Maria was quite sure she'd never been quite so drenched with sweat in all of her life—and certainly had never considered her children's moaning and complaining to be such a nuisance as it was today.
"Mother, Lukas stole my doll and threw her in the attic!" Annaliese screeched, running into the kitchen where Maria was preparing a cold bath for Eleanor. The eight-year-old's cherubic face was damp with perspiration, and tendrils of her long, honey-colored hair clung messily to her skin.
Attempting to curb her throbbing headache, Maria wringed out a rag from the large bowl of ice water sitting on the kitchen table and placed it on the base of her neck. Exasperatedly, she responded, "I'm sorry, Annaliese, but it's too hot to go up there and search for her."
"But I want her now!" the child whined.
At that moment, three more of the children burst into the kitchen from the back door, bickering and yelling about Maria only knew what. Dragging the rag away from her neck, Maria went to turn off the running water in the sink. Praying for some semblance of patience, she picked up a now wailing Eleanor, who had reacted to her siblings' commotion, and insisted loudly, "For heaven's sake, quiet down, all of you!" When they all stopped to stare at their mother, who normally never raised her voice, she finished, "It's much too miserable today to have to listen to the lot of you bickering over trivial things!"
Marta was the first to respond meekly, "I'm sorry, Mother." The others followed suit, clearly chastised.
"Now," Maria said as she placed the baby in the sink and began to sponge her down, "when your father returns, we'll take a picnic lunch to Fuschlsee and spend the rest of our day there. But please, behave yourselves. And," Maria turned, eying her youngest son, "Lukas, you must retrieve Annaliese's doll from wherever it is in the attic. You know better than to behave so rudely."
Scuffing his toe on the floor, eyes downcast, Lukas muttered compliantly, "Yes, Mother."
Shaking her head, Maria turned her attention back to the wailing toddler and spoke to her soothingly as she placed her in the sink of cold water. Startled, the little girl silenced her cries, but resumed them to an ear-splitting capacity when she realized the temperature.
Goodness, would the day ever end? Maria grimaced as she began to gently slosh water over her daughter's flushed body; the child only screamed louder. How Georg kept her occupied, entertained, and happy during cold baths was beyond Maria's skill, apparently. But, she realized, the child was probably reacting to everyone's discomfort and flaring tempers more than anything else. Taking a deep breath, Maria did her best to block out the pulsating headache and began to sing a lullaby; gradually, the child calmed.
Maria grinned when Eleanor finally squealed with pleasure and offered her mother a pearly smile. "Liebe dich, Schatzi, (1)" Maria murmured.
"Sing more, Mutti, (2)" the three-year-old begged. "Bitte," she added as an afterthought.
Her mother laughed. "I will, later, darling, alright? Right now, we have things to do. Would you like to help me make some sandwiches for our picnic later?"
As Maria lifted the little girl from the sink, she nodded yes, bobbing her head vigorously. "Ja, Mutti!"
"That's settled, then," Maria nodded, pulling a clean frock over her daughter's head.
"This sandwich is quite an interesting specimen," Georg commented, grinning cheekily at his wife, who was peeling an orange.
"Be nice," Maria hushed him, eying Eleanor, who was digging a hole in the sand several feet away. "It took me quite a while to calm her, and she's quite proud of her handiwork. She made it just for you."
"That I can see," assured Georg, as he polished it off good-naturedly and leaned back against the tree the picnic was laid out under. "I haven't been here in so long," he mused. "Or Mondsee, for that matter. We should make it a point to visit there before the summer's over."
"Not to douse you with cold water, Georg," Maria reminded him, "but we have engagements for the rest of the summer that cannot be ignored."
"Where there's a will, there's a way," Georg grinned.
Maria looked at her husband carefully, unsure of whether to take caution by his words. There was a gleam in his eye that she was all too familiar with, one that always led right to some sort of mischief between the two of them. Unable to help herself, she giggled, declaring, "You are entirely incorrigible!"
"Thank you, darling—I am told by a certain wife of mine that it can be quite endearing."
"Indeed, it can," Maria consented as she got to her feet and ran to tickle her youngest child, sweeping her up in her arms. Georg watched the exchange with a surge of pride welling in him. If anyone had told him that he would remarry and that Maria would bear him three more children, he would have scoffed it. But with the picture in front of him—Marta and Gretl patiently teaching Lukas how to swim a backstroke; Annaliese scouting for tiny sea creatures; and Maria now in the water holding Eleanor's hands above her head as the little girl happily squealed, planted on her bottom in the cool water as waves sloshed up to her chin—he knew that somehow, fate had chosen to play the cards in his favour. There was something so savory about it all, these last eleven years.
He found himself unashamedly admiring his wife's figure before long—her slender body was clad in a modest bathing suit of blue hues, and around her waist, she had tied a sheer pareo, which was whipping around her legs in the breeze. She was rather uncomfortable showing so much leg in a public place, and always had been. "My legs are for your eyes only," she'd reasoned one day years ago when he asked her the source of her discomfort. "I don't like it when other people are scrutinizing me. The women always have something to say, and the men want to see more."
So, she knew she was attractive. Georg smirked happily at the thought. Surely she must know, considering everything he felt compelled to do to her—and did do to her—in their time alone together. How lovely it would be to be on a Pacific island alone with her, he mused. But then again, the south of France was just as sufficient, and much closer to home. Several years prior, they'd discovered that Maria didn't travel well by water and wasn't eager to try air travel any time soon. Nonetheless, their time aboard that ship had certainly had its high moments…
"Vati!" cried Lukas, interrupting his father's train of thought. "Look at me!"
Sitting up, Georg applauded as he watched his son swim a deft backstroke. "Well done, Lukas, well done!" When had he grown from a tiny, helpless baby to a little boy with brown hair and Maria's tilted nose who had completed his first year of grammar school?
Georg looked over to Annaliese, who was inspecting something she'd found in the clear water. In only a few short years, she would be on the brink of womanhood. There was an ache in his chest at the thought; he and Maria had been uncertain of what to expect when they discovered that the parenting would begin all over again for him, and for her, start at the beginning. It had been somewhat alarming, but he fell into it easily once more, he discovered, and Maria learned quickly, finding joy in it she hadn't thought possible.
It was worth starting over again, he knew. He had his first seven children as a reminder of Agathe, and the last three with Maria were equally as precious. The early fears melted away into anticipation with time, and now, he realized, with a glance at little Eleanor, that time enjoyed eluding him, playing tricks with him. Liesl and Friedrich had their own families now; Louisa was engaged. Kurt and Brigitta were studying their respective interests at University. Marta and Gretl were preparing for University, as well. Georg almost feared the day his youngest three would do the exact same.
"A penny for your thoughts?" came the voice of his wife as she sat down beside him to watch Gretl take Eleanor into the deeper water with Lukas and Marta.
Wrapping an arm around Maria and kissing her on the top of her sun-kissed head, he murmured, "Time slips by so fast. Look at Anna. Look at Lukas and Ellie. It seems only yesterday those two could barely tie their shoes," he nodded toward Marta and Gretl. "And the others…studying and otherwise giving us grandchildren!"
Resting her head against Georg's chest, Maria smiled. "It's frighteningly beautiful."
"As are you," Georg said. "I can scarcely fathom that our eleventh anniversary is approaching. Me, I show my age more everyday, but you—you, you're as beautiful and youthful as the day I met you."
Maria made a sound of disbelief, to which he conceded, "Alright, perhaps you do have some more laugh lines creasing your lovely face, lines around your eyes. But I find them rather attractive. There's something about your fresh-faced beauty that is only enhanced by age."
"Oh, don't forget the aches and pains that come with life and raising a houseful of children and pleasing a very demanding husband," Maria added. "It's positively exhausting!"
"Me, demanding?" Georg exclaimed. "What rubbish!"
"It isn't and you know it," Maria said smartly, placing a kiss on his chin.
"You wouldn't think of denying me."
"Perhaps." Maria craned her neck to look at her husband's stunned face. She laughed heartily, exclaiming, "Oh, you are such a man!"
"Maybe so," Georg huffed, "but can you blame me? You're utterly delectable, Maria, and all mine."
"You might want to rethink that," Maria responded, as all five children came running toward them and promptly tackled their parents.
"It's so beautiful in the moonlight."
"Yes," Georg agreed. "This lake is very aptly named."
He and Maria were sitting along the embankment of Mondsee, shrouded in the darkness of a small cove of trees, with everything around them given a silver lining as a result of the moonbeams. It had been decided at the last minute to find lodgings to stay in for the night and enjoy one more day in the surrounding areas before making the two-hour trip back to Aigen.
"We should stop in Salzburg and pick up a few things tomorrow," Maria noted. "And I'm sure the children will enjoy exploring the toy shops."
"Yes… we'll do that," Georg agreed. "Maria…"
"Yes?"
"Have you ever been skinny-dipping?"
Maria looked at her husband blankly for a moment before fingering the collar of his shirt. "Swimming, I have done. Swimming in the nude, however… I'm afraid I have never tried it." She grinned devilishly.
"Is it something you would consider doing?" Georg asked, running a thumb along his wife's neck before kissing her ardently.
When she needed air, Maria gasped quietly, "If I were alone with the one man I trust, I might indeed consider it."
"Am I that man?"
"Are we alone?" Maria stared hard into her husband's eyes, gaze blazing.
Georg only nodded, lifting the sundress Maria wore over her head. She stood, kicking away her underthings, and dove into the deep pocket of water several feet away from where they were sitting. Her husband followed suit, stripping down quickly and leaving their clothing in a heap as he joined her.
She did a few breast strokes before submerging under water completely. In the dark, Georg wasn't quite sure which way she'd gone, but moments later, he felt a jerk around his waist that came from behind and he knew. She surfaced, laughing and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "It is quite an experience," she said, eyes twinkling.
Trying to catch his breath, Georg grimaced. "So I see."
Circling around, Maria stopped in front of him. "It's quite a lovely feeling, having the water flow uninhibited across my skin. We could do this more often." Slowly, she pushed him back along the embankment, where quite a perfect slab of stone lay submerged at the perfect height to sit upon and still remain properly covered.
"Do you really want to scare the fish, Maria?" Georg asked, pulling her body against his.
"I think the fish will forgive us just this once," she responded breathlessly, intent upon building the kiss her husband had started on the grassy banks, both hands encasing her husband's face as she did so, lips crashing on his.
Georg wasn't sure where the control of the endeavor had turned from his hands to hers, but knew as soon as he shifted her weight down onto his erection and she gasped into his mouth that she was losing herself in the pandemonium of feeling and yearning already. For all her words earlier, she had an equally feral streak of desire running in her veins, and they both knew it. The thought of it reminded Georg of so many moments, and subsequently they flashed through his mind. Times where she had blushed and stammered, but let him touch and love her regardless; times where she had fallen asleep in his arms after lovemaking; times where she'd cried profusely recovering from orgasm; times where she had actually lost consciousness; and others still, where he'd needed to cover her mouth for the noise she made at the very height of ecstasy. Times where both of them had scaled far beyond normal lovemaking and had become almost animalistic in their actions. Times where he could literally coax her into coming with only a request.
Every time they made love, it was as if they'd been apart from each other for an unbearable amount of time. There was something special about that; Georg had never been so sure of any one thing in his life. And while their opportunities to ravish each other were often few and also thwarted by their children, it made the chances they did have all the sweeter.
"Oh, how I treasure you," Georg grunted before grinding his hips against his wife's, determined to make her cry out and climax through his skilled movements only. Within minutes, her fingers were raking painfully through his hair, her nails dragging across the skin of his back, and he could feel her body convulsing from the inside out.
Maria was quite sure she was losing her mind this minute; she was heaving and her every muscle twitched with anticipation, but when she felt her husband deliberately begin to hold back in his actions, she gave an aggravated cry of frustration and bit down on his right shoulder as hard as she could without drawing blood. She laughed when her revenge caused him to growl in pain, and took the initiative to pick up the slack of his rhythm until he relented and drove her into the throes of orgasm, her acute awareness of their skin against each other and bodies connected quite scattered.
Upon regaining her senses, Maria murmured, "It's been a while since you've called me your treasure. I like it very much."
"Ja, Schatzi, ich liebe dich so viel."
"Ich liebe dich auch, Georg. Mit meinem ganzen Herzen.
1. "Schatzi" is a variation of "Schatz" and is usually employed as a term of endearment for children, meaning "sweetie" or "little treasure."
2. "Mutti" and "Vati" are German equivalents akin to "mommy" and "daddy." I have not been enlightened of differences in the Austrian dialect concerning the usage of these terms, so I stuck with them.
3. "Bitte" is used to mean both please and you're welcome.
4. I chose the name Eleanor for the youngest child on the basis that the first seven children are half British and Liesl's full name is most likely Elisabeth, equally common in English and German. Some variety never hurt.
"Ja, Schatzi, ich liebe dich so viel" - "Yes, dear (see note above), I love you so much."
"Ich liebe dich auch, Georg. Mit meinem ganzen Herzen." - "I love you, too, Georg. With all of my heart."