Thanks for reading! This chapter has the 'how they met' story! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Sound of Music, Maria, Georg, the Baroness, the real von Trapp's or any of the other brilliant Rogers and Hammerstein characters.
Elsa:
Not long after the von Trapp's left Elsa joined Charles on the patio as he sat in a chair with his feet stretched out over the railing. She had been building her courage to speak to her husband ever since Liesl and Maria had stared her down. The funny thing was, every other topic under the sun had been easy for Elsa to discuss with her husband. The thing husbands and wives were supposed to talk about was the most difficult thing for Elsa to bring up.
With a deep inhale, Elsa pushed open the backdoor and stepped outside into the warm night air. The stars were out and each looked like a tiny beacon in the large dark blue sky. Elsa stood looking upward for a few minutes before Charles realized she was there. He turned over his shoulder and then pulled another chair close to his and gestured for her to sit.
She took the offered chair and enjoyed the presence of her new husband while peering up at the night sky.
"It was good to hear you laugh today," Charles said.
"I found the subject amusing," Elsa replied, lifting an eyebrow and sending him a sidelong glace.
"Maria was quite relieved," Charles said, seriously. Elsa inhaled and set her cane against the railing next to Charles extended legs.
"Yes," Elsa responded her voice distant. Normally the evening would have been spent with a pleasant conversation about the von Trapp's and some light teasing. Tonight, Elsa was much too preoccupied for the normal routine.
"Charles," Elsa began. The response she got was a grunt of relaxed acknowledgment. Elsa remembered what Liesl had said about just blurting it out, and so that is what she did.
"What do you think about having a baby?" Elsa questioned, her heart racing as quickly as the words flew from her mouth. Charles moved his hands behind his head, but kept looking into the distance.
"You mean me personally? No thank you. Childbirth is for women," he replied and smiled in amusement at his own joke. Any other night Elsa might have laughed at her husbands wit, but tonight things were different. Elsa was silent for so long Charles dropped his hands and turned to look at her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were serious," he apologized. He removed his feet from the railing and stood up. He turned to face Elsa and folded his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against the cement stone.
"I remember the night I proposed. You said you wanted to have a child, but you waited for so long to bring it up again I thought you had forgotten," he explained.
"No, I haven't forgotten," Elsa said, so quietly she could barely hear her own voice.
"How old are you?" Charles asked abruptly. Elsa got the feeling he enjoyed asking her such a question.
"A lady never tells her age," she replied, but Charles only lifted an eyebrow in amusement.
"Would you believe twenty nine?" she asked innocently. Charles smiled and put his hands on the railing on each side of him.
"I'm your husband. I believe everything you tell me," he teased. "But you can't be more than forty one."
Elsa lifted her own eyebrow at that statement.
"Why's that?" she cooed secretively.
"Because I'm forty one," Charles explained. Elsa smirked and got to her feet. She looked out to the mountains rising in the distance.
"I'm forty," she said with a great amount of reluctance and then added, "three."
"Forty three," Charles repeated. Elsa turned around to face him and she studied his strong features expectantly.
"I married an older woman," Charles said grinning, "What was I thinking?"
Elsa stood up and kept her eyes averted from Charles. His joking was getting on her nerves. Bringing up the subject had been hard enough and now Charles' normally enjoyable clever sense of humor was making the situation even more uncomfortable.
"Charles, do be serious," Elsa pleaded. At the tone of her voice Charles straightened and turned to look out toward the mountains.
"You know I've always wanted children. I don't care how we get them, but I don't want to put you in danger. I'm not going to lose you now that I've finally won you," Charles replied, his tone sober. Elsa's heart was racing. What was Charles saying? He didn't think she should have children or he didn't want her to have any?
"Oh, I see," Elsa cooed, trying to figure out exactly what he meant.
"Elsa," Charles said softly placing a finger under her chin and drawing her gaze to meet his eyes, "What are you thinking?"
Never in all the years Elsa had known him had Charles asked her that question. No matter where they were or what they were doing Charles seemed to always know what Elsa was thinking.
Even the first time she ever seen Charles he could read her like an open book. She and some of her friends had taken a carriage ride down a street in Vienna and were laughing gaily when the carriage stopped to let a passing car go by. Charles was approaching from the opposite direction riding a rusty old brown bike with twisted handle bars and a frame much too small to support Charles' impressive form.
At once he looked more dashing and more ridiculous than any man Elsa had ever set eyes on. He must have thought the same of her for he was watching Elsa and her party instead of paying attention to where he was going. The front tire snagged on a crack in the pavement and jerked the bike to a stop sending Charles' long legs sailing in every direction. He stumbled forward and somehow managed to land on his feet. When he brought his intense brown eyes up to the ladies in the carriage, Elsa and her party burst into a fit of haughty laughter. Elsa and her rich friends all knew they were beautiful and knew their beauty had distracted the poor American on the street.
Instead of hanging his head in shame Charles approached the intimidating carriage full of expensive dresses, feather hats and the bodies that filled them. Elsa had expected him to say something typical like 'your beauty distracted me' or some other nonsense that men were always saying to her. Charles, of course, from the very first day they met knew all about Elsa, and so he acted accordingly.
"Pardon my clumsiness, Madame," he said bowing his fedora slightly. Elsa lifted an eyebrow and her lips curved into a smile.
"Of course," Elsa announced to her friends, "Ladies, this is one of those famous American giants. I see your tiny bicycle, but where is your club and golden harp?"
The women around Elsa laughed with glee much to her delight. Elsa turned to Charles with a look of triumph and expected the poor American would take his injured ego and retreat. His eyes narrowed and a grin, a vulgar, insinuating grin appeared on his face.
"If I may explain," Charles suggested. The driver began to pull the carriage forward but Elsa could not leave the young and handsome Charles without a chance at reproof. Besides, she was curious as to what he could possibly say to redeem his dignity.
"Driver, wait a moment," Elsa called over the top of her friends' giggling. The carriage stopped.
"Please do," Elsa responded to Charles, giving him her most 'you-want-me-but-
I'm-out-of-your-league' stare.
"I was riding on my way to my father's lumber shop as I've been accustomed to do ever since my arrival in Vienna a number of weeks ago. My 'tiny bicycle,' as you so delicately put it, and I were doing just fine until I looked up and what did I behold but a large and fierce bird of prey circling in the air above," Charles explained.
His tone was heavy and his commanding voice drew in the attention of every woman in the carriage, even old Mrs. Jenkins who never looked at a man but to spit on him. Elsa, for the moment, let Charles continue because he was a source of entertainment for her rich friends thus far.
"You don't say," Elsa mocked, encouraging Charles to continue with his story. Elsa knew he was going to use the bird as an excuse for his tumble off the bicycle.
"I watched him fly in patterns in the air for a few minutes, until he suddenly swooped down from the sky," Charles' expression was one of such graveness that the ladies in the cart laughed. Charles took off his hat, revealing such a luxurious head of brown hair Elsa was tempted to reach out and run her fingers through it.
"He landed on your head, Madame," Charles said with the same seriousness, "and there he remains. If I had remembered my club I would make you a trophy of him."
The ladies in the carriage abruptly stopped laughing and turned their eyes on Elsa. At first Elsa was struck by the insult, not only had he insulted her expensive hat he had treated her as if she were the barbarian.
"Good day," Charles said and placed the hat back on his head.
Elsa's pride was still reeling with hurt as he walked back to his bike and she could muster no comeback which she knew was a surprise to the women in the carriage. There were a few moments of silence out of reverence for the man that could catch Elsa off guard before the women started chatting again. Elsa nursed her injured ego for the rest of the day but the strange young American was foremost on her thoughts.
Charles seemed to know her inside and out without even learning her name. He knew how to get to her and he knew what got to her. Never in her life did Elsa expect him to ask her what she was thinking.
Under the stars Elsa looked into the same brown eyes that had been such a mystery to her so long ago. She found comfort in his eyes and forced herself to speak her feelings, not her mind.
"Charles," Elsa began and then hesitated. She cast her eyes downward and then slowly brought them up again. Charles was looking at her with curiosity.
"Charles, I want to have a baby. I…I think it is the right thing to do. I know it might be dangerous, but, but it might turn out alright too. I love you Charles and I want us to have a family…oh, we can adopt, but I would like to try this first," she explained. Charles put a hand to the back of his neck and a look of concern and careful deliberation caused his brows to grow heavy and his eyes to narrow.
"You have changed, Elsa," Charles finally said.
There seemed to be something significant about the words, but Elsa couldn't understand what. She did not think she had changed, not that much anyway. She still didn't know if Charles was willing to allow her to bear a child. She searched his expression eagerly for something that might give her a clue as to what he was thinking.
"If you can face the risk involved, after what you've been through, then I would be a coward not too," Charles replied.
"Really, you don't mind?" She asked. She felt her husbands arms wrap around her.
"Mind?" He said as she put her hands on his shoulder, "Not as long as the baby has my brains and looks and your….huh, I suppose it will have to have something of yours."
"Charles Jackson," Elsa began hugging her husband close, "You are the most conceited man I've ever met."
Elsa felt Charles' laughter deep in his chest. She was so excited that she reached up and kissed him thoroughly. Save for her wedding to Charles, this was the happiest moment she could ever remember having.
"We'll have happier, with the baby," Charles informed. Elsa was not sure if she had said her thought out loud, or if Charles had regained his uncanny ability to read her mind.
"Elsa," he said more seriously, "I want to get the opinion of a doctor first. And I want you to promise me that if he advises against it, you will take his advice."
"Very well," Elsa agreed with a smirk, "but you know we can face anything, or as Maria says, we can climb any mountain, as long as we do it together," Elsa replied.
"Together is right," Charles replied, "I'm not raising a child of ours by myself."
"You won't have to," Elsa reassured, "I promise, you won't have too."
Only a few short weeks later Charles and Elsa did see a doctor, Dr. Phillips. His office was located in town just below Charles' plantation. The drive into town had been a pleasant one, although Elsa was all nerves and excitement. In her mind the approval of the doctor was the last thing that stood in the way of getting a child. The rest would be easy. Labor was no picnic but she had done it once, she could do it again.
She tried not to think too much about what had happened the first time. She dared not think about the possibility of it happening a second time. No, Charles' child would be strong and would grow up to be healthy and resilient. She was sure of it. Life was too short for second guessing and worrying. Charles was doing enough worrying for the both of them.
Dr. Phillips was a stout man, with a round beat red face and a black mustache. He was jolly, like Santa Clause, and smiled happily when Elsa and Charles entered his office from the waiting room. Elsa called her doctor in Vienna and had him send her file to Dr. Phillips only a week earlier.
The office was painted a soft tan color with a bookshelf in the corner and a green plant in the window seal. Charles pulled a dark brown chair away from Dr. Phillips' oak desk and Elsa sat down after the doctor shook her hand. Charles then settled down into the chair next to her. The doctor's rosy cheeks were even more pronounced as he smiled at the two.
"It's a rather cold day out isn't it," the doctor stated, and Elsa for the first time heard his light Swedish accent. Charles mumbled something that sounded like an answer and Elsa nodded as she kept eye contact with the doctor. She saw his smile fade for a quick moment and then return.
"I can see you are the type of people who like to get directly to the point," he remarked. He opened the file on the desk before him.
"That's right," Elsa answered and looked over toward her husband. Elsa had never seen Charles so distracted and uncomfortable. He could not even gather his thoughts together enough to speak as he sat rigidly in the chair. Elsa smirked at him and turned her attention back to the doctor.
"Well," the doctor began pleasantly, "I looked over you file but I'm afraid I have about three different dates for the year of your birth. I'm not sure if that is a clerical error or…well, how old are you exactly?"
The doctor's words seemed to make Charles relax a bit as Elsa saw him eye her with amusement. So she put a few different dates for the year of her birth, she never really lied about how old she was she just liked to keep people guessing.
"Twenty-nine," Charles told the doctor. The doctor fingered his mustache and looked to Elsa for confirmation. She was quite proud the doctor was willing to believe her husband.
"I'm forty three," she replied. The doctor lifted his bushy black eyebrows in surprise and then nodded slowly.
"Women have children at your age all the time, Baroness," the doctor stated, "However, there are three things that concern me that I wish to make both of you aware of."
Elsa tensed and was grateful for the comforting hand Charles placed over hers.
"There is always an amount of danger involved when it comes to childbirth for women of any age," the doctor began, his face losing none of its jolliness. "I see from the records Dr. Jose sent that you've already had a child. While it gives me some comfort to know this won't be your first, the difficultly of your first child is a factor to consider. Technology has advanced a great deal in the past twenty years, but twenty years is a long time for your body to forget."
Elsa was silent and looked down into her lap. The doctor delivered the information with a jolly demeanor but Elsa could pick up on the concern in his voice. The more he argued against her having a child the harder it would be to convince Charles.
"What is the last thing, doctor?" Charles asked as he gave Elsa's hand a squeeze. The doctor put a hand to his mustache again and Elsa looked up in time to see him studying her.
"I also received medical records from a hospital in Paris. Your most recent physical shows you are in excellent health, but I discovered an interesting piece of information among the Paris records.
"You were shot twice in Lisieux. One bullet chipped the bone of the tibia and the other severely damaged the muscle tissue in the calf. The report says the doctors doubted if you would ever walk again, and you underwent bone surgery to remove the lodged bullet which is one of the most painful of all medical practices. If you are strong enough to make a near full recovery from that experience, then I see no reason for either of you to hesitate having a child if it's what you really want," the doctor explained.
He ended with a smile that was contagious. Elsa smiled a little hesitantly as she turned to look at Charles. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.
"It is, doctor," Elsa finally managed to choke out, "and thank you."
The doctor stood up and rounded his desk with rather impressive agility for such a round figure. Charles and Elsa stood as well and began to make their way to the door.
"Of course," the doctor scolded, "I intend to keep a close eye on you. I know your type, Baroness Jackson, you think you know better than the doctor. I expect the Baron here will remind you that I am the doctor."
"Please, call me Charley," Charles said, a little to Elsa's annoyance. He did not like people to refer to him as a Baron and Elsa was a bit hurt he refused to take her title.
"Thank you, Dr. Phillips. You know I will make sure she behaves herself," Charles replied shaking hands with the doctor. Elsa stepped outside the office and inhaled deeply and she pulled her fur coat tighter around her. The smile never left her face.
Charles' smile did vanish a few months later. Hilda, the cook, had just set dinner out. Elsa was going through the mail from the day before and Charles was reading the Sunday newspaper. In the mail, Elsa found two interesting letters. One was from Maria, who informed the Jackson's that all was well in Austria although the pressure for Georg to join the Nazi army was quite strong. In fact, Maria wrote that as soon as they were able, they would open the house in Switzerland and return. The Austrian government would be pleased to be on good terms with the von Trapp's and Georg would be out of the heated arguments surrounding the war.
The other letter was from the Reverend Mother Elsa had known in Paris. All of the orphans had been placed but one. A little Jewish German girl by the name of Armina was stranded because no one wanted to take her in due to the German occupation of Paris. The nun asked if Elsa would be willing to come and get the girl, and take her out of Paris since she was running out of friends to feed and care for the child.
Elsa read the request and sighed heavily as she pondered what to do. She remembered the five year old fondly but going into Paris in the middle of the war was not something that thrilled her. Still, she could not leave a helpless child to the care of the German soldiers.
"Charles," Elsa said interrupting him from his reading. He briefly glanced up and then back down to his paper.
"Do you remember, I told you about Reverend Mother Kathryn, the one who sent all the orphans to me," Elsa asked as she took a sip of tea.
"Yes, what about her," Charles replied although his attention was mostly directed at the newspaper.
"There is a little orphan child, Armina. The Reverend Mother could not place her. She wants me to go to Paris and retrieve her," Elsa explained. Charles continued to read his paper and then, with a swift jerk, he brought his full attention to rest on Elsa.
"What?"
"It wouldn't take very long. And I know Mother Kathryn, she would only write me if it was urgent," Elsa said.
"There is a war on Elsa," Charles replied but what he meant by it was beyond the Baroness.
"You don't wish me to go?" Elsa asked but before Charles could answer her Hilda came barging into the dinning room. Her arms were waving and she could not speak.
Her normally highly colored face was pale and her eyes were two round saucers.
"Good grief, Hilda, what is the matter?" Elsa asked getting to her feet and putting her arms around the girl's shoulders.
The blonde could only sputter and point at the radio in the next room. Charles smiled at Elsa and shrugged his shoulders. Elsa, directing the still hysterical Hilda, followed Charles into the room. He switched on the shinny oak radio.
"We have witnessed this morning the attack of Pearl Harbor and a severe bombing of Pearl Harbor by army planes, undoubtedly Japanese. The city of Honolulu has also been attacked and considerable damage done. This battle has been going on for nearly three hours. One of the bombers dropped within 50 feet of taunty-tower. It's no joke. It's a real war."
Charles and Elsa looked at each other for a moment in shock. Elsa had no idea what this would mean to Charles. He had been raised in America but she had never really known how he felt about his home country. His father and mother separated when he was very young and his mother remained in America while he father traveled to Switzerland and set up his business.
They continued to listen to the radio but the message only repeated. Charles sat down on the couch with his elbows on his knees and his hands on his head.
"Hilda," Elsa said softly, "We are through with dinner you can clean up now."
"Yes, ma'am," Hilda said, and although still in shock, she walked back to the kitchen.
Once Hilda had gone, Elsa sat next to her husband on the couch. She put her hand lightly on his shoulder but he said nothing. The news program was repeating again, and instead of sitting nervously Elsa got up and turned off the radio. She returned to the couch and tried to figure out what to say.
"Charles," she began, but could not find any other words.
Charles finally removed his hands from his head and sat up. He turned to face Elsa and she could tell he was more upset than she had ever seen him.
"Go to Paris to help that little girl," Charles ordered, "There will surely be war for the United States now. I'm going to enlist."
Elsa's heart sank and she opened her mouth but no words came. Elsa put her hand on his arm but he stood up and walked across the room.
"Charles you…you can't enlist," Elsa said frantically. She took a deep breath and calmed herself before she continued. "You live here now. You don't have to fight…you, you're far too old to fight."
Charles lifted an eyebrow.
"Charming to the last my dear," he replied.
Elsa hated that he made a joke out of such a serious situation. Elsa turned away from her husband. She felt tears coming on and she hated for Charles to see them.
"Elsa," he said his voice much softer.
He sat on the couch next to her and brought her face up to look at him. He wiped away the tears she felt on her cheeks.
"Nothing is going to happen to me," he assured. "You feel it your duty to help that child in Paris, I feel it mind to help my country. My father loved Switzerland, it was his home. Mine is America. I'll fight for freedom if I have too. I want our children to be free."
"I hate war," Elsa sulked.
It was a bitter and selfish thing to say, as Charles was bearing his soul to her, but she didn't care. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying any more. She wanted to remind Charles how much she meant to him. She wanted to make him remember that she was the most important thing and that the war would have to be second. Instead she proudly lifted her chin.
"I leave for Paris tomorrow," she said coldly.
"Elsa," Charles responded his tone scolding.
She stood and walked out of the room. She didn't talk to Charles until it was time to say goodbye to him as her train pulled into the station.
Perhaps her goodbye to her husband should not have been as cold as it was. She might never see him again if he had already enlisted. She didn't want to know and he had made no attempt to tell her when he was leaving if he was. Instead of throwing her arms around him at the train station and showering him with kisses she merely extended her hand and said 'Auf Wiedersehen.' As soon as she took her seat on the train and saw Charles through the train window looking at her from under his fedora she regretted acting so stupidly.
The train began moving and Elsa stood and frantically tried to open the window. It was stuck and no matter how hard she tugged the hazy glass window would not move. Elsa gave up and waved to Charles as she mouthed the words 'I love you.' Charles responded by grabbing the rim of his hat and bowing slightly. The movement was not warm and Elsa figured she deserved it for acting like a spoiled child. Still, his refusal to return her words made her conscience much easier to sooth. He was acting like a jerk and so she didn't regret acting like an ice queen.
Only a day after arriving in Paris her guilt caught up to her. At her hotel room she received a phone call from Dr. Phillips who informed her she was nearly two months pregnant. Elsa felt herself becoming bitter for the horrible timing of it all but Dr. Phillips' jolly excitement soon rubbed off. She hung up the phone and immediately called Charles.
"Did you arrive safely?" He asked, but he sounded as if he could care less.
"Yes," Elsa replied waiting for just the right moment to tell him. The sun was casting a golden light through the curtains in the hotel room. The bed was neatly made up and the room was large enough for Elsa and all of her luggage.
"When do you meet the Reverend Mother," Charles asked. His normally commanding voice sounded far away coming from the other end of the phone line.
"Tomorrow," she said again. Charles was silent.
"As soon as I have Armina I'm coming home," Elsa said, hoping the news would cheer up her husband and let him know she wasn't still angry.
"Take your time," Charles replied, "I won't be here when you get back. They've call me in for duty. I report tomorrow."
Elsa gasped and nearly dropped the phone. How could Charles do this to her? He promised to stay by her side in sickness and in health and now when she needed him most he was going to leave her. Her temper got the better of her.
"I hope you and the war will be very happy together," Elsa hissed into the phone and slammed it down.
The conversation did not go as she expected. She was supposed to tell Charles of the happy news and apologize for her earlier behavior. Now Charles was leaving and he didn't know he was about to become a father. Worse still Elsa hadn't asked where he was reporting too.
She fell on the bed in tears and wrinkled the neatly made bed spread.