Her Father's Daughter
by Bluebird 88
Disclaimer: The Sound of Music is the property of Rodgers and Hammerstein, 20th Century Fox, and various script writers and producers. No copyright infringement is intended. Several lines from the movie are quoted at various points throughout the story. If it sounds familiar, it probably isn't mine.
Chapter 7: The Sound of Music
The children dressed quickly, the girls helping each other fasten up their long, wet hair.
"Should we still do the song?" Marta spoke up softly.
"Yes!" was Kurt's immediate reply. "It'll probably be the last fun thing we get to do for a long time!"
"What if Father gets angry, though?"
"I don't care! I think we should do it!" Louisa argued. "Besides, maybe Fräulein Maria will be able to hear us before she leaves."
Liesl thought that over, then nodded. "That's true...and anyway, it would be good to make a better impression on the baroness!"
That decided, the children made their way downstairs, stopping at the governess's room to fetch the guitar. On their way to the parlor, they all glanced out the back door, trying to get a glimpse of Father and Fräulein Maria. Unfortunately, they couldn't see much of anything from that angle, and since none of them dared sneak any closer, they went ahead into the parlor to give their performance.
"Baroness Schraeder," Liesl began politely, "if you don't mind, we have something we'd like to present for you."
"Why, of course, dears!" The baroness perched daintily on the edge of the sofa and looked on expectantly.
"The hills are alive with the sound of music…"
Louisa's thoughts drifted as she sang her part in the song Fräulein Maria had taught them. It had been one of her favorites, she had told the children, one she had often sung as a child. The song was supposed to be joyful, but Louisa could only feel sad, thinking that they would probably never see their governess again.
"I go to the hills when my heart is lonely…" A deep, familiar voice suddenly joined in the song, and Louisa turned, shocked, to see her father standing in the doorway. On either side of her, she heard her siblings trail off, unable to do anything but stand silently and stare.
Louisa didn't know what to think. She could hardly remember the last time she'd heard Father sing. Certainly, it had been before Mother had died, but even before that, while she had been ill, Father had been grim and silent. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if her youngest sisters couldn't remember ever hearing their father sing.
Louisa remembered herself in time to finish the last lines of the song with her father, joined by her brothers and sisters. "And I'll sing…once more…"
She held her breath, waiting to see how Father would react. For a moment, he was absolutely still. Then his mouth twitched into a hesitant smile, and he raised an arm, gesturing for his children to come to him. Immediately, Brigitta launched herself into his arms. That was enough to convince the others. They clustered eagerly around him, not daring to make a sound for fear they would ruin this wondrous moment. Then, suddenly, Kurt let a loud laugh, causing Louisa to giggle nervously.
What on earth had just happened? Father was never this openly affectionate, particularly in front of guests! Louisa would have expected him to have perhaps tolerated their song for the baroness's sake, but to send them away straight after. In fact, she wouldn't have been at all surprised if he had interrupted them in the middle of it and ordered them to go outside and stop making so much noise.
Besides, just moments ago, he had been furious! What was going on?
Just when the silence was beginning to feel awkward, Gretl ducked out from under Father's arm and went over to the baroness, offering the woman a rather scraggly bunch of edelweiss. Louisa watched her sister with fond exasperation. Trust Gretl to look for attention even at a moment like this!
"You never told me how enchanting your children are," the baroness was saying to Father.
He didn't answer, just gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. Suddenly he turned and froze, catching sight of Fräulein Maria in the doorway. "Don't go away," he told them, striding from the room.
Louisa and her siblings, still clustered together, exchanged curious glances. Louisa wanted desperately to go to the door to listen. She darted a glance at the two adults in the room, but the baroness was studying her fingernails and Uncle Max, catching her eye, winked and made a show of gazing at the ceiling.
That decided it. She grabbed Brigitta's arm and pulled her sister over to the door, which was still ajar. They arrived just in time to hear their father saying, "Fräulein…I want you to stay. I, uh, ask you to stay."
Louisa held her breath, hardly daring to hope, until she heard Fräulein Maria's soft voice. "If I could be of any help…"
It was all she could do not to shriek in delight. She settled for wrapping her arms around Brigitta, and the two girls broke into blissful giggles. Fräulein Maria was staying!
The next thing they knew, Father had come back into the room and was leveling a playful glare at them all. "All right, you little eavesdroppers," he growled, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "Why don't you go out into the garden to play until dinnertime?" The children obeyed hurriedly, eager to be out of reach of the adults' ears. As soon as they were out the door, they broke into a babble of excited conversation.
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In the days that followed, Louisa could hardly believe the change that had come over her family. To her mind, the only thing spoiling the perfection was the presence of Baroness Schraeder. Oh, the baroness was nice enough, she supposed, but she couldn't help feeling that the woman was something of phony. And there was just something about the patronizing way she always smiled at them that made Louisa suspect that she'd rather the children weren't there at all.
That, however, was nothing compared to the way the baroness tried to monopolize all of Father's time. Now that things were back to something approaching normal, Louisa and her siblings wanted Father all to themselves! But no, every time they turned around, he was out walking with the baroness, or taking her for a ride, or gone to the city with her, or having a "grown-up discussion," and why didn't the children run along and play?
Breakfast quickly became Louisa's favorite part of the day. The von Trapps were accustomed to eating at eight, but the baroness liked to sleep much later in the mornings. So, for a few hours at least, Louisa could pretend that she didn't have to share Father with anyone. Well, except Fräulein Maria, and sometimes Uncle Max, but they didn't count, not really. They didn't try to take up all Father's spare time, and besides, they actually liked the children!
Louisa found herself wishing that things could go on like this forever. She tried with all her might not to think about the fact that Fräulein Maria would be leaving at the end of the summer. If only there were some way to convince her to stay!
Each day after breakfast, Father still insisted that they devote an hour or two to their lessons. Louisa had tried to protest that they should be allowed to enjoy what was left of their summer, but Captain von Trapp would not budge. No children of his, he insisted, were going to be behind their classmates simply because they couldn't be bothered to open a book all summer! Louisa had stopped arguing then, and truly, she didn't mind the relatively short time she was required to spend on schoolwork, not when there was so much else to look forward to.
Fräulein Maria continued to surprise them, taking them on a wide variety of adventures. Just as they had when Father had been away, the children continued to rotate through choosing the day's activities. Before long, Louisa couldn't even mind too much that Father was so often busy entertaining the baroness, because a wonderful new treasure had arrived over the weekend. For the past several days, they had all been hard at work preparing a surprise for their father.
About a week after Father's return, Louisa and her family, along with the baroness and Fräulein Maria, were gathered around the dinner table. Since that day in the parlor, dinner had ceased to be the stiff, quiet affair that it had been in the days before their new governess's arrival. Although Father still insisted that his children be polite and quiet at the dinner table, the whole family now engaged in conversation about their day. The only awkward moment came when Kurt started to refer to an incident during Father's absence when he and Friedrich had gotten into a wrestling match in the middle of a creek, before stopping abruptly, apparently realizing that perhaps he'd better not finish that particular story.
Louisa couldn't blame him. Somehow, she didn't think Father would exactly approve of most of their little adventures. He just gave Kurt a knowing look, though, and commented wryly, "Somehow, I think the less I know about what transpired here these past few weeks, the happier I'll be." He paused, then added, "I'm sure your behavior could only have been described as exemplary." Louisa looked down at her plate a bit guiltily, trying not to smile, while Father heaved a dramatic sigh.
After dinner, father offered his arm to the baroness, as usual, and was about to retire into the parlor, when Fräulein Maria spoke up. "Captain, if you'd be so good as to join us in the ballroom, the children and I have something we'd like to show you."
Father pretended to be bewildered, and Marta and Gretl could barely contain their giggles at his exaggerated confusion. Somehow, Louisa didn't think he could have failed to notice all the singing going on, not to mention a large puppet theater taking over his ballroom. They'd forbidden him to enter the room during the last week, of course, but still. It would be awfully hard not to notice that something was going on.
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While the adults got themselves situated, the children took up their positions behind the magnificent new puppet theater. Following Fräulein Maria's lead, they sang a yodel that matched the story of the puppets, concentrating hard on manipulating the complicated marionettes. It had been frustrating trying to learn how to coordinate their movements so that the puppets would appear to be moving and dancing, and they had spent what seemed like hours trying to separate tangled strings, but they had eventually mastered it.
They finished the lively song and it became clear that their hard work had paid off. Except for a few minor delays when the youngest girls had missed their cues, the show had gone off perfectly.
As soon the song was finished, the children jumped down from their perches, climbing down the ladders and through the stage to make their bows. Father, Uncle Max, and Baroness Schrader applauded enthusiastically. Father jumped up from his seat, patted Gretl fondly on the head, and briefly stroked Louisa's cheek. She grinned, hugging the pleasure of his affection close to herself.
"Can we really keep the puppet show, Uncle Max?" Gretl demanded, running over to him.
Uncle Max smiled indulgently. "Of course you may, my darling. Why else would I have told Professor Kolitz to send the bill to your father?"
He grinned cheekily at Father, who rolled his eyes good-naturedly. Louisa smiled to herself, knowing that Father only pretended to be exasperated with Uncle Max.
Stepping out into the hallway, Uncle Max called for everyone's attention. "Surprise, surprise! After a long and desperate search, I have finally found a most exciting entry for the Salzburg folk festival."
Father pulled the door to the ballroom shut, smiling slightly suspiciously at his friend. "Congratulations, Max. Tell me, who will you be exploiting this time?"
"Ah ha!" was Uncle Max's only response. Clearly, he was waiting for them to guess.
"The Saint Ignatius choir?" the baroness guessed.
"Guess again!"
"Uh, let me see…" Father stroked his chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness. "The Kloppman choir?"
"No, no, no, no. No, no."
"Tell us?" Liesl finally exclaimed.
Uncle Max put his arm around her shoulder. "A singing group all in one family. You'll never guess, Georg."
Louisa had a strong suspicion she knew who Uncle Max was talking about and so, it seemed, did Father. "What a charming idea!" he exclaimed in that slightly sarcastic voice he always used when he was humoring someone. "Uh, whose family?"
Uncle Max laughed a bit, then said simply, "Yours."
"Aww…" Louisa and her siblings murmered, exchanging delighted glances. For a moment, her thoughts wandered as she tried to imagine what it would be ling to sing in front of so many people.
She was jerked back to reality at the sound of Father chuckling.
"Well, now what's so funny?" Uncle Max demanded.
"You are, Max." Father's tone had shifted towards patronizing. He patted his friend's cheek. "Expensive, but very funny."
"But you heard them, they'd be a sensation."
"No, Max."
"It's a wonderful idea. Fresh, original.."
"Max! My children do not sing in public." He frowned and held up a stern finger.
And that was that, Louisa thought. Things might have changed in the von Trapp home recently, but they hadn't changed that much. When Father used that tone, no one argued.
Fräulein Maria broke the silence, her voice determinedly cheerful. "Children, who should we hear from next?" They rushed over, and Liesl leaned up to whisper in her governess's ear. As the children huddled together, Liesl told them her idea: Father! Oh, yes! They agreed instantly.
Fräulein Maria took up the guitar, and Louisa nodded encouragingly at her.
The governess cleared her throat loudly. "The vote is unanimous. You, Captain."
Louisa held her breath. Oh, please, she begged him silently, please agree.
"I don't understand," Father was saying, looking frankly bewildered at this turn of events.
"I was told that a long time ago you were quite good," Fräulein Maria offered.
"Well, that was a very very very long time ago!"
"I remember, Father," Liesl put in quietly. Louisa remembered, too, but just barely. It had been years since she'd heard Father sing, but if she really thought about it, she could just remember a deep voice singing late at night, rich and smooth, making her feel wonderfully warm and and safe.
"Please, Father!" the children begged again.
Louisa bit her lip. She didn't think he'd actually do it, not really, but then he was tweaking Gretl's nose. "Well," he murmured, then nodded his head. He accepted the guitar from Fräulein Maria, who motioned that the children should sit. Louisa gathered her skirt around her and positioned herself on the floor. She could hardly believe it: for the second time in a week, they were going to get to hear Father sing!
A/N: Feedback is very much appreciated!