Chapter 9

After Maria put the children to bed, she walked downstairs, in hope of

having a chance to talk to Max. They hadn't had the chance to talk alone at

all since he's arrived. When she looked in the living room where she had left

the two adults, she found Max sitting there. "Hey Max. Where's the

Captain?" Looking up, he grinned. "He's out taking a walk." "By himself?"

Maria questioned. Laughing, Max said, "of course!" Maria shrugged. "Ok.

Good. We haven't talked privately in ages! How have you been?" "Ahh, the

same as usual. You know me. I don't like changes, so I tend to do the same

thing over and over again." Max said with a twinkle in his eyes. Grinning,

Maria said, "Oh yes….why did I ask?" "Because you like to bother me."

Max joked. "That's true. But, seriously. There must have been

SOMETHING different that you do now that you didn't do before?" "Well,

actually there is ONE thing." Maria looked at him expectantly. "Which is?"

"Eating much more than I used to!" They both burst out laughing. This is

how they spent the rest of the night- just laughing at something the other

said. The next morning, Maria woke up late- again. "Oh no!" Maria groaned.

Getting up, she dressed in record time, and hurried down the stairs. "I'm

sorry I'm late, children…." She started to say, when she noticed that no one

was there. Where is everyone? How come the dining room is empty when

they usually have breakfast? She wondered. Walking back to the stairs, she

checked the nursery. Nothing. She checked out the window. Nothing. She

went back downstairs, confused as ever. Wait! I haven't checked the living

room! Dashing to the living room, she was shocked by the sudden

"SURPRISE!" Out came the seven von Trapp children, the Captain, and

Max. They were all grinning broadly, waiting for her to say something.

"What's going on? Is there a special occasion or something that I forgot? It's

not my birthday." Chuckling, Max said, "silly maria. Of course it's your

birthday! Did you forget? It's January 5." Suddenly, Maria gasped. "Oh

yes. I completely forgot! But how did you know? I don't remember telling

any of you when my birthday was." "My dear, may I remind you that I was

your childhood friend." Max reminded happily. "I was invited to a lot of

your birthday parties, remember?" "Oh yes," Maria said laughing. "Thank

you all!" She gave all the children a hug. Turning to Max, she said, "Max,

you're the best." Laughing, Max said, "It wasn't my idea. It was the

captain." Looking at the Captain, Maria said, "Oh….well, thank you

Captain. It was awfully sweet of you to do that." With that, she gave him a

quick kiss on the cheek. Looking pleased, the captain could do nothing but

smile. "Well, now that Fraulein is here, why don't we sing happy birthday to

her now?" He suggested. Everyone sang, "Happy birthday to you, Happy

birthday to you, happy birthday dear fraulein Maria, happy birthday to you."

The children clapped and cheered. Leisl brought a lovely chocolate cake to

Maria, who blew the candles. "This is the best birthday ever, " Maria said,

smiling widely. "Thank you so much! But now, I think its about time

everyone come in the dining room to have a real breakfast. Hmm?" Kurt

said, "Good idea!" He ran into the dining room. Everyone else just laughed

and followed him. Maria stayed back, however, till she and the captain were

the only two in the room. "Captain," She said softly. Looking at her, the

Captain said, "yes?" "thank you again. I'm so blessed to have a friend like

you." Maria said, sincerely. She realized that she had taken him for granted

when Max arrived. "And I'm sorry if we haven't had a chance to talk since

Max arrived here." Smiling, the Captain said, "It's alright, Fraulein. I know

that you were probably just excited about having your old friend come back

to you. I probably would have done the same thing." Grinning, Maria said,

"Well, thank you for understanding." The captain could only stare at her

with a smile on his face. Maria fidgeted under his gaze. After a while, the

Captain said, "After you," He gestured with his hand for her to go first. She

quickly left, soon followed by the Captain.