Her Father's Daughter

by Bluebird88

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 11: Berry Picking

Nonnenberg Abbey was a few miles away from the villa, but the children covered the distance quickly, eager to see Fräulein Maria. When they reached the abbey's gates, they clustered around it, peering through the iron bars in hopes of catching a glimpse of their governess. Liesl pulled the chain to ring the bell and a young nun with a kind face came to see to them. "Yes, my children?"

Liesl spoke for them all, as she usually did when confronted with strangers. "Uh, my name is Liesl."

"Yes, Liesl?" the nun prompted, smiling gently.

"We – my brothers and sisters – we want to see Fräulein Maria."

"Fräulein Maria?" She furrowed her brow a moment, then appeared to understand. "Oh, Maria! Come in, please." Louisa stepped into the abbey courtyard, looking around curiously, but the nun stopped them after only a few steps, holding up both hands. "Wait here."

Louisa bit her lip as the woman went to confer with two other nuns, one of them rather severe looking. She shifted impatiently. What was so complicated about telling FräuleinMaria that they were there?

After a moment, another nun came over to them, explaining, "I'm Sister Margaretta. I understand you've been inquiring about Maria."

"We have to see her!" Friedrich burst out "Will you tell her we're here, please?"

Looking regretful, Sister Margaretta shook her head and told them, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

What did she mean, she couldn't? She had to! Louisa implored her, "Oh, but you've got to! We have to speak to her!"

Louisa's younger siblings all began talking at once, trying to make Sister Margaretta understand how important it was for them to see Fräulein

Maria.

"She's our governess!"

"We want her back!"

"She didn't even say goodbye!"

"It's very important!"

Liesl broke in more calmly and explained reasonably, "All we want to do is talk to her."

Sister Margaretta, however, was shaking her head. "I'm very sorry, children, but Maria is in seclusion. She hasn't been seeing anyone."

Friedrich was unmoved by this pronouncement. "She'll see us, I know she will!"

"I want to show her my finger!" Gretl exclaimed, holding up the bandaged digit for inspection.

"Oh, some other time dear. I'll tell her that you were here." Gently but firmly, the nun began ushering them out, closing the gate behind them. Louisa and her siblings protested loudly, desperate to make her understand, but it was no use. "Run along, children. Run along home." It soon became apparent that their pleas were useless. Dejected, they gave the matter up and turned back towards home.

Louisa walked slowly, too depressed to summon the energy to move more quickly. The children wandered the path at the same listless pace, and the road home seemed to Louisa to be much longer than it had when they'd first left.

When they came within sight of the villa, Brigitta stopped suddenly. "Wait a minute. What time is it?"

The question brought them all up short. No one had thought to bring a watch. Louisa noticed, though, that the air had grown rather cool, and that the sun looked to be approaching the horizon. She exchanged glances with her siblings, knowing that they were all beginning to regret their unhurried pace. "Let's go through the back. It might not be dinnertime yet. We might be able to go through that way without Father noticing."

Hurriedly, the children made their way through the clearing behind the villa. When they rounded the corner, however, it was to find Father standing on the back porch, arms crossed and looking none too pleased with his children. As they approached, he came down the steps towards them, fingers tapping against his arm in the way they always did when he was annoyed. Uh, oh, Louisa thought, glancing nervously at her siblings. So much for sneaking away unnoticed!

"Act natural!" Kurt hissed, affecting an expression that was about as guilty-looking as Louisa had ever seen. She would have laughed aloud had it not been for the expression on Father's face. When they were finally within hearing distance, he crooked a finger at them, and they gathered in front of a bench on the back terrace, facing him. "Well?" he said simply, the single word spoken in a tone that would brook no disobedience.

Brigitta, however, had evidently decided to attempt to brazen it out. "Yes, Father?" she replied innocently, gazing up at him with wide eyes. Louisa had to bite her lip to hide her smile, filled with admiration for her sister. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought Brigitta was honestly confused.

Something that might have been amusement flashed briefly through Father's eyes, but a moment later he was looking stern again.

"Perhaps you'd like to explain to me why the dinner table has been set for nearly a quarter of an hour while my children were nowhere to be found?"

Louisa felt like kicking herself. Why hadn't they taken the time to come up with a good excuse earlier?

"Well," Brigitta faltered, "You see, we were…"

"We were berry picking!" Friedrich jumped in, coming to her rescue.

Louisa made a face. Berry picking? Was that really the best he could come up with? Well, they were stuck with it now, and Father was clearly not buying it. Hands clasped loosely behind his back, he was in full Captain mode. "Now, it's not like my children to be secretive."

"We're not being secretive, Father," Louisa immediately denied.

"Mm-hmm," Louisa wondered for a moment how it was possible that Father could make even the briefest murmur sound sarcastic. He began pacing, continuing, "And it's not like my children to be late for dinner."

"We lost track of the time!" Friedrich explained, as the other children murmured their agreement, nodding and smiling at Father.

"Ah! I see!" Father dropped his jovial manner and leveled a stern look at them all. "All right, now, who's going to be the first one to tell me the truth?" He met each of his children's eyes in turn. "Friedrich? Brigitta? Liesl…?"

Liesl inclined her head slightly. "Where do you think we were, Father?" Louisa grinned at Father's surprised look. He recovered himself and narrowed his eyes at his oldest daughter, but she only gave him a challenging stare in return. "Well, if you don't believe us, you must have some idea where you think we were."

Actually, that made Louisa wonder: how much did Father already know? If he had already guessed where they had been, then there was little point in pretending, and it wasn't as if they'd truly done anything wrong. After all, he'd never told them they couldn't go to see Fräulein Maria. Still, though, Louisa knew that Father wasn't likely to be pleased if he knew what they'd been up to. And if he'd already guessed…well, she wasn't going to be the one to confirm it!

Father was gazing off toward the lake, but Marta's soft giggle drew Father's attention. "Aha! Marta!" Father pointed a finger at her. "You tell me," he ordered, coming around and leaning down to eye level.

Behind him, Friedrich nodded his head frantically at her. Come on, Marta, Louisa silently implored. Just stick to the story! She had serious doubts as to whether Marta would actually be able to lie to Father, but as it turned out, she needn't have worried. Marta confirmed Friedrich's story without hesitation.

He clasped his hands together. "I forgot, you were berry picking!" Louisa reallywished that Father would stop with the false pleasantry. She knew from experience that it was always a dangerous sign when Father pretended to go along with their explanations. Somehow, he always managed to catch them in a lie, forcing them to contradict themselves.

Sure enough, Father's next question was to ask what kind of berries they had been picking. Louisa racked her brain. What kind of berries were in season this time of year? Before she could come up with an answer, though, Friedrich was telling Father that they had been picking blueberries.

Still smiling, Father informed him, "It's, uh, too early for blueberries." Uh, oh. There it was. Father had set a trap, and they had walked right into it! Louisa didn't even know if it was true. For all she knew, the woods could be full of blueberries! Either way, they were stuck. If they stayed with their story and it really was too early for blueberries, then Father would know they were lying. But if they backtracked now, they would never be able to come up with a reason for the original story.

And then, Friedrich opened his mouth again, and all was lost. "They were strawberries, sir."

"Strawberries?" Father raised his eyebrows, and Louisa was sure he was enjoying himself.

"It's been so cold lately, they turned blue!" Immediately after speaking, Friedrich looked pained. Well, at least he realized how stupid his answer had been! But the damage had already been done. For her part, Louisa could only roll her eyes. And she had been worried that Marta would have trouble lying to Father! Honestly, blue strawberries? Gretl could have come up with a better excuse than that!

"Aww," Father murmured, tsk-ing at them. "Very well, then. Show me the berries." He held out an expectant hand.

"Well," Kurt tried to answer, "we don't have them any more."

Father honed in on him, leaning forward and demanding, "You don't have them any more? Well, what happened to them?" Louisa winced at the mocking way he annunciated each word.

Clearly, her younger brother was at a loss. "Well, we…we… "

"We ate them!" Brigitta exclaimed with a triumphant smile. Louisa was impressed. That explanation actually made sense. She and her siblings agreed enthusiastically, telling Father how delicious the berries had been.

"Very well." Father clapped his hands together. "Since you've obviously stuffed yourselves full of thousands of delicious berries, you can't be hungry anymore, so I shall have to simply tell Frau Schmidt to, uh, skip your dinner!"

He turned and left, but paused on his way up the steps, turning to look at them and giving a smug little laugh. Louisa could only glare. Clearly, he realized that he had them trapped, and there wasn't a thing any of them could do about it.

"It's all your fault!" Kurt accused Friedrich as soon as Father had left. "We should have told him the truth!"

"And made him boiling mad at us?" Friedrich retorted.

"It's better than starving to death."

The children settled around the benches, discussing what had happened in dull tones. Kurt punctuated the conversation with comments about how hungry he was, but for once, Louisa couldn't even laugh at her youngest brother's never-ending appetite.

"I feel awful," Gretl murmured softly.

Louisa nodded in agreement, but Gretl's words seemed to give Brigitta an idea. "When Fräulein Maria wanted to feel better, she used to sing that song, remember?"

Liesl smiled. "Yes."

"Let's try it."

Liesl and Brigitta began singing, and after a moment Louisa and her other siblings joined in.

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings: these are a few of my favorite things…"

Without Fräulein Maria, though, even this song lacked all of its formal cheerfulness. Instead of the bright, happy tune it had been the night their new governess had first sung for them, now the song was soft and sad.

"Why don't I feel better?" Gretl wondered.

Wordlessly, Liesl held out an arm to her, and the children continued singing.

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes…"

Suddenly a new, familiar voice joined in the song. Louisa shook her head, hardly daring to believe it. Surely that couldn't be…

"Fräulein Maria!" she heard her siblings yelling. "Fräulein Maria's back!"

Louisa broke into a huge grin, jumped up, and raced towards her governess, nearly knocking her over with the strength of her hug. Her siblings followed close behind her, and they all gathered joyfully around Fräulein Maria, finishing the song the way it was meant to be sung.

"I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel soooo ba-aa-aad!"

Fräulein Maria took Marta and Gretl by the hands, and they made their way toward the house, talking and giggling excitedly. "Oh, I have so much to tell you all!" Fräulein Maria said.

"We have things to tell you, too," Louisa told her.

"I'm sure you do."

Brigitta furrowed her brow a bit and explained softly, "The most important thing is that Father is going to be married."

Louisa watched Fräulein Maria's face carefully. Could Brigitta have been right, after all, about their governess's reason for leaving?

"Married?" she murmured.

"Yes," Louisa explained, "to Baroness Schraeder."

Fräulein Maria was silent for a long time before replying, "Oh, I see." Louisa couldn't remember ever seeing her look so upset.

Before anyone could say anything more, though, Father reappeared on the porch and everyone began shouting at once.

"Oh, Father, look!"

"Fräulein Maria!"

"She's back!"

"Fräulein Maria's come back from the abbey!"

"Good evening, Captain," she said calmly, but Louisa thought she looked rather nervous.

Father tilted his head to the side, looking slightly puzzled, before replying carefully, "Good evening."

They stared at each other for an awkward moment, then Father smiled and clapped his hands together. "All right, everyone inside. Go and get your dinner."

"Dinner!" Kurt's gleeful cry rang out as the children hurried up the steps. On the way to the dining room, they passed Baroness Schrader. Louisa and Brigitta exchanged wide-eyed glances, and Louisa couldn't help but wonder what would happen now.

Father had said they weren't going to have a governess anymore, but surely he wouldn't let Fräulein Maria leave again! And yet...Louisa couldn't forget the look on Fräulein Maria's face when she had heard that Father and the baroness were engaged.

She was sick of sitting around waiting for the adults to decide to tell them anything. She wished with all her might that she could go back outside and hear what was being said!

A/N: Feedback is very much appreciated!