"I will never let her go away again." He said.
Looking at the inside of the villa while hearing his children's happy voice and their stories with excitement, He prayed "Thank you dearest God for giving me another chance."
He went inside his study room after the children went to dinner. He can't stop himself from showing how happy he was, He hums or even whistle his children's song. He gave one look to Agathe's picture on his table.
"Agathe… I'll make sure I will marry a good woman. And I know I found her."
He heard something from behind. He knew it's just from his imagination but he believes it is his past wife.
"Georg, you don't know how happy am I to see you standing up after the great grief. This is now your time to be happy and That is my only wish. I know that it is her who will make you happy and I am sure that she will be a good mother and a wife. Darling, you're now free, go and get her immediately. Take this opportunity. I know that you love her so much, your Maria."
He was surprised with his wife's word.
"Agathe, I love you so much."
He let some silence came around him.
"I must do something. But I don't want to scare her. "He thought.
"I'll start it tomorrow! All right." He said, acting like a teenage boy who plans to court a girl.
"Fraulein! Why did you left without saying goodbye? We are worried." Marta said at the middle of eating.
"Yes. We even thought that Father said something bad to you." Louisa continued.
Maria doesn't know how she'll react on what Louisa said.
"oh…"
"Now, Let us finish eating and I'll tell you more stories." She just said.
Liesl noticed her Fraulein's pale face.
"No Fraulein, you can tell stories tomorrow. We're sure you are tired so you can have your rest after this. Anyway, We have some things to do, right?" Liesl told her siblings with a wink, a sign that she thought of something like a plan.
"ohhh. Yes! You can take your rest Fraulein Maria." Brigitta saved her sister even though she doesn't know what Liesl's up to.
The children had no choice but to go with their sister even though they really wanted to hear her stories.
"Thank you. I'll promise to play with you the whole day tomorrow as my repayment because of leaving."
"No worries Fraulein." Liesl said.
After everyone is finished, Maria went to her room and had an early sleep. She's not much tired but because she has nothing to do, she planned to sleep early but she can't really sleep.
Meanwhile, the children went to their study room.
"We should be listening to Fraulein Maria's stories right now." Kurt said.
"Kurt, didn't you noticed that something bothers Fraulein Maria?"
"Something bothers? What is it?" Friedrich asked.
"I don't know that's why I told her to have some rest."
"Why do you want to have this meeting?" Kurt asked her.
"Well, I feel something bad with Fraulein Maria. She seems happy to be back here and yet she acts something like she doesn't want too."
"I noticed it too." Louisa said.
"I don't want Fraulein Maria to leave again." Gretl slipped in.
"But she'll leave next month. Father only hired her until September." Friedrich answered her.
"Yes…" Kurt worried.
"So that's it!" Liesl had an idea.
"We'll make the best until next month. We'll make Fraulein Maria enjoy her last days here." She continued.
"We'll help her on her chores and we'll play all the time! " Louisa exclaimed with a big smile.
"Alright!" everyone said.
"Is everyone in?"
"In!" the children shouted with a salute.
"Okay, our duty will start tomorrow."
"Aye sir!" everyone laughed.
"Mission: Don't let Fraulein Maria became sad" Gretl and Marta said excitedly.
"So what's the plan?" Friedrich asked.
"I got an idea!" Brigitta said.
"Tomorrow morning, we'll wake up earlier than Fraulein Maria. We will prepare her a breakfast and deliver it to her room before she wakes up. We'll leave it there. After she took her breakfast and take a bath, Friedrich and Kurt will get her breakfast plates and put it in the kitchen. Louisa and I will fix her room. Liesl will help Gretl and Marta in waking up and their bath. After it, We will go here and finish our studies before Fraulein Maria come here. We should do it secretly, without letting Fraulein Maria know about this."
"What if it fails?"
"Think positive! There's no plan B. I'm sure we can do it right for our Fraulein Maria. "Liesl assured.
Maria entered her room right after her dinner and sat at her bed. She gave some time to look at her surroundings.
"Welcome back." She smiled then sighed.
She planned to fixed her clothes and put it in her cabinet. While fixing her things, a paper slipped out from the pocket of her gray dress. She picked it up and stared at it. She remembered, it is a letter from the Baroness that was given this morning.
"Sister Maria, someone is looking for you. She said she is Baroness Schraeder." Sister Bernice said to her after the Morning Prayer. She had no choice but to see her even though she doesn't want too, she's under seclusion.
"I'll leave you first." Max said then went to the car. A minute of silence surrounded them before Elsa spoke. Maria couldn't keep her head up.
"Fraulein Maria…" then she smiled at her.
"Thank you for being a good friend even though I really became so bad to you. You gave all of your effort to make these children close to me but that didn't happened. I'm really not the right person for this family. I, actually, envy you for being so close to the children and to the Cap..." she paused. She surprisingly looked at her then bow again.
"About that, take this. I'll leave with the train this morning to Vienna. I just drop by to give you this letter. It is nice to meet you, Fraulein. Auf Wiedersehen." She handed the letter and then gave her a smirk. She rode the car and left. Maria doesn't know what she'll say to her. She can't give any word.
She opened the letter and read it:
Fraulein Maria,
I am sorry for giving you a problem. You should go back now. There's nothing you should be worried. The children missed you. I don't suit being there mother that's why I planned to leave and broke the engagement. If you became a nun, I'm happy for you. But if you failed, you still have a home to live. You should be the mother of these seven wonderful children.
Elsa
"No… my life is for the convent." She assured herself with a voice that is scared.
"Find out what is the will of God and do it wholeheartedly." She remembered what she said to the Reverend Mother when she was about to send her as a governess.
"God, it's up to you. Whatever your Will for me is, I'll do it for you." She prayed.
"Maybe what the Baroness wants to say is that, I should make the children feel that their mother is with them." She told her said, thinking like a child.
"If that is what it means, I'll do it tomorrow. Alright!" Maria said. She prayed for a while then went to sleep.
