A second chapter to make up for that short teaser. The chapters are divided in a way that probably only make sense to me, but I couldn't figure out a better way to do it. Hopefully will have the entire thing up in a week or two.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
xxx
(from a stack of letters tied up with string in Fraulein Maria's carpetbag)
Dear Fraulein Maria,
I hope this letter finds you in good spirits.
Last week, my brothers and sisters and I took the bus into town, just as you showed us. We walked to the Abbey and asked the Sisters to see you. I'm rather afraid we made a good deal of racket and may have offended poor Sister Margaretta, who answered the gate. She was a very lovely woman, but none of them would let us speak to you. They told us you were in seclusion and didn't want to see anyone, but Sister Margaretta said she would let you know we were there.
I did hope she would tell you we had come, but as we did not hear from you all week, I had to conclude Sister Margaretta must not have let you know after all. I know you would never leave us hanging, especially not the little ones. I think Friedrich and I may have accidently gotten their hopes up taking them into town. I feel so badly that they were disappointed, not to mention the fiasco that happened when we arrived home to find father waiting for us. He wouldn't even let us have supper!
In any case, I thought I'd try to send a letter. See, it's on the new stationary you bought me, the one we picked out together when we went shopping downtown, before we stopped at the dress shop and you let Brigitta and I try on all those dresses while Louisa sulked. And then we had to cheer her up by getting ice cream and we taught you that funny game where we would guess whether couples walking into the shop were courting or married. I was so happy that day. I was doing things other girls did, talking about things that girls my age talk about. Not only did I have a governess, I had a friend.
We all miss you so very much. I hope we didn't cause you offense in any way. Friedrich says you caught him using the Lord's name in vain the other day and fear you might think us blasphemous. Marta is worried you were upset to learn that due to the excitement of the ball, she did not do her arithmetic all week. Don't worry, I've already convinced her that isn't true – it's not, is it? I do hope we didn't make you angry. I know we're not easy to govern but I promise we're working hard to be better every day.
Please consider coming back. Or at least, please answer this letter so we know you aren't angry with us. The night of the ball was the most fun we've had in ages, and I just don't want to believe it's all over.
Yours sincerely,
Liesl von Trapp
xxx
xxx
Dear Fraulein Maria,
It's been a few weeks and we haven't heard from you. I just thought I'd write again in case you missed my last. I'm very sorry to be a nuisance.
We miss you dearly. We think about you all the time. If it's not too much trouble, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Yours sincerely,
Liesl
(in Brigitta's writing)
Fraulein Maria, I found this letter on Liesl's desk before she could send it. She didn't want to tell us she was writing to you in case she never heard back. She thinks she knows best, but Fraulein Maria, I think you belong to all of all, and we should all get a chance to tell you how much we miss you and want you back. I'm sure Baroness Schraeder also misses you. Since you've left she's been trying to think of ways to entertain us – so far she's broken one heel playing catch on the grass and gotten one bruise from refereeing our football game. Father misses you too, although he never says as much. But I can tell, it's in the way he looks.
The house is just not the same without you. We don't want to go back to a time before you. Why did you leave?
Please please please write back.
PS. Gretl wants you to know she hurt her finger.
PPS. xxx – from Marta.
(Kurt's scribble in the margins) I learned how to make strudel. Louisa did too. We'll make it for you when you come back.
xxx
xxx
Our dearest governess,
We were overjoyed to receive you letter. We read it together so many times in the grove of trees by the lake, where you used to take us for quiet reading in the afternoons.
I knew you missed us! I just knew you would have wanted to see and speak with us if you had known we were there. We only wanted to say hello. Please don't feel dreadfully about it. Father only punished us because Friedrich panicked and made up some ridiculous nonsense about going strawberry picking. Blue strawberries picking – did you ever hear of such a thing? I think father was cross that we lied to him, not that we had tried to see you. We should have told him the truth. Frau Schmidt put out leftovers for us in the kitchen that night and even left a pie, so nobody went to bed hungry, in case Kurt tries to tell you otherwise.
We're so very glad to know you're not upset with us, and the reason you left had nothing to do with our behaviour. We know you needed time to get used to being back at the Abbey and that's why we haven't heard from you. We understand why you left. I know father thinks we don't need a governess anymore, since we're to have a new mother, but my sisters and brothers and I truly feel we do need a governess. Baroness Schraeder is pleasant in her own way, but she's not you, and she doesn't understand us like you do.
Baroness Schraeder even asked Brigitta the other day how she would like the idea of boarding school. She said she knows one with the biggest library in the world. As if Brigitta would be fooled by that!
Louisa got back at her that evening by hiding all her dressy heels. Baroness Schraeder and father had to cancel their fancy dinner party because she couldn't find her shoes. She was terribly put out. I'm sure father knew it was us but I think he was too embarrassed to yell at us in from of Baroness Schraeder. I think you would be displeased to learn of us playing such tricks on the Baroness. We didn't mean to make her so upset, but we didn't think about it until after we had already done it. Friedrich says we shouldn't have done it, that it would make Baroness Schraeder more likely to be rid of us. Kurt suggested we ought to think about the way you would like us to behave. That would be a fairly foolproof guide, wouldn't it?
We hope to hear from you soon! No matter what, you will always be our governess.
With love,
The von Trapp children
xxx
xxx
Dearest Fraulein Maria,
Yes, father is going to be married. He announced his engagement to Baroness Schraeder the day after the ball. He says we will be very happy, and I do hope so – I want father to be happy more than anything! – but I'm not so sure. He's not home as much as he was over the summer, but whenever we're all in the same room, father is looking all over the place, tapping his foot, as if he can't wait to escape. He doesn't look at her the same way he used to look at mother, the way he looked at you during the Landler. When he laughs, it doesn't reach his eyes. Brigitta has noticed, too.
We've all been a little bit blue since you've left. We miss the singing and the games, the talks and the laughs. Only Uncle Max encourages us to sing, but when he tries to join he is incredibly off key. He says he's deaf on his right side, but we're pretty sure he hears fine because he's always up to date on the latest gossip. I think you're right – we haven't given Baroness Schraeder a chance. I think we could like her if we tried very hard, but sometimes it feels we are just in the way. Do you think she and father would ever send us to boarding school, like she hinted the other day? We don't want to be sent away.
I wish I could talk to father about it, but I don't know how. I wish you were here to help me work it out.
Love,
Liesl
xxx
xxx
Dearest Fraulein Maria,
I don't think the Landler was a silly dance! You and father danced it so beautifully.
I know father loves us very much. I did try to tell him how we feel, like you suggested. When I said I had something to tell him, he invited me to walk with him in the garden after supper. He didn't seem upset when I told him we didn't want to go to boarding school. He just looked surprised and asked me where I got that notion from. He became really quiet after that, even though I told him we would try to be good for the Baroness and be more considerate, just as you taught us. All he said to me was that I was growing up, and he was proud of me. Then he shut himself in his study for the rest of the night.
And Fraulein Maria, it's true – I would do my best to welcome a new mother, and have my brothers and sisters do the same. But the idea of Baroness Schraeder being anybody's mother just seems so strange. We would much rather have a governess. We would much rather have you.
Love,
Liesl
xxx
xxx
(letter in an unmarked, unaddressed envelope)
Dear Captain von Trapp,
I am writing with sincere congratulations for your engagement. The children tell me you are to be married.
(paragraph emphatically crossed out) The Baroness came to see me the night of the party. She convinced me that I was in love with you. That you were in love with me. And everything she noticed seemed to be true – that you asked me to dance, even though I was just the governess, the way you looked at me the same time I looked at you (even Liesl noticed), the way you pulled me in closer until I felt dizzy and warm. But it was just a dance. The Baroness was plainly mistaken, since you are now engaged, and from what I understand, became engaged that very evening. Did you plan the party as a perfect backdrop to propose? Did you ask the Baroness to marry you with all of Salzburg as witness? Or did you propose after all the guests had left or retired, a moment just between the two of you? You do not seem like a man who would make your private affairs public, but maybe you were proud to share that moment. Maybe you wanted everyone to see what a perfect couple you were.
(written under the last line) You make a lovely couple.
I was too gullible to believe the Baroness. She told me you loved me and would get over it soon enough. That all men do. I should have known better than to believe her. You are the type of man who would not easily fall in love, and never fall out of it.
(above paragraph crossed out and rewritten in the margins) I wish you every happiness.
(scribble, no discernable content)
(bottom of the page) Maria Rainer, now you've run out of room. Get your thoughts together and try again when you do.
xxx
xxx
(large, wobbly script)
fraulein maria,
next w-e-d-n-e-s-d-a-y is my birthday. i am turning 6 years old. father is ordering a special cake. uncle max says he will have a surprise. i want a song about my favourite things.
xoxoxoxoxo gretl
xxx