Georg woke up for the seventh day in a row to the awful sounds of retching coming from the hotel bathroom. At first, Maria had blamed it on sea sickness, but they had arrived in New York 3 days ago and still the sickness persisted.
It brought Georg back to the early days of Agathe's illness and with each passing second his fear was growing. He refused to allow Maria to pretend nothing was happening and make herself worse. With a determination in his step, he jumped out of bed and walked purposefully to the bathroom.
When he saw Maria hunched over the toilet bowl, shaking and tears streaming down her face and anger he had at her ignorance turned to profound concern. In nearly two years of knowing each other, he had never seen her ill.
"Oh, my love, you poor thing!"
Maria didn't respond, she was too busy throwing up her guts but in the part of her mind that wasn't preoccupied with puking, her heart swelled upon hearing the love in her husband's voice. Then she remembered the realisation she had come too last night, and she suddenly felt extremely sad. Everything they had built over the past year could just crumble away if her suspicions were proved correct. No! Surely God isn't that cruel.
Eventually, she felt well enough to stand up and wasn't surprised to find Georg by her side with a tall glass of water as he had been every morning since she had been ill.
"Darling, I know you say you're fine, but I am not taking any chances with your health! I have made a doctor's appointment for you and we're going to the surgery right now".
"Georg, I am not going to a doctor I am fine" Maria retorted, fire building in her veins. Why should she be ordered about like one of his cadets. She would not go to the doctors; she was too scared about what they might find. She made her way to the sink to brush her teeth and get rid of any remaining feelings of nausea.
"Maria, you do not get a choice in this matter. The children will be here today, and this is the only chance we will have to visit a doctor" Georg voice was getting louder, and his nostrils flared but Maria still wouldn't budge.
"I beg your pardon! My body, my rules! I am not going to the doctor because I am not ill." Maria said coolly, hoping he would drop it, but Georg stood firm.
"NOT ILL? Maria, you have been sick for the past seven days in a row, stop acting like a fool, I will not risk your health!"
"Oh! because you know so much about illnesses, how about you..."
"Yes, Maria, I do! I believe you recall the reason I needed a governess in the first place" he interrupted her, his hand shaking in anger.
Damn! Maria should have thought. Of course, he knew about illness. He knew how quickly they could destroy a life. She couldn't be angry at him any longer. The thought of the broken man she had met two years ago still fresh in her mind. Poor, Agathe.
She tried to apologise but he shrugged her off, eyes misty with grief, "Just come with me to the doctors. Please, darling!" he pleaded, and Maria could only stare, her brain running a mile a minute as she tried to make a plan.
"I shall make a compromise, my love." She said after what felt like minutes, "I will go to the doctor's tomorrow with Ottie when she arrives while you and Josef sort out some business, hmm?" Maria knew that if she went to the doctors with Georg, she would have no say in what happened. As a matter of fact, every doctor's appointment she had had since they were married had been the same. She would be examined by the doctor; the doctor wouldn't say a word. He would call Georg in and tell him the diagnosis. Wives had no say in matters such as their own health! She didn't agree with it, but it was the way of the world.
If my suspicions are correct, then I want to be the first to know! He can't come with me.
Georg had a bad feeling. Why was Maria being so secretive? But, as long as she was going to be checked by a health care professional he wouldn't complain.
"Deal, my love! Now get back into bed, I want you to rest today. Captain's orders" he chuckled, giving her a peck on the cheek, steering her towards the bed.
oOo
"Mama, mama!"
The foyer of the hotel was filled with the sound of stampeding children as the younger von Trapps ploughed through the crowds of guests in search of their parents. Georg spotted the children first, racing up to them and picking Marta and Gretl up immediately, one in each arm.
"My little angels, we have missed you so much" Georg cheered, tickling his youngest daughters. The rest of the brood had found Maria and had enveloped her in the centre of a group hug. For Maria, it felt like a little part of her sanity had been restored after the week they had been apart.
Spotting Ottie and Josef, along with their children, Maria extricated herself from the children's grasp and bounded into Ottie's arms, suddenly overcome with relief. Thank God, we're all together again!
"Thank you so much, Ottie, I will forever be grateful to you!" Maria said tearfully.
Ottie was taken aback, she had expected gratitude, but Maria seemed to be extremely emotional, and she was gripping her waist so tightly, it felt like she was going to snap in half.
"Of course, darling, they were absolute sweethearts. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
Ottie always knew how to cut to the heart of things. Maria hadn't expected to get so emotional around her best friend, but she had and there was nothing she could do about it now.
Looking around to see if Georg was in earshot, she was relieved to see he was already leading the children to the room with Josef.
"I'll tell you later!" she said, placing her baroness mask firmly on her face.
Ottie knew whatever it was it must be big. The last time Maria had kept something from Georg, it had nearly broken their marriage.
oOo
Seated in the corner of the glamourous New York café, Maria tried her best to remain calm but the confession she was about to make to Ottie weighed heavy on her mind. Georg and Josef were entertaining the children back at the hotel, but Maria had told Georg that she was going to go somewhere private to discuss the doctor's appointment with Ottie – he had agreed without a second thought.
"Maria, I can feel the nervousness radiating from you across the table! Will you please talk to me?' Ottie's voice drew her back to reality and she realised she needed to explain herself.
"I need you to come with me to my doctor's appointment" she said nervously, holding Ottie's gaze.
There was a momentary silence before Ottie burst out in a loud laugh, "Maria, of course! For a second I thought something was wrong!"
"No, no, that's not all! It's not...that...simple" tears were beginning to run down Maria's cheeks and her throat tightened. She couldn't look at Ottie, what she was about to ask was sinful.
"I need to pretend that I am an unmarried young woman! If the diagnosis is what I suspect it is, then I don't want my husband to know yet. If the doctor knew I was married he would tell him" She said on one breathe, too scared to take breaks between sentences in case she was too scared to continue.
When she didn't hear anything from the other woman, she looked up assuming that she had left, after all who would want to be friends with a liar.
Ottie's face was the picture of sadness, "Oh, Maria...are you...?" she left the words unsaid, hanging in the tension filled air between them, unspoken. She hesitantly gestured in the general area of Maria's stomach.
Maria couldn't contain her pain any longer, she burst out, "I don't know! I DON'T know! The signs are there but I don't want it to be true. Ottie, it can't be true!" Maria's agony was plain to see.
Ottie casually looked around the café making sure nobody could hear them, this information in the wrong hands would only have bad consequences.
"Then we must find out, Maria, and go from there! If it is true, Georg will help you get through it." Maria flinched at Georg's name. She hated that she was so secretive, but she needed to process the information on her own first before he knew.
"I just couldn't stand to see the happiness on his face when the doctors tells him I'm pregnant" Maria bubbled, using her napkin to dab the tears from her face.
Ottie grasped Maria's hand, saying "Ria! You might not be pregnant. Let's just take this one step at a time, okay?"