Liesl's fiancé, Charles, had dropped her and three of her sisters off at the lodge ten minutes ago, but none of them had dared to enter the house. From the front porch they all could hear the screaming voices of their father and their brother Kurt. Once the noise subsided, they all felt it was safe to enter the house. When they walked through the front door, they saw Kurt running upstairs and they could tell that he was extremely angry. There was a lone figure on the couch that all of them recognized, though. And she looked very frightened sitting there.
"Fraulein Maria?" Liesl was the first to speak. She had obviously disturbed her former governess because Maria's head snapped to the direction the four girls had just entered the room.
Standing up to greet them, Maria felt tears forming in her eyes, yet again that day. "Liesl? Is that really you?"
"Yes it is, but what are you doing here?"
"Your brother brought me back here on his way back from Austria. He thought it would be a nice surprise, but apparently your father has thought otherwise." Gretl broke free from behind her sisters and ran into Maria's arms. Louisa, Brigitta, and Liesl followed her. And soon there were five crying women in Georg Von Trapp's sitting room. The Captain made his presence known by loudly clearing his throat.
"I want the four of you to go upstairs and change for dinner right away." That comment was followed by four quiet "Yes fathers." Left alone in the room, Georg looked over Maria again that day. She hasn't changed at all. She's still lovelier than ever and she must think that I'm a raving lunatic for the way I acted. The Captain wanted to tell Maria what he was feeling at that very moment, but his pride got in the way instead.
"Fraulein Maria, you're more than welcome to stay the night and be our guest for dinner. But I must insist that after tomorrow you find a more permanent place of lodging while you stay here in America."
"Oh not to worry, sir. I have already made plans. I wasn't planning on inconveniencing you for more than a day, anyways." Maria didn't think that he bought it, but at least it saved her from making a more sorry excuse.
"Very good, then. Dinner will be served in an half an hour. We'll all expect to see you then." And with that, the Captain ascended the stairs, leaving Maria alone in the sitting room once again.
Meanwhile upstairs in the bedrooms…….
Liesl wandered the hallways upstairs looking to find her youngest brother and welcome him home. When she knocked on his door, she saw a mess of clothes being stuffed into suitcase upon suitcase and then she saw Kurt throwing more clothes from his closet across the room.
"Well I'm glad to see that you're organizing your clothes now that you're back. And I'm even more excited to see the surprise you left in the sitting room." Liesl folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the door frame waiting for Kurt to notice she had said something.
Kurt's head sprang up at the sound of his eldest sister's voice and walked across the room to greet her. "Oh Liesl." And then Kurt fell into his sister's arms. "I made such a mess of things and father and I got into a ridiculous argument that ended with me yelling at him that I plan on moving out of the lodge and he hates me now even more than ever. And to top things off, Fraulein Maria must think I'm some sort of deranged person because I brought her here and nothing is going right. It's hopeless."
"My that certainly is a mouthful. Now why don't we sit down and you can tell me exactly why father is so steamed and why our former governess is sitting downstairs."
"Well I found her when I went back to Europe and she and I talked for a while and I told her that father still loves her and that she needed to come back here to tell him she loves him too…"
"Oh Kurt. You really shouldn't have done that. You know how father gets whenever one of us mentions this topic."
"I know, I know. But I couldn't help it, Liesl. I was back home, and she was there. I just couldn't come back here without the thought even crossing my mind."
Liesl didn't know what to say in reply to that. She knew Kurt was right. In fact, if she had been in his place she knew she would have done the exact same thing. It was just common knowledge to all of the Von Trapp children: the Captain and Maria were in love. They had been ever since she became their governess.
"So let me guess what happened next. Father saw Fraulein Maria and went ballistic on you for bringing her here."
"Something like that, yes."
"Well that certainly does put you in a difficult position. What are you planning on doing now?
"Hope that both of them come to their senses and that I can find a decent place to stay."
"Oh you're not seriously thinking of leaving? Are you? What with all the fuss starting with my wedding now…where would you even go?"
"I have a friend that lives in New York City who I went to preparatory school with that's been begging me to go visit him for years now. I just may take him up on that offer."
"Please stay. You and father will work it out. Don't let something like this tear about our family now, after all we've been through over the past few years. Just reconsider it." Liesl give Kurt's shoulders a quick squeeze and got up from the bed. "I am glad that you're home, though." Then she gave him a kiss on his forehead and left the room.
Dinner had been unbearable. No one had said a single word. Literally. Everyone was equally surprised that Kurt had even shown up to the table. The Captain included. But nonetheless, everyone ate in silence. From time to time, the seven of the children would exchange nervous looks with one another.
Now, Maria was observing the beautiful scenery from the front porch. She felt so lifeless. She had made a huge risk to come to America. But, Kurt had talked her into it. Just thinking about him made Maria smile. She was just thinking about what he went through to get her to go to America with him. He had such love for life and she was glad that he was willing to cross paths with his father in order to attempt to make her happy.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Captain Von Trapp's presence on the porch.
"Oh, Fraulein. Excuse me I didn't know that someone else was here."
"Oh it's quite alright. If you need the porch to do something or to just think then I'll go inside then. It is your house after all." Maria started towards the door to go inside but was stopped by Georg.
"Really it's no trouble. I would actually love some company right now. You especially."
Maria thanked God for that last part the Captain had said. Maybe he was finally coming around. "You know I can see now why you chose to move here. It reminds me so much of Austria. It's like you never left."
"I know, that's the main reason why I looked into buying property here. Plus this lodge was at a fantastic price and coming over here with very little money we were lucky enough to find it."
"If you like how it reminds you of Austria then why didn't you want Kurt to go back there?" Maria noticed how quiet the Captain go so she quickly changed the topic.
"I'm sorry. I haven't changed a bit. Here I am still talking back to you after all this time."
"It's alright. You know, I haven't changed any either. I'm still very distant to my children and my temper is flaring like you would not imagine."
Maria was speechless at that. She didn't want to say anything to ruin the moment. And she certainly didn't want the Captain to feel any worse than he was at that moment.
"I have two questions for you, Fraulein and I'd greatly appreciate it if you would answer them both for me."
Bracing herself for what he was about to say, Maria felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach.
"Why did you leave the night of the party and why are you standing here before me now?"
Of course. The former of the two questions was exactly what Kurt had demanded of her. Maria felt that she owed it to the Captain to tell him the truth. She did love him more than anything, after all.
"Oh where do I begin….I'm going to try and tell you exactly what I told Kurt the other day. And when I'm done I'd like to hear what you have to say. But until I'm done, please allow me to get all of this out."
Maria looked at the Captain to get his approval, which was a curt nod and she began.
"I thought being sent to your house was the worst day of my life. I truly believed that becoming a nun was the answer to all of my problems. But when I entered your house and after I got to know all of you, my whole world was altered. You all were so loving and caring and I began to regard you as my family."
She looked next to her again only to see the Captain hanging on every word she had to say. "That was the problem, though. You weren't my family. After the summer ended, I realized I would return to the Abbey, you would marry the Baroness, and the children would soon forget about me. Being with you all, I started to form feelings for you, Captain. Feelings that never I thought in a million years I could possess. And the night of the party I realized that I was in love with you. But I knew that could never happen. So I left and went back to the only world that made sense to me. And I came here today because those same feelings are still inside of me, waiting to let go. So here it is…I love you Georg Von Trapp. I have for the last seven years. There is no one in this entire world I would rather be with. You make me feel wonderful. One look into your eyes and all my cares, all my fears melt away. I feel like I'm floating and there's no way to bring me down back to earth, except through you. I love you with every ounce of my soul that consumes me and I hope you feel the same way about me."
Maria took a step back and smiled to herself. She had done it. It had taken her seven years to do it, but she had accomplished it. Now came time for the hard part. Would he say the same to her in return?
She looked at him, but he was far away in another world. It was obvious she had just made a fool out of herself. So she began to walk back inside.
"I'm sorry I came here. But as I said earlier, I plan on leaving tomorrow. Good night, sir." She turned and walked away. But he called her back to him.
"Maria," saying her name without the fraulein in front of it sounded so wonderful. And when he said it, she turned in surprise and amazement. "Maria, I love you too. Please don't leave me again." Maria walked towards him and flung her arms around his neck and kissed him ever so passionately. Georg Von Trapp welcomed the gesture and wrapped his arms around her. At last, they were together. He had gotten her back and she was his forever.
To be continued……
Don't worry folks, this definitely isn't the end. Do you really think I'd let the story end like that? I appreciate all the constructive criticism from you all over the past few days. As I said before, this is my first piece so bear with me. But I love you all for your comments and I hope you enjoyed this installment!