Chapter 6
The heavy steps at the floor of the cathedral pulled Maria and Georg ungentle back to reality.
"Georg?" Maria was afraid. This time there was no way to escape. They were caught like mice in a trap.
"Pray Maria; pray that we somehow got hold of the right confessional." Georg whispered, while he searched feverish for a lever, a button, something that might open the entry to the catacombs.
The steps came nearer, the voices louder. "Come out! We know you're here!"
Click. A soft tone sounded, the wooden wall of the confessional swept away and gave sight to a small and dark room, with a stair down to the underground of Vienna.
"Oh my-" Maria whispered surprised. Georg gave her a fast kiss of relief and they entered the room. The door closed silent behind them.
It was dark and cold, they couldn't see anything - neither hear something, but their own breath. The cathedral, the SS-officers, just everything seemed to be far away.
Georg hold Maria close. Touching her again, smelling her perfume again made him just feel happy. Maybe they were safe now, maybe they weren't. He didn't know. And at this moment he didn't care.
His lips searched for Maria's, first kissing them softly, getting more passionately, as she answered his kiss. They sunk at the floor, longing for each others kisses, enjoying every soft touch with every piece of their hearts.
Gentle Georg opened Maria's dress; his fingers followed the lines of her body. Kissing her neck, her stomach and finally her lips again, he got lost in that moment of longing and passion. He kissed his wife deeply; forgetting the whole world. There was nothing for him but Maria, when they were together at the cold floor of their hiding-place.
Maria's head leaned on Georg's shoulder, his arms hold her tight. She listened to his regular breath and wondered what he might be dreaming of. She smiled and got closer to him, feeling comfortable and safe in his embrace.
Of course they were still in a dangerous situation, but their reconciliation made the things easier, much easier. The first time since their escape from Austria she was filled with absolute confidence. And the first time since she knew she was pregnant, she was happy she was. She even had started to think joyful of the Baby. She just felt as if somebody had taken a heavy load of her shoulder.
"Hey, why don't you sleep, Darling?" Georg whispered low into her ear.
Maria smiled. "I'm not tired. I guess I'm too happy to."
"Happy?" Georg raised a brow. "And what makes you so happy?"
"As if you don't know, Georg" Maria laughed.
"I don't know. Tell me!" Georg answered with acted protest.
Maria got up; her face was now over his. "You really want to know? It might shock you." She said earnest.
"I think I can cope with it."
"I'm not sure about that." She laughed as he tickled her softly. "Okay, I'll tell you everything."
"I listen."
"Well, I'm afraid I'm seriously in love."
"No! Really? With who?"
"Oh, a very charming Captain. And I think he might be in love with me, too."
"He must be a fool if he wasn't." They kissed each other deeply, getting into a close embrace before they finally felt asleep.
Emily had managed it to arrive at Max's flat without further problems. The Officers had been kind and friendly, said good-bye with a formal bow and returned to their post in the Spiegel Straße. Emily grinned. If you guys just knew.
She knocked at Max's door, which opened after a while. Max looked surprised at Emily. "I'm afraid you knocked at the wrong door."
"Not if you happen to be Max Detweiler."
"If I happen to be Max Detweiler - what will happen then?" he asked her distrustful.
"Then I would ask you to let me in." Emily smiled at him.
"And why should this Max Detweiler let a completely strange woman into his flat?"
Emily laughed, she liked that guy. "Maybe because a very old friend of him sent her to deliver a message."
"You don't look much like a wire-boy to me."
"Because I happen to be a girl, Mr. - uhm, what did you say was your name?"
"You're not only happen to be a girl, but a very smart one, too. Call me Max." He grinned and opened his door.
"Thank you, Max" Emily slipped into his flat.
"Who sent you?"
"Captain von Trapp."
"Georg? Why should he? I thought he was safe in Switzerland."
"Actually he isn't in Switzerland and actually he isn't very safe. He's in Vienna."
"You're joking!" Max couldn't believe what he had heard.
"Not at all" Emily told Max the whole story, while he wandered up and down, shaking his head unbelieving.
"He never should have trusted Meiners. He joined the NSDAP short after the Anschluss."
Emily raised her brow. At least she knew now, who had betrayed them. Nice friends, she thought. "What about you, Max? Can I trust you?"
"You got to. You've already told me everything."
"Oh no, I didn't. I never told you were Georg and Maria are right now."
Max laughed out loud. "You got me. Well, come on. I know somebody Georg can trust, too - Whether you believe it or not."
Max had been talking of Baroness Schroeder. And he was right. When they told the Baroness that Georg needed their help, she agreed immediately.
First Emily was still suspicious. Should she really tell them where Georg and Maria were hiding? What if Max and the Baroness were deserted to the Nazis like Meiners? But finally she recognized that she had no other choice but to trust them. She didn't know anybody in Vienna but them, and she had promised the von Trapp children to bring their parents safe home.
It was clear that they had to leave Vienna - and Austria as well - as fast as possible.
Because of the rambling of the catacombs it wouldn't be hard to get Maria and Georg out of the city. But out of Austria? The Nazi's had increased the controls at the boarders, it was almost impossible for Austrians to leave the country. The trick with the nuns wouldn't work anymore. For Emily it wouldn't be a problem to return to Switzerland. She had a Suisse Passport; the authorities didn't know that it was her who helped Georg and Maria.
Finally Baroness Schroeder came up with the saving idea.
"They know that the children are in Switzerland. Therefore they must think they'll return to Switzerland. Most people do. But nobody escapes to, let's say to Hungary. I've a chalet at the Balaton. I haven't been there for years." She smiled.
"But how would you manage it to get two people over the boarder?"
"You know I always travel with huge luggage."
"That'll never work, Baroness. They'll search your luggage. They know you were engaged with the Captain." Emily said sceptical.
"Not if I travel under the protection of a very old "friend" of me, who happens to be a high honoured member of the NSDAP."
"That's crazy. But I like it." Max smiled. "Emily?"
Usually Emily liked such ideas too, but not this one. She glanced at the Baroness. Those Austrians had an ugly feeling for relationships. They trusted people, which they better shouldn't trust, a Baroness intended to help her deserted Ex-Fiancé with the help of a NSDAP-Member and a married couple didn't talk to each other, although they should have done so. Emily sighed. She had no other possibility but to agree. "It's the only way, isn't it?"
"I guess so." Max nodded.
"Don't worry, Dear. Everything will be fine." The Baroness smiled encouraging.
Meinhard Gruselfinger was the chief of the Vienna-NSDAP. He always had courted her and she knew if she'd ask him for a fast and safe travel to the Balaton, he would help her immediately.
The Baroness suggested she should use the plane. If it once had left Austrian ground it was impossible to get into any controls. Besides the authorities in Hungary wouldn't search her luggage. And once at the Balatonairport, Maria and Georg could take the next plane to Zürich.
But the first thing they had to do was getting Maria and Georg out of the Catacombs. Despite the nightly time, Max somehow had managed it to get a map of the ramified hallways.
While the Baroness organized her little trip to Hungary, Emily and Max used the subterranean streets to reach the cathedral.
As they arrived in the little room they found Georg and Maria sleeping in a close embrace.
"Tzzz, young married couples." Max whispered. "One should think they're on their second honeymoon trip and not trying to escape the Nazis." He added ironically.
"Jealous?" Emily gave him a mocking look. She was glad, that Georg and Maria seemed to get along again.
"Jealous? Me?" he answered snorting and Emily grinned.
"Well, let's wake them up. Good Morning, little lovebirds" Max almost sung.
"Max? Emily?" They got up, glad to see their friends.
While Georg gave Max a hug, Maria tried to get her robe in order. She was glad she had put it on again during the cold night.
"Everything's alright with you?" Georg asked Max.
"Of course, how couldn't it be? Although I missed you - and all the comfort our friendship brought to me" The two men laughed. "Well, I don't like it in here. Mind if we leave?"
"Never" Georg answered.
During their long way through the catacombs Max and Emily told them their further plans. First Georg wasn't too happy they had asked the Baroness for help, but he knew they had no other opportunity. He only wanted to bring Maria and his new child back to safety, the reason for their enterprise receded into the distance.
It was almost 11 a.m. when they leaved the catacombs in the East of Vienna next to Aspern.
Max called the Baroness and luckily she had managed it to organize everything.
The Baroness had told Gruselfinger that she needed some recovery after all the happenings in her life and in Austria. Furthermore she had invited him to join her. But as whole Vienna was searching for Baron von Trapp, he couldn't accept her "friendly" offer.
As an excuse he offered her his private plane. So Georg and Maria wouldn't only escape from the Nazi's, but being flight out by them, too.
The Baroness would arrive at 4 p.m.; their plane would leave 2 hours later.
First Emily and Max had planned to leave them as soon they were safe in the wardrobe trunks of Baroness Schroeder, but Georg didn't want them to get into more danger. In spite of their protests he sent them back to Vienna. He and Maria had changed into some dresses Max had organized and they spent the rest of the day in a little Heurigen. Every time the door opened they looked nervously who entered the pub, but fortunately the SS didn't seem to search for them outside Vienna, at least not in Aspern.
The long wait obtained them some time to talk reasonable about their future. Both knew it wouldn't be possible for them to start a new life in Switzerland, not without money and a Baby to arrive. Georg remembered that Josef Meiners, of who he was deeply disappointed, had told him something about the Grubers. He knew them; maybe they could stay with them for a while. But America? That was far away, tickets would be expensive.
"Somehow we'll manage it, Georg. Remember? When the Lord closes a door -"
"- he always opens a window." Georg finished the sentence.
"Yes" Maria smiled and took his hand. "We'll make it Georg. We all. Together."
"You're right Darling. We'll make it. We got to. But I hope the window will be big enough for 9 people."
Finally the time of their departure arrived and they made their way to the meeting point. Maria was nervous, although Georg tried to convince her that it wasn't necessary - not showing how nervous he was himself.
The Baroness already waited for them at a lonely street. Her huge wardrobe trunks gave plenty of space for a person to hide in. Georg was the first who vanished in one.
"Here" The Baroness gave Maria a brown envelope, before she climbed into her trunk.
"What's that?" Maria asked her surprised.
"Tickets for the plane from Hungary to Zurich - and a late wedding-present. I thought you might need some starting capital."
"Oh no, Baroness. I can't take it. Besides Georg would never -"
"Georg, right. But he's as proud as every man is, otherwise you wouldn't be in this trouble. You as a woman should be cleverer and accept some help. You certainly need some help."
"You helped us already enough, Baroness. I can't take money of you."
"It's not that much money. Just take it and see it as, well, a little apology for all the problems I brought into your life, Baroness." she said and Maria couldn't help blushing upon tue "Baroness".
"Now come on, don't be silly" Baroness Schroeder pressed the envelope into Maria's hand.
Maria smiled "Thank you. For everything."
"No problem Dear - and good luck."
To be continued...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I hope this chapter is not too confusing, LOL, but I had problems to bring the story out of the situation I had brought her in *GG*
The heavy steps at the floor of the cathedral pulled Maria and Georg ungentle back to reality.
"Georg?" Maria was afraid. This time there was no way to escape. They were caught like mice in a trap.
"Pray Maria; pray that we somehow got hold of the right confessional." Georg whispered, while he searched feverish for a lever, a button, something that might open the entry to the catacombs.
The steps came nearer, the voices louder. "Come out! We know you're here!"
Click. A soft tone sounded, the wooden wall of the confessional swept away and gave sight to a small and dark room, with a stair down to the underground of Vienna.
"Oh my-" Maria whispered surprised. Georg gave her a fast kiss of relief and they entered the room. The door closed silent behind them.
It was dark and cold, they couldn't see anything - neither hear something, but their own breath. The cathedral, the SS-officers, just everything seemed to be far away.
Georg hold Maria close. Touching her again, smelling her perfume again made him just feel happy. Maybe they were safe now, maybe they weren't. He didn't know. And at this moment he didn't care.
His lips searched for Maria's, first kissing them softly, getting more passionately, as she answered his kiss. They sunk at the floor, longing for each others kisses, enjoying every soft touch with every piece of their hearts.
Gentle Georg opened Maria's dress; his fingers followed the lines of her body. Kissing her neck, her stomach and finally her lips again, he got lost in that moment of longing and passion. He kissed his wife deeply; forgetting the whole world. There was nothing for him but Maria, when they were together at the cold floor of their hiding-place.
Maria's head leaned on Georg's shoulder, his arms hold her tight. She listened to his regular breath and wondered what he might be dreaming of. She smiled and got closer to him, feeling comfortable and safe in his embrace.
Of course they were still in a dangerous situation, but their reconciliation made the things easier, much easier. The first time since their escape from Austria she was filled with absolute confidence. And the first time since she knew she was pregnant, she was happy she was. She even had started to think joyful of the Baby. She just felt as if somebody had taken a heavy load of her shoulder.
"Hey, why don't you sleep, Darling?" Georg whispered low into her ear.
Maria smiled. "I'm not tired. I guess I'm too happy to."
"Happy?" Georg raised a brow. "And what makes you so happy?"
"As if you don't know, Georg" Maria laughed.
"I don't know. Tell me!" Georg answered with acted protest.
Maria got up; her face was now over his. "You really want to know? It might shock you." She said earnest.
"I think I can cope with it."
"I'm not sure about that." She laughed as he tickled her softly. "Okay, I'll tell you everything."
"I listen."
"Well, I'm afraid I'm seriously in love."
"No! Really? With who?"
"Oh, a very charming Captain. And I think he might be in love with me, too."
"He must be a fool if he wasn't." They kissed each other deeply, getting into a close embrace before they finally felt asleep.
Emily had managed it to arrive at Max's flat without further problems. The Officers had been kind and friendly, said good-bye with a formal bow and returned to their post in the Spiegel Straße. Emily grinned. If you guys just knew.
She knocked at Max's door, which opened after a while. Max looked surprised at Emily. "I'm afraid you knocked at the wrong door."
"Not if you happen to be Max Detweiler."
"If I happen to be Max Detweiler - what will happen then?" he asked her distrustful.
"Then I would ask you to let me in." Emily smiled at him.
"And why should this Max Detweiler let a completely strange woman into his flat?"
Emily laughed, she liked that guy. "Maybe because a very old friend of him sent her to deliver a message."
"You don't look much like a wire-boy to me."
"Because I happen to be a girl, Mr. - uhm, what did you say was your name?"
"You're not only happen to be a girl, but a very smart one, too. Call me Max." He grinned and opened his door.
"Thank you, Max" Emily slipped into his flat.
"Who sent you?"
"Captain von Trapp."
"Georg? Why should he? I thought he was safe in Switzerland."
"Actually he isn't in Switzerland and actually he isn't very safe. He's in Vienna."
"You're joking!" Max couldn't believe what he had heard.
"Not at all" Emily told Max the whole story, while he wandered up and down, shaking his head unbelieving.
"He never should have trusted Meiners. He joined the NSDAP short after the Anschluss."
Emily raised her brow. At least she knew now, who had betrayed them. Nice friends, she thought. "What about you, Max? Can I trust you?"
"You got to. You've already told me everything."
"Oh no, I didn't. I never told you were Georg and Maria are right now."
Max laughed out loud. "You got me. Well, come on. I know somebody Georg can trust, too - Whether you believe it or not."
Max had been talking of Baroness Schroeder. And he was right. When they told the Baroness that Georg needed their help, she agreed immediately.
First Emily was still suspicious. Should she really tell them where Georg and Maria were hiding? What if Max and the Baroness were deserted to the Nazis like Meiners? But finally she recognized that she had no other choice but to trust them. She didn't know anybody in Vienna but them, and she had promised the von Trapp children to bring their parents safe home.
It was clear that they had to leave Vienna - and Austria as well - as fast as possible.
Because of the rambling of the catacombs it wouldn't be hard to get Maria and Georg out of the city. But out of Austria? The Nazi's had increased the controls at the boarders, it was almost impossible for Austrians to leave the country. The trick with the nuns wouldn't work anymore. For Emily it wouldn't be a problem to return to Switzerland. She had a Suisse Passport; the authorities didn't know that it was her who helped Georg and Maria.
Finally Baroness Schroeder came up with the saving idea.
"They know that the children are in Switzerland. Therefore they must think they'll return to Switzerland. Most people do. But nobody escapes to, let's say to Hungary. I've a chalet at the Balaton. I haven't been there for years." She smiled.
"But how would you manage it to get two people over the boarder?"
"You know I always travel with huge luggage."
"That'll never work, Baroness. They'll search your luggage. They know you were engaged with the Captain." Emily said sceptical.
"Not if I travel under the protection of a very old "friend" of me, who happens to be a high honoured member of the NSDAP."
"That's crazy. But I like it." Max smiled. "Emily?"
Usually Emily liked such ideas too, but not this one. She glanced at the Baroness. Those Austrians had an ugly feeling for relationships. They trusted people, which they better shouldn't trust, a Baroness intended to help her deserted Ex-Fiancé with the help of a NSDAP-Member and a married couple didn't talk to each other, although they should have done so. Emily sighed. She had no other possibility but to agree. "It's the only way, isn't it?"
"I guess so." Max nodded.
"Don't worry, Dear. Everything will be fine." The Baroness smiled encouraging.
Meinhard Gruselfinger was the chief of the Vienna-NSDAP. He always had courted her and she knew if she'd ask him for a fast and safe travel to the Balaton, he would help her immediately.
The Baroness suggested she should use the plane. If it once had left Austrian ground it was impossible to get into any controls. Besides the authorities in Hungary wouldn't search her luggage. And once at the Balatonairport, Maria and Georg could take the next plane to Zürich.
But the first thing they had to do was getting Maria and Georg out of the Catacombs. Despite the nightly time, Max somehow had managed it to get a map of the ramified hallways.
While the Baroness organized her little trip to Hungary, Emily and Max used the subterranean streets to reach the cathedral.
As they arrived in the little room they found Georg and Maria sleeping in a close embrace.
"Tzzz, young married couples." Max whispered. "One should think they're on their second honeymoon trip and not trying to escape the Nazis." He added ironically.
"Jealous?" Emily gave him a mocking look. She was glad, that Georg and Maria seemed to get along again.
"Jealous? Me?" he answered snorting and Emily grinned.
"Well, let's wake them up. Good Morning, little lovebirds" Max almost sung.
"Max? Emily?" They got up, glad to see their friends.
While Georg gave Max a hug, Maria tried to get her robe in order. She was glad she had put it on again during the cold night.
"Everything's alright with you?" Georg asked Max.
"Of course, how couldn't it be? Although I missed you - and all the comfort our friendship brought to me" The two men laughed. "Well, I don't like it in here. Mind if we leave?"
"Never" Georg answered.
During their long way through the catacombs Max and Emily told them their further plans. First Georg wasn't too happy they had asked the Baroness for help, but he knew they had no other opportunity. He only wanted to bring Maria and his new child back to safety, the reason for their enterprise receded into the distance.
It was almost 11 a.m. when they leaved the catacombs in the East of Vienna next to Aspern.
Max called the Baroness and luckily she had managed it to organize everything.
The Baroness had told Gruselfinger that she needed some recovery after all the happenings in her life and in Austria. Furthermore she had invited him to join her. But as whole Vienna was searching for Baron von Trapp, he couldn't accept her "friendly" offer.
As an excuse he offered her his private plane. So Georg and Maria wouldn't only escape from the Nazi's, but being flight out by them, too.
The Baroness would arrive at 4 p.m.; their plane would leave 2 hours later.
First Emily and Max had planned to leave them as soon they were safe in the wardrobe trunks of Baroness Schroeder, but Georg didn't want them to get into more danger. In spite of their protests he sent them back to Vienna. He and Maria had changed into some dresses Max had organized and they spent the rest of the day in a little Heurigen. Every time the door opened they looked nervously who entered the pub, but fortunately the SS didn't seem to search for them outside Vienna, at least not in Aspern.
The long wait obtained them some time to talk reasonable about their future. Both knew it wouldn't be possible for them to start a new life in Switzerland, not without money and a Baby to arrive. Georg remembered that Josef Meiners, of who he was deeply disappointed, had told him something about the Grubers. He knew them; maybe they could stay with them for a while. But America? That was far away, tickets would be expensive.
"Somehow we'll manage it, Georg. Remember? When the Lord closes a door -"
"- he always opens a window." Georg finished the sentence.
"Yes" Maria smiled and took his hand. "We'll make it Georg. We all. Together."
"You're right Darling. We'll make it. We got to. But I hope the window will be big enough for 9 people."
Finally the time of their departure arrived and they made their way to the meeting point. Maria was nervous, although Georg tried to convince her that it wasn't necessary - not showing how nervous he was himself.
The Baroness already waited for them at a lonely street. Her huge wardrobe trunks gave plenty of space for a person to hide in. Georg was the first who vanished in one.
"Here" The Baroness gave Maria a brown envelope, before she climbed into her trunk.
"What's that?" Maria asked her surprised.
"Tickets for the plane from Hungary to Zurich - and a late wedding-present. I thought you might need some starting capital."
"Oh no, Baroness. I can't take it. Besides Georg would never -"
"Georg, right. But he's as proud as every man is, otherwise you wouldn't be in this trouble. You as a woman should be cleverer and accept some help. You certainly need some help."
"You helped us already enough, Baroness. I can't take money of you."
"It's not that much money. Just take it and see it as, well, a little apology for all the problems I brought into your life, Baroness." she said and Maria couldn't help blushing upon tue "Baroness".
"Now come on, don't be silly" Baroness Schroeder pressed the envelope into Maria's hand.
Maria smiled "Thank you. For everything."
"No problem Dear - and good luck."
To be continued...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I hope this chapter is not too confusing, LOL, but I had problems to bring the story out of the situation I had brought her in *GG*