A/N: On of my goals for this story was to explore the backgrounds of Maria and Georg. Here we get a little more Georg, which we will come back to later. This chapter marks the beginning of the 'upswing' so to speak. When you've hit the bottom, like Maria did in the last chapter, it can only get better. Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-SixThe Captain's heart raced at the sound of her name.
"What about her?" he asked, praying it was just that she had tipped a canoe or something similar, but fearing otherwise.
"She…she fainted! We were…"
"Take me to her and tell me on the way"
On the way, the Captain was told that she and the children had been playing tag in the back yard. Maria hadn't been 'into' the game to use Friedrich's words but had agreed after Marta had begged. Kurt was 'it' and was about to tag Maria when she just collapsed into a heap in a bed of wildflowers. The children had thought she was joking, but when Gretl kissed her on the cheek to wake the 'Sleeping Beauty', she still didn't get up. Liesl had tried shaking her, but she didn't stir so Friedrich had come to find the Captain, Liesl had stayed with Maria and Louisa had taken the little ones inside so they wouldn't worry.
Upon hearing the explanation, the Captain ran outside to the grounds. Sure enough, Maria was lying crumple up among the flowers. Strangely, she looked very peaceful, happier than she had been since the night of the party. A shiver ran down the Captain's spine, and he stopped short, and gazed at her. She looked…well like an angel lying among the colourful flowers, the reds in the flower's pigments reflecting onto her pale cheeks, giving her a faux-healthy glow.
"What should I do, father?" Friedrich's voice brought him back to reality. She was not healthy, she was in trouble.
"Go call Dr. Saeger, quick!" he ordered coming back to life as he rushed to her side. Friedrich ran into the house, his breathing heavy. The Captain approached Liesl who was by Maria's side.
Without saying a word to her, he moved beside Maria, and tapped her on the shoulders, calling in both her ears, "Maria, can you hear me? Maria wake up!"
Receiving no response, he quickly bent over her, and placed his ear directly above her mouth, and watched for the rising and falling of her chest for five seconds, praying that she was still breathing.
"Thank God" he sighed as he felt a faint warm breath on his cheek. Like a professional, he turned her onto her side in the 'semi-prone position' and thanked the Lord he had taken a lifesaving course while in the navy and knew how to tell whether or not it was an emergency.
With nothing else to do to help her , Georg sat beside Maria in the flowers, and stroked her hair, mumbling in soft tones that everything would be all right. Doctors always say that people who are unconscious can still hear human voices, and he didn't want Maria to worry.
He thought about moving her indoors, but quickly recognized it might be better to leave her in peace, just in case she had injured herself when she fell.
"Don't worry, the doctor's on her way. Don't worry, Maria. Everything will be okay. I promise." In about three seconds the Captain ran out of reassuring words. He decided to tell her a story to keep her entertained.
For some reason, only this strange story came to mind.
"After I finished at the naval academy I was sent to Australia for a training voyage. I remember that it was an incredibly long trip, and I spent most of the trip reading about our final destination. I was convinced that when we landed, it would be a land inhabited by men in white-and-black jail suits living amongst coastal forests filled with strange and unknown animals and then twenty minutes inland would be a vast desert with a large red rock. You see, I had been reading this novel all about a man that goes on a wilderness adventure in Australia, and was under the impression that this land would be my wilderness survival training. Every time I would mention my anticipation of tenting amongst the parrots or making sure to buckle my shoes so I wouldn't step on the reptiles, my senior officers would go along with what I was saying, nodding and making comments about rationing water and the risks of scorpion bites. Needless to say when we pulled into Sydney, a city so much larger than Salzburg, I was convinced that we had gotten lost and were only stopping for directions. It took me two days to figure out where we were. When I figured it out and approached the senior officers, they told me to always remember that things may not always be as they appear- just because one book describes a place in a certain way, does not mean that is how things truly are. He may have been a little drunk, in retrospect."
The Captain had been staring into space, laughing internally at his own naivety and stupidity.
"Did you see any koala bears?" Maria's weak voice brought him back.
"Maria!" he exclaimed. "Are you all right?"
"Did you?" she repeated, a small smile on her face.
"I got to hold one, yes, and he peed on me. How do you feel?"
Maria knew enough first aid to recognize her body was in shock from having fainted. The world was spinning around her, her stomach queasy, her temperature fluctuating between overheated and chilled, and she could see her hands and legs visibly shaking.
"I'm fine" she answered, unable to look the man in the eye. She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks, her body's fearful reaction to fainting, to the overwhelming sense of losing control.
"No, you're not. I have called the doctor, and she will be here soon."
"No Captain, please. I don't need to see the doctor, I'm perfectly fine."
"No, Maria, you're not."
"Yes I am!" if the situation wasn't so serious, the Captain would have laughed at her stubbornness.
"Look me in the eye and tell me that you're alright." Responded calmly. Maria shifted her gaze around, but couldn't bring herself to look at him.
"Maria" he began in a soft voice so the children wouldn't hear him. "Is there a reason why you don't want to see the doctor?"
Maria paused for a moment, considering how to answer his question.
She nodded, her eyes still downcast as she struggled to control her rapid breathing and keep stomach contents at bay.
"Would you tell me why?"
Maria shook her head.
"Maria…you can tell me anything."
"I just dislike doctors. And I'm fine." she simply answered, her tone clear that the subject was to be at rest.
"Alright you're fine. But please…please let her take a look at you. As a personal favour to me."
Maria's eyes were already closing, her body exhausted. "For you..." She consented.
After thinking for about a millisecond, the Captain nodded. "Very well." And with one smooth motion whisked her up into her arms like a child. She hadn't mentioned any pain to indicate an injury and would be better off in her own bed when the doctor arrived. She was already asleep against his chest by the time he reached the back door. He marveled at how light she was, and frowned in concern as he felt her ribs poking into him as he carried her indoors.
He was too relived that she was going to be alright to think about how it must look—a baron carrying his beautiful governess into the house. He had still taken no notice of Liesl, but she had taken a great deal of notice in what she had just witnessed.
What was with the story? Her inner dialogue began. Since when does father tell stories about the navy? He never told us he had been to Australia. And calling the doctor? Father hasn't phoned the doctor since Dr Fritz told him there was nothing that could be done for mother. Even when Louisa force-fed Marta a spoonful of bugs and when Friedrich broke his arm after tripping on a root while we were 'marching about the grounds breathing deeply', Father took us into town to see the doctor. None have come here in years!
Puzzled, she followed her father indoors.