The weather would begin to turn soon, so she took the opportunity of a warm, sunny day to take the children to her mountain for a picnic lunch. It wouldn't be long before they were cooped up for the winter, and she wasn't sure how they would behave while being trapped indoors now that she had helped them set their spirits free of their order and tight discipline. She supposed she would find out soon enough, but for the moment she was happy to be upon the mountain. It had somehow become "their" mountain over the summer rather than hers alone. She was more than happy to share it.
She also felt the need to celebrate, for she had started her monthly cycle the day before. It was heavy, and bright, and exactly as it needed to be for her fears of pregnancy to be washed away. She had burst into tears, thanking God for the first time in her life for such a thing. A weight that she didn't realize was so heavy seemed to lift from her chest, and she could breathe deeper.
The breeze blew in her hair as they came to a large grass area atop the mountain, and she smiled. She loved the feeling of making it to the top, the way the wind took hold and enveloped her in its warmth. She looked to the children who were in various states of happiness, some smiling as they began to run, others absorbed in their thoughts, but suddenly she saw Georg. His eyes were closed, and he was taking in the breeze with a relieved smile upon his face. She wasn't sure she had ever seen him so at ease, and she couldn't help smiling brighter along with him.
The children had asked him to join them, and she was thankful for it. She had wanted to invite him many times in the past, but felt it would have been improper had she done so. In private they had a marvelous friendship, he was her saving grace, and truly the best friend she had ever had, but in front of others, they had still maintained their professional demeanor. She supposed they had made the unspoken decision not to alarm the children by acting as though they were closer than an employer and employee should be, hoping to avoid the many questions they would undoubtedly have. Questions they simply were unable to answer, even for themselves at times.
"So, Fraulein, this is your infamous mountain?" He was out of breath, and she smiled as he joined her while the children ran ahead.
"Yes, it is. Do you love it?" He laughed as they walked after the children, and she had to resist the urge to slip her hand into his.
"It is quite breathtaking, I must say. How did you find it?" She clasped her hands behind her as they walked, taking a deep breath of the mountain air.
"The house where I grew up isn't far from here, actually. I used to wander from home a lot as a child, and I ended up finding this place. A bit like a sanctuary." He smiled, taking in the view of the landscape before them. "I never feel closer to God than I do on this mountain. I've spent many hours praying and seeking guidance up here."
"I can see why you feel that way. You feel as if you're going to go through the clouds on the climb." She felt her heart warm at his words, remembering she had said the same thing to the Reverend Mother long ago.
"Father, come play!" Kurt shouted across the meadow, and Maria laughed as Georg rolled his eyes and began to run toward the children.
She had never seen him play as much as she had that day, and she supposed it had something to do with the magic that surrounded the mountaintop. Before sitting down for their picnic, they all threw a ball around, jumped rope, sang, everything they imagined, they did together. Maria was afraid to admit it, but that day on her mountain felt like a turning point, as if she were very deeply solidified as a member of their family, and it scared her, only a bit. For a moment, as she looked over the children's happy faces, she imagined them calling her mother. The pride and joy she felt in them was unexplainable.
"Fraulein Maria, there's a man out there." Louisa ran up the side of the mountain after relieving herself behind some trees, which of course appalled Georg. He couldn't believe Maria had shown his daughters how to relieve themselves outdoors.
"What? Up here?" She was surprised. Even as close as they were to a few farms, there should have been nobody around for many miles. She had never once seen another soul upon her mountain.
"Yes, he yelled at me. I'm so embarrassed, I think he saw me." Georg and Maria stood simultaneously, alarmed at the thought.
"Yes, let's just relieve ourselves in the woods, Fraulein. What a great idea." His sarcasm wasn't lost on her, and she gave him a harsh look in response.
"Where else was she supposed to go?" He had no answer, there was obviously no other place to go. "Children, why don't we just pack up for the day?"
"Fraulein Maria, no…" She was met with rounds of disdain, groaning, and unhappiness at having to leave the fun of the day behind. Georg looked at her, surprised by her willingness to simply leave due to the presence of another person. He supposed he understood her skittishness, but he didn't want her to feel that she couldn't be on her mountain anymore because of it. She had seemed so free and happier than he had seen her for a long while, and he wasn't ready to let her step away from that so soon.
"Let's stay for a bit longer, Fraulein. There's no reason to be alarmed, I'm sure." She gave him a worried look, his words not helping one bit.
"Are you going to chaperone everyone who needs to go to the bathroom then?" She crossed her arms over her chest, and he smiled.
"If you wish me to." She narrowed her eyes, annoyed, but finally smiling in resignation as she returned to sit next to Marta on the picnic blanket. Her hands were a bit shaky, even though she tried her best to remain calm.
She knew she couldn't be afraid of every stranger she encountered in her life, it wasn't logical. But something about a man randomly walking about on her mountain made her feel incredibly uneasy. Not that she thought anything was necessarily wrong or going to happen to them, but she desperately did not need someone to ruin the safe, happy place she had called her own for her entire life. Her mind simply felt as if it were pulling her in every conflicting direction possible.
"You there, get off this mountain! You're trespassing!" The man shouted as he came out of the woods, and they all turned his way. Georg stood from the picnic and stepped forward a bit, ready to speak for them.
"Our apologies, but we were not aware of the ownership of this property. Does it belong to you?" The man grumbled, moving closer to them by the minute. Maria's eyes widened…it couldn't be.
"It belongs to those of us who live in these mountains, certainly not people who look like you." Georg raised his eyebrows, looking back to Maria in amusement, but her face was blank, cold and nervous. She knew him.
"We do apologize. After our picnic, we'll be on our way." The man moved closer and closer by the minute, and Maria felt her heart beating faster than ever.
"Let me make myself perfectly clear, this mountain…" He saw her sitting amongst the children, his eyes doing a double take as they met her own. She felt her breath hitch in her throat, wishing they had left when they had the chance. She bravely stood from her place upon the picnic blanket, clasping her hands in front of her as the children observed in confusion. "Little Maria? I thought you'd gone off to be a nun."
"Yes." She wasn't sure what else to say, her life was none of his business, after all. "Quite honestly, I thought you were dead."
"It is rather like seeing a ghost, isn't it?" She nodded, moving to stand next to Georg, doing her best not to appear as if she were hiding behind him. No matter how far she had moved past her adolescence, she was incredibly afraid of the man.
"Captain, this is my uncle, Franz." Georg met her eyes quickly, and she nodded her confirmation before he looked back to the man.
"Captain? A navy man?" Georg nodded, confused by the man before them. He didn't seem threatening in the slightest, perhaps even a bit frail in his older age.
"We were just leaving." She turned back to the children and nodded for them to begin cleaning up. With the serious look upon her face, not one of them argued, and they began to pack their basket.
"From wanting to be a nun to catching a navy Captain? You always have been quite the contradiction." The man laughed as he approached closer, but Maria ignored him, shaking out the picnic blanket before Liesl took two of the corners from her and helped her fold it. Georg moved to whisper into her ear, the older children noticing and appearing confused by their close proximity.
"Unless you plan to come back later, God has given you an opportunity here." She shivered, at his words as well as the feeling of his breath against her skin. Turning to meet his eyes, she bit her lip nervously. He raised his eyebrows as she contemplated the thought of addressing her uncle, but before she could respond, he turned toward Liesl. "Would you walk your siblings down a bit, please? Maria needs to talk to her uncle for a moment. He seems grumpy, so I'd like to stay."
"Of course, Father." The girl smiled softly, always happy to be given an opportunity to make her father proud, as she and the children gathered the picnic and games and headed down the mountain a bit. He looked to Maria, who was still blankly staring at the man across the meadow. He clearly looked as if he had some things to say too.
"Well?" She met his eyes, nerves showing behind her own, but she took a deep breath and stepped forward all the same.
"How long has it been?" The man moved forward to open his arms to her, but she stopped short. There was absolutely no way she was going to hug that man, she thought disgustedly.
"Eight or so years, I think."
"What have you done with your life? Bedsides shacking up with this sea captain; I don't see a ring on your finger." He laughed, and her gaze hardened heavily. She was not going to let him get to her, she was stronger than his words.
"She has a lovely, expensive ring, I assure you. It's being cleaned at the moment." Georg stepped forward, placing his hand against the small of her back in support. "Maria was nearly a nun before I got in the way and made her my wife. She's done everything she said she was going to do."
"Oh really?" The man seemed shocked, and Maria looked to Georg in question. Why would he say that? Perhaps only to hurt her uncle, she couldn't ignore the surprise upon his face. Perhaps to help ease the tension and get them closer to the point of what she wanted to say…though, she had to admit, it had been so many years that she wasn't sure exactly what she needed to say anymore. She had moved past it all, she was sure she had.
"Yes, I'm quite happy with my life. And you?" She gave him the opportunity to begin, perhaps he would even apologize. She knew that was a long shot, but she couldn't help her generally positive perspective on things.
"Since you've left, I've been the happiest man alive. It has been wonderful to only have to worry about myself, you know." She frowned, wishing the words didn't sting. They shouldn't have, he was nothing to her, after all. Perhaps the reminder of her years feeling unloved and unwanted was more than her soul felt it could bear at the moment.
"It must have been difficult all these years to have no one to take out your anger on." She crossed her arms over her chest. It wasn't a question, she very much meant the accusatory tone of her voice. Eyebrows raised, he looked hard at her face, ignoring Georg altogether at the moment.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Yes you do." Eyes narrowed, she saw the look on his face begin to shift into the one she recognized the most, suddenly he looked like the man she remembered, and a shiver ran down her spine. "Tell me you do."
"You were quite the difficult child, Maria."
"Nonsense."
"You were. Always parading about, singing and carrying on."
"Being a happy child made me difficult?"
"Being an annoying child made you difficult. And you always seemed to wander off or find some way of getting into trouble. You wandered off so often that I stopped looking for you, but much like a dog, you always seemed to find your way back." He gave her a smile, as if she was supposed to think his words were somehow amusing, but she only maintained their heavy eye contact. She was not going to let him in; he had no power over her.
"Do you beat a child simply because they annoy you?"
"I beat a dog when they misbehave." She nodded, looking to the ground for a moment. Yes, it was all coming back, all the memories of things she was ready to say to him years ago. She began walking closer, Georg's hand falling from her back as she moved.
"I would like for you to know that I feel sorry for you, and I've prayed for you quite a lot in my life. I've prayed for you to find happiness and inner peace so you don't feel the need to be such a terrible, wicked man."
"I'm wicked, am I?" He seemed amused, but she pressed onward as she came to stand directly in front of him. She could make out the lines in his face, lines of anger and madness. He was very clearly an unwell man.
"Yes, you are. You shaped my views on many things in this world, and ruined me in many ways as a child. The difference between us is, I have overcome your cruelty. You, on the other hand, are likely still living a hateful, unforgiving, alcoholic lifestyle that you'll never break free from. May God help you." She saw his eye twitch at her words, his lips tightened in anger.
"You little bitch." Suddenly, he pressed his palm to her face, giving her a push that set her off balance. She didn't expect it, but was somehow thankful at least that it wasn't more than a shove, she supposed. Georg darted forward faster than she had ever seen him move, taking her uncle by the throat and slamming him into a nearby tree. She watched with wide eyes as her uncle looked fearful, his feet barely touching the ground as Georg held him by the neck, faces only inches apart.
"You will not disrespect the this woman again, ever. Do you hear me?" The man grabbed at his wrist, trying to free himself. Georg only pressed tighter, his voice cold and petrifying. "Do you hear me?"
"Yes." The man gasped his response, eyes wide with the question of whether or not he would be killed in the moment.
"This world, this mountain, does not belong to people like you." He gave one final squeeze before he let go, the man dropping to the ground and gasping for air. "Get the hell out of here."
Maria watched with wide eyes as her uncle nearly tripped over himself to run away, presumably back to the safety of his own property. Georg's face was red, his hands twitching from the adrenalin coursing through his veins. She had never been stood up for in such a way, protected and looked after.
"Georg?" He met her eyes, out of breath and doing his best to calm down. She had never seen him look so rugged, so manly and fierce. Without fully comprehending her actions, she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing a heavy kiss to his lips. He sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her body close to his. His mouth felt amazing against hers, hot and demanding as she pulled him close, a fire burning in her stomach.
He couldn't believe what was happening, her lips moving against his as if they would never again have another chance to kiss. She sighed against him, and he was overwhelmed with the urge to slip his tongue between her lips, but he held himself back, their hearts pounding in unison. He didn't want to take it too far, didn't want to make her feel overwhelmed or frightened, so he broke the kiss, placing a gentle peck against her lips for good measure.
"What was that for?" She smiled, out of breath, as she met his eyes.
"I couldn't help myself, I suppose." He smiled, still holding her close. She didn't seem to mind, as her arms were still wrapped tightly around his neck. "Thank you."
"You were so brave…"
"No." She shook her head, interrupting him. "You are my bravery. Without you, I don't know where I'd be."
"Still the same brilliant, courageous woman you are." She smiled, and he leaned forward to place another kiss upon her lips, his heart skipping a beat when she returned it without hesitation. As he pulled away, he looked deeply into her eyes. He wanted to tell her how he felt, the timing felt perfect for it, but he was more than afraid it would make her uncomfortable. Her comfort and security were the only things he wanted. They simply shared a smile. "Let's go home."
