Chapter One: A Goodbye

When Maria awoke it was to find that the sun had set and that her husband sat quietly by her side. She felt disoriented when she awoke, as if her spirit was not within her body. She still felt dizzy and weak and she batted a hand at the uneasiness that surrounded and engulfed her.

"Georg?" she asked confused studying her husband's face. He seemed genuinely concerned, but also a bit put out, even angry. "What happened?"

"You fainted," he replied curtly, "You had not eaten."

Maria nodded her head hesitantly. She had not eaten that day or very much the day before either. "I don't feel very well," she replied, "I was not hungry."

Georg looked down at her, his hard gaze softening, "I imagine not. Most women are not very hungry in the early stages," he smiled, "they make up for it later."

Maria was confused. She knew she had not told Georg about her condition. How did he know that she was with child? "Georg, how..."she asked, only to be cut off with a swipe of his hand.

"Maria, I've only become a father seven times before..." he laughed at her surprise, "that and I had Dr. Schneider out when you collapsed before. He confirmed what Frau Schmidt and I suspected."

"I feel so silly, thinking I could hide it from you," Maria blushed guiltily.

"I don't understand why you felt you had to," Georg replied, "Didn't you know that I'd be delighted with the prospect of another child?"

"I was going to tell you, Darling, but you were so worried about things in Austria and then the Anschluss happened and..." the Captain cut his wife off with a quick kiss on the lips.

"I'm sorry, my love," the Captain apologized, "I should have paid more attention."

The mention of the Anschluss jogged Maria's memory; they were supposed to be getting ready to leave Austria, not sitting in their bedroom talking about babies and such. Maria sat up quickly and Georg pushed her back down gently, "Not so fast. Not so fast," he admonished, "You have to get your legs back under you so to speak."

"Georg, we can just sit here, we have to get the children ready, we have to get our things together. It's all ready night, we have to leave, and soon," she said urgently.

Sadly, Georg shook his head, "Maria, I think I was a bit too hasty about leaving. There is no way we can get out of Austria without the Nazis finding us, we're far too large a group. If we were going to get out, we'd have to cross the Alps on foot and in your condition..."

"I'll manage, we'll be all right," she told him, trying to keep positive. Maria knew that there was no way Georg could fight for the Reich in good conscience, and she knew that she could not let him go on alone, not without his family.

"No," the Captain shook his head, "There is only one thing to do. An escape like this has to be planned carefully, and the Nazis know that. With you pregnancy..." Georg paused, "We'd need money to be wired to Switzerland and I've all ready tried the banks, our money is frozen. I can move it out of Austria, not now, and we can't make the journey without capital, I won't have my family sleeping outside and begging on the streets of Zurich, I won't allow it."

"What are we going to do?" Maria asked him, sitting up slowly this time and swinging her legs over the side,

"There is only one thing I can do," the Captain replied.

"No," Maria shook her head fiercely, "No, if you are going to leave Austria, we're all going with you."

"Maria, I'm not going to leave Austria. I can't, we don't even have enough cash money to keep me going alone and the cash..." he sighed, "Listen, there is one other option and we have some time before any decisions have to be made, a few hours at least. You lie back down and rest and I'll send Frau Schmidt up with some supper for you while I go and talk with Max." Georg leaned in and kissed her forehead, "I'll be back soon."

Captain von Trapp and Max poured over the numbers again and again, and found them a cruel reality. With the accounts froze there was no conceivable way that enough capital could be acquired to support seven children, one adult male, and one pregnant lady in Switzerland.

"I don't have much, Georg," Max told him, "but whatever I have is yours, you know that."

"I know that," the Captain nodded, "but any significant amount of money would be noticed and traced. You could get in a lot of trouble."

"But there's only one of me and I'm not even a speck on the German radar..."

Georg couldn't help but laugh at that, "You most certainly are. They aren't stupid, many things yes, but not stupid. Don't kid yourself, the Nazis are watching you. I'd be surprised if your funds were not frozen as well."

Max knew Georg was right. There was not conceivable way, but neither wanted to give up yet. "What if you left Austria with Maria and the children with the cash money you have, then I'll apply for a visa to somewhere like Italy and then I can wire you money from there."

"It's too involved a plan, Max. There are too many places where we can run into problems," Georg answered, "Even if it did work it would be a hand to mouth existence at best and I want better than that for Maria and the children."

"But, Georg you really don't have a choice," Max began but the Captain cut him off.

"I only have one choice; I don't know why I tried to deny the truth so long. I have to go to Bremmehaven and hope that England and France declare war on Germany and win a speedy victory." Georg sipped his whiskey.

"Georg, you can't. The Nazis are against everything you believe, everything you consider important," Max argued.

"The only thing that is really important is my family; my wife, my children. If I have to fight for Germany, I'll fight for Germany," Georg said seriously.

"But..." Max began and stopped and began again, "Georg, only a few months ago you nearly bit off some teenager's head because he said 'Heil, Hitler!' Now you are ready to go to battle for him?"

Max's words cut the Captain deeply. It was true. Nazi rule undermined every thing he held sacred; his faith, his country, his moral values. However, there was one thing more precious to him than those things, and he said so, "Max, there is only one thing worth fighting for anymore. Austria- Hungary is no more, the empire is dead. The Austrian republic is no more; it's taken over, occupied. There is no Austria to fight for. There is only my family left to fight for, and I'm going to go to battle for them."

With those words, the Captain rose from his desk and left his study. He knew what he said was true, that the country he loved, fought for, bled for; was no more. He knew he only had his family left to fight for and he knew what he must do; he knew that he must sacrifice his noble ideals for his family. He also knew how much it hurt.

Georg only wanted to say it once. He only wanted to say the dirty, dreaded words once. Thus, the Captain asked Frau Schmidt to assemble the family in the front salon.

By this time, the children knew perfectly well that something was going on, their father never called a "family meeting" unless something terribly important was happening. They quickly assembled in the salon arranged in chairs around the fireplace from oldest to youngest. Maria was seated between Marta and Kurt, holding a tired and somewhat nervous Gretl on her lap.

Liesl could tell by her father's face that something was troubling him and Maria could tell by her husband's hesitancy to speak that he had indeed made a decision about the telegram. When everyone was quiet and expectantly facing him, the Captain spoke, "Maria. Children," he said, "I have an announcement to make. This is not up for debate, criticism, or discussion. This is my decision, it has been made and I'm simply informing you of it. As of this time tomorrow, I will be reporting to the German naval base at Bremmehaven. I'm going to fight for the Nazis."