Tadam! I'm back!
First of all, I'd like to sincerely thank all the people who reviewed this story and kept on asking about its continuation… It's for you I found the courage to work on it again and (almost) finish it!
Hope you'll like it…
Then, a special thanks to Aline who helped me to fight this vicious writer block who suddenly assaulted me last year.
Usual disclaimer : I don't own nothing. If that was the case, I would be rich and wouldn't have to work so hard to finance my future thesis by myself!
Now, on with the show…
Salzburg, von Trapp's villa, September 29th 1937, late in the morning
"Could somebody be nice enough to tell me what's going on here? I thought the wedding was tomorrow!" Kurt grumbled as he held a pile of plates while Brigitta put them on the table. Following them, Louisa and Friedrich were placing the forks and the knives.
"Mother already told you this morning..." his annoyed sister sighed. "That's a surprise for Father," she explained curtly and resumed her work at hand. "Eight, nine, ten. Here it is! Let's go to the following table." Then noticing that her complaining brother was not behind her, she called him back to reality : "Come on! Stop dreaming!"
"Alright, alright..." the young boy sighed and followed his sister.
"Have you understood?" Liesl repeated one last time to the little ones. "Father must not go to the back garden at all cost. Is that clear? Just find any idea to keep him from going there, alright?"
"Alright!" little Marta and Gretl giggled, happy and proud to have such an important mission.
"In case you may need some help, go and ask Uncle Max or Ivan, they'll surely find something," she added before joining the others in the garden.
A van stopped in front of the villa, then Igor, Matthias and Goran jumped out of it, calling loudly:
"Here are the chairs! Help, anybody!"
Answering to the urgent call, Isaac, Peter, Nikolai and Jakob hurried out of the house.
"Finally!" Isaac exclaimed, losing his usual calm composure. "You've taken your time, boys!"
"Sorry," Igor mumbled, opening the backdoor of the van. "This old guy just kept on talking for hours. I thought we would never be able to get out of here..."
In the kitchen, Frau Schmidt was giving her last instructions to the cook and the maids, ruling the household like a seasoned sea captain when Maria stormed into the room.
"I'm sorry but I'd need some more plates and napkins, if that's possible," she asked with an apologetic smile.
"There's no problem, Fräulein," the old woman answered gently, returning Maria's smile. "Tell the children to go and search for them here within five minutes."
"Thank you, Frau Schmidt, we wouldn't have done it without you," the young woman let out in a tired whisper, "I'm so sorry to give such an amount of work just the day before the wedding," she added and reached for the housekeeper's hand, as if her words were not enough to express her feelings.
"Don't mention it, Fräulein," the old woman reassured her, returning the gesture. "It's all my pleasure to help you. I find your idea fantastic and..."
"Maria!" Max and Ivan called her at the same time, hurrying into the kitchen.
"We need three more glasses," the first one asked.
"Where's the last table you told me about?" the second one inquired.
Maria shot up an anxious glance at the housekeeper, scratching her head, then laughed nervously:
"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Now, let's hope that the Admiral is doing his part of the job well..."
Salzburg, Mirabell garden, September 29th 1937, late in the morning
A man in his mid fifties was sitting on a bench, reading his newspaper. After a while, he folded it carefully and stared at his surroundings. Nobody. Mumbling, he put the newspaper down on the bench and searched for the piece of paper on which he had written down the hour and the place of the appointment. "Mirabell garden, 11.30 am." He looked at his watch one last time and sighed.
"They'll never change," he thought aloud shaking his head and stood up.
In the mean time, a group of ten men or so rushed past the main gate of the garden.
"Hey, ship-boy, you sure it's here?" a small dark-haired man asked with a heavy italian accent.
"Sure," the other one answered back simply.
"Dieter… Last time you were so sure, that old woman told us the garden was at the opposite side of the town…" a short and fat man commented ironically while cleaning his glasses.
"Oh, shut up, guys! I already told you I've only been to Salzburg once or twice in my whole life! It's not my fault if I don't recognize anything!" the younger blond man replied angrily.
"Stop complaining, all of you! We're already ten minutes late, the others must be waiting for us," a grey-haired man commanded angrily, stroking his long beard out of habit.
His companions stopped their beginning argument at once. Most of them had not seen him for almost twenty years but they knew better than unnerving the ill-tempered Hungarian.
"Alright, alright, Laszlo," Dieter answered, patting his companion on the shoulder. "Let's go, guys…"
"Who'll never change, lieutenant Kieslowski?" a laughing voice asked behind him.
"Always complaining about something, aren't you, Michal?" another man commented, playfully hitting him on the head.
Lieutenant Michal Kieslowski from the Polish Navy unconsciously checked the knot of his tie and turned back to face his former companions.
"Lieutenant von Brockdorff, Doc' Klinsman," he saluted them warmly and winked at the others. "I was just thinking that all of you have got bad habits since I last saw you. You're almost fifteen minutes late, you know."
"That much?" the lieutenant von Brockdorff exclaimed inocently.
"There's an explanation for everything, Michal," a third man told him with a mischievous smile. "We were on our way when Karl noticed he had forgotten the most important thing…"
"Oh, shut up, Klaus!" the other one cut him sharply.
"The gift!" Doctor Klinsman chuckled. "Believe it or not, we were on time."
"Never mind, we're here at last. By the way, I'm glad to see you've been able to obtain a leave Michal. Considering the circumstances, we thought you'd be stuck In Dantzig," Klaus von Mannerheim concluded, patting the older man on the shoulder.
Michal was about to answer when cheerful shouts caught the group's attention. Dieter and his companions were arriving at last.
"I see everybody's here. Let's go, gentlemen, or else we're going to ruin the carefully prepared surprise," Karl von Blockdorff commanded gaily clapping his hands.
With that, the former crew of the Wotan began to walk towards the von Trapp's villa.
Salzburg, von Trapp's villa, September 29th 1937, late in the morning
Georg pushed the main door open and let the Admiral von Munzenberg come in, silently wondering why the old man had been so eager to have a talk with him this very morning.
"We could perfectly have talked about all that in my study," he thought curiously. Besides, he had the inner feeling that the Admiral had tried to make the discussion and the walk last the longest possible. As both men walked into the house, Georg noticed it was anormally quiet. No child running and laughing everywhere. Even Ivan and Max seemed to be silent, which not happened often. Something was going on, he could feel it.
Little did Georg know that, hidden in the ballroom, Marta and Gretl were spying on him.
"They're here," the youngest one whispered, trying hard not to giggle.
"Who's here?" Maria asked for further information.
"Father and the Admiral," Marta explained , still looking at them from the ajar door.
"No!" the young woman almost exclaimed. "What are they doing?"
"Maybe they got lost. Most of them don't know Salzburg," Ivan whispered. "What do we do now?"
Maria thought about it for a few seconds then asked silently:
"Marta, where are they going?"
"Well, Father seems to be looking for us and the Admiral is trying to keep him from going to the back garden," the little girl described the scene she was spying.
"Georg?" the old man asked suddenly.
"Yes, Admiral?" the younger one answered, his curiousity growing second by second.
"Since everybody seems to be gone, why don't you show me this ancient book you've told me about so much?" the Admiral proposed, using the first idea that came to his mind. He immediately cringed at his terrible lie. He was not good at that, really.
"Right now?" Georg almost exclaimed, suspiciously. "If you'll excuse me, Admiral, I prefer to see where everybody has gone first," he answered at last.
"Mother! Father is looking for us," Marta whispered.
Maria sighed out of despair, scratching her head, and spoke to the little girls:
"Alright, just go out of here and catch his attention for a while."
Marta and Gretl were about to do what they had been told when they heard somebody knocking on the main door.
Georg was walking to the terrace when he heard the knock on the door. Noticing that nobody had come to answer it, he groaned and came back to the main hall.
"What is it about now?" he mumbled as he opened the door, not seeing the mischievous smile forming on the old man's lips.
Speechless, Georg stood frozen, staring unbelievingly at the unexpected sight in front of him as a loud cheer greeted him. Fighting hard against the knot that was forming in his throat, his blue eyes flying frantically from a face to another one, he tried to understand what was happening.
His crew. Men he never thought he would be able to see again one day. Of course some like the former lieutenant Klaus von Brockdorff were still close friends. However, most of them had joined their own new country after the war and, except for the few letters they exchanged from time to time, he had practically lost contact with his former crew. Nonetheless, it was not an illusion, they were standing right in front of him. Unable to utter a single word, he stared at them intently. Dieter was a man now, even if he had kept that innocent look of his young years. Miklos had gained a lot of pound but his eyes still had the same constant mischievous expression. Michal had not changed at all, apart from the winkles that adorned his stern face now. So different but at the same time so similar. While a warm feeling began to engulf him, his mind wandered to the only person who could have been able to move heaven and earth to offer him such an unforgetable gift. A sweet, timid smile formed on his lips. Maria… Suddenly, a cheerful voice woke him up from his reverie :
"Captain von Trapp speechless at last! I never thought I would live old enough to see that one day!" Doctor Klinsman exclaimed ironically.
"Sorry, guys," Georg uttered apologetically. "I'm a terrible host."
"Nobody's perfect, Captain," Michal commented with an indulgent smile.
Georg answered him with a timid grin then noticed that Dieter was staring at the ground stubbornly, slightly bitting his lips in emotion. Slowly walking to him, he patted him on the shoulder:
"Long time no see, ship-boy. You're taller than me now," he whispered.
"Yes, I am, Sir," the other one replied softly but proudly, his face brightening suddenly in front of the unexpected show of attention.
"Still the favourite one, aren't you, ship-boy?" Laszlo commented ruffling his companion's hair.
"Jealous, Telecki?" Georg asked with a chuckle.
"Not at all, Sir," the fat Hungarian replied with mock indignation, making the whole group burst out of laughing, including their former captain.
"Come in, gentlemen," he invited them at last. "Let's go inside and see what the conspirators of that household had prepared for you."
Salzburg, von Trapp's villa, September 29th 1937, late afternoon
Silently, Georg studied the sweet scene unfolding in front of him from the terrace. Sitting on the grass, everybody had gathered around his children who, under Maria's loving gaze, were giving an improvised concert to his guests. Moments ago, just after Ivan, his sons and the Hungarian members of his former crew had broken into a few songs from their homeland, Max had suggested that the children made a demonstration of their talent. Even if he did not like them to sing in public, he had not been able to resist to their pleading stares. Just like the evening of the puppet show or the day of the party, they seemed to enjoy themselves very much. He had to admit they were really good. It was true above all for Liesl, whose voice sounded astonishingly like her mother's. The children had begun their last song, the one Maria had sung the night of the thunderstorm.
'How do they call it, by the way? My favourite things or something like that,' he mused, a nostalgic smile forming on his lips. The first time he ever had heard it, the single thought of that stubborn postulant disobeying him once again had angered him to no end. Little did he know then that it would become a memory he would treasure dearly just a few months later. As if Maria had felt his current reflexion, she looked up at him from the garden and gave him one of her angelic smiles. Once again, their eyes locked, both of them forgetting their surroundings for a few seconds. Deciding it was high time for him to join his guests again, he mouthed a silent 'thank you' to her then left the terrace
"and then I don't feel sooo baaad…"
Maria's smile got broader as she heard the children, her children now, finishing the song, standing straight with pride while the improvised audience applauded their performance.
"I told you they were wonderful!" Max exclaimed gaily. "Too bad Georg is too stubborn and won't listen to me!" he added, a hurt frown forming on his face.
"Poor Max!" Ingrid commented with her usual irony. "Don't lose faith, my dear friend. I'm sure the world is full of talented singer you don't know yet and who will make your fortune."
"One thing I'll remember all my life is the first time I saw Maria and the children singing in the Mirabell garden. I just couldn't believe my eyes! Can you imagine it? Georg's kids running everywhere with their beautiful governess," Karl von Brockdorff remembered aloud.
"You mean you saw us there?" Maria asked in disbelief, her face reddening in confusion. "Oh my God…"
"Don't, don't!" Karl reassured her gently. "It was a really nice sight, I assure you."
"So nice that the same day he called me in Linz to tell me the whole thing," Doctor Klinsman added, slowly sipping his lemonade.
"Then I received that strange telegram while I was in Dantzig," Michal concluded, his usually stern eyes shining with mischief.
"I see that Mani was right when he told me that there's nobody that talks as much as bored retired old sailors," the young woman replied with as much dignity as she could. She could not believe that the story of this afternoon had reached Dantzig.
"Don't listen to him, that's just a rumor!" the men defended themselves feigning to be hurt by that last comment.
"Well, from my personal experience, I can say that Georg is quite honest on that point, isn't he, Ivan?" Svetlana came and helped Maria.
Scratching his head, Ivan did not dare to answer to his wife.
"Caught in the act, gentlemen!" Ingrid concluded triumphantly.
"Still, the most important thing is that today we have been able to meet the wonderful young woman Karl told us so much about. I still remember his enthusiastic story about the night of the party and the children's little show!" Michal declared solemnly, trying to change the topic.
The young woman was so absorbed in the discussion she had not seen her fiancé approaching silently.
"I see that thanks to your spy, my life has no secret for you, guys. I'm surprised you've been so eager to tell everybody about that afternoon except me, Karl," she heard him chuckle, startling her in the process.
"I knew you'd discover that without me telling you, and, above all, I didn't want an indiscretion of mine to ruin everything. I was spying on you, Georg, not interfering with your life! I'm not crazy," his friend replied with a knowing glance.
Georg cringed at the comment and Karl regretted it immediately. The ironic answer had brutally remembered his former captain how much he was difficult to deal with at that time.
"I must admit you've done an admirable job since you're here, ship-girl," he whispered guiltily as he put an arm around her waist, brushing her temple with his lips.
"I'm just paying you back, Mani," Maria answered lowly, settling herself more comfortable in his embrace.
Michal smiled at the couple. Being the older member of the crew, he always had acted as the 'big brother' of the crew and, as such, he was enchanted to see his captain happy again. Then, standing up, he announced quietly :
"Well, if you'll excuse me, it's getting late and I have shoes to polish and buttons to clean for tomorrow, so I think I'll go back to my hotel."
Understanding the implicit advice, his companions began to stand up too, thanking Maria again for her invitation. When the last men left the villa, saluting the couple warmly, Georg and Maria stayed alone in the garden for a few moments, enjoying the sweet quietness of the beginning evening.
"Thank you, my love, I'll never forget that day," her fiancé whispered, holding her tight to him.
"So you liked my wedding gift, didn't you?" she answered returning his embrace.
The long lasting kiss he gave her was the only and clearest reply he could offer to express his gratitude. Maria let out a soft moan as she felt his tongue entangling hers slowly, his hands roaming along her back passionately. Breaking the kiss, the young woman began to place light kisses along his neck, finally reaching his ear, nibbling it.
Georg gasped at her actions and held her tighter to him.
"Maria…" he groaned pleadingly. "Please stop it…"
Startled by her fiancé's begging, she looked up at him, meeting a gaze burning with desire. Smiling apologetically, she reached for his cheek:
"Tomorrow…" she whispered.
"Yes, tomorrow," he answered and took her in his arms in a comfortable embrace.