~ Chapter 2 ~

When he felt his heartbeat return to normal, Georg started to get under the bedcovers again. But he had not even put his head down on his pillow, when the soft tinkle of bells and a silver light announced the presence of another spirit.

Georg put his hands to his face and breathed deep. The strange events of this night were not over yet. Agathe had predicted the appearance of three spirits, and it seemed that the second one had made an entrance.

The Captain took his hands away from his face and looked around.

Near his bedroom door, a young man was sitting in a chair. He was not as transparent as Agathe and the Ghost of Christmas Past had been, he seemed more… solid, in a way. He spread a soft light around him, but it did not seem to come from within him. It was like a diffuse light just hung over his head. He was wearing a white suit. The only resemblance to Georg's previous visitor was the wreath of holly he was wearing.

The Captain looked up at him with mixed feelings. The visit of the first spirit had unsettled him very much. Should he be grateful to Agathe for sending him these spirits? How real were the things he was shown, and how real were the spirits?

"What must I do to convince you that I am indeed very real, Captain von Trapp?" asked the spirit, not budging from his comfortable seat.

The Captain cocked his head in surprise. "You can read minds?" he asked.

"Of course," was the simple answer. "My senses operate on a level where speech and sounds are mere choices."

"Choices," the Captain repeated flatly.

"Yes, Captain. Life is all about choices, is it not?"

What seemed like only a passing remark hung in the air as Georg thought about it. He felt the importance of the words as he pondered their meaning.

"Agathe sent you here to help me with these choices." It was not a question.

"Very good!" The spirit answered rather sarcastically.

"And who are you, may I ask?" The Captain replied, his tone equally sarcastic.

"I am, of course, the Ghost of Christmas Present. There is something that you need to see… "

The Ghost of Christmas Present snapped his fingers, and suddenly, Georg found himself downstairs in the hall of the villa.

He took a few steps in surprise at the sudden change of location.

The house seemed quiet, and the hall was lit only by two small lamps that were near the stairs. He could just make out the Christmas decorations, though. He recognised the ornaments that Marta and Gretl had made with the help of Maria, and smiled as he recalled how proud his daughters had been when they'd shown him. Georg remembered how the children and Maria had decorated the salon, the hall and the ballroom with Christmas ornaments while he was in town with the Baroness and Max, taking care of arrangements for the Christmas party. Watching them later, seeing how proud they were of their work, which they had done together as a happy family should, his heart had filled with love for all of them. All eight of them… In the back of his mind, the vague realisation surfaced that Maria had been crucial in the change that had come over his family over the last months.

The thought floated away before Georg could focus on it, as his attention was drawn to the spirit, who had sat down on the bottom step of the staircase.

Georg looked around once more.

"This is not a vision," he said to the Ghost. "This is just the house, right now, with everybody sleeping. Isn't it?"

The Ghost looked at him, his head cocked.

"Yes, this is the present moment, Captain. But I wonder if everybody's sleeping… don't you?

Georg looked at him in slight surprise. "What do you mean?"

The Ghost smiled mysteriously. "Why don't you find out for yourself, Captain?" he suggested.

Georg took a deep breath. All right, he would find out what was going on in the house.

He walked into the salon, but found it empty and dark. He crossed the hall, his footsteps echoing in the silence, and quickly peeked into the ballroom. He even walked to the kitchen, but the ground floor of the house was obviously deserted.

The spirit had not moved from his bottom step, and was looking at Georg's movements with a hint of amusement.

As Georg silently walked past him to go upstairs, the spirit stood up and followed him.

Georg headed towards the children's bedrooms. He was expecting them to be asleep, so he was surprised to find that a ray of light peeked from under the door of Liesl's room. A muffled whispering could be heard from inside the room. Georg put his hand on the doorknob, but then hesitated.

He turned to face the Ghost.

"Will they see me when I go in?" he asked.

When the Ghost shook his head, the Captain opened the door and stepped inside.

It had been a while since he had been in Liesl's room. She was rather too old to be tucked in at night, after all.

The room hadn't changed much, Georg absently noted as he looked around. The bed stood near the window, but Liesl was not in it. She was sitting on top of the covers, her legs crossed under her, and flanked by Louisa and Brigitta. Friedrich and Kurt were sitting across from the girls on the ground, their backs to the wall. All were in their night clothes already and they were talking softly, but excitedly.

"I'm sure this Christmas will be better than the last few," whispered Kurt with a big grin. "I've seen the packages in father's room!"

Brigitta looked at him disbelievingly.

"You went in there to look for presents?" She stared at her brother, not sure if she should judge his action, or applaud it.

From across the room, the Captain stared at his youngest son too, a smile tugging on his mouth.

"Well know, I was looking for father. But when he wasn't there, I thought I could check in the closet, just to be sure," Kurt explained with a satisfactory smile.

The others exchanged glances, and then started to grin as well.

Only Louisa did not laugh, but stared ahead of her deep in thought.

"I wonder what Fraulein Maria will be doing for Christmas," she said as the laughter from her brothers and sisters subsided.

Liesl turned to her sister and saw her serious look.

"I'm sure she'll have a happy Christmas in the convent, Louisa," she stated softly.

Louisa shrugged. "She could have been here with us, I'm sure she would like getting presents and singing Christmas carols with us much more than praying all day," she said, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Do they pray all day in the convent?" Kurt asked, pulling a face. "That does not sound like Fraulein Maria!"

Friedrich gave him a gentle push. "Of course they don't pray all day. I suppose they, eh, go and help the poor or something, for Christmas." He did not sound very convinced as he said it.

"Well anyway, I miss her, and I'll miss her tomorrow even more," said Louisa.

"We all miss her, Louisa," agreed Brigitta, as the others nodded. She went on:

"I think father misses her, too. But you know what he said: she will not be coming back."

They all fell silent for a moment, as they considered celebrating Christmas without Maria.

The Captain had been listening intently. He had thought – hoped – his children would have quickly moved on, forgetting about Maria. He had announced his engagement to Elsa to them, it was Christmas, they were getting presents… But apparently, all of that had not taken their thoughts off their governess.

And they seemed to think that he still missed her, too. He wondered where Brigitta would get the idea. She was very observant…

Suddenly, he remembered the evening of the Christmas party, and how the children had looked on as he had danced with Maria. He had seen her blush, her sparkling eyes, and he had felt how he could not keep his eyes off her. Had it been … that obvious?

As he turned around and walked out of Liesl's room, leaving the children behind, he thought of how it had felt to dance with Maria. He could still feel her in his arms, her hands touching his, smell her fresh scent as she twirled around him… He had forgotten his surroundings for a few minutes and felt more complete than he had in years.

The thought that had escaped him earlier that evening came back to him. Maria had made his family whole again.

Georg stood outside Liesl's bedroom in the corridor as he focused on the idea.

His family. And him, too. How could he have been so blind? How could something so obvious have passed him by? For a moment forgetting where he was, Georg pondered the realisation.

Had Maria known how much she had done for his family? For him? And, more importantly, had HE known before? Even when she had just arrived at the house, really before she had any reason to care for his family, she had fought against what she had seen was wrong. Unlike any of the other governesses, she had not given up, but she had stood up to him and made him see the error of his ways. He would always be grateful to her for what she had done.

But was gratitude the same as love? She had left him, and the children. And what about Elsa?

Georg shook his head in frustration, confused by the visions and events that the spirits had shown to him.

He turned around. Where was the spirit?

"I'm here, Captain," a voice behind him whispered. "If you're so confused, why don't you find if there is something more for you to see?" And the spirit slowly began to move toward the guest rooms.

Georg followed him, and looked up to the spirit questioningly as they stopped in front of Elsa's door.

"I can't just walk in on her while she's in bed," Georg protested.

"Captain, you must have noticed that tonight, things are not as you expect them to be," said the spirit, and gestured at the door. The doorknob moved and the door swung open, and still a little hesitantly, Georg walked inside.

Elsa was not in bed. Apparently, her headache must have cleared up, for Georg noticed that she was walking around rather busily for someone with a migraine.

She was walking around the room, opening and closing her closet, picking up things from her dressing table and putting them down again, and she made a nervous impression. She was muttering to herself, but Georg did not understand what she was saying.

He walked up closer to Elsa, confident that she would not be able to see him.

Her face was pale, and now that he looked closer, he could see she probably had not slept much over the past few nights. He wondered if she was thinking of leaving, but he noticed she was wearing a nightgown and a robe. She would at least be staying for the night, he concluded. However, she did not look as happy as a just-engaged woman should

Deep in thought, Georg turned around to walk back to the door. He was stopped by the Ghost.

"You have seen enough, Captain," he said, and snapped his fingers. Before Georg could say anything, he found himself in his bedroom again.