Hi all, here's part two of what will become a three-part story. The G-
warning only applies to the last part. LOL. this chapter is still PG-13.
Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you like it so far. Please let me know
what you think of this chapter as well. I'll finish up and put up the last
part ASAP (I wouldn't want to cause you sleepless nights frosty freeze!!!).
FINALLY MARRIED
The priest cleared his throat, louder this second time, and now they heard him. With apologetic smiles they broke off their kiss - after he had said; "You may kiss the bride" they'd forgotten for a moment they were in front of a church full of guests. Georg and Maria sent a beaming look at each other and then turned around, and to the beautiful sound of the organ started walking back down the aisle as man and wife. At the bottom of the steps, they stopped for a moment to receive kisses and hugs from the children. Then they walked on, watched by every one in the church, and even the most sceptic of onlookers was now convinced that no matter how unusual a match: it was obvious that these two were made for each other, and very much in love!
As soon as they were out of the church and the door of a small side room closed behind them, Georg flung his arms around Maria and pulled her toward him tightly. "I love you, I love you, my dear wife," he whispered into her ear, followed by a deep, passionate kiss. "I love you too, my husband," answered Maria, when she had to stop kissing to catch her breath for a second. They continued their kiss, and for a few minutes forgot everything around them, until a knock on the door interrupted them. Georg lifted his eyes up at the sky. "This had better be good." he murmured, annoyed at how life could be so cruel.
It was Max. Not at all happy that Max had disturbed them in a private moment, Georg snapped at him: "What?" Max looked over Georg's shoulder at Maria's flushed face, and grinned. He really did not begrudge them their privacy, but Georg himself had asked him to make sure the day would go smoothly - and that was exactly what he was doing now. "Your car is waiting for you to take you to the hotel. The reception guests will be arriving soon, so you might want to make sure you get there as well," Max told him. Georg's expression softened a bit. Yes of course, the guests. he'd completely forgotten. He thanked Max, who closed the door again, and turned back to Maria. He kissed her again. "Even though it's the last thing I care about right now. I guess Max is right and we will have to go and meet our guests." He kissed her forehead. "Can't we tell them we've both suddenly caught a cold, and they all should go home?" Maria smiled at him. "Mmm.. Not a bad idea.. But I don't think we'll get away with it. No sir, we must be patient for few more hours," and with a kiss on the tip of his nose, she took his hand and pulled him toward the door.
The wedding reception and dinner would be held at the Altstadt Hotel in Salzburg. This old, beautiful hotel had a lovely, elegant dining room where they could have a private dinner and party. And besides that, Georg had also booked the bridal suite for tonight. He knew it was on the top floor, and the view of Salzburg would be beautiful.
When the newlyweds arrived, a few of the guests were already there and they came up to meet and wish them happiness right away. For the next hour, Georg and Maria were busy accepting all kinds of good wishes from their guests, who kept coming in. Even though Maria had known there'd be so many people, she was still a bit overwhelmed. There were lots of people she'd only met once, some never even, before today. But most of them were friendly and sincere in their good luck wishes. However, there were also a few guests in whose eyes she could read something else: wonder, contempt, or even disgust. But they had both expected this. She and Georg had discussed it a couple of times and they knew that their unusual match and the events that had led up to their engagement would provide lots of ingredients for a good load of gossip. And every time one of the disapproving stares - some hidden, some quite plain - landed on Maria, Georg squeezed her hand softly and would smile at her. Maria was strengthened enough by this to just shrug, and not let herself be affected.
Dinner followed, and even though the food was lovely, neither Georg nor Maria tasted much of the Wiener schnitzel or even the delicious Apfelstrudel. As the evening lengthened, they'd become less able to pay attention to their guest and were more and more just gazing into each other's eyes, or talking with their heads close together. For quite a while they held hands under the table.
They had agreed that Max would take the children home by ten o'clock. When the time came to go, Maria and Georg walked with them to the hall of the hotel to see them off and say their goodbyes. As they'd be leaving for their honeymoon the next day, they would not see the children for a few weeks.
"Can't we stay a little bit longer father, please?" Brigitta pleaded. The others joined in, practically begging to be allowed to stay. Georg smiled, but remained strict. "Look at Marta and Gretl," he said, nodding his head towards the two youngest girls, who could indeed hardly stand on their feet anymore. "No sweethearts, time to say goodnight. And anyway, the party won't go on for much longer, so you won't miss much." Brigitta wasn't to be brushed off this easily. She turned toward Maria and looked at her with her big blue eyes. "Please.. Mother?" Even though Maria's heart melted at being called "mother" for the first time, she agreed with her husband. She could see in the children's faces how tired they all were. So she shook her head, and started hugging the children all in turn. It took a while to say elaborate goodbyes to seven children, but finally, everyone had been hugged, kissed, and made to promise to behave well and listen to Liesl, Uncle Max and Frau Schmidt.
While the children bustled outside under loud goodbyes and with a few last waves over their shoulders, Max put his arms around Maria and kissed her cheek. "Have a lovely trip, dear," he said to her. "You are the best thing that could have possibly happened to him." And then he added; "Now if you could only use your charms to get him to allow the children to sing in the festival!" Maria laughed out loud. This was typical of Max. "I'll see what I can do," she whispered at him with a smile. And then in a normal tone of voice added; "Goodbye!" She looked on as Max heartily shook Georg's hand and wished him a good trip as well. And then she looked away, pretending she hadn't heard his whispered: "And you'd better be gentle with her." From the corner of her eye she saw Georg looking at Max with that warning expression - then saw his face change into a small smile, and nod. With a final "Bye then," Max turned and walked toward the door. Georg and Maria turned to walk back to the dining room and their guests, when Maria noticed something white lying on the floor. It was Liesl's woollen wrap. She picked it up and handed it to Georg. "Darling, it's Liesl's wrap. She'll get so cold in the car, won't you run and see if you can still catch them and give it to her?"
She watched as her new husband quickly disappeared out the door, and heard him calling out to Max. She stood and waited until he would return. But when the doorman opened the doors again, it was not Georg who walked in. It was an uninvited guest - Herr Zeller!
Maria looked at him in utter surprise. She knew that she and Georg had taken a bit of a risk by not inviting him. But apart from getting an even larger grudge against them than he already had, there was not much Herr Zeller could do to express his dissatisfaction. And they had certainly never expected him to show up uninvited.
Zeller walked up to Maria and let his eyes travel up and down her before he spoke. "Good evening, Baroness Von Trapp," he said, with that annoying fake politeness of his. Maria could her the disapproval in his voice. "Herr Zeller." She nodded, keeping her voice neutral, not even wishing him a good evening back. "May I congratulate you on your marriage? And your husband too, of course. Where is he?" "He has just stepped outside for a second,'' Maria replied, inwardly praying that Georg would hurry and get back inside. "I see. Well, I must say you look very beautiful today. It is obvious now why the Captain couldn't keep his hands off of you." Maria's face flushed red with anger, but she tried to remain calm. She absolutely did not want to create a scene on her wedding day. So she only replied with a cold: "Excuse me?" Herr Zeller took another step towards her, obviously trying to intimidate her a bit. "Come now my dear, you must know that the whole town speaks of this disgrace. Why would Captain von Trapp be in such a hurry to break off his engagement to a noblewoman and marry his governess, if there was no. pressing reason for him to do so?" He let his stare linger on Maria's stomach, in case she hadn't understood what he had hinted at. For an instant, Maria was actually daunted. The idea that people thought so badly of her and Georg was making her sad. Then anger at the accusation took over. But before she could say anything, she noticed Georg standing in the hall again, looking intently at Herr Zeller and herself. How long had he been standing there? What had he heard?
Breathing heavily, his eyes never leaving Herr Zeller, Georg made his way to them and put his arm around Maria's waist. From the icy stare in his eyes, Maria could tell he had heard most of the conversation. When Georg spoke, the repressed anger in his voice sent a shiver down Maria's spine. "If this was not my own wedding party I would knock you out. Now please leave. I do not recall sending you an invitation, especially not to come and insult my wife," Georg said coldly. Herr Zeller was not impressed. He tried his little smile again. "Now captain, don't be upset. Man to man, I think you've done a fine job getting such a lovely nun into your bed." Maria was just in time to grab Georg's arm and pull, stopping him from lurching at Herr Zeller's throat. "Georg, no!" she whispered at him urgently. "He's not worth it. Look at me. LOOK at me!" She pulled his arm again, forcing him to look into her face. She just shook her head. "Come Georg, please?" He took a deep breath and squeezed her hands. Nodding his head, he turned round, never looking at Herr Zeller again. Maria did look at him though. Suddenly, she felt no anger anymore. This man was just too despicable to spend any thought on. Then she noticed he wore a wedding ring. "I pity your wife, Herr Zeller. It must be terrible to be married to a man who doesn't know what it feels like to love." Then she briskly turned as well, and walked with Georg back to the dining room.
As soon as they were back inside, Georg pulled Maria close to him and mumbled into her hair: "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Maria pressed him against her even harder. "It doesn't matter," she answered. "It's just the vicious gossip of one man." Georg hummed in agreement. Then he lifted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. "Still I'm very proud of how you handled yourself. But then of course I knew you had enough spirit in you to stand up to a stupid, stubborn man." he smiled down at her, and when her face broke into a smile too, kissed her.
Soon after, the first guests were leaving, and the party drew to a close. As the last guests were finishing their drinks, Georg stood up and cleared his throat. The guests went silent and looked at him.
"Dear friends," Georg began. "I want to thank you all very much for your wishes and congratulations. Maria and I" - he looked sideways at her and smiled - "are grateful that you have shared this beautiful day with us. However since our train leaves early in the morning for our honeymoon. we will now leave you to finish this party by yourselves, while we get some well-needed sleep in this hotel's beautiful bridal suite. Goodnight, and thank you." A small round of applause followed this little speech, as did a soft murmur among the guests: "Yes, I'm sure they'll get a lot of sleep," and "Getting some rest, on their wedding night I'm sure," were some of the remarks Maria could make out from the hum. Blushing slightly, she got up as well, and nodding and shaking hands with several guests, they made their way out to the hall.
FINALLY MARRIED
The priest cleared his throat, louder this second time, and now they heard him. With apologetic smiles they broke off their kiss - after he had said; "You may kiss the bride" they'd forgotten for a moment they were in front of a church full of guests. Georg and Maria sent a beaming look at each other and then turned around, and to the beautiful sound of the organ started walking back down the aisle as man and wife. At the bottom of the steps, they stopped for a moment to receive kisses and hugs from the children. Then they walked on, watched by every one in the church, and even the most sceptic of onlookers was now convinced that no matter how unusual a match: it was obvious that these two were made for each other, and very much in love!
As soon as they were out of the church and the door of a small side room closed behind them, Georg flung his arms around Maria and pulled her toward him tightly. "I love you, I love you, my dear wife," he whispered into her ear, followed by a deep, passionate kiss. "I love you too, my husband," answered Maria, when she had to stop kissing to catch her breath for a second. They continued their kiss, and for a few minutes forgot everything around them, until a knock on the door interrupted them. Georg lifted his eyes up at the sky. "This had better be good." he murmured, annoyed at how life could be so cruel.
It was Max. Not at all happy that Max had disturbed them in a private moment, Georg snapped at him: "What?" Max looked over Georg's shoulder at Maria's flushed face, and grinned. He really did not begrudge them their privacy, but Georg himself had asked him to make sure the day would go smoothly - and that was exactly what he was doing now. "Your car is waiting for you to take you to the hotel. The reception guests will be arriving soon, so you might want to make sure you get there as well," Max told him. Georg's expression softened a bit. Yes of course, the guests. he'd completely forgotten. He thanked Max, who closed the door again, and turned back to Maria. He kissed her again. "Even though it's the last thing I care about right now. I guess Max is right and we will have to go and meet our guests." He kissed her forehead. "Can't we tell them we've both suddenly caught a cold, and they all should go home?" Maria smiled at him. "Mmm.. Not a bad idea.. But I don't think we'll get away with it. No sir, we must be patient for few more hours," and with a kiss on the tip of his nose, she took his hand and pulled him toward the door.
The wedding reception and dinner would be held at the Altstadt Hotel in Salzburg. This old, beautiful hotel had a lovely, elegant dining room where they could have a private dinner and party. And besides that, Georg had also booked the bridal suite for tonight. He knew it was on the top floor, and the view of Salzburg would be beautiful.
When the newlyweds arrived, a few of the guests were already there and they came up to meet and wish them happiness right away. For the next hour, Georg and Maria were busy accepting all kinds of good wishes from their guests, who kept coming in. Even though Maria had known there'd be so many people, she was still a bit overwhelmed. There were lots of people she'd only met once, some never even, before today. But most of them were friendly and sincere in their good luck wishes. However, there were also a few guests in whose eyes she could read something else: wonder, contempt, or even disgust. But they had both expected this. She and Georg had discussed it a couple of times and they knew that their unusual match and the events that had led up to their engagement would provide lots of ingredients for a good load of gossip. And every time one of the disapproving stares - some hidden, some quite plain - landed on Maria, Georg squeezed her hand softly and would smile at her. Maria was strengthened enough by this to just shrug, and not let herself be affected.
Dinner followed, and even though the food was lovely, neither Georg nor Maria tasted much of the Wiener schnitzel or even the delicious Apfelstrudel. As the evening lengthened, they'd become less able to pay attention to their guest and were more and more just gazing into each other's eyes, or talking with their heads close together. For quite a while they held hands under the table.
They had agreed that Max would take the children home by ten o'clock. When the time came to go, Maria and Georg walked with them to the hall of the hotel to see them off and say their goodbyes. As they'd be leaving for their honeymoon the next day, they would not see the children for a few weeks.
"Can't we stay a little bit longer father, please?" Brigitta pleaded. The others joined in, practically begging to be allowed to stay. Georg smiled, but remained strict. "Look at Marta and Gretl," he said, nodding his head towards the two youngest girls, who could indeed hardly stand on their feet anymore. "No sweethearts, time to say goodnight. And anyway, the party won't go on for much longer, so you won't miss much." Brigitta wasn't to be brushed off this easily. She turned toward Maria and looked at her with her big blue eyes. "Please.. Mother?" Even though Maria's heart melted at being called "mother" for the first time, she agreed with her husband. She could see in the children's faces how tired they all were. So she shook her head, and started hugging the children all in turn. It took a while to say elaborate goodbyes to seven children, but finally, everyone had been hugged, kissed, and made to promise to behave well and listen to Liesl, Uncle Max and Frau Schmidt.
While the children bustled outside under loud goodbyes and with a few last waves over their shoulders, Max put his arms around Maria and kissed her cheek. "Have a lovely trip, dear," he said to her. "You are the best thing that could have possibly happened to him." And then he added; "Now if you could only use your charms to get him to allow the children to sing in the festival!" Maria laughed out loud. This was typical of Max. "I'll see what I can do," she whispered at him with a smile. And then in a normal tone of voice added; "Goodbye!" She looked on as Max heartily shook Georg's hand and wished him a good trip as well. And then she looked away, pretending she hadn't heard his whispered: "And you'd better be gentle with her." From the corner of her eye she saw Georg looking at Max with that warning expression - then saw his face change into a small smile, and nod. With a final "Bye then," Max turned and walked toward the door. Georg and Maria turned to walk back to the dining room and their guests, when Maria noticed something white lying on the floor. It was Liesl's woollen wrap. She picked it up and handed it to Georg. "Darling, it's Liesl's wrap. She'll get so cold in the car, won't you run and see if you can still catch them and give it to her?"
She watched as her new husband quickly disappeared out the door, and heard him calling out to Max. She stood and waited until he would return. But when the doorman opened the doors again, it was not Georg who walked in. It was an uninvited guest - Herr Zeller!
Maria looked at him in utter surprise. She knew that she and Georg had taken a bit of a risk by not inviting him. But apart from getting an even larger grudge against them than he already had, there was not much Herr Zeller could do to express his dissatisfaction. And they had certainly never expected him to show up uninvited.
Zeller walked up to Maria and let his eyes travel up and down her before he spoke. "Good evening, Baroness Von Trapp," he said, with that annoying fake politeness of his. Maria could her the disapproval in his voice. "Herr Zeller." She nodded, keeping her voice neutral, not even wishing him a good evening back. "May I congratulate you on your marriage? And your husband too, of course. Where is he?" "He has just stepped outside for a second,'' Maria replied, inwardly praying that Georg would hurry and get back inside. "I see. Well, I must say you look very beautiful today. It is obvious now why the Captain couldn't keep his hands off of you." Maria's face flushed red with anger, but she tried to remain calm. She absolutely did not want to create a scene on her wedding day. So she only replied with a cold: "Excuse me?" Herr Zeller took another step towards her, obviously trying to intimidate her a bit. "Come now my dear, you must know that the whole town speaks of this disgrace. Why would Captain von Trapp be in such a hurry to break off his engagement to a noblewoman and marry his governess, if there was no. pressing reason for him to do so?" He let his stare linger on Maria's stomach, in case she hadn't understood what he had hinted at. For an instant, Maria was actually daunted. The idea that people thought so badly of her and Georg was making her sad. Then anger at the accusation took over. But before she could say anything, she noticed Georg standing in the hall again, looking intently at Herr Zeller and herself. How long had he been standing there? What had he heard?
Breathing heavily, his eyes never leaving Herr Zeller, Georg made his way to them and put his arm around Maria's waist. From the icy stare in his eyes, Maria could tell he had heard most of the conversation. When Georg spoke, the repressed anger in his voice sent a shiver down Maria's spine. "If this was not my own wedding party I would knock you out. Now please leave. I do not recall sending you an invitation, especially not to come and insult my wife," Georg said coldly. Herr Zeller was not impressed. He tried his little smile again. "Now captain, don't be upset. Man to man, I think you've done a fine job getting such a lovely nun into your bed." Maria was just in time to grab Georg's arm and pull, stopping him from lurching at Herr Zeller's throat. "Georg, no!" she whispered at him urgently. "He's not worth it. Look at me. LOOK at me!" She pulled his arm again, forcing him to look into her face. She just shook her head. "Come Georg, please?" He took a deep breath and squeezed her hands. Nodding his head, he turned round, never looking at Herr Zeller again. Maria did look at him though. Suddenly, she felt no anger anymore. This man was just too despicable to spend any thought on. Then she noticed he wore a wedding ring. "I pity your wife, Herr Zeller. It must be terrible to be married to a man who doesn't know what it feels like to love." Then she briskly turned as well, and walked with Georg back to the dining room.
As soon as they were back inside, Georg pulled Maria close to him and mumbled into her hair: "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Maria pressed him against her even harder. "It doesn't matter," she answered. "It's just the vicious gossip of one man." Georg hummed in agreement. Then he lifted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. "Still I'm very proud of how you handled yourself. But then of course I knew you had enough spirit in you to stand up to a stupid, stubborn man." he smiled down at her, and when her face broke into a smile too, kissed her.
Soon after, the first guests were leaving, and the party drew to a close. As the last guests were finishing their drinks, Georg stood up and cleared his throat. The guests went silent and looked at him.
"Dear friends," Georg began. "I want to thank you all very much for your wishes and congratulations. Maria and I" - he looked sideways at her and smiled - "are grateful that you have shared this beautiful day with us. However since our train leaves early in the morning for our honeymoon. we will now leave you to finish this party by yourselves, while we get some well-needed sleep in this hotel's beautiful bridal suite. Goodnight, and thank you." A small round of applause followed this little speech, as did a soft murmur among the guests: "Yes, I'm sure they'll get a lot of sleep," and "Getting some rest, on their wedding night I'm sure," were some of the remarks Maria could make out from the hum. Blushing slightly, she got up as well, and nodding and shaking hands with several guests, they made their way out to the hall.