"You didn´t answer my question."

"Oh. Yes. Well….. hmm," She pondered what to say. Clearly he was not going to be distracted this time. "Well it's just that we seem to inhabit two very different separate worlds - our intimate private one, and the public one and sometimes I find it hard to separate them. It's like when I was at the Abbey and I couldn't seem to stop doing things and saying things. Now I can't seem to stop thinking about things that really have no place outside our bedroom."

He turned onto his side facing her, leaning on his elbow to listen while his other hand played with her fingers, kissing them occasionally, while she continued.

"Tonight at the dinner table I started thinking about how there are parts of you that only I ever see."

He grinned immediately, deliberately misunderstanding her. "Well really Fraulein! I am shocked!" he said with his eyebrows raised. "There are definitely parts of me that only a wife should see." he teased.

She went red as she realized how her words could be interpreted. "Oh. No! What I meant was…. I didn't mean…..not parts of your body…." Then she stopped as he started laughing. "Oh, you! You know what I meant" she said in exasperation, then she started laughing too.

She sighed, "I wish I could control my thoughts the way you can. You seem to be able to keep the two worlds entirely separate without any problems."

"Ah Maria, you have no idea. Perhaps I don't blush the way you do so easily," he said caressing her cheek. "But believe me you would be shocked at my thoughts most of the time. What's worse is that I started having forbidden thoughts about you almost from the beginning. I was disgusted with myself – I was supposed to be courting Elsa, you were nearly a nun, completely innocent, much younger than me, and working in my house. No matter how much I reminded myself of these things I couldn't stop the thoughts entering my head. As part of my naval training I had developed iron-clad mental discipline that had seen me through so many battles but with you it seemed to have deserted me entirely. It was infuriating."

"Really? Oh do tell me some of the things you were thinking in those days," she begged.

"Do you remember you once went on a picnic with the children and came back wearing garlands of wildflowers that the girls had made for you, and a wreath of edelweiss in your hair?" he asked.

"Oh yes, I remember, you had spent the day with Max and the Baroness in town and you were in a very bad mood when we came home." She chided him with a smile.

"Well, you looked so incredibly lovely with the flowers in your hair and around your neck, utterly enchanting, like a bride. You were holding Gretl's and Marta's hands and you were laughing and looking at them with such tenderness. My heart just flipped over at the sight of you, I couldn't take my eyes off you. And - Dear God - Elsa was holding my arm at the time." He sighed, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck with remembered discomfort. "It felt horribly dishonorable to have such thoughts about another woman. And you would have been shocked out of your mind if you had known what I was thinking."

He cleared his throat before continuing, "Your cheeks were flushed pink, the breeze had ruffled your hair and your eyes were sparkling. All I could think of was… God help me….. that that was what you would look like after making love. And the thing I wanted to do most was to send Elsa and Max and the children into town on some errand. I imagined us walking hand in hand back to the meadow and lying down in the long grass together, hidden from the world by the trees. I imagined helping you with your clothes so that all you would be wearing would be the flowers, and then loving you while the sunlight danced on our naked skin…."

"Of course that put me in a terrible mood – it was an impossible fantasy, I was being dishonorable to both you and Elsa and I could not seem to control my thoughts – or dreams - about you. I was cursing myself and feeling terribly ashamed. That's why I snapped at you about being late for dinner again, and glowered at everyone for the rest of the evening, I'm afraid." He gave her an apologetic kiss.

"Oh darling, I had no idea. Your moodiness and curtness were inexplicable at times. I just thought you were a very complicated man. But I have to admit I love that story – not that you were tormented by having such thoughts of course – but that you were thinking such lovely things about me so early on." She kissed him tenderly. "And yes I would have been terribly shocked at the time if I had known, but now it seems completely wonderful to me. Is it still uh.… such an impossible fantasy…. I mean - now? Do you think maybe one day we could…. you know…" she trailed off, embarrassed.

He smiled but could not resist teasing her again, "My word, you are getting adventurous for someone who nearly became a nun. Loving each other in a field of wildflowers with the birds and the flowers and trees around us, whatever next? But yes, it does sound rather delightful to put my thoughts into reality. Why don't we hire a private chalet on your mountain soon? Without the children of course."

"Oh", her face fell at the thought of leaving the children.

"Maria, we cannot engage in such activities with the children around. And if we are going to start acting out my illicit thoughts then you are going to be very busy - maybe for a couple of weeks or more."

In the end he had to compromise – not entirely with good grace - with only 3 days. The children were so downcast at the thought of not seeing their parents for a whole week, the little ones crying pitifully at the prospect. The bonds that had woven the family together over the last months were now so strong that even the thought of a short separation was too painful for them. As Gretl had flung her arms around Maria sobbing and begging them not to go, Brigitta had stopped playing her piano scales, unable her to hide her distress, her eyes their losing natural shine. Louisa looked up from learning her French verbs with her father, her face troubled and shuttered. She looked at Maria almost accusingly, clearly remembering previous feelings of abandonment.

The boys stopped their squabbling over their chess game long enough to ask why they couldn't come too. Kurt's face was forlorn, but Friedrich at least tried to look nonchalant as if he were mature enough that it did not matter. Liesl comforted Marta with her arms around her, but the little girl lost her battle to stop her trembling lower lip succumbing to full blown tears and like Gretl she ran towards Maria snuggling in close as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

Holding the little girls tightly, Maria had looked over at Georg with her heart aching and her eyes pleading. He had nodded, silently agreeing to let her find a better outcome for the children, though his mouth firmed with exasperation. In the end the children were able to accept that their parents should have 3 days alone together and then they would join them for another 4 days in the mountains.

Later that night, while he was preparing for bed, Maria came up and wrapped her arms around Georg from behind, hugging him tight. "I'm sorry it won't be longer but the children need us so much right now." She kissed his back, then rested her cheek against him.

She felt him sigh as he said "Maria I also need time alone with you."

"I know and I do too darling. I'm very disappointed as well but this is our first time away from them since the honeymoon. Maybe they will realize it will all be just fine and we can do it again soon."

He turned around putting his arms around her. "I'm being churlish aren't I? But you have wrapped us all up in your very special magic and none of us can bear to be apart from you." He kissed her on the nose. "We are going to have a marvelous time, both with the children and on our ow

Maria knew an elderly widow and her farmer son who owned a chalet on her mountain. The chalet was very private, set part way up the mountain but far enough below the summer snow line that it was surrounded by luscious green fields and patches of forest, with a backdrop of soaring mountain peaks reaching to the heavens. It was simply breathtaking. The location was without compare though the chalet itself was humble and quite sparsely furnished. The window boxes bursting with bright red geraniums added a definite Austrian charm to it.

Before they arrived Maria had worried it might be a little too basic for her husband who was used to much more luxurious surroundings. Georg had laughed when she told him that. "Maria, you do recall that I used to travel around under the Adriatic Sea in a small tube of metal, as a U-boat commander? For days on end I would be cramped up in tiny space with a crew of unwashed sailors, breathing in foul smoky air. Believe me, after that anything else is luxurious. Now Max on the other hand, is going to be truly miserable when he joins us there with the children," he added with a certain amount of relish. "He is much more spoiled and pampered."

So when they arrived at the chalet by horse and cart with the widow Frau Hertzel and her son, Maria was quite touched by how gentle and kind her husband was to Frau Hertzel, who was quite overwhelmed at having a member of the Austrian nobility in her presence, and not only that but Austria's most highly decorated naval hero from the Great War. She apologized profusely for the simplicity of the chalet, but Georg had looked around the scrubbed clean wooden interior and declared it perfect. When Frau Hertzel had asked if she should cook meals and send them from her farmhouse a few kilometers away, Georg had been about to say yes, when Maria interrupted to say that it wouldn't be necessary since she would be cooking. Georg's eyebrows rose but he said nothing.

Once they were alone Maria set about preparing a simple lunch using provisions in the cool room while Georg went to put their things in the bedroom and look around. She was softly singing Schubert's Serenade as she put the finishing touches to the chicken and vegetable pie when she felt arms coming around her from behind, a mouth nuzzling her neck. "I didn't know you could cook" he murmured, placing a trail of kisses at the base of neck.

"Yes I learned when I was at teaching college in Vienna. There are many things you still don't know about me, I'm a woman of mystery," she joked knowing she was quite the opposite.

"Mmm I'm beginning to see that. It has been my infinite joy these last eight months to discover so many delightful things about you."

She turned around in his arms. "You were very sweet to Frau Hertzel but terribly rude to her son. He was just trying to be helpful." Georg looked at her for a long moment, then growled "I didn't like the way he was looking at you." As he strode off to put a small table and bench outside so they could eat with a view of the mountains, Maria stared after him, perplexed. The way the young man had looked at her? What on earth did he mean? The young man hadn't been rude to her at all, on the contrary they had had an amiable chat about mountain life and then had both burst into peals of laughter as he showed her how to work the water pump. The pump had coughed and spluttered from lack of use, then with a gurgling sound a sudden surge of water had come out, spraying everywhere, and drenching their feet. As they laughed together Georg had appeared using an icy tone normally only reserved for errant governesses and insubordinate navy recruits. The poor man had scurried off and left with the horse and cart shortly after. Maria shrugged, shaking her head - if anyone was an enigma it was Georg not her.

"That was delicious", he sighed with pleasure, finishing off the last piece and biting into a crisp apple. She had enjoyed cooking for him as much as he had enjoyed having her do it for him. It was something that she never had a chance to do at home because of his chef. But here it was almost as if they were just an ordinary farming couple, enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

Maria smiled and stretched, "I feel like a nap now," she said unthinkingly. The way Georg turned to look at her with a sudden intensity had the heat creeping into her face. She felt unaccountably shy, realizing that this was the first time they had truly been alone since their honeymoon.

"What a charming idea, but perhaps we should have a walk first," he said softly. He retrieved a knapsack from inside and she couldn't help noticing with a skitter of anticipation that there were blankets tied to it. They set off across trails through beautiful fields of lush grass, splashing mountain streams, tumbling waterfalls and rocky river beds.

Although she was nimble as a mountain goat, having grown up on the mountain, she still enjoyed the reassuring feel of his steady hands as he helped her across, his boots keeping a sturdy grip on the rough terrain. Both of them were unbearably moved by the majesty of the mountains and the beauty of the surroundings - Austria in all her exquisite beauty.

Finally Georg stopped in a meadow full of wild grass, dotted with splashes of bright red poppies, gorgeous blue cornflowers and a host of other wildflowers. Maria breathed in, twirling around slowly at the lovely scene, her eyes up at the sky – impossibly blue, scudded with clouds.

When she turned back to Georg, he was standing silently watching her, the long grass reaching up his brown suede trousers almost to his thighs, the soft linen country shirt billowing slightly in the breeze, butterflies and other insects fluttering around. He had already laid the blanket down.

He slowly stretched out his arm to her, palm upwards, in the same way he had done in that hallowed cathedral where they had begun their journey together as man and wife. Equally slowly and with a profound sense of trust and joy she placed her hand in his and he drew her to him.

And for a while it was as if only the two of them existed in the world.

Afterwards he tucked blue cornflowers into her hair, bringing out the lovely blue of her eyes. As he used a long stemmed flower to stroke the skin of her bare arm she asked him softly "Was it the way you imagined it it would be?"

"Oh much, much better. Perfect."