonderful.
After several minutes of lively talk among the von Trapp children, Liesl tried to get everyone to calm down. When she succeeded she ordered everyone into the dining room to finish up their dinner.
The joyous talk continued at the table, and everyone was excited about tomorrow when they would meet their new little brother.
When dinner was finished Liesl and Louisa cleaned up in the kitchen while the others went into the family room. Liesl wanted to finish up quickly because she knew the younger girls would soon be very tired. But Louisa was more interested in observing her older sister. She had noticed on several occasions her sister's composure had slipped when Matthew had looked at her or smiled. The girl started to add up the clues, and a huge grin spread over her face. She was fourteen years old and had only recently started to get remotely interested in anything girly, and that included boys.
Liesl sighed in frustration when she yet again caught her sister staring into nothing with a silly grin on her face.
"Why can't you concentrate? We have to finish here so we can get Gretl and Martha to bed. Please get your dreamy head out of the pink clouds and help me here," she implored and threw a washcloth over to her sister. She knew Louisa was starting to daydream more often, and she smiled as she remembered how she had been at that same age.
Louisa looked down at the washcloth in front of her and then looked up at her sister and blurted out, "Sooo, this Matthew, how well do you know him? He seems like a nice guy and he is quite dreamy, isn't he?" The last question was asked with amusement. She could clearly see her comments had ticked off her sister—her face was starting to go red, both from embarrassment and anger.
Liesl looked at Louisa with annoyance written all over her face. She had hoped her siblings would not pick up on her—still chaotic—feelings about Matthew. She didn't know how to respond so she just pointed her finger at her sister and almost hissed, "Stay out of it, clean the table, and let's get the girls in bed."
"Uhhh, getting a bit touchy, eh… I knew it. You like him, don't you? Oh, what will Father say to the fact that you let him stay over for dinner, keeping male company without their consent… I'm not sure he'd approve of it… well, everyone else seemed to be okay with it. And he is a nice guy… but Father… oh boy, you're in a lot of trouble." She grinned wickedly at her now flustered sister.
"Will you just shut up already? It's nothing like that. I… we… I'm not even interested in that right now. You know that. I don't want to talk about it. I'll deal with Father tomorrow. Stay out of it, okay?" she admonished her in a hurry. She was angry with her sister but also with herself. How could she have shown her feelings so openly? She sighed and hoped their father would not ground her forever for inviting Matthew for dinner. She knew her father didn't approve of her spending time in male company without their knowing about it first. But in her defense, she reasoned inside her head, they hadn't been entirely alone. They had eaten dinner with everyone else; she hoped this argument would work on her father.
Louisa snickered to herself while she finished up cleaning the table. Then the two of them walked into the family room. The sight that greeted them was comical in every way. It seemed as if the youngest von Trapp girls had wanted to play some form of fairytale story before bedtime. Everyone wore some form of costume or hat indicating their role in it. Kurt had a chef's hat, Friedrich wore a king's crown, Brigitta and Marta wore pointed fairy hats, and Gretl was a princess. Matthew had obviously been dubbed the prince. He now wore a handmade paper crown with fake glittery stones glued on it, and the girls had even managed to find some form of royal cape.
Liesl tried not to laugh out loud and placed a hand over her mouth stifling the mirth she felt bubbling inside her. When everyone saw Louisa and her come into the room, they were met with a gleeful Gretl. "Look, Liesl, we play fairy tale. Matthew is the prince… see, he wears the crown I made in school." Liesl looked over at Matthew and cast him an apologetic look, still trying to hide her amusement over the whole scene. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, letting her know he really didn't mind.
Louisa half-whispered into her sister's ear, "Ah, I would more say he is Prince Charming, would you not? Eh, Liesl?" She cast her younger sister a look that clearly told her not to continue her train of thought. But Louisa grinned cheekily and turned to her sisters and pronounced, "Well, I want to be the wicked witch that turns the prince into a frog. The spell will only end when he is kissed by the princess." Gretl jumped up and looked into the huge bag that held her playthings and costumes. She soon found a wand and a witch's hat and turned to Liesl with a thoughtful look on her face, clearly trying to come up with what role Liesl should be.
Louisa whispered to her younger sister, "Liesl wants to be the princess so she can kiss Prince Charming," and when she was met with a doubtful look from Gretl she explained, "I know you're a princess, too… but she could be your older sister." When she still didn't budge Louisa added, "Well, you can both kiss the prince." This made Gretl happy, and she sprang to her bag of costumes.
When she walked over to her eldest sister with yet another princess crown, she was met with a fuming Liesl, who cast angry stares at Louisa. Gretl yanked at her oldest sister's dress, trying to get her attention.
Liesl bent down and reluctantly let Gretl put on the princess crown. She hoped Matthew had not heard one word of her sisters' whispers. She only did this to make her little sister happy and wished this soon would be over so they could put them to bed.
When Liesl stood up again she cast a shy glance toward Matthew. He seemed relaxed as if this whole bizarre fairytale setup didn't bother him at all. He grinned at her, and when she threw him an apologetic look and slightly rolled her eyes he laughed and allowed, "Well, there is a first time for everything… but remember I, too, have a baby sister. She just turned four years old so I know everything there is to know about fairy tales and how things work in them. So don't worry too much about it—I really don't mind at all."
Then the over-imaginative Gretl continued her fairytale story, and Liesl soon realized the girl had a rather impressive storyline set up. As far as she could follow, there had been a great party in celebrating the birthday of the young princess. The cook (Kurt) had made all of her favorite food. The two fairies (Brigitta and Marta) had cast good luck charms on the princess. Now with a witch in the play the prince was magically transformed, and Matthew stole the show with his rather impressive impersonation of a croaking frog.
The younger girls squealed in delight over his antics, and when he looked over at Liesl he saw that she, too, seemed to enjoy his little act. He beamed and gave her small wink, making her blush slightly. When Louisa started to giggle Liesl turned to her sister and gave her warning glare. Louisa turned to Gretl and casually asked, "So when is the prince going to turn into a prince again? He needs a kiss from the princesses." She pointed to Gretl and then at Liesl, including her in the princess roles.
Liesl sighed and conceded, "Go on, Gretl, go kiss the prince and turn him into a prince again." She really yearned for this to be over soon, but when her baby sister walked over to her and took her hand to pull her over towards Matthew she knew it wouldn't end like she wanted.
"You princess, too, remember, we both kiss prince. The wicked witch made double spell on him. It's tricky so he needs two kisses," she stated firmly and pulled on her sister's hand even more. Liesl groaned inwardly. She could see Gretl wouldn't budge on this one. She cast a glance around at her siblings. Her brothers held their laughter inside, but she could see the mirth in their eyes. Louisa and Brigitta giggled, while both Marta and Gretl now urged her openly.
She looked at Matthew trying to gauge what his thoughts were on this matter. He sat on the couch and looked calm and relaxed over the whole thing. When he saw her worried look he shrugged his shoulders and responded, "What can we do? I'm still a frog—you heard how the wicked witch cast a double spell."
When Liesl finally moved to sit next to him she placed herself as far away from him as she could. She was not even sure she wanted to do this and looked pleadingly at her sisters hoping they would drop the whole thing. But both Marta and Gretl had jumped up on the couch and parked themselves on the other side of Matthew. Gretl then sat up on her knees, leaning her hands on his shoulders. She looked over at Liesl and gave her a pointed stare that told her sister to get moving.
Liesl shook her head and whispered, "Alright, let's get this over with." Then she leaned over to Matthew and placed a quick, light kiss on his cheek. His skin felt warm under her lips, and she was suddenly very much aware of what position she was in, and how close she was to Matthew—nearer even than they had been sitting in his truck earlier that day.
With all this swirling in her mind she pulled away abruptly and moved further away from him, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. She fiddled nervously with her fingers and glanced over at him. He had just received his second kiss, a very sloppy one, from Gretl, who now happily announced that the prince was finally a prince again. The girls clapped in delight and jumped up and down.
Finally pulling herself together Liesl stood up and announced it was bedtime. This information was met with several groans of protest. But she insisted it was now far beyond their usual bedtime and they really needed the rest so they could be ready to meet their new baby brother.
Matthew stood up as well, took off his prince crown and cape, and agreed, "I think I'll be going now and leave you to get these fairies and princesses to bed." He winked at Gretl, who still sat next to him, and she gave him a huge grin. She had obviously liked that he had joined in on her little game.
"Yes, and thank you once again for driving me…us… eh…" Liesl stammered slightly and tried to come up with something coherent to say. When she heard Louisa and Brigitta start to giggle she looked over at them and saw them with heads close together, having obviously whispered something to each other. Liesl sighed deeply, walked over to them, and ordered, "Girls, please get upstairs now and please take Gretl and Marta with you." She turned to her brothers. "Would you please help them get everyone upstairs? I'll just walk Matthew out, and then I'll come up and help you."
Louisa and Brigitta kept their heads close together, still whispering. Friedrich and Kurt took it upon themselves to guide the two youngest girls upstairs. Liesl smiled her thanks to them.
Matthew moved out into the hallway and found his flat cap, then turned towards Liesl. He wasn't sure how to say goodbye. He was uncertain whether it would be permissible to ask to see her again, maybe even alone.
"You have a really nice family…" he tried vaguely as he twisted his cap in his hand.
"Thank you." She averted his eyes and felt her face blush under his stare.
She looked back at him and suddenly noticed a small sparkly stone from the prince's crown that had fallen off and was still hanging in his hair. Without giving it much thought she stepped closer and reached up to retrieve it. Her fingers felt the softness of his hair, and when she suddenly became aware of his breath gently caressing her face she pulled away quickly and aimlessly waved the rhinestone in the air, trying to apologize, "Eh, this…" she showed him the stone, "this… was in your hair. Sorry… I… well…" She gave up and lowered her eyes.
"Thank you, guess the magic of the fairy tale didn't wear off completely," he chuckled. He'd been slightly shocked to see her step so close to him. In the shortest of moments it took for her to capture the errant rhinestone, he had suddenly felt a surge within of longing to move closer to her. But he kept himself still, not wishing to scare her off, but the scent of her perfume still lingered in his nostrils. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to get his bearings again, scratched nervously behind his ear, and looked down at her.
"I, well, I know we haven't… I… We don't know each other that well, yet… but maybe… if you want to… we could do something together… soon," he stammered and ran a nervous hand through his hair. This was turning out to be more difficult than he had imagined. It had been far too long since he had asked a girl this question. For a second he felt the pain of losing Ingrid a year-and-a-half ago, still feeling the wound in his heart. But as he looked over at Liesl he felt his heart beat a little faster and found himself hoping they could get to know each other more.
She had noticed the various emotions running over his features, and she saw the short moment of pain in his eyes. She had heard about Ingrid, and she knew he had been devastated by the loss of his fiancée. She, too, carried some scars in her heart and suddenly felt rather connected to the man in front of her so she found herself responding, "I think I would like that, yes."
His eyes lit up and he agreed, "That sounds wonderful… I… well… we could go somewhere this weekend, if you're free, that is."
"Hmm, yes, that would be lovely. But I must speak with Father and Mother—he wants to know who I socialize with…" She smiled apologetically and explained, "I think he thinks that all American men are scoundrels or something. He gave me a huge lecture on the subject just before I started college." She produced a strangled laugh, remembering the rather embarrassing talk she had had with her father. Thankfully her mother had been present as well.
Matthew gulped slightly when she mentioned her father, the image of the imposing Captain von Trapp he had met at the hospital passing before his mind's eye. He could only imagine with trepidation a man like him wanting to know whom his daughter associated with.
Liesl had seen his worry and tried to calm him down. "Don't worry, I'm sure he wont mind, he already met you after all. You got his family home safely—that has to count for something. Don't you think?" She smiled at him and continued when he nodded, "I'll talk with him tomorrow, and then we could meet up in school the day after. Would that be alright?"
"Yes… sure… I'll see you Friday then. Bye." He reached out to her in a polite gesture, and without thinking she took his proffered hand. When she felt his warm skin against her own, she was shocked to feel sparks shoot up her arm. She looked down in wonder at their clasped hands and realized she hadn't pulled away from him. With their connection still unbroken they looked into each other's eyes, and time suddenly stood still for the two young people. Blue eyes met blue eyes, one hurt heart reached out to the other hurt heart.
Suddenly the bubble around them burst when they heard giggling coming from upstairs. Liesl pulled away from him and whipped around to look up angrily at her siblings. She saw all the girls peek down at them through the banister, while the boys lingered in the back, appearing not to be interested in what happened downstairs, but she saw their pointed stares at Matthew.
She sighed in frustration—it appeared her brothers and sisters just wouldn't leave her alone on this. Glaring up at them she commanded everyone go to their own rooms. As they scurried away from the banister, even more giggles were heard from the girls, and Liesl knew she was in for some questions later.
"I'm sorry about that, they… are, well, just annoying, really." Liesl tried to explain, but when she saw the knowing grin on his face she remembered that he, too, had noisy younger siblings.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I'll be questioned about everything that happened today by Colleen. And even Katie might want to know a few details. I imagine when she hears you got a baby brother she'll want to know everything about him. She is a bit obsessed really, about becoming a big sister." He laughed at this. The past few months Katie had pretty much asked her parents every day when she would become a big sister. Much to the annoyance of his foster parents.
Liesl grinned and was very pleased that he understood how she felt. Suddenly they both fell silent as neither one of them knew what else to say. They stood like that for several moments, until Matthew finally put on his cap, gave a small wave of his hand, and said, "Guess I better go now. I'll see you Friday at school." She moved to open the door for him, and when she had said her goodbye she kept looking out of the door while he walked to his truck. Halfway there he turned and waved again, his smile wide and full of hope of their meeting again soon. She waved back and leaned her head on the door frame. She was still slightly confused by her own feelings at the moment, but deep down in herself she recognized an emotion she had thought to be gone forever.
When his car finally drove off she reluctantly moved inside and closed the door behind her. She stood still, her body leaning back against the door, trying to get her own feelings under control. She knew she had started to like Matthew—now she only hoped her family, her father primarily, would approve of this. Knowing how little he had thought of her relationship with Rolf, she feared it would be difficult to convince him it was a good idea for her to spend time with Matthew. She only hoped her mother would see how important to her he was becoming and she would help make her case.
Liesl was pulled out of her reveries when she heard a loud cry from upstairs. From the sound of it, it seemed Brigitta and Kurt had started a fight over something. Moaning in defeat she moved upstairs and prepared for the battle ahead.
An hour later she was finally alone in her own room. Getting the younger children to bed had proven to be a difficult task. Everyone was excited about their new baby brother, and they had a hard time calming down and going to sleep. It had taken two bedtime stories before the youngest finally closed their eyes. Now Liesl lay in her own bed rethinking everything that had happened all day. With butterflies still fluttering in her stomach she fell into a dream-filled sleep, a slight grin played around her lips. She had to admit she couldn't wait to see Matthew again the following Friday.
A/N: Okay, yet another longish chapter. Thanks for reviewing this…
Up next: the dreaded talk with her Father. How will that go…?
FYI: I got something interesting brewing in my head for future chapters… it won't just be a sappy love story ;) There will be some drama/angst… (The idea is still a work in progress, but follow my story and you'll find out what I have planned for this.)