A/N: The story is set in that pleasant interlude between "Edelweiss" and "The Ländler". It takes place after "Underneath her wimple", and it begins about one week before the ball.
Once more, my beta was a virtual co-author in this and in the upcoming chapters. Thank you Mellie D.!
Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own "The Sound of Music".
If love is the treasure, laughter is the key.
Yakov Smirnoff
"I want to see you in my study after this ridiculous game is over."
Maria had to admit she may have gone too far with running her mouth this time. He hadn't been this mad at her since the day the boat tipped over, and not completely without reason, she had to concede. She was supposed to watch the little ones and she had failed to do it, all because she had been distracted - by him. She shuddered to think what could have happened to Gretl, if the fall had been a serious one, something much more than a scraped knee.
She was doomed. There was no way he would forgive her this time, in spite of everything she had done to help the children. In fact, she was not sure she could forgive herself. She would have to prepare herself for what was about to come.. He would bellow with rage, pointing out everything she had done wrong since the day she first stepped into his house, ending with her final act of defiance earlier that afternoon. Then he would make her walk the plank. No sea in Salzburg? No ships? It did not matter. He would find one and place it in the middle of the lake behind the villa – if only to make it possible for her to walk the plank. And he would throw some sharks in the lake as well, to assure the punishment was fitting enough.
While bandaging Gretl´s knee, she could not avoid thinking about his veiled threat. Would he really send her away? And before September? Obviously he was preparing to marry the Baroness, but did he really want her out of the house before he was married? She doubted that the Baroness intended to take the children with the on their honeymoon. Gretl let out a small sniffle, bringing Maria back to the present. The little one behaved just like the lady she would one day become – except for when Maria had to clean her scraped knee, she did not cry or whine at all. Certainly it was the promise that Maria made, to let her play with her guitar.
"There," Maria said, when she finished dressing Gretl´s knee. "That was not bad at all, was it?"
"I am sorry I made father mad at you," said the little girl.
Your father is always mad at me lately, Maria thought, but naturally she could not say that to Gretl. "Well, he did have a reason. I was supposed to keep an eye on you and I did not."
"But you told me not to climb the tree and I did." The young girl looked up to her governess, asking for forgiveness with her eyes.
"Then I think we are both wrong, aren't we?" Maria smiled down at her young charge.
"Father yelled at you." Maria thought that's stating the obvious.
"And I yelled back – which was not the right thing to do either."
"No one ever yells at father," said Gretl proudly.
"Who says that?" Maria couldn't believe that no one had ever stood up to him.
"Everybody does. He is the Captain. He is the one who does the yelling. Everyone is afraid of him."
No wonder he is not used to it, Maria thought.
"You aren't, are you?"
"I am not what, darling?"
"Afraid of father."
How could such an innocent question give Maria such butterflies? Yes, she felt tempted to say. But not for the reasons Gretl had in her child's mind. Not because of the scowling and the yelling – but because of him.
Dear God, what am I afraid of?
"What?"
"Ehrm - Never mind"
"Is he sending you away, back to the Abbey?"
Maria bit her lower lip, but then decided that the best thing was to be as honest as possible with Gretl. "Gretl, you know I will have to leave one day, don't you?"
"I don't think I like the Abbey very much, Fraülein Maria. I don't want you to go back there."
"Oh Gretl… Let us not think about it now, all right? Don't you want to go outside to find out which one of your brothers and sisters will find that treasure?" Gretl nodded. "Good," Maria exclaimed, getting up and taking the girl's hand.
Sitting on stairs of the terrace with Gretl, Maria watched the guests that were crossing grounds, chasing their own clues. The British Ambassador and his wife were reciting Latin declinations while attempting to solve one of the Captain's enigmas. Baroness Eberfeld was arguing with the professor about an obscure medieval German poem. Suddenly, Maria and Gretl were surrounded by all the other children, who sat down on the steps surrounding them.
"Why the sad faces?" Maria asked. "Why aren't you playing anymore?"
"We are officially stuck, Fraülein," Friedrich informed her as he sat down on the step next below her.
"All of you?" They nodded, all dejectedly taking seats around her. "Surely, you're joking."
"No, Fraülein. Father made the first few clues easy." Brigitta said.
"Then they got much harder," chimed in Kurt.
"And now, we're all absolutely stumped!" Louisa complained.
"It seems everybody is stuck. Even Professor Schweiger, who teaches Ancient Naval History in the University of Vienna! Someone has to win this!" Liesl exclaimed.
"We have a time limit now. The Baroness said that if no one finds it in the next hour, the game will be over. No rules anymore, we can work together if we want to," Fredrich informed Maria.
Maria turned towards him. "What does your father say about that?"
"He is just happy with himself because his clues are impossible to solve," said Louisa, throwing a small rock. "But someone has to find it. I don't want her to keep the prize, whatever that is."
"Who said that the Baroness will keep it?" asked Gretl.
"Nobody, but of course she will want to. It has diamonds in it," the girl sneered. "I am sure father will give it to her."
"Does it really have diamonds, Fraülein Maria?" Marta asked. "You saw it, didn't you?"
Maria remembered the tiny anchor pin with sparkling gems that caught her attention simply because it reminded her of a sea captain – and not just any sea captain. "Tiny ones. But yes, they are diamonds," she replied.
Next to her, Brigitta whispered. "We should not give up yet, should we, Fraülein Maria?"
Maria was not the type who would give up anything too easily. "No, not yet. There simply must be an answer to the question."
"It's not even a question" Kurt complained.
"Then an answer in the answer?" Maria suggested.
"I don't think so Fraülein." Marta said.
Then reading the Captain's mind? She thought. "Well, why don't we read this again?"
"We?" asked Brigitta, smiling. "Do you think you could help us?"
"Brigitta, I don't think she is supposed to help us!" Louisa warned.
Brigitta turned to her sister. "You just said that there are no rules anymore. And one of us has to win, Louisa."
"She is right," said Liesl. "Have you forgotten how much we wanted to outsmart father? If we can do that, even with a little help…"
"I wanted to be the one who would outsmart him," Louisa moaned. "Alone!"
"What about wanting Fraülein Maria on your team?" Kurt taunted his sister.
Louisa smiled mischievously. That did not sound at all like a bad idea. Fraülein Maria giving their father a dose of his own medicine…
"Children, I am not allowed to play, remember?"
Friedrich agreed. "She is right, the Baroness would have her head for this."
"Forget the Baroness," said Brigitta. "Father owns the game, and I am sure he would not mind that Fraülein Maria helped us."
Oh, Brigitta, I think your father would mind very much, Maria thought.
"Well, I am not sure I could play, but no one said I could not help! In fact, that was what I was assigned to do – help Marta and Gretl. And that is what I will do now. Marta, your clue, if you please." She said, reaching for the blue piece of paper from the girl.
"I told you she would be the only one able to outsmart him!" Kurt exclaimed.
"If you play my way, maybe you will all win. How does that sound?" They voiced their agreement in unison. Maria knew that she was risking facing his anger once more, but she would gladly do it for the sake of the children.
Brigitta pointed to the small piece of paper in Maria's hand. "See the little anchor there? It means that the next one is the last clue."
"I see. You children came too far to give up now. Let me see what I can do."
She looked at the clue. There were only two words written on the paper, in capital letters:
INNOVATIVE SIR
Well, his clues have certainly been innovative, but what does he mean by this? It did not make any sense, but Captain von Trapp always made sense, even when he was being cryptic.
"Any ideas?" Maria asked, sounding very discouraged.
"None Fraülein."
"And if the Professor did not get this one, how could we?" Maria was discouraged for the second time that day.
"Because the Professor does not know father and we do – well, at least you do." Kurt informed her. She tried to concentrate.
"Innovative Sir, Innovative Sir, Innovative Sir," she thought, without realizing she was saying the words aloud.
"Fraülein?" Louisa asked, amused.
"I know!!" Maria spoke aloud – louder than she intended to, because several of the guests turned to look at her. Then she looked at all the people staring at her. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Then she whispered to the girls. "It's an anagram, we only have to unscramble the letters!"
"Are you sure?" Liesl asked.
Maria nodded. "I used to love playing with anagrams in school. They can be such fun, and funny at times. My friends and I used to send each other messages this way. They usually appeared strange, like this one, until you placed the letters in the right order." Their faces were blank. "You see, you take a word or a sentence and scramble everything, so that it forms another word or sentence, with the same letters. For instance, meal can be an anagram for lame."
"Oh, that reminds me of something," said Kurt.
"Not now, Kurt!" Friedrich and Louisa said in unison.
"This may take forever. There are thousands of possibilities," moaned Brigitta.
"It will take less than forever if all of us are trying at the same time," said Maria.
"Friedrich?"
"Yes, Louisa?"
"What is that thing in Latin that uncle Max said to father during dinner last night, and that made him laugh?"
"Why?"
"I think I just solved it," the girl stated proudly
"Really?" Maria asked. "I still have no clue."
"I wouldn't either, if I did not remember thinking that father rarely laughs. It has to be it. It is so much like father… If you were there last night, Fraülein, I am sure you would have known it too." She gave Maria the paper where she had written the
"In vino veritas…" Maria had heard the saying before.
The truth is in the wine…
"Of course! The wine cellar!" Brigitta suggested, her eyes lighting up.
Gretl was about to cry out the answer for the whole villa to hear, but Liesl covered her mouth with her hand. "Quiet, we don't want the others to know, do we, Fraülein?"
"Not yet. Now, hurry to the cellar and claim that treasure."
"May I go too?" Gretl asked politely.
"Gretl, I'm supposed to stay with you the rest of the afternoon." Maria hated to break the young one's hopes.
"Then, you'll just have to come with us" she replied innocently.
"Gretl, I don't think…."
Friedrich suddenly grabbed his youngest sister up in his arms and playfully threw her over his shoulder. He turned to his governess and said, "Now you have to come with us." He turned and began following his siblings to the wine cellar.
Maria looked at the children heading into the house and then looked at the Captain. Well, he does have a point she thought. She quietly stood up and followed the seven youngest von Trapps into the house. She never noticed the smile that graced the Captain's face as he watched his children and his governess come one step closer to finding the treasure.
A/N:
I wish to thank you all the reviews I have been receiving, in this an all my other stories. I really do love your comments, even though, as I said before, unfortunately I have no time to answer to all of them.
Some of you pointed to me that the correct spelling would be "Fräuline", and not "Fräulein". My spell checker also says that to me, however, it is a German word, so I am keeping it in the original form, as it is spelled in that language. According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Here is the full dictionary entry: Fräu·lein (froi'līn', frou'-) n. pl. Fräulein Abbr. Frl. 1.Used as a courtesy title in a German-speaking area before the name of an unmarried woman or girl. 2. fräulein Used as a form of polite address for a girl or young woman in a German-speaking area. 3. Chiefly British A German governess. So, "Fraülein Maria" it is!