Her Father's Daughter
by Bluebird88
Disclaimer: The Sound of Music is the property of Rodgers and Hammerstein, 20th Century Fox, and various script writers and producers. No copyright infringement is intended. Several lines from the movie are quoted at various points throughout the story. If it sounds familiar, it probably isn't mine.
Chapter10: A New Mother
The next morning, the children went down to breakfast and found Father sitting alone at the table.
"Where are Uncle Max and Fräulein Maria?" Gretl wanted to know. Louisa smiled inwardly, noticing that her little sister didn't bother to ask about the baroness.
"We had a late night," Father was saying. "Max and Baroness Schraeder are still sleeping."
He didn't answer the question, Louisa thought irritably. She wasn't the only one to have noticed.
"Well, what about Fräulein Maria?" Gretl pressed.
Father hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly explained, "Children, Fräulein Maria has decided to return to the abbey. I'm sure she'll miss you all very much, but we have to respect her wishes."
At that, something like a small explosion occurred in the von Trapp dining room. Outraged, the children all began yelling at once.
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"Back to the Abbey?"
"But why?"
"Why didn't she tell us herself?"
"She didn't say anything about leaving!"
Father had had enough. "Children, please!" he held up a hand. "I cannot answer your questions if you all shout at me at once. Now. Fräulein Maria's decision may be surprising, but she is entitled to her privacy. She left a note informing me of her wishes, and that settles it."
Louisa didn't think that settled anything. A note wasn't the same as a proper goodbye, after all, and Father still hadn't told them why she had left in the first place!
She and her siblings continued to press Father for details, but it soon became clear that he had no intention of elaborating further. Finally, they gave up trying to get any more information out of him, and returned to their meal in glum silence.
Eventually, Father sent them upstairs to do their schoolwork, but they got very little done. Liesl, no doubt thinking it was her job as the oldest to set a good example, took out her books and pretended to work, but Louisa noticed that she never actually turned a page. The children were quiet for a long while. No one seemed to want to broach the subject that was on all of their minds.
Finally, Gretl burst out, "Why? Why would she want to leave us?"
Liesl put aside her schoolbooks. "I don't know, darling. I just don't know."
Marta started to cry. Louisa went over to her and put her arms around her. "Shh. It will be OK."
"It won't!" Marta sniffled. "She's gone!"
Louisa looked helplessly over at her other siblings. What could she possibly say to that? Shaking her head, she tightened her hold on her sister, pulling Marta's head to rest under her chin.
It was Brigitta, though, who finally voiced the question that was worrying her most. "Do you think Father will go back to the way he was before?"
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After lunch, the children were gathered in the back garden, reluctantly playing a ball game with the baroness. At first, when she had asked them cheerfully if they'd like to play, Louisa had only stared at her. She couldn't imagine the elegant, well-put-together woman playing ball with a bunch of children. She noticed Kurt, who seemed to be thinking along similar lines, eyeing the baroness's lavender dress and heels doubtfully.
The silence had begun to grow awkward, the baroness's ridiculously cheerful smile faltering slightly, when Friedrich had abruptly remembered his manners and agreed to a game. Louisa shot him a dirty look, but he only shrugged his shoulders helplessly, looking at her in a "what do you want me to do about it?" sort of way.
It soon became very clear that Baroness Schraeder was not accustomed to such games. In fact, Louisa had a difficult time imagining the woman playing ball even as a young girl. She definitely seemed more like the dolls and quiet tea party type. "Isn't this fun?" the Baroness remarked with affected cheerfulness. Nobody answered.
The game continued, becoming even more painfully dull by the minute. Finally, Kurt rescued them. "Baroness Schraeder, do you mind if we stop now? We're tired."
She put a hand to her hair and gave that simpering laugh Louisa was beginning to loathe. "Oh, whatever you want, dear. We'll do it again tomorrow." Wonderful.
Listlessly, the children wandered over to the porch, where Uncle Max was sitting with the baroness.
"Uncle Max, where's Father?" Brigitta asked.
"Well, I think he's is the house." Uncle Max looked them over, a puzzled frown on his face. "What's the matter with all you gloomy pusses?"
Brigitta shrugged. "Nothing."
"I know what we'll do!" Uncle Max announced, standing up. "Let's have a rehearsal?"
"What for?" Louisa wasn't at all interested in that idea. What was the point in singing now that Fräulein Maria was gone?
Uncle Max appeared not to notice the children's moods. "Let's make believe we're standing on the stage at the festival."
Marta shook her head. "I don't feel like singing."
"Not without Fräulein Maria!" Gretl added.
Uncle Max, however, was insistent. "Liesl, get the guitar. Come on, Marta"
The children grumbled their protests, but Uncle Max paid no attention. "Everybody into the group…you know your places in the group, get into your places…" Reluctantly, Louisa allowed herself to be shepherded into her place alongside her siblings, but she certainly wasn't any happier about the idea of singing!
Liesl strummed the guitar to give the key, and Uncle Max crossed his arms, looking on expectantly. "Now. Impress me."
Louisa sang her part of the introduction, but something was missing. Friedrich and Gretl had both remained silent. After more urging from Uncle Max, they eventually began singing "The Sound of Music," but the song had none of the energy it was supposed to. With Fräulein Maria gone, singing no longer held any joy, a fact that was reflected in their singing. They hit the notes correctly, but rather than sounding joyous, the song was soft and wistful.
Unable to stand it any more, the children broke off from their group and moved to lean over the balcony, staring dully out at the lake. They began to trail off, then stopped completely when they noticed that Father had come outside.
Max, looking flustered, explained, "They, uh, just wanted to sing for me, bless their hearts." Louisa thought that was a pretty big exaggeration, but of course she didn't say anything.
Father smiled. "No, it's lovely, lovely. Don't stop. Hmm?"
Louisa looked away. She didn't want to sing, not anymore, and she was getting tired of the adults trying to pretend that nothing was wrong.
The Baroness broke the silence, offering Father a glass of lemonade. "Something long and cool, Georg?"
"No thank you, darling." Louisa had to work to suppress a scowl at the way Father was squeezing the baroness's hand. She didn't have any real reason to dislike the woman, she supposed. The baroness had even gone out of her way to be nice to the children, after all. Still, there was just something about her that rubbed Louisa the wrong way. There was something about the condescending way she always spoke to them that made Louisa think the woman was awfully phony. And that wasn't even considering the way she tried to monopolize so much of Father's time!
"Father?" Brigitta spoke up.
"Yes, Brigitta?"
"Is it true Fräulein Maria isn't coming back?"
"Fräulein Maria?" Louisa scowled at the way he tried to pretend to be surprised at the question. "Yes, I suppose it's true." He turned to the Baroness. "What have we got here?"
Brigitta was not going to let Father get away with changing the subject. "I don't believe it, Father!"
"Hmm? Don't believe what, darling?
"About Fräulein Maria!"
"Oh! Fräulein Maria!" As if Father could possibly doubt whom Brigitta was talking about! "Didn't I tell you what her note said? Oh, I was sure I did…" Louisa didn't believe Father's distracted act for one second. He was about the least forgetful person she knew – if he had neglected to tell them what the note said, then he had most certainly done it on purpose. Louisa didn't know why he seemed to think that they would forget about everything that had happened if he just pretended everything was normal, but she was getting awfully tired of it.
Father explained that Fräulein Maria's note had said that she missed her life at the abbey too much to stay at the villa, and that she'd had to leave. If that were true, though, why had their governess never seemed unhappy? Why had she never once mentioned wanting to return to the abbey, not even when she'd had the perfect opportunity to do so?
Besides, there was another, more important matter. "She didn't even say goodbye!" Louisa exclaimed.
Father brushed that aside. "She did in her note."
"That isn't the same thing." It wasn't, either. The least Fräulein Maria could have done was to tell them goodbye in person! She owed them that much, at least, and Louisa couldn't imagine her kind governess neglecting something like that. No, something was definitely not right here. Things just didn't add up, and Louisa couldn't help but think that there was something Father wasn't telling them.
Louisa was distracted from her thoughts by Gretl's next question. "Father? Who is our new governess going to be?"
"Well," Father said slowly, "You're not going to have a governess anymore."
"We're not?" the children murmured, exchanged shocked glances. After all their years of pleading, now Father was going to let them look after themselves? It was ironic, Louisa thought, that the one time they'd actually wanted a governess to stay, she had ended up leaving all on her own. It was so unfair!
"No," Father was saying, "you're going to have a new mother."
"A new mother?" Liesl repeated, disbelief coloring her tone.
"We talked about it last night, it's all settled, and we're all going to be very happy."
Well! Louisa didn't know about her siblings, but that most certainly wasn't enough for her! As far as she was concerned, it was not all settled. As if one night of Father talking with that awful woman could be enough to settle things. Did he ever think to ask his children about it, or even consider how they might feel? Of course not! He hadn't even had the decency to spring the news in private, where they would be able to tell him what they really thought. He'd done it with the baroness right there, so that all the children could do was stare at him in stunned disbelief.
No doubt feeling the tension in their silence, Father frowned and nodded significantly towards the baroness, indicating that the children should make some overture. Liesl walked stiffly over to her and placed a cold kiss on her cheek. Louisa and her other siblings fell into line behind her. When it was Louisa's turn, she touched her lips to the woman's cheek for a split second, then walked away, head held high.
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The children made their way across the yard, finding seats in the gazebo. As soon as Liesl had closed the door, they all burst out shouting.
"What was he thinking?"
"He can't marry her!"
"I don't want to have a stepmother!"
"Why can't we have Fräulein Maria?"
Louisa remained silent, staring at her lap. Marta came quietly over to her and grabbed her hand, asking softly, "Louisa, do you think the baroness will be mean to us like the evil stepmothers in the fairly tales?"
She wrapped her arms around her little sister. "Of course not, Marta. That's just in stories. Besides, Father would never let her do anything nasty to us."
Over the top of the little girl's head, though, Louisa exchanged doubtful glances with Liesl. She didn't think the baroness would be cruel, but neither did the woman seem to particularly like children. Louisa wouldn't be at all surprised if she tried to ship them all off to school. The question was, would Father let her? If Fräulein Maria had still been there, Louisa would have said no. Now, though, she wasn't so sure.
She said none of this aloud, however, and merely gave her sister a reassuring squeeze. "It will be OK, you'll see."
From her position on Liesl's lap, Gretl started to cry. "I want Fräulein Maria!"
"We all do, but she isn't here!" Kurt snapped.
Brigitta spoke up hesitantly, "Maybe we could go see her."
Louisa stared at her. "I mean, the abbey isn't that far away. We could walk there, and I bet Father wouldn't even notice, not with the baroness around. We could talk to her, ask her why she left us!"
"Maybe we could even convince her to come back!" Friedrich put in hopefully.
Louisa considered that for a moment. Part of her thought it couldn't possibly work, but another, stronger part of her wanted to see Fräulein Maria so badly that she didn't care. She turned to her oldest sister. "What do you think, Liesl?"
"Well," she said slowly. "Father would be awfully angry if he knew. Still, it would be worth it, wouldn't it, if we could convince her to come back? I suppose it can't hurt to try. We'll have to go tomorrow. Father and the baroness are going riding again, remember? If we leave right after lunch, we'll be back in time for dinner."
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The next day, immediately after lunch, the children set off towards the abbey. They had thought up several possible stories to tell Father if they had to account for their whereabouts, but eventually decided that it would be easiest to simply slip away while he was occupied with the baroness. That way, if he asked where they had been, they could answer vaguely that they had been "out playing," and not have to worry about thinking up a better excuse beforehand.
"I still can't imagine why Fräulein Maria would leave without telling us," Louisa mused aloud on the way to the abbey. "She didn't seem unhappy."
Brigitta turned around, throwing her arms dramatically to the side. "Maybe she's fallen madly in love with Father! And then he could follow her to the abbey and sweep her off her feet and ask her to marry him, and then she'd be our new mother!"
"Oh, hush," said Liesl, smiling, "you've read far too many romance stories."
Louisa thought about that for a moment. It seemed ridiculous, and yet… "Remember the night of the party? When she danced with Father?"
Liesl looked thoughtful for a moment, murmuring, "They did look awfully…" She trailed off, then shook her head briskly. "It can't be. She's a nun, for goodness' sake, and anyway, Father's going to marry the baroness!"
"Why, though?" Louisa wondered. "She isn't anything like Mother!"
Perceptive as always, Brigitta murmured softly, "I think maybe that's the point."
A/N: Feedback is very much appreciated!