TW: SEXUAL ASSAULT, RAPE
Ottie remained on the other side of the room to Maria but reassured "I'll stay here, pretend you're writing in a diary, you'll feel so much better when the truth is out."
"Okay," Maria took a steadying breath before beginning, "My mother never wanted children, she loved her freedom, she wanted a career, and she was awfully bright. She could have had any career she wanted. The summer before she was due to leave for medical school in Vienna, she met my father." Maria let out a little emotional squeak and felt her throat tighten. It's okay Maria, you can trust Ottie.
"You're doing so well, Ria" Ottie assured her friend.
"My father wanted to marry her straight away and my mother agreed as long as they didn't have children. My mother was lucky because my father hated children. They lived happily for 2 years as a childless couple before my mother accidentally fell pregnant with me. She didn't want the pregnancy; she even went as far as seeing a woman in a back alley to try and get rid of me, but it didn't work. When my father found out… well he wasn't happy, and he blamed my mother. He threw her down the stairs and when that didn't result in a miscarriage, he would hit her every day in the hopes that she would lose the baby." Maria didn't know how much longer she could speak, she had never told this story out loud before and the words felt like they were burning her lips, leaving stinging blistered in their place.
"Ria, that sounds awf…" Maria spun around, a fire blazing in her sky-blue eyes, before interrupting Ottie.
"Shhhhh! If you speak, I'll never get through this".
Nodding, Ottie sat, waiting for Maria to continue.
"When I born the abuse didn't stop, I don't remember ever feeling any love from either of my parents and it only got worse as I got older. They wouldn't look at me, never mind speak to me. When I went to school, they wouldn't make me a lunch or send me lunch money, they never bought me a uniform and I always smelled. I had never felt an ounce of love in my life. They would hit me every single day and I grew used to it."
Maria could here Ottie's soft sniffles behind her, but she needed to power through.
"When I turned 18, I tried to run away in the middle of the night but my parents both caught me, and I received the worst beating of my life. I just remember them saying "you should be grateful to us, we are intelligent, sophisticated people and you ruined our lives, we should have killed you when we had the chance". When I woke up in hospital a week later, I discharged myself and got on the first train to Salzburg and well you know the story from there." Maria said resignedly.
"Maria that is awful, but I don't understand why you won't have children?" Ottie said hesitantly, she could tell her friend was in a very unpredictable state.
"Because I will be just like them, two evil parents results in an evil child. Surely, if I had children, I would turn into a wicked abusive mother just like my parents. I was always told how nice my mother was before I was born and then she turned evil. I don't want to hurt my children."
"But Maria, sweetheart, you love your children. You said your parents always hated children".
Maria knew this was true, but she still couldn't risk it.
"I love Georg's children, but they don't have any of my wicked DNA running through their veins…I love him too much to turn into a monster. Now because he got so angry during out argument, everytime I look at him I'm reminded of the pain. I hurt him and he didn't even know the full story. Imagine if he did." Maria was beginning to hyperventilate; the room was spinning. Her vision was flashing, and her ears were ringing. She couldn't hear anything, and she was sure she was going to pass out until she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders.
"Maria, it's okay! I promise, it's okay" Ottie's voice drifted into her conscience.
Maria felt like she was dying.
No.
She knew she was dying.
"Maria, breathe with me, please" Ottie shook Maria's shoulder frantically, "I'll go and get Georg" she said turning to leave the room before being yanked back with a force she didn't know Maria was capable of.
"No, Ottie, you promised, Georg can never know. It would hurt him too much knowing my pain." She said determinedly, staring deep into Ottie's eyes.
"Now let's go back to the party".
Maria managed to pull herself together quite quickly and made her way down the grand staircase with Ottie.
She had to admit after confiding in Ottie she felt lighter, almost as if she could move past her childhood one day. Upon seeing her husband waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs she felt her body fill with butterflies once again.
She looked towards Ottie who gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before leaving her alone with Georg.
"Hello, darling" he said, instinctively reaching for her hand, "how was your catch up?"
"I'll not bore you with the details" she chuckled, obviously not wanting to tell him the truth, "I was wondering Georg, would you dance with me after dinner?" she said suddenly shy, it would be the closest they had been in a while and she knew Georg wasn't fond of dancing.
"Maria, you don't need to ask! Of course, my love" he said, truly touched by her effort to rebuild their relationship.
When Ottie caught his eye he said "Ahh speaking of dinner, I think we should head through".
Taking his arm, Maria felt a new sense of hope making her way into the dining room.
"So, Maria! When do you think you'll be having children" came a slurred voice from the opposite end of the table. Next to her she heard the deafening clatter of cutlery on china, and she knew Georg had heard the mystery interviewer too.
Before she could even see who, it was speaking, she heard the protective English lilt of the woman she now thought of as her best friend pipe up.
"Claude, I hear your wife is expecting, congratulations" she said, indicating with her eyes for him not to continue.
Clearly too drunk to notice, the man continued. Maria knew she had seen him before, and she distinctly remembered that her husband didn't like him. That was a good enough reason for Maria to dislike him also. He was a tall, blonde man, closer to Georg's age than Maria's and he had tanned skin and brown eyes. She remembered him telling her at a previous party that he was a pilot, though she remembered very little else about the man.
"Now, now, Baroness Hauser, I am just making conversation with the newlyweds. Remind me Georg, wasn't Agathe pregnant with your first within two weeks of you being married" he said with a vulgar chortle.
Georg gripped Maria's hand under the table in solidarity and said, "Come now, Claude, seven children is quite enough even for me".
"If you say so, I just assumed it was because you married a frigid little nun" he spat out, finding himself hilarious. Immediately all the men at the table stood up to defend Maria's honour and although most of the ladies gasped in horror, a few of them sniggered only causing Maria more embarrassment.
With a dignified lift of her chin Maria said in her most polished Baroness voice, "If you'll excuse me, I am going for some air".
Calmly she pushed her chair back and left the room, making her way to the terrace.
Meanwhile in the dining room, Georg was the angriest he had been in a while. This little sky jockey had no idea what he was saying. Under normal circumstances his words would have been callous but with the current state of their relationship his words were truly damaging. He would not have anyone besmirching his wife's character like that.
With all the calm he could muster Georg spoke not taking his eyes off Claude, "Baroness Hauser, would you please check on my wife. I have some things I need to say to First Officer Helm".
Without so much as a nod, Ottie left the table to go in search of Maria, sensing a storm brewing behind Georg's calm mask.
"Just what on earth do you think you are doing, Helm?" Georg barked his mask already slipping.
"Come on, man, we are just having a bit of fun" Helm chuckled taking another slug of wine.
Georg was almost at breaking point, "you and I have different ideas of fun it seems; I expect a full apology from you for your behaviour. You will not apologise to my wife for, frankly, I don't trust you with her, so you must apologise to me." Georg said firmly, leaving no room for argument.
"I will not apologise, everyone was thinking it, the virile baby factory Georg von Trapp, married to his young slut governess…"
"Claude, leave at once! How dare you insult dear friends of mine in my house" Josef Hauser boomed from the head of the table, aghast at his guest's behaviour.
Georg wanted to punch the man square in the jaw for the things he was saying about Maria, but he was doing everything in his power to convince her that he wasn't an abusive man. He wouldn't waste all of their progress on an imbecile like Claude Helm.
Scaping his chair back across the floor, Helm staggered out of the room taking an expensive bottle of wine with him.
"Fine, but you all know it's true!" he said in a sing-song manner before leaving the room completely.
"Georg, I am truly sorry for what he said" Josef said, distraught by the outcome of the dinner.
"You couldn't have known Josef, now I'm sure you can understand that Maria and I will be leaving, if you could show me to our things, we will be off" he said, the cool aristocratic mask back in place.
Josef nodded solemnly, making his excuses to the rest of his guests, and telling them to head into the ballroom, he exited with Georg and head towards his study.
On the terrace, Ottie had made sure Maria was okay and upon realising she was in fact fine, she left to go and look for her husband.
Maria truly just wanted some air, she had heard all the nasty things Claude Helm had said before, mainly during her engagement. She just wanted to leave the party and wake up tomorrow to pretend none of this had happened. She wouldn't waste her tears on that sorry excuse of a man.
Allowing herself a moment of contemplation, Maria realised how truly different Georg was to Helm. Georg would never say those things about a woman. Feeling a warm glow in her chest she gathered herself enough to find her husband and began to leave the terrace.
As she walked, she must have snagged her shoe on a stone and she began to fall, to her relief somebody caught her just before she faceplanted the hard tile ground.
"Thank you so much, honestly, I am so clumsy" Maria chuckled. Her face going red from embarrassment.
She was horrified when she heard a familiar chortle and the scent of alcohol hit her nose. Immediately her legs felt numb and although she was now stood up the man did not remove his hands from her waist.
"You're welcome, Baroness! It seems you're lucky that I was here" he said a smirk splitting across his face.
"As I said, Thank you, Herr Helm. Now I really must find my husband" she said trying to pry herself out of his tight grip.
"Not so fast, Baroness. Surely you must repay me for my good deed…" he said, suddenly turning serious before roughly grabbing her head, pulling her lips to meet his.
Maria had never felt more violated in her life, not by her father, not by her mother and certainly not by Georg.
Helm's cold, wet tongue fought for entrance into Maria's mouth, and she could have been sick. She was frozen, powerless. Helm was two times her size, if she fought, he would win, no question. She had to do something. She needed Georg. She knew he would protect her and she knew he would kill any man who behaved this way with her.
Claude, grabbed at Maria's waist, breasts, anything he could. He mistook her whimpers of pain for pleasure, so he was surprised when he felt pain searing through his lusty haze.
Making the decision to try and run, Maria bit down as hard as she could onto his tongue and used his momentary distraction to find her husband. She had an almost epiphanous moment where she realised that Georg wasn't to be feared, men like Helm were. She had to tell him. She needed to feel his arms around her. Keeping her safe. Protecting her.
She didn't have to go very far for she immediately collided with his warm, solid form heading towards the terrace.
"Maria, we're leaving, I was just coming to tell you" he said a cheery smile covering his inner anger.
"We need to leave now! Quickly please, darling" she begged him, gripping him, trusting her husband fully for the first time in a fortnight. How could she have been blinded by the past. The man standing in front of her, the man she loved, would never do anything to harm her, her loved her more than anyone on this planet. She was ready to move on.
Utterly confused, Georg held Maria's shoulders and pulled back looking at her. His face turning to stone, when he saw the blood smeared on her face, the rips in her dress and the mess of her golden hair.
" ." Georg said slowly with barely restrained fury. Swiping at the blood and tears mingling on her face and holding her protectively against her body, "I need to get you to a doctor Maria, my god what have I done". Georg was burning inside, what the fuck had happened.
"Please, just let's leave" she said trying with all of her strength to pull her husband towards the door. Surely, Helm will come after her.
"Maria, I am not leaving until whoever did this to you pays" he said making his way to the terrace. His heart ached, hadn't his wife been through enough and now she had to be assaulted too. He shouldn't have let her out of his sight.
Making her way to stand in front of him, she said "it was Helm, he kissed me and …touched…me…and"
"Please! Don't say anything else, I should have protected you." he said, his fury finally reaching the surface. He shouldn't have let her out of his sight. He would never forgive himself. He was a terrible husband to her, ever since they had been married he had only caused her pain.
Mistaking his anger as being directed at her, Maria fell to the ground, a heap of tears and blood.
"Darling, I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do…I".
Crouching down to her level, Georg pulled his wife into his arms and said firmly, looking deep into her eyes, "Maria, this is not your fault, Claude Helm is the only person at fault here and he is going to pay for what he has done." he said climbing off the floor to make his way once again to the terrace.
Once again, Maria grabbed at Georg, looking up at him with teary eyes and forcing him to stay where he was "Please, NO! Don't you see, if you hurt that sorry excuse of a human it is going to destroy everything we have rebuilt, please darling".
Georg knew she was right, and he had never been able to refuse her anything, so he pushed aside his anger and simply said with a deep breath, "You're right, are you sure you aren't hurt?" when she nodded, he reached out his hand for her to take as he pulled her up off the floor.
Maria's relief was palpable as they made their way out towards the car. Just when she thought their traumatic night was over, she felt Georg being pulled out of her grasp and with a swift punch to the jaw he was sent sprawling across the marble floor.
Sitting up, he ignored the stars impairing his vision and rubbed his jaw with his hand, unaware of what had just happened.
"Your wife is a feisty one, Captain! Let's see if you'll defend her this time. It was almost as if you wanted me to rape her the way you just left her alone for me to take." Helm's slurring voice echoed through the hall.
Maria was furious, Georg wasn't at dault here. If she knew her husband, and she did, she knew he would take everything Helm said as gospel and truly hate himself forever more.
"You son of a bitch!" Georg said in a low voice, Maria could barely register.
Maria could only stand frozen in shock as Helm continued to pummel her husband with his fists. Why on earth wasn't he fighting back. He was getting hurt. Of course! She was so stupid. She had told him not to hurt, Helm. She never imagined this would be the consequence of that promised.
With a clumsy kick to Georg's abdomen, Helm toppled backwards, cracking his head of a side table knocking himself out in the process. As the guests started to fill the hall, curious about the commotion, Maria ran to Georg's side on the floor. With tears running down her face for what seemed like the millionth time that night, she wiped the blood from his face and sobbed into his chest.
"My darling, I am so sorry! This is all my fault. Please don't blame yourself, Georg."
"Maria, are you okay? How badly did he hurt you?" Georg said, swiping some blood from her mouth. He finally had a chance to have a good look at her.
"I'm fine, the blood is actually his! Just tell me that you're okay – I swear I will never forgive myself."
"Darling, please stop! It is not your fault. I am fine!" he said weakly, stroking her hair.
"This is not fine, Georg! Why on earth didn't you fight back? Now you're hurt." She said hysterically, eyes wild.
"Couldn't break my promise" he said groaning as she brushed over the bruise starting to form on his cheek, "Believe me, it would have hurt a hell of a lot more if he'd been sober" Georg laughed, before wincing, forgetting about his kick to the stomach. Maria's heart broke. He truly was the best of men. She knew now he would never hurt her. Men like Helm were monsters, men like her husband were not. Leaning down to kiss his battered cheek, he grasped her neck and whispered, "nobody will ever hurt you again, my love".
Before she could reply, the moment was interrupted by Josef "Georg, chum, I'll call the doctor!" he said frantically.
"No need, I am fine," he said, already standing up and brushing the dust of his suit trousers, "a few cuts and bruises won't stop me, Maria let's go! Goodnight, Josef."
Making his way over to the semi-conscious body of Claude Helm with Maria in his arms, Georg snarled, "Touch her, again and you're a dead man".
And with that the couple left.