A sunbeam fell through an opening of the curtains on Kurt's face. Waking
up, he wondered what went wrong. 'The sun? The sun never shines on me in
the morning!' He guessed it was probably later then when he usually woke
up. As he was rubbing in his eyes to get a brighter vision, he peeped with
one eye at Friedrich. To his surprise his brother was still fast asleep.
"Psst ... Friedrich, wake up!"
He didn't bother anymore to be quiet. Friedrich had to wake up! All of this was just too weird and the firsts thoughts appearing on his mind were: 'Did something bad happen to Fraulein Maria?' Meanwhile he had gotten up and was standing at his brother's bed. Poking Friedrich, he tried to wake him up.
"Come on! Wake up!"
"Hm ... wh-what?"
Slowly waking up, Friedrich looked with a blurred vision at Kurt.
"It's 10:30 already!"
"So?"
Friedrich still wasn't awake enough to see what was going on.
"So ... Fraulein Maria always wakes us up at 9 AM!"
Immediately Friedrich jumped up, still a bit weary with his hair pointing in every possible way.
"Let's wake the others too."
And off they went, first to the elder sister's room. Again they found everyone sound asleep. Very unusual for them as they normally were woken at 9 o'clock. Kurt jumped on Louisa's bed, only a few inches away from her legs, while Friedrich was waking Liesl. After having awaken Louisa, Kurt repeated his action and jumped on Brigitta's bed, causing her to wake up in a second.
"Hey! What are you doing!?"
"Listen, it's 10:30 and we're still in bed!"
Luckily the girls knew right away that that wasn't normal.
"Maybe Fraulein Maria overslept ..."
"Yes, that could be possible." Kurt replied to Brigitta.
"Well, let's check it out!"
All of them followed Liesl without arguing.
"Shouldn't we wake the little ones?" Friedrich asked, unsure it was right not to involve them at the moment.
"In a minute, first we'll have to wake Fraulein Maria up."
Maria's bedroom wasn't far from the children's, of course it didn't take them long to reach her door. Softly Liesl knocked, waiting for a reply.
"I don't hear anything ... Let me try."
Kurt made his way to the door and knocked again, harder this time.
"Fraulein? Are you asleep?"
Yet no answer.
"Okay, we've tried, let's go in."
Kurt already was turning the doorknob, when Brigitta interrupted him.
"I don't know ..."
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, we're just worried ..."
After he had opened the door, they walked inside just far enough to let everyone in. All were shocked when they saw that their governess wasn't in her bed. And that wasn't all, Maria's bed had been made and an empty closet was standing open.
"Where could she be?"
Louisa was even more taken aback than the others, after all, Maria was the very first person she admitted she was lonely since her mother had died. Her mind went back to that day Chris had arrived. 'And since you came, you've become like a second mother to me ...' She had thought a lot about that conversation. Maria and Louisa were so close, the closest she had ever been with someone except her mother perhaps.
"Do you think she's gone?" She asked her siblings with a somewhat trembling voice. "You don't think she's fired, do you?"
But none of the others knew what to say. Liesl turned back to wake her younger sisters. It took them 10 minutes to join the others. All wanted to know what was going on, so they got dressed in a record time! Only 5 minutes later they were already seated in the dining room. And of course no sign of Maria or their father. Their worst suspicions seemed to come true.
Frau Schmidt walked in with a broad smile on her face, wishing the children a good morning, which they replied in even greater confusion.
"Frau Schmidt, aren't father and Fraulein Maria joining us?"
Liesl wanted to find out as much as possible.
"Oh no, they had breakfast hours ago!"
That's all she said before leaving the room. Quickly the children finished their breakfast, questioning where the 2 could be. After searched all of the house, they went outside. The moment they stepped onto the terrace, their mouths dropped open of total disbelieve. They had found them both already!
-----
Earlier that day ...
Georg couldn't sleep anymore. At last he was together with the woman he loved. The night before he had been having trouble with saying goodnight to Maria. After he had escorted her to her room, they had been in a deep embrace. Georg's arms roaming in her back, then to her sides. Maria's right arm was feeling trough his hair, while the other was exploring his neckline, while the 2 were sharing deep and passionate kisses. Some time later they both found they'd better go to bed. It was almost midnight and Maria sure wasn't used to stay up that late. Finally he'd let her go. Then he returned to his own room. All night Georg had been dreaming about the exciting events that day. He had found his angel, and wasn't willing to ever let her go!
When it was morning, he woke up with an unusual big smile on his face, knowing after a short night of dreaming his life with Maria, he soon could make it reality. Quickly he got up, welcoming the bright new day. As he was dressed and all ready, he looked at his clock. To his dismay it was only 8:15. The first thing he did was looking for Frau Schmidt. She was always up at 7, so he didn't need to worry he might wake her. He only gave her some instructions for later, without giving away a thing. When he came back from Frau Schmidt, only 5 minutes had gone by. He didn't want to wake his beloved Maria, so he decided to keep himself busy with reading till 9 o'clock. Normally that was the hour Maria was supposed to wake the children up. Silently, to not wake Max up who's room was across the hallway of his room, even though he was sure that Max wouldn't even wake up with a whole orchestra playing in front of his door, he walked to the study. After he had selected a book, he sat down in his cozy armchair. Time went by very slow. If he hadn't read that book about a million times before, he wouldn't even know what he was reading, because his mind kept dwelling off. After what seemed like ages, it became 5 to 9. He laid down his book on his desk, and made his way to the other side of the house. At exactly 9 AM Maria walked out of her room. She went over to Marta and Gretl's room. As she had her hand on the doorknob, another hand covered hers.
"Let them sleep out today. I have something else in mind." Georg said as he bended over to her to kiss her good morning.
"A good morning to you too." Maria answered, surprised about his sudden change of rules, yet silent for the others not to wake.
"Come."
He took her hand into his and leaded her downstairs to the dining room. 2 seats near each other of the table had been laid. Fresh flowers were in the middle of the 2, filling the air with the sweet smell of blossoms. Both took place at the prepared seats. Georg still had her hand into his.
"You have no idea how happy you've made me, darling."
He lifted her hand and kissed it.
"Thank you, Georg."
"For what? I should be the one thanking you, my love."
"For giving me the feeling I belong somewhere. For giving me the greatest happiness in my life."
"I love you."
Maria moved closer to Georg, her hand tightly into his, pressed against his chest.
"I love you too."
She whispered before kissing him once more. When Hendrika came in to serve the first meal of the day, she nearly dropped everything by seeing this sight. Maria and Georg were sitting awfully close together, just gazing into each other's eyes, while Georg had Maria's hand in his, closely to his chest. As she looked closer, she saw a beautiful ring on Maria's finger. The couple looked up. Hendrika knew all she needed to know, just by looking into her friend's eyes, with the ring as her proof.
Georg knew the 2 had become dear friends, but he didn't say anything because he wanted to tell his children first. However, they didn't need to tell Hendrika, she already knew what this meant. Quickly she put the tray with their breakfast on the table. Then she walked over to Maria, who was standing by now. Hendrika hugged her and congratulated them both. Georg stood up as well and as soon as Hendrika and Maria had finished hugging, Hendrika walked over to Georg and gave him a hand, which he responded with a broad smile and a friendly thank you.
Frau Schmidt stepped into the dining room, wondering what was taking her daughter so long. When she came in and saw her congratulating the couple, all came clear to her. When Georg had asked her to lay the table, but only 2 seats next to each other with fresh flowers in the middle, she thought it was for him and the baroness. Probably he had finally asked her to marry him, or was intending to at this intimate little meal. But now when Maria was there instead of the baroness, her eyes had opened at last. And of course she wished them both every happiness while doing the same as her daughter had done before her.
After breakfast, they sat in the gazebo. Maria with her head on Georg's shoulder, while he had his arms around her. Georg's head softly leaning on Maria's silky hair. After a while, when the sun was standing higher in the sky and the dew had all dried up, they moved to the grass. Both kissing at times. They were fooling around. Georg kissed her, and playfully Maria pushed him softly away from her, which made Georg pull her back closer. The sound of their laughter carried far. Once again Maria pushed him back, a bit too hard this time, which made Georg fall on the grass, immediately pulling Maria on him.
At that exact moment, the children had walked out, searching for both of them. They couldn't believe what they were seeing!
Maria gazed deeply into Georg's eyes, before giving him a sweet kiss. The children, who still were looking at the couple, all burst out in happy cheering, of course getting the attention of the couple, who quickly got up. They didn't need to walk far for the children were already standing in front of them in a second. Brigitta knew what was going on, but wanted to be as sure as possible.
"Where is baroness Schraeder?"
"She left yesterday."
"Why?"
Gretl asked, unaware she actually knew the answer already.
Georg pulled Maria closer by laying his arm in her waist.
"Because I'm going to get married."
Since their suspicions had been proved now, nothing held them back from hugging their father and soon to be mother.
"You have no idea what you've done to us!" Louisa exclaimed, happy that Georg hadn't let Maria go.
"Oh?" Maria asked curiously.
"We thought you had been fired since you hadn't woken us up. And when we went to see if you had overslept, we found out you weren't in bed anymore, we even got more scared!"
Maria tightened her grip around Louisa, knowing what she must have been through. Louisa's siblings stepped back a little, a bit surprised by Louisa's sudden outburst. Louisa's eyes even had started to well up as she was holding Maria so tightly.
"Oh darling, we didn't mean to ..."
While Maria was reassuring Louisa who suddenly had lost it, the others turned to their father to find out what had happened.
"I've told Fraulein Maria yesterday that she should marry you, so she would stay with us forever!" Gretl told her father with sparkles in her eyes.
Georg lifted his little girl up and patted softly on her nose with his index finger.
"You did, did you ..."
"Georg, we'll be back in a few minutes, ok?" Maria's voice interrupted the children's joyfulness.
"Sure."
Georg looked at his daughter clenching to Maria and understood they needed a moment alone. He moved closer to Maria, while Gretl was still on his arm and gave her a little kiss. Then Maria and Louisa headed into the direction of the gazebo.
"She has it pretty bad." Liesl said to her father.
"Well, she hasn't got a reason anymore, because Maria isn't intending to leave soon."
He gave a smile to the others, who continued their questioning.
"What happened?"
"Since when are you together?"
"When will you get married?"
"Now calm down a bit. I'll tell you all you need to know as soon as I can get a word between."
Of course the children got silent right away. All listening to their father, sat down on the grass. Then Georg put Gretl down and followed the children's example.
-----
Maria sat down in the gazebo with Louisa seated next to her. Louisa cast a smile knowing she must have looked pretty ridiculous a minute ago.
"I have no idea what just happened to me."
Instantly Maria laid her arms around Louisa's shoulders, pulling the girl closely to herself.
"You were afraid you had lost a mother figure for the 2nd time." She said in a warm voice.
"These past few weeks, you don't know how much I felt like having a real family again. Daddy back as in the old days with laughter and music filling the house. And you were there ..." Louisa looked into Maria's eyes. "As time passed by after mum had died, her image in my mind started to fade. I've tried to resist it, but I couldn't do anything about it. Her laughter, her voice, her little habits, her beauty, all just grew dim ... And I miss her so much! How we used to listen to her while she was playing her violin, or when we were playing little games, how she just held us and the way she and daddy were in each other presence, all of that was just gone! Dad was miserable for weeks, even more! Our lives had changed so much, but when you came, laughter and music came back. Daddy had changed again, he had become the same person as we all had known so long ago. And you ..."
She didn't need to say more. Maria knew completely what she meant.
"So this morning, when we saw that your bed was made and your closet was totally empty, fear overwhelmed me! ... Why is your closet empty anyway?" Louisa asked now she had given it further thought.
"To be honest, I was thinking of leaving last night."
Louisa's eyes widened as if Maria was telling her she was leaving at that moment.
"Leaving, why?"
"Last night Gretl had forgotten her bracelet outside and Chris and I went looking for it."
"Yes, I've heard Gretl saying she didn't have it with her."
"Well, when we came back ... Chris kissed me."
"Kissed you? Why? What did you do?"
"I pulled back of course. I wasn't in love with him. As he was telling me how he felt about me, I realized, or at least I thought ... that it was the same as your father and me. I thought your father didn't love me. So the consideration of leaving came into my head. I had been standing in the hall for a long time, just trying to think clear, but I couldn't. Then Georg came downstairs and I had decided I was going to leave."
Louisa was listening intensely.
"When I told your father, he thought I was with Chris and that I would leave with him."
"He did?"
"Yes. After I had told him I was returning to the abbey, I just couldn't hold my tears anymore and I ran up to my room and started packing my things."
"Oh." Louisa gasped. At the time she was in her room, being so happy. In a way she felt guilty, even though she couldn't have known her governess was feeling that way. "What happened?"
"Not long after that, your father run into my room, persuading me not to go."
"Is that when he told you he loves you?"
"Hmm." Maria nodded, a little smile forming on her lips.
Louisa embraced Maria once more. Deep down she knew that she almost had lost a second mother, but happiness came over her and she was glad it had turned out this way.
"What about Chris?" She asked when the 2 were sitting as before.
"We talked everything out. He'll be leaving today."
"Poor guy." Louisa murmured. "I'm gonna miss him though."
"That's the same what he said, that he'll miss all of you."
"Will I see him ever again?"
"I'm sure you will. After all, we're still close friends."
Louisa gave her a worried look.
"Not that close." Maria replied to Louisa's thoughts as she pulled her a little closer.
A moment of silence came, but was soon interrupted by Louisa who was thinking out loud.
"Finally, the moment has come."
Maria looked confused at Louisa. How the girl had said it showed she was more speaking to herself than to Maria.
"For what?"
Louisa looked up, wondering if she had said that out loud. 'I must have, otherwise Maria wouldn't ask me.' She rolled her eyes for her own silliness.
"That we can all call you mum. We all have been waiting for it, you know."
Now she looked even more surprised.
"You have?"
"Yes."
"But how did you kn--"
"We've been watching you 2 for a long time now. It was quite obvious. Besides, Friedrich and I, we came to know something else." Louisa hesitated, she knew she really shouldn't be saying this, but she did it anyway. "In the week Chris had arrived, we kinda heard something we weren't supposed to hear. When we both couldn't sleep, we were searching for this book that dad had been reading to us when mum was still with us. So when we passed his room, we heard him talking in his sleep. Apparently he had been having nightmares about losing you."
Maria kept silent for a while. She really didn't know what to say after hearing that.
"He almost had lost you."
Maria had still both her arms around Louisa. She bended her head a bit and gave a kiss on the top of Louisa's head.
"Now I'm here to stay." She quietly told Louisa.
-----
Instead of the grass, the little group had moved some time ago to the patio. They had given up to ask questions about their father and his fiancée, since he only had said what they needed to know. Max and Chris were up by now. After having finished their breakfast, they both walked outside to join the others. Chris immediately walked up to Georg and shook his hand.
"Congratulations ... And make sure you'll never let her go!"
Max was looking somewhat puzzled at the 2 adults. 'What is going on? Did he finally propose? I guess he has ... and she must have said yes ...'
As soon as Chris stepped aside, Max looked into Georg's eyes.
"Did you--"
"Hmm." Georg shook his head in affirmation.
"And she sai--"
"Indeed, Max."
"Well, whaddaya know! Congratulations, pal!" He looked around to see Georg's bride-to-be. "Well, where is she?"
"She and Louisa are having a little talk."
"Ooh I see."
"They'll be back in a minute."
Max sat down with his back against the wall when he saw 2 figures coming their way.
"When you speak of the devil ..."
Georg turned his head around to see the 2 ladies coming. When they arrived at the table, Maria sat down next to Georg, while Max congratulated her and Louisa went to Chris.
"I'm sure gonna miss you." She said while embracing him.
"That goes for me too."
He tightened their embrace. Louisa's siblings and Max had shifted their gaze from the happy couple to Chris and Louisa. Why did she say that? And why was she hugging him?
When they had parted and now both were sitting, Chris directed his attention to the whole group.
"Well ... I'll be leaving this afternoon."
The children were shocked. They hadn't really thought of Chris leaving.
"But why?" Kurt asked him.
"Because I've been here a bit too long and it's time for me to move along."
Friedrich, Louisa, Liesl, Max and the couple understood immediately what he meant with moving along. But with the others, they were still unhappy he was going away.
"Will you ever come back?"
"Of course I will!"
"And pretty soon too." Georg added. "That is if you accept our wedding invitation."
"I'll be happy to accept." Chris replied while smiling.
-----
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I know I've portrayed Louisa as emotional, but that's kinda the way I saw her, so if you don't agree with her character, so sorry ... please 6 reviews before I update :) thank you
"Psst ... Friedrich, wake up!"
He didn't bother anymore to be quiet. Friedrich had to wake up! All of this was just too weird and the firsts thoughts appearing on his mind were: 'Did something bad happen to Fraulein Maria?' Meanwhile he had gotten up and was standing at his brother's bed. Poking Friedrich, he tried to wake him up.
"Come on! Wake up!"
"Hm ... wh-what?"
Slowly waking up, Friedrich looked with a blurred vision at Kurt.
"It's 10:30 already!"
"So?"
Friedrich still wasn't awake enough to see what was going on.
"So ... Fraulein Maria always wakes us up at 9 AM!"
Immediately Friedrich jumped up, still a bit weary with his hair pointing in every possible way.
"Let's wake the others too."
And off they went, first to the elder sister's room. Again they found everyone sound asleep. Very unusual for them as they normally were woken at 9 o'clock. Kurt jumped on Louisa's bed, only a few inches away from her legs, while Friedrich was waking Liesl. After having awaken Louisa, Kurt repeated his action and jumped on Brigitta's bed, causing her to wake up in a second.
"Hey! What are you doing!?"
"Listen, it's 10:30 and we're still in bed!"
Luckily the girls knew right away that that wasn't normal.
"Maybe Fraulein Maria overslept ..."
"Yes, that could be possible." Kurt replied to Brigitta.
"Well, let's check it out!"
All of them followed Liesl without arguing.
"Shouldn't we wake the little ones?" Friedrich asked, unsure it was right not to involve them at the moment.
"In a minute, first we'll have to wake Fraulein Maria up."
Maria's bedroom wasn't far from the children's, of course it didn't take them long to reach her door. Softly Liesl knocked, waiting for a reply.
"I don't hear anything ... Let me try."
Kurt made his way to the door and knocked again, harder this time.
"Fraulein? Are you asleep?"
Yet no answer.
"Okay, we've tried, let's go in."
Kurt already was turning the doorknob, when Brigitta interrupted him.
"I don't know ..."
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, we're just worried ..."
After he had opened the door, they walked inside just far enough to let everyone in. All were shocked when they saw that their governess wasn't in her bed. And that wasn't all, Maria's bed had been made and an empty closet was standing open.
"Where could she be?"
Louisa was even more taken aback than the others, after all, Maria was the very first person she admitted she was lonely since her mother had died. Her mind went back to that day Chris had arrived. 'And since you came, you've become like a second mother to me ...' She had thought a lot about that conversation. Maria and Louisa were so close, the closest she had ever been with someone except her mother perhaps.
"Do you think she's gone?" She asked her siblings with a somewhat trembling voice. "You don't think she's fired, do you?"
But none of the others knew what to say. Liesl turned back to wake her younger sisters. It took them 10 minutes to join the others. All wanted to know what was going on, so they got dressed in a record time! Only 5 minutes later they were already seated in the dining room. And of course no sign of Maria or their father. Their worst suspicions seemed to come true.
Frau Schmidt walked in with a broad smile on her face, wishing the children a good morning, which they replied in even greater confusion.
"Frau Schmidt, aren't father and Fraulein Maria joining us?"
Liesl wanted to find out as much as possible.
"Oh no, they had breakfast hours ago!"
That's all she said before leaving the room. Quickly the children finished their breakfast, questioning where the 2 could be. After searched all of the house, they went outside. The moment they stepped onto the terrace, their mouths dropped open of total disbelieve. They had found them both already!
-----
Earlier that day ...
Georg couldn't sleep anymore. At last he was together with the woman he loved. The night before he had been having trouble with saying goodnight to Maria. After he had escorted her to her room, they had been in a deep embrace. Georg's arms roaming in her back, then to her sides. Maria's right arm was feeling trough his hair, while the other was exploring his neckline, while the 2 were sharing deep and passionate kisses. Some time later they both found they'd better go to bed. It was almost midnight and Maria sure wasn't used to stay up that late. Finally he'd let her go. Then he returned to his own room. All night Georg had been dreaming about the exciting events that day. He had found his angel, and wasn't willing to ever let her go!
When it was morning, he woke up with an unusual big smile on his face, knowing after a short night of dreaming his life with Maria, he soon could make it reality. Quickly he got up, welcoming the bright new day. As he was dressed and all ready, he looked at his clock. To his dismay it was only 8:15. The first thing he did was looking for Frau Schmidt. She was always up at 7, so he didn't need to worry he might wake her. He only gave her some instructions for later, without giving away a thing. When he came back from Frau Schmidt, only 5 minutes had gone by. He didn't want to wake his beloved Maria, so he decided to keep himself busy with reading till 9 o'clock. Normally that was the hour Maria was supposed to wake the children up. Silently, to not wake Max up who's room was across the hallway of his room, even though he was sure that Max wouldn't even wake up with a whole orchestra playing in front of his door, he walked to the study. After he had selected a book, he sat down in his cozy armchair. Time went by very slow. If he hadn't read that book about a million times before, he wouldn't even know what he was reading, because his mind kept dwelling off. After what seemed like ages, it became 5 to 9. He laid down his book on his desk, and made his way to the other side of the house. At exactly 9 AM Maria walked out of her room. She went over to Marta and Gretl's room. As she had her hand on the doorknob, another hand covered hers.
"Let them sleep out today. I have something else in mind." Georg said as he bended over to her to kiss her good morning.
"A good morning to you too." Maria answered, surprised about his sudden change of rules, yet silent for the others not to wake.
"Come."
He took her hand into his and leaded her downstairs to the dining room. 2 seats near each other of the table had been laid. Fresh flowers were in the middle of the 2, filling the air with the sweet smell of blossoms. Both took place at the prepared seats. Georg still had her hand into his.
"You have no idea how happy you've made me, darling."
He lifted her hand and kissed it.
"Thank you, Georg."
"For what? I should be the one thanking you, my love."
"For giving me the feeling I belong somewhere. For giving me the greatest happiness in my life."
"I love you."
Maria moved closer to Georg, her hand tightly into his, pressed against his chest.
"I love you too."
She whispered before kissing him once more. When Hendrika came in to serve the first meal of the day, she nearly dropped everything by seeing this sight. Maria and Georg were sitting awfully close together, just gazing into each other's eyes, while Georg had Maria's hand in his, closely to his chest. As she looked closer, she saw a beautiful ring on Maria's finger. The couple looked up. Hendrika knew all she needed to know, just by looking into her friend's eyes, with the ring as her proof.
Georg knew the 2 had become dear friends, but he didn't say anything because he wanted to tell his children first. However, they didn't need to tell Hendrika, she already knew what this meant. Quickly she put the tray with their breakfast on the table. Then she walked over to Maria, who was standing by now. Hendrika hugged her and congratulated them both. Georg stood up as well and as soon as Hendrika and Maria had finished hugging, Hendrika walked over to Georg and gave him a hand, which he responded with a broad smile and a friendly thank you.
Frau Schmidt stepped into the dining room, wondering what was taking her daughter so long. When she came in and saw her congratulating the couple, all came clear to her. When Georg had asked her to lay the table, but only 2 seats next to each other with fresh flowers in the middle, she thought it was for him and the baroness. Probably he had finally asked her to marry him, or was intending to at this intimate little meal. But now when Maria was there instead of the baroness, her eyes had opened at last. And of course she wished them both every happiness while doing the same as her daughter had done before her.
After breakfast, they sat in the gazebo. Maria with her head on Georg's shoulder, while he had his arms around her. Georg's head softly leaning on Maria's silky hair. After a while, when the sun was standing higher in the sky and the dew had all dried up, they moved to the grass. Both kissing at times. They were fooling around. Georg kissed her, and playfully Maria pushed him softly away from her, which made Georg pull her back closer. The sound of their laughter carried far. Once again Maria pushed him back, a bit too hard this time, which made Georg fall on the grass, immediately pulling Maria on him.
At that exact moment, the children had walked out, searching for both of them. They couldn't believe what they were seeing!
Maria gazed deeply into Georg's eyes, before giving him a sweet kiss. The children, who still were looking at the couple, all burst out in happy cheering, of course getting the attention of the couple, who quickly got up. They didn't need to walk far for the children were already standing in front of them in a second. Brigitta knew what was going on, but wanted to be as sure as possible.
"Where is baroness Schraeder?"
"She left yesterday."
"Why?"
Gretl asked, unaware she actually knew the answer already.
Georg pulled Maria closer by laying his arm in her waist.
"Because I'm going to get married."
Since their suspicions had been proved now, nothing held them back from hugging their father and soon to be mother.
"You have no idea what you've done to us!" Louisa exclaimed, happy that Georg hadn't let Maria go.
"Oh?" Maria asked curiously.
"We thought you had been fired since you hadn't woken us up. And when we went to see if you had overslept, we found out you weren't in bed anymore, we even got more scared!"
Maria tightened her grip around Louisa, knowing what she must have been through. Louisa's siblings stepped back a little, a bit surprised by Louisa's sudden outburst. Louisa's eyes even had started to well up as she was holding Maria so tightly.
"Oh darling, we didn't mean to ..."
While Maria was reassuring Louisa who suddenly had lost it, the others turned to their father to find out what had happened.
"I've told Fraulein Maria yesterday that she should marry you, so she would stay with us forever!" Gretl told her father with sparkles in her eyes.
Georg lifted his little girl up and patted softly on her nose with his index finger.
"You did, did you ..."
"Georg, we'll be back in a few minutes, ok?" Maria's voice interrupted the children's joyfulness.
"Sure."
Georg looked at his daughter clenching to Maria and understood they needed a moment alone. He moved closer to Maria, while Gretl was still on his arm and gave her a little kiss. Then Maria and Louisa headed into the direction of the gazebo.
"She has it pretty bad." Liesl said to her father.
"Well, she hasn't got a reason anymore, because Maria isn't intending to leave soon."
He gave a smile to the others, who continued their questioning.
"What happened?"
"Since when are you together?"
"When will you get married?"
"Now calm down a bit. I'll tell you all you need to know as soon as I can get a word between."
Of course the children got silent right away. All listening to their father, sat down on the grass. Then Georg put Gretl down and followed the children's example.
-----
Maria sat down in the gazebo with Louisa seated next to her. Louisa cast a smile knowing she must have looked pretty ridiculous a minute ago.
"I have no idea what just happened to me."
Instantly Maria laid her arms around Louisa's shoulders, pulling the girl closely to herself.
"You were afraid you had lost a mother figure for the 2nd time." She said in a warm voice.
"These past few weeks, you don't know how much I felt like having a real family again. Daddy back as in the old days with laughter and music filling the house. And you were there ..." Louisa looked into Maria's eyes. "As time passed by after mum had died, her image in my mind started to fade. I've tried to resist it, but I couldn't do anything about it. Her laughter, her voice, her little habits, her beauty, all just grew dim ... And I miss her so much! How we used to listen to her while she was playing her violin, or when we were playing little games, how she just held us and the way she and daddy were in each other presence, all of that was just gone! Dad was miserable for weeks, even more! Our lives had changed so much, but when you came, laughter and music came back. Daddy had changed again, he had become the same person as we all had known so long ago. And you ..."
She didn't need to say more. Maria knew completely what she meant.
"So this morning, when we saw that your bed was made and your closet was totally empty, fear overwhelmed me! ... Why is your closet empty anyway?" Louisa asked now she had given it further thought.
"To be honest, I was thinking of leaving last night."
Louisa's eyes widened as if Maria was telling her she was leaving at that moment.
"Leaving, why?"
"Last night Gretl had forgotten her bracelet outside and Chris and I went looking for it."
"Yes, I've heard Gretl saying she didn't have it with her."
"Well, when we came back ... Chris kissed me."
"Kissed you? Why? What did you do?"
"I pulled back of course. I wasn't in love with him. As he was telling me how he felt about me, I realized, or at least I thought ... that it was the same as your father and me. I thought your father didn't love me. So the consideration of leaving came into my head. I had been standing in the hall for a long time, just trying to think clear, but I couldn't. Then Georg came downstairs and I had decided I was going to leave."
Louisa was listening intensely.
"When I told your father, he thought I was with Chris and that I would leave with him."
"He did?"
"Yes. After I had told him I was returning to the abbey, I just couldn't hold my tears anymore and I ran up to my room and started packing my things."
"Oh." Louisa gasped. At the time she was in her room, being so happy. In a way she felt guilty, even though she couldn't have known her governess was feeling that way. "What happened?"
"Not long after that, your father run into my room, persuading me not to go."
"Is that when he told you he loves you?"
"Hmm." Maria nodded, a little smile forming on her lips.
Louisa embraced Maria once more. Deep down she knew that she almost had lost a second mother, but happiness came over her and she was glad it had turned out this way.
"What about Chris?" She asked when the 2 were sitting as before.
"We talked everything out. He'll be leaving today."
"Poor guy." Louisa murmured. "I'm gonna miss him though."
"That's the same what he said, that he'll miss all of you."
"Will I see him ever again?"
"I'm sure you will. After all, we're still close friends."
Louisa gave her a worried look.
"Not that close." Maria replied to Louisa's thoughts as she pulled her a little closer.
A moment of silence came, but was soon interrupted by Louisa who was thinking out loud.
"Finally, the moment has come."
Maria looked confused at Louisa. How the girl had said it showed she was more speaking to herself than to Maria.
"For what?"
Louisa looked up, wondering if she had said that out loud. 'I must have, otherwise Maria wouldn't ask me.' She rolled her eyes for her own silliness.
"That we can all call you mum. We all have been waiting for it, you know."
Now she looked even more surprised.
"You have?"
"Yes."
"But how did you kn--"
"We've been watching you 2 for a long time now. It was quite obvious. Besides, Friedrich and I, we came to know something else." Louisa hesitated, she knew she really shouldn't be saying this, but she did it anyway. "In the week Chris had arrived, we kinda heard something we weren't supposed to hear. When we both couldn't sleep, we were searching for this book that dad had been reading to us when mum was still with us. So when we passed his room, we heard him talking in his sleep. Apparently he had been having nightmares about losing you."
Maria kept silent for a while. She really didn't know what to say after hearing that.
"He almost had lost you."
Maria had still both her arms around Louisa. She bended her head a bit and gave a kiss on the top of Louisa's head.
"Now I'm here to stay." She quietly told Louisa.
-----
Instead of the grass, the little group had moved some time ago to the patio. They had given up to ask questions about their father and his fiancée, since he only had said what they needed to know. Max and Chris were up by now. After having finished their breakfast, they both walked outside to join the others. Chris immediately walked up to Georg and shook his hand.
"Congratulations ... And make sure you'll never let her go!"
Max was looking somewhat puzzled at the 2 adults. 'What is going on? Did he finally propose? I guess he has ... and she must have said yes ...'
As soon as Chris stepped aside, Max looked into Georg's eyes.
"Did you--"
"Hmm." Georg shook his head in affirmation.
"And she sai--"
"Indeed, Max."
"Well, whaddaya know! Congratulations, pal!" He looked around to see Georg's bride-to-be. "Well, where is she?"
"She and Louisa are having a little talk."
"Ooh I see."
"They'll be back in a minute."
Max sat down with his back against the wall when he saw 2 figures coming their way.
"When you speak of the devil ..."
Georg turned his head around to see the 2 ladies coming. When they arrived at the table, Maria sat down next to Georg, while Max congratulated her and Louisa went to Chris.
"I'm sure gonna miss you." She said while embracing him.
"That goes for me too."
He tightened their embrace. Louisa's siblings and Max had shifted their gaze from the happy couple to Chris and Louisa. Why did she say that? And why was she hugging him?
When they had parted and now both were sitting, Chris directed his attention to the whole group.
"Well ... I'll be leaving this afternoon."
The children were shocked. They hadn't really thought of Chris leaving.
"But why?" Kurt asked him.
"Because I've been here a bit too long and it's time for me to move along."
Friedrich, Louisa, Liesl, Max and the couple understood immediately what he meant with moving along. But with the others, they were still unhappy he was going away.
"Will you ever come back?"
"Of course I will!"
"And pretty soon too." Georg added. "That is if you accept our wedding invitation."
"I'll be happy to accept." Chris replied while smiling.
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I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I know I've portrayed Louisa as emotional, but that's kinda the way I saw her, so if you don't agree with her character, so sorry ... please 6 reviews before I update :) thank you