Maria made her way down the stairs no longer in the beige dirndl and a cream blouse—with the floral lace detail around her wrist and collar—that she had first worn one of the days she'd taught the children to sing and subsequently fell into the lake; now she was wearing a blush pink, chiffon tea dress. The closer she got to the end of the staircase, she saw eight excitable faces, all giggling and whispering, completely unaware of her presence. After a minute, Maria cleared her throat.

"Fräulein Maria!" Cried a surprised Brigitta, causing all eight of them to go quiet instantly.

"Hello." Maria smiled. "I was wondering where you all had gotten to." Maria was quite relieved when she saw they had all been with Georg; but at the same time, she felt uneasy at how startled they were when they saw her. "Hmm…what have you all been up to?"

"Oh, ha! Nothing, my dear. Don't worry." Georg laughed nervously. "Why don't we have lunch on the terrace?" He quickly made his way towards Maria and wrapped his arms around hers, leading her towards the terrace. Georg looked behind to give his children a playful wink.

"Maria, that dress looks lovely on you." Georg complimented as he guided her towards the lake.

"Oh, thank you." She answered, shyly. "I finished it yesterday. Thank you so much for the lovely pink material; pink is my favourite colour."

"Ah, I thought I had heard that somewhere. It might have been from Marta. It looks as lovely as your blue dress, but this one brings out the pretty colour of your cheeks."

Maria couldn't help but blush, something that always seemed to happen when Georg complimented her. She still hadn't quite gotten used to being called such things.

Frau Schmidt and two other ladies promptly arrived with lunch. Due to the lack of room for all nine of them on the patio table, the family were sitting on a blanket under a few trees near the lake. Everyone enjoyed strawberry jam sandwiches with lemonade and a small slice of cake for dessert. It was such a lovely day to be outside; the sun was shining and there was a light breeze.

After lunch had been eaten and everyone had chance to rest, Friedrich initiated a game of tag between his siblings. Georg was sat leaning against one of the trees holding Maria, who was now sitting between his legs, both watching the children.

"I don't think I have seen them this happy in a long time."

"Hmm?" Maria was too busy enjoying the sun and the feeling of Georg's arms around her that she didn't catch everything he had said the first time. "Oh. Yes. Isn't it lovely? I mean a few weeks ago, they were putting pinecones on my seat at the dinner table, putting toads in my pockets, even spiders!"

Georg laughed at this. "I believe that evening you sat on the pinecone was the moment I really began to find you fascinating. Out of all of the governesses I have tried to employ, you were the only one who stood her ground and managed win over my children in such a short time span." Maria smiled and tilted her head slightly as Georg kissed her temple.

"Fräulein! Please may you play with us." Called Gretl, who was rapidly making her way towards her father and governess. "You did promise us before lunch."

"Indeed I did. I'll be over in a second." She smiled.

The youngest Von Trapp slowly came closer and as soon as Maria was half standing up, half trying not to fall over, she felt Gretl gently tap her back.

"Tag, you're it!" Squealed Gretl, who was now running as fast as she could to her siblings telling them that Fräulein Maria was now 'it'.

Georg laughed as Maria got up and chased his youngest daughter across the grass. As much as he loved her in his arms, he also loved watching her with his children. She was the first woman, since their mother, that they had taken a liking to. She was the sunshine of all of their lives and he would have been a fool if he hadn't gone after her that night.

Even in her pretty pink dress, she was still as playful and as energetic as the children.


A few weeks had passed and, despite a few minor disagreements over small things, Maria and Georg were still as grateful for each other and as loved up as they had been when they had first admitted their feelings to one another on that fateful night.

After saying 'good night' to the children, Georg escorted Maria to the garden after he suggested they go for a moonlit stroll. She was once again wearing her favourite blue dress and as always, he struggled to keep his eyes off of her.

"I always find I appreciate nature a little more in the evening. The moonlight illuminating the water, making it glimmer and twinkle like the stars." Maria sighed.

"That was rather poetic, Fräulein." Georg playfully added.

They continued walking and talking until Maria caught sight of the gazebo and turned to look at Georg.

"Oh my goodness. It looks beautiful."

"Why thank you. Although not nearly as beautiful as you in that dress, my dear. Shall we?" He said, as he lead her inside.

Georg pulled out Maria's chair for her and made his way over to the other side of the table.

"Oh my!" Maria exclaimed, mesmerised. This is so lovely, Captain. I don't know what to say. Did you do all of this yourself?"

"Well, not exactly. I did have seven other helpers."

The gazebo was decorated with fairy lights that hung from the inside. There was a small round table in the middle with several tea light candles and a small vase with a bunch of edelweiss flowers. There were two plates set out and a picnic basket place on a nearby bench. It looked so magical and romantic.

"Shall we, my dear?"

The next hour was spent talking, giggling, blushing and smiling.

"Maria?" Suddenly they both began to feel nervous.

"Um, yes?"

"I have been enchanted by you since the moment I caught you curtsying to your imaginary partner in my ballroom the day you arrived here. Although it was that day I arrived back from Vienna that I had realised I had fallen for you—."

Georg stood up from his seat in order to be closer to Maria. Her breathing was becoming more shallow, unsure what she was anticipating exactly.

"—As a captain, I have been used to people listening to me and obeying my every command, but then you came along and put me in my place. I have been a rubbish father to my children in the last few years and I really needed you to tell me, no matter how much I protested at the time."

This caused Maria to laugh, for she remembered this moment vividly—the Captain slipping up when he called her "captain", quickly correcting himself as Maria smirked at him.

"I don't think I have ever met anyone as stubborn as the two of us." Laughed Maria, smiling at him as he reached for her hands.

"Neither have I, come to think of it." He winked. He cleared his throat before continuing: "I realised I had fallen in love with you that night I sung Edelweiss. I had never seen you dressed in anything so beautiful before, you looked positively breath-taking. And then there was that evening when we danced together for the first time. I revelled in the fact that I could hold you in my arms that evening, without being accused of impropriety."

"I still cherish that memory. Although I am sorry for stopping so abruptly. As I said at the time though: I genuinely wasn't used to dancing, especially with handsome captains." She smiled, dazed.

Georg held his hands out to help Maria up, proceeding to place a soft, sweet kiss on her lips once she had risen. Maria slowly moved her arms around his neck, neither wanting the moment to end.

"Maria, I adore you and so do my seven children. They haven't behaved too brilliantly for previous governesses, and didn't take much of a liking to Elsa either. It's so lovely to see the way you are with them and they are always more excited to see you than me."

Maria was so overcome with emotion that she couldn't suppress the tear that was gliding down her cheek. What did she do to deserve a man like Georg? A romantic dinner under the stars, an expression of love. How could this evening get any better? Of course, Georg was close to putting the icing on the cake for her.

"I love you so much, Maria. I don't think I will ever be able to explain just what you mean to me." Georg wiped the happy tears that were cascading down his beloved's cheek. "And so, I have a question for you..." Georg proceeded to lower himself onto one knee and produced a small velvet box. "...Maria Rainer, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

Maria stood in shock, with a huge smile on her face and even less control of the tears running down her cheek. "I don't know what to say. Of course I will. I don't think anything could make me happier." She cried, throwing her arms around him once more.

Georg pushed the elegant silver band onto the fourth finger on her left hand. The ring wasn't extravagant, but very pretty- just like Maria. It was made up of a small white diamond, with two smaller sapphires, one on either side.

"Oh, Georg, it's stunning!" She said. "I love you."


A/N Thank you for all the kind reviews. I have so much more free time soon, so I plan to write something new. I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it :)