A/N: Same as Maria I tried to stay as close to the Captain's life as possible…I hope you find this chapter interesting! Read and Review as always please!
Ch. 4: Georg's Past
"So Captain what about you?" She asked once she recovered from the shock of his warm compliment.
"Me?" He asked.
"Yes you. I just bored you through my whole life, I am interested to know about yours." Maria told him. Though it was getting late Georg suddenly wanted Maria to know everything about his life. He contained himself though because he did not want to come off as arrogant.
"Well it is not nearly as interesting as yours Maria." He told her.
"I don't believe you, life at sea has to be interesting." Maria told him.
"Well then I will tell you. My Father, Johann Trapp, was born in Germany, but later became and Austrian citizen. He joined the Navy and became commander of a ship. While the ship was sailing through the Mediterranean they were hit by a storm. My Father supposedly saved the ship single handedly by steering it onto the coast. Because of this the emperor of Austria gave him the iron cross, third class and he was elevated to knighthood. He became known as Johann Ritter von Trapp." He told her.
"Oh so that is how you got the "von" in your name!" Maria told him excitedly. "I always wondered since that is only placed before ones name if they have done extraordinary service to their county."
"Yeah that is right." Georg told her surprised by how much she knew. "I was born in Zara on April 4, 1880. When I was very small my father died of Typhoid Fever. My Mother, Hedwig, took us to live somewhere else in Austria. We were raised Lutheran and we went to Lutheran schools. I entered the navy when I was fourteen. Eventually I became Captain of a ship after many voyages. One of them was the worst. The Boxcar Rebellion was happening in China. We sailed there and we got out and tried to free the inhabitants." Georg looked on remembering the harsh terrible sights he saw. He had never spoken of it to anyone, even Agathe. "We freed so many, but it was terrible. I have never seen such an awful display before. To think they could do the things they did to other humans."
"I have heard that was terrible." Maria told him. He glanced at her again surprised. He reminded himself she had gone to college. She seemed so intelligent. More than anyone else he had ever met.
"It was then that I really realized that war was not good. It isn't the way God wanted it. That was another thing. I had to sink a ship once. It made it seem like Austria had a far superior Navy than we did. I received the highest award possible in the Navy for that. That is when I received the title Baron. They considered me a hero. I though could not stop thinking of all those poor people on the ship. They all died. So many innocent people. I had to sink it though or else my crew would have died." Maria nodded. "Then I met Agathe. She actually was there to perform the ceremony for the submarine I would later be assigned to. Two years later we got married. We had seven wonderful children as you know and for the most part we were very happy. The children actually became Catholics because of the governesses we would get to also keep an eye out for the children."
"If you don't mind me asking, Captain, what was Agathe like?" Maria asked curious.
"Well she had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was very calm and handled things quietly. She loved children they were her joy. Agathe loved the outside, but did not enjoy sports such as hiking and bicycling. She would rather sit outside and garden or knit. She did however go hiking with us once in a while. Agathe was also very musical, much like you Maria. She sang beautifully and played the violin." He told her. Maria was barley heard the last part. She still was replaying his words over and over in her mind 'much like you Maria'. Maria could not help but wonder why he was comparing his late wife to her. To Maria, Agathe and her were night and day, except for their love of music and children. Yet, Maria felt like Agathe sounded like a genuinely nice person even with the differences.
"She sounds like a beautiful person." Maria told him honestly. He looked thoughtfully at her.
"Yes she was." His voice surprised Maria and him. He had never spoken of Agathe since she died out loud. If fact he had never told another soul what she was like. As he told Maria about Agathe he realized he was even more captivated by Maria. "It all changed so soon though. We were happy, and then one Christmas Liesl came home with Scarlet Fever. Soon all the children had it. Agathe took care of Gretl. She was only a baby so she needed a Mother's care. The Agathe got sick in January. No one could go near her it was so severe. She was taken to a hospital for eight months. Agathe appeared to be better in August. She returned home, though she could no longer walk." Georg told her. Maria frowned as Georg tried to make his voice stop shaking.
"Then she had a relapse. She died a week later. I didn't know what to do. I remember when my Mother died it was so hard for me to see her weak and lay her in the coffin. I didn't want the children to have to do that. I wanted them to remember her as her smiling, happy, healthy self. So I sent them to their Grandmother's house and after the funeral came and told them she had gone to heaven. I was strong then, I thought I had to be strong for the children. So I would be strong in front of them, but at night…oh it was so lonely so terrible. For so many nights I would cry myself to sleep in my study gazing at her picture. Everything in the house reminded me of her so I told the children we were leaving. I found this house in Salzburg and that is how we got here. I had to leave I couldn't stand to stay there. Unfortunately I couldn't bear to be with the children either. They reminded me way too much of Agathe. It was selfish and stupid, but I could not do things with them, or anything. I was a terrible parent." He told her with tears in his eyes.
"No you were not terrible. You just made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. The thing you should judge yourself on is how you corrected it." Maria told him.
"Perhaps, but I was terrible. I left on business trips to go to Vienna. I pretended to be active. I thought it would look like I had such a purpose full life. I didn't feel like my life had any purpose actually. The governesses I hired would look after my children and I had nothing to do. Life seemed to have no meaning. I had become Catholic before Agathe died, but after she died I wanted to tare all the baptism promises to shreds. I did not understand why God could take her away. So I started believing that maybe there was no God. Or that if there was one he was cruel and unfair." Georg looked at Maria's eyes. He saw that she cared deeply and was sorry for him.
"You know I learned that no matter what happens God always has a reason for it." Maria told him. "Someone once told me when the Lord closes a door he opens a window."
"Yes. I believe that now. God obviously took pity on our family. So he sent some earthy angel to help us. Do you know what she did?" Maria shook her head. "She made me realize that there was a God that loves us. She also taught me how to love again, how to live again. I could never thank you enough Maria. There is no way I will ever be able to repay you." Georg told her. Maria smiled.
"I only did my job as a governess Captain." Maria told him honestly.
"Yes and so much more Maria. I guess God knows what he is doing." Georg told her.
"Thank you Captain for telling me about your past. It was very entertaining. I am sure that could not have been easy for you. Since it is late I must get to sleep now, I have to finish fixing that harmonica for Elsa." Maria told him rising from the sofa. "Thank you again. Goodnight Captain."
"No I should thank you Maria for a lovely evening. Goodnight." The Captain told her as Maria smiled and ran off to her room.
Georg sat silently on the sofa in wonder. He had never wanted anyone else to know about his life. He was a fairly private person who didn't reveal much. Yet, that night he had felt so right just sitting down talking to her; like they were old friends. He had never even told Agathe about his battles at sea.
He had never realized how similar their lives were. They had both lost one of their parents at an early age. Then the other parent died later and it broke both of their hearts. They both had become atheist because of something terrible happening in their lives. He saw how similar she was to his children in away. She lost her Mother and her Father was distant and unloving. They both found joy in music and outdoor sports. They also both came back to love God after a while.
He did not realize they had both overcome so many similar things. He wanted to tell her that he knew why God had taken Agathe away from him…so he could find Maria. If God has reasons for why things happen then certainly that would be the reason, for Maria to enter his life. Georg realized if Agathe had not died he would have never met Maria most likely. He walked up the stairs, but this time turned left instead of right. He opened the stood by the attic door for a moment.
He had not been in the attic ever since they had moved there. He had been in it once, and only once to drop everything that reminded him of Agathe in it. He did not want any pictures, knitted blankets or anything. He had dropped all his memories in the attic and sealed it up. Now though he wanted to look back at the pictures, but he didn't feel like doing it alone.
He smiled as a thought crossed his mind and then he walked back to his bedroom. He was not sure what he should do. He knew he loved Maria, but did she even love him? She was supposed to be a nun after all. If she did love him then how would he break it to Elsa? They were so close to getting married and that was what she expected after all. Georg knew because he had overheard her talking to Max asking him when he was going to propose to her. Georg decided to let a few days go by and see what happened. He fell asleep with thoughts of Maria in his head.