Long time no see… Sorry guys about the delay but "real life" had been really busy those days! So here's, at last, chapter 22!

Usual disclaimers here. And to the ones who possess the rights about Liszt's music, please, don't sue me, or better, gimme some money since I'm doing some free advertizing here...

Many many thanx to my prereaders for their help and encouraging comments. T Franziska, Elizabeth, Aline and Jessica: thank you, muchas gracias, obrigada, merci, arigatou, danke schon!

Zurich, September 22nd 1937, afternoon

Max and Goran were walking up the main street of Zurich hastily. They had spent the morning in the Academy of Music and had lost the track of time as they used to when they were practiciszing their common passion. As a result, they were late for lunch once again and, for sure, Emilija would scream at them as usual. The woman could be quite ill-tempered at times, Max had to acknowledge that. As a matter of fact, it was her strong and proud personality that had seduced him from the very beginning. During the war, he had admired her for her ability to run her farm alone with her two little daughters in spite of the difficulties of that time. Now, he admired her even more for her courage, for the way she had decided to leave her country to start a brand new life with her eldest daughter and their son in some unknown land. A strong and high-spirited woman indeed. Then, after calming down a bit, she would give him a light kiss and stroke Goran's cheek softly, saying they had better sit down and begin to eat before the meal got really cold. A strong and high-spirited woman but, above all, an extraordinary loving one next to whom he was free to live for the rest of his days at last. Max could not believe it yet. As Goran and him reached the street where they lived, he took his son's arm as if he wanted to be sure that his current happiness was real. He marvelled at the young man's lithe and supple walk, at his radiating good health. In comparison, Max had difficulties to walk as fast as him but tried hard not to show it. Nonetheless, Goran noticed his heavy breathing. Smiling gently, the young man put his hand on his father's one:

"Do you want to slow down a bit, Dad? After all, we're almost at home," he asked, and, not waiting for his father's answer, began to walk slower.

""You're right," Max answered a bit out of breath. "Besides, we're already more than an hour late. Your mother won't mind if we make her wait for three or four minutes more, will she?" he joked pleasantly.

"Good Lord! With her, you'll never know!" Goran added, bursting out of laughter.

As they had expected, Emilija began to scold them as soon as they walked in the apartment.

"I can't believe it! Is it so difficult to be on time once in your life?" she asked them, strolling out of the kitchen, crossing her arms.

"Sorry Mum, we worked so much that..." Goran tried to apologize, in vain.

"Tatatata... I don't care... Both of you should learn that there is a time for music and a time for lunch, that's all!" she went on with fake anger. "Besides, if you have nothing to do in the afternoon, others have to work, you know. Now, don't apologize anymore, go and wash your hands and sit down or Nadia and I won't be able to open the shop again at 2:30 pm!" she concluded clapping her hands.

A few seconds later, the whole family was sitting around the table, enjoying the not so cold meal.

"So, tell me. What had given you so many problems today?" Emilija asked the two men as she was helping them with some more salad.

"The 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody once again?" Nadia added jokingly.

"Don't ask..." Goran whispered angrily. "I don't have six fingers on the right hand, unlike that egoistic, stupid man! It would be much easier..."

"Hey, little brother! Don't make the poor composer responsible for your difficulties! If you worked a bit more you..." Nadia scolded the young man, menacing him with her fork.

"He's right, you know Nadia," Max interrupted her gently. "That's the problem with Liszt. He really had six fingers on the right hand so he wrote his compositions for piano for his own hands, probably not thinking that normal people would like to play them years later," he explained with a smile.

"You're kidding!" the young woman exclaimed incredulously.

"Not at all... When I began to play Liszt's compositions, I encountered the same difficulties as Goran, and, more generally, as every guy on earth who tried to confront himself to those compositions one day," he remembered with a bit of nostalgy. In his youth, people used to say he was bound to be one of the most brilliant interprets of Liszt's music. However, the war had ruined everything. Almost everything, he corrected himself mentally, since Goran was there to achieve what he had not been able to do.

"Yet, you don't seem to have many difficulties even if your hand is still hurting a bit, do you?" Emilija asked curiously. She was so happy to see Max accepting to talk about piano, his only real passion, again. When they had met again four years ago, there was no way he could discuss about it or remember his young years as a piano player. However, for Goran, he had accepted everything. He had worked hard to play again and be able to help his son. Of course, from a professional point of view, he would never be as good as he used to but that was not important. All that really mattered to her was being able to hear him from time to time, to see him help their boy with all his might.

"Well, my dear Emilija, that's because I found a way to skip a note or two whenever it's possible, which is not very canonical, I must confess. I hope great Franz Liszt will pardon my terrible offense," he answered cheerfully, joining his hands in a fake prayer.

"You what?" Goran exclaimed angrily, nearly spitting the content of his glass. "And you keep on repeating I must find a way to play every note, you cheater!"

"A lazy sponge would be more correct... Let's say that's the privilege of age and experience, my boy," Max concluded jokingly.

"Talking about our dear sea captain, has the lazy sponge of his bathtub remembered to send him a telegram or something to tell him we're due to arrive in Salzburg tomorrow?" Emilija asked with a sigh. Max and Goran were wonderful when they were talking about music but they had in common this unsufferable habit to forget mere material details.

"Not yet, darling. I must honour my reputation of lazy sponge, you know. I will send him a telegram this afternoon, don't worry," he answered with a loving smile, cautiously folding his napkin.

The woman shook her head in disbelief while Nadia and Goran burst out of laughter. The man could be unsufferable at times. He was lazy. He forgot almost everything important. He did not know what to do of his ten fingers besides playing piano. Yet, he was extraordinarily kind, tolerant and pacifist, which had attracted her to him since the very first day. During his almost four-year-long captivity in Serbia, the injured soldier had worked in her farm, not only because he was obliged to, but also because he thought it was natural to help a lonely woman with two young daughters even if she was an "enemy" as people had told him in Austria. He was a lazy sponge, at times, he was a rather cynical man. However, she always would be grateful for the way he had opened her eyes twenty years ago.

"You'd better to, Max! I don't want Mani to think I'm a rude person because of your own rudeness, Herr Detweiler!" she answered at last, hitting him playfully on the forearm.

Salzburg, von Trapp's villa, September 23rd 1937, morning

In spite of a bright ray of morning sun caressing her cheek, Maria was laying on her bed half asleep, quietly enjoying the aftermath of a long, good night of sleep. Mani and she had talked about the last preparations of the wedding for hours the evening before. The girls' dresses, the boys' suits, the texts they wanted to be read during the ceremony, the flowers... Never she would have imagined that planning a wedding would be so exhausting. Then, they had discussed one last time where the guests would sit and next to whom. Of course, concerning their friends, it had been easy since they wanted "the gang" to be at the same table as them, the children sitting at the table next to theirs. However, because of Mani's social position, they had to invite some people from the aristocracy of Salzburg and others he had known since his days in the Navy. So, since they did not want any scandal to tarnish this special day, they had drawn dozens of plans taking into account the political and social opinions of each one. Maria sighed at the remembrance. At midnight, they thought it was finally over. Nevertheless, as he read the plan one last time, Mani discovered that old man Muzenberg would sit at the table next to the one where the Admiral von Keppler was supposed to be, which was not a good thing at all since the first one was a fervent Christian Democrat and the second one a no less fervent Conservative. As a result, they had had to start again from the very beginning. When they had been able to go to bed at past one in the morning, she was so exhausted that her fiancé almost had to carry her to her room and told her she could sleep as much as she wanted the following morning.

Maybe for the first time in her life, she had respected his advice to the letter. It was past ten in the morning and she still was laying lazily in her bed. Yet, a few minutes of daydream later, curiosity got the better of her so she decided to get up to see how Mani had dealt with the children, especially with the difficult issue of the little ones' hair. She grabbed the shawl on the chair next to her bed and covered her shoulders with it. Autumn had begun and she could feel it in the morning. She wondered if it was such a good idea to leave the secure warmth of her bed just to see how Mani had managed with Gretl and Marta's hair. Maria was still pondering what she was going to do when she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Yes?" she answered curiously, taking a guess mentally. Mani running for help or Gretl asking her to brush her hair. Fifty-fifty.

"Is Sleeping Beauty awake at last?" a male voice asked from behind the door.

"Not yet. Prince Charming had not come and given her the wake up kiss yet," she joked with a mock yawn.

"Oh! I guess I can take care of that," Mani answered pleasantly.

"Marta, could you open the door, please?" she heard him ask finally.

Maria sat up in her bed, anxious to see what he was up to. What was he doing that kept him from opening the door himself? The young woman felt an elated smile forming on her lips as she discovered Mani walking into the room, cautiously holding a tray with her breakfast while Gretl and Marta ran to her bed, each one anxious to be the first to kiss her good morning.

"How lovely!" she exclaimed cheerfully as the little girls were cuddling against her.

"You like it?" Gretl asked excitedly. "We made it ourselves!"

"Father told us it was not such a good idea but we did it nonetheless," Marta added tugging at her sleeve. "You like it, don't you?"

"Of course, darlings! It's just adorable!" Maria answered and lovingly kissed the girls. Then, turning to Georg who still was holding the tray at the end of the bed patiently: "Not such a good idea, Captain?"

Her fiancé stared at his daughters with mock seriousness, raising an eyebrow, and sighed:

"I just said it was not such a good idea to bring it to you at 8.30 am, that's all. Was I right, Sleeping Beauty?"

"You were perfectly right, Captain, as usual," she whispered with a sweet smile, losing herself in his loving eyes, forgetting the little girls' presence.

Georg was the first to remember they were not alone. Clearing his throat, he interrupted the blissful moment:

"Okay, girls, why don't you go down that bed so that I can give your beloved Maria her breakfast at last?"

"Yes, Father!" both chirped and left the bed, not without giving the young woman one last kiss. "Can we join the others in the garden and tell them Mother is awake?"

"Of course darlings, but, as we had decided it earlier, you can't come up before half an hour, understood?" their Father answered in a gentle but firm tone.

"Yes, Father," both the girls frowned while they left the room.

Maria and Georg watched the two little girls with an amused and loving smile. As soon as they left the room and closed the door behind them, the once sea captain let out a sigh of mock relief.

"Alone at last, ship-girl..." he whispered, staring at her intently.

"I'm not Sleeping Beauty any more?" she answered playfully, trying to hide her sudden discomfort. As the wedding day was coming closer, his stare was getting more and more intense when he happened to look at her. "I can't believe it, only one little week to go and I will be Mani's wife..." she thought dreamingly while her dear Mani walked to the bed and put the tray on it, bowing gracefully.

"Here's your breakfast, Ma'am. Is there something you need besides that?" he announced with a fake military salute.

"Thank you, Captain. At ease," she went on the joke. "No, I don't think I will need anything more..."

She could not help letting out an amused grin as she saw him lifting a wondering eyebrow.

"As I said, I don't think I will need anyhting more except your unique company, sailor, if I'm not asking you too much."

"Well, I think it won't hurt anybody if I postpone my other obligations for a while," he answered in a low voice and sat next to her on the bed, taking her in his arms at last.

"I guess it's high time I give the wake up kiss to Sleeping Beauty, isn't it?" he murmured in her ear before letting butterfly kisses along her neck, her jaw, finally reaching for her lips.

Maria let out a sigh of contentment as their passionate kiss deepened, utterly enjoying the feeling of their entangled tongues, of Mani's hands lightly caressing her sides. Wanting to feel more, she threw her arms around him, pulling him closer, and let her hands travel through his hair, along his neck and shoulders. Much to her disappointment, her fiancé broke the kiss. However, he did not let her enough time to complain and she moaned as she felt his lips in her neck gently nibbling at the soft skin and one of his hands slightly caressing her breast. Inconsciously, intoxicated by the overwhelming sensation, she let one of her hands reach for his chest while the other went down along his backbone, causing him to shudder, growling lowly in her neck.

It was almost more than he could deal with. Regretfully, Georg sat up and let his lovely ship-girl go, smiling at her apologetically. He sighed as he lost himself in her eyes full of innocent desire. As the wedding day was coming closer, he found it more and more difficult to "behave" with Maria, as Ingrid had ordered him to the month before. Worse, the young woman growing and innocent passion had been making it almost impossible these past days. Still lost in her eyes, he murmured, more to himself than to her :

"One week to go..."

Maria felt her face blush again as she noticed his intense gaze once more, as she understood deep inside that she had the same feelings and desires as he. Just one little week to go and they would be together forever, just as she had predicted years ago, without knowing how much she was right then...

Flashback, Vienna, 1919, spring

Little Maria put the cake on the table proudly, a beaming smile forming on her face. Then, hurrying a little, she took two plates and two glasses from the cupboard, searched for the napkins and placed everything on the table. She was almost done. Finally she went and found an opened bottle of milk for her and one of beer for Mani. The little girl was putting them with the rest when she heard familiar footsteps. Running to the door, she openned it before the young officer had the chance to turn the doorknob:

"Welcome home, Mani! Look at what I've done!" she exclaimed, jumping in his waiting arms.

"My, my, my! Look at that!" the young man answered in mock awe. "I see you didn't get bored today, did you, ship-girl?"

The little girl nodded enthusiastically :

"I've made a cake, just for you, Mani!"

"Well done, I'm very hungry... Let's go and see how good it is," he said with a smile, ruffling her hair, anxious, a bit afraid too, to discover the result of Maria's endeavours.

Much to his surprise, the cake was delicious. Helping himself once more, he asked the little girl:

"Where did you learn to make cakes like that? It's wonderful, really."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Maria's cheerful expression darkened suddenly, tears forming in her eyes. Reaching for her hand, he guided her next to him and made her sit on his lap.

"Sorry, Maria, I didn't want to hurt you," he whispered gently, smoothing her hair.

"My mum learnt me," she answered at last in Czech, fighting against her tears, and cuddled against his chest.

"So you're a very good learner, Maria. I'm sure she would be very proud of you," he murmured, taking her in his arms. "Look at all what you've done today, ship-girl. The table, the cake, everything... You're a marvellous little woman, you know!" he exclaimed cheerfully, trying to lighten up her mood.

"Really?" the little girl asked, smiling behind her tears.

"Yep, tomboy," he answered, gently hitting her on the nose.

"You really liked it?" she asked again to be sure. Mani's compliment had made her forget her pain in no time.

"Yes, Maria. I really appreciated it," he repeated reassuringly, patting her cheek.

"So, I will make a cake for you everyday and when I grow up I'll be your wife so that I can go on making them just for you forever and..." she exclaimed enthusiastically and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a bear hug.

Surprised by this sudden and excessive display of affection, the young man could do nothing but return the embrace. Then, after a little while, he proposed timidly:

"Well, we'll discuss about this matter later, okay? Now, why don't you go back to your sit and let me have another piece of cake, ship-girl?"

End of flashback

"What are you dreaming about, ship-girl ?" Mani's loving voice woke her up from her reverie as he filled a cup of tea for her.

"Nothing at all," she answered dreamingly. "I was just thinking that next week I will be able to make cakes for you forever..."

Her fiancé looked up at her in surprise, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"Making cakes?" he began to mumble when the remembrance hit him. Smiling at the sweet memory, he whispered, taking her hand in his: "Yes, I can't wait for it..." Then, handing her a slice of buttered bread, he tried to get her back to the sad reality. "However, until this blessed day, we have many things to do just like going to the notary's this afternoon then getting my bestman and his family at the railway station. So you'd better have your breakfast quickly before a hurricane of seven children storm in this bedroom," he told her lovingly and gave her one last kiss.

Salzburg, September 23rd 1937, end of afternoon

"Done!" Georg exclaimed as Maria and he walked out the notary's office, gently putting his arm around his fiancée's shoulders and kissing her temple. "I had forgotten how much official formalities could be annoying."

Maria chuckled at the idea, remembering the two long hours they had spent in the stern office, signing papers and more papers again.

"Fortunately, Herr Kiejmann is quite an amusing man, it helps a little, doesn't it?" she answered, leaning a bit against him. "Without his endless jokes, I don't know if I would have been able to resist till the end. I've signed more papers within two hours than in my whole life!"

"Let's say it's definetly the most annoying side of marriage, ship-girl, and it's behind us, now," he sighed in a sweet smile then he added in Czech, his eyes sparkling with mischief : "And let's say the most wonderful aspect of marriage is just a few days in front of us..."

"You can't help it!" the young woman exclaimed, her face blushing in the second.

"What made you think I had something particular in mind, Maria ? And I'm the one who doesn't seem to know how to behave..." he joked further, giving her another kiss on the temple.

"Stop it!" was all that poor and embarassed Maria could answer to his playful banter.

"Alright, alright, sorry about that, darling. I won't do it anymore," he whispered with mock sheepishness. "I promise."

"Don't promise when you know you won't honour your word, Captain, that's a sin!" Maria answered, trying to have the last word in the end.

Since the day of their second meeting and more again since the night of the party, that was their favourite game. Most of their talks inevitably became an innocent fight in which each one tried to have the last and most witful word.

"Oh? If that's so, what should I do to repent myself?" Georg asked feigning serious curiousity.

"Well, let me think... I guess dealing with the girls' dresses tomorrow would be a good way to repent yourself, Captain," she proposed with a broad, mischievous grin.

"What? You want me dead!" he exclaimed, unable to find a remark witty enough.

"I've won!" Maria concluded triumphantly and gave him a butterfly kiss on the cheek.

"Pff, that was easy..." he sighed. "More seriously, we have half an hour left before meeting Max at the station, do you want to have a cup of coffee or something at a café?" Georg asked waving at the sunny terraces in the main street of Salzburg.

"Not a bad idea at all, let's go," she gladly accepted and the couple lazily strolled towards the first terrace, not paying the least attention to the curious and disapproving glances some people were shooting at them.

"So this is the little whore... I must say she's quite pretty, it sure does help when you're that ambitious," an elegant woman in her mid fifties whispered to her companions sitting at the terrace.

"Yes, she is... When you know he had agressed Herr Zeller because of her, you really wonder what's happening to him," another woman went on.

"Besides, I've just saw them walking out Herr Kiejmann's office. I've heard the Captain was the very last one of the good society who used the man's services but I didn't want to believe it. A Jew, can you imagine it?" a third one added with contempt.

"Well, he has broken his relationship with a Viennese Baroness to marry a half Czech country girl coming out from nowhere, so it doesn't surprise me the least," the first woman whispered, not hiding her disgust. "Some intelligent girl indeed..."

"Talking about her, don't you think that..."

"Of course, everybody is thinking that! She's just hiding it very well," the second one answered sipping her cup of tea.

"What a shame," the third woman concluded with a disgusted frown.

The couple was sitting comfortably at the terrace, enjoying the sunny warmth of the end of the afternoon, chatting animatedly about the event of the day.

"You seem impatient to meet them, don't you Mani?" Maria asked with a gentle smile as she put her cup of coffee down.

"Well, honestly I am," he answered cheerfully. "You'll see, she's really a wonderful woman and her eldest daugher..."

"Nadia, isn't it?"

"Yes, Nadia. As far as I remember, she makes me think of Brigitta. You know? That same witty personality," he tried to describe the girl he had met twenty years ago.

"Still, I remember you spoke of two daughters in the past, what happened?" Maria asked anxiously, her sharp and sympathetic instinct telling her that something was wrong.

"Well, you see," he began sadly. "Max told me in his letter that she had been caught by the Spanish influenza in 1919, just like many people then.

Maria did not answer anything. Of course she felt sympathy for this poor family. However, something else had attracted her attention and the awful words were echoing in her head.

"Maria? What's going on? You're so pale suddenly," her fiancé asked worryingly. Learning the death of somebody she did not even know could not touch her so much. Looking up, he immediately noticed the cause of such a discomfort. Countess von Holbach. Baroness von Schneider. And another woman he did not know, fortunately. Gossiping as usual. He sighed, having a hard time to resist the urge to go and tell them his mind once for all.

"Don't pay attention, my love," he gently whispered instead and took her hand in his. "Ignorance, you remember?"

"Yes, of course..." she answered as tears began to form in her eyes. "Still, I can't believe that everybody... That's awful."

Georg's jaw tightened at the sight of Maria's pain. People could gossip as much as they wanted about him, he did not care. Besides, since his childhood, he had consciously provoked those gossips just to embarass his father. However, he could not stand seeing his loved ones hurt by those stupid and useless talks. He knew that Maria was sorry at the idea that some people could think she was ruining his reputation. Even if he had kept on telling her that it was his own bad reputation that caused those gossips, she could not help to feel responsible at times. Getting up, he paid for the coffees and took his fiancée's hand.

"Come darling, let's go. It's time to meet Max and the others," he simply said and gave her his arm. Nonetheless, as they walked past the three women, he stopped to salute them, much to Maria's surprise.

"Mani, don't..." she whispered. She knew this cold stare too well.

"Sshh, don't be afraid," he soothed her in the same tone. Then, more loudly, he exclaimed gaily: "What a surprise! Baroness von Schneider, Countess von Holbach, it's been a long time. I wish you a good afternoon," he saluted them as politely as he could.

"Good afternoon, Captain, Fraülein," was all the three dumbfounded women could mutter in embarassment.

"We would have been happy to share a cup of coffe with you but we have to meet some friends at the railway station," he went on, disregarding the young woman alarmed stare. "Have a good evening ladies, and by the way, Countess von Holbach, I would be happy if you accepted to give my best regards to the Captain Krupp. I've heard he's a good friend of yours and, as a matter of fact, we were together at the Academy. That is, if you don't mind, of course," he concluded, an ironic smile forming on his lips, and guided Maria towards the main street, leaving a very embarassed Countess von Holbach trying to explain herself to her incredulous and curious companions.

"What was that, Mani?" an amused Maria asked as soon as they had walked far away enough.

"Faida," he simply answered, his eyes sparkling.

"What?"

"You know, an eye for an eye... All that kind of things," he explained mischievously.

"Oh! You're as bad as them!" she exclaimed bursting out of laughter and hitting his forearm playfully. "You don't have to spread rumors yourself!"

"Well, that's not a rumor," her fiancé chuckled. "There's nobody who talks as much as retired bored sailors, well, except old bored aristocratic women, of course."

"Still, if he's a friend of yours, that's not very kind, Mani," the young woman tried to sermon him.

"Nope! In fact, I've always hated the guy since our time at the Academy!" he laughed broadly. "Come, my love, Max must be waiting for us," he finished and put his arm around her shoulders.

Author's notes:

"Faida" is a germanic word used in the Early Middle Ages societies. It was about the high aristocracy's right to private vengeance whenever a member of the "sippe" (the clan) was injured or killed, which, of course, was the cause of endless private wars. The kings of that time tried to forbid it redacting laws, in vain...

Well, well, I hope you enjoyed it... ! Chapter 23 is almost finished then will come the long waited wedding day, but I don't know when I'll be able to write it!

Till then, you know what you have to do...that is leave a review! Let's say that 6 or 7 will be really nice!

Thanx again for reading.

And don't forget the poll! There's one on the review page here and another one on the Sound of music forum...