Chapter 5: More Questions than Answers

"What ceremony?" The Captain shuddered to ask.

"You're wedding ceremony, you old fool." Upon hearing Mikesh's reply, Maria who had been about to eat an olive instead sucked the fruit whole down her throat. Choking it up, it flew out of her mouth and hit the Captain square in his left eye.

Instinctively his hand flew to his face, "What..ahhh…Jesus," he cursed mid-tirade and glared at Maria with his one good eye. Meanwhile Maria couldn't stop coughing and now the entire festival was looking in their direction. The Captain dared a glance around the party, and being ever the social gentleman gave his fellow party goers a little shake of his head and a whimsical smile. Then he gracefully sat himself down into his seat in hopes of getting the unwanted attention off of them.

While the Captain was busy getting himself under control, Maria grabbed for her glass of water. She stuck her tongue into it first. In these parts she had learned the hard way to test the water so to speak. When it didn't burn on contact she gulped the entire glass down. Which she realized instantly was a mistake for it threatened to return from her stomach unceremoniously.

Mikesh looked concerned and just as confused as they were. He dipped his handkerchief into his own glass of water and handed it to the Captain while patting Maria on the back. The Captain took deep calming breaths gently rubbing his injured eye with the handkerchief.

"I'm a little confused Mikesh," the Captain finally stated after several moments, "whose wedding ceremony?"

"You're a little confused," Mikesh mumbled under his breath. Though he had an amused smile that annoyed Maria to death and she wondered if this stranger perhaps wasn't enjoying this a little too much. "Your ceremony, old friend." The man shook his head and laughed. "You haven't changed a bit." He patted the Captain on the shoulder, "Always kidding around, this one." He winked at Maria.

"And just who was my bride?" Oh why did he have to ask that, Maria wondered. And please don't let this red headed fool look in my direction she prayed but the fools head automatically looked directly at her. Her stomach dropped down to her feet.

Mikesh laughed and took a gulp of his red wine. "What? Did you two already have a little spat?" He winked this time at the Captain, "I'm sorry old man, but you can't trade her in, it's legal. I signed the papers last night myself." Mikesh again shook his head. "But you two know that. You were with me when I signed them." He picked up his glass of wine. "Stop kidding around, now. Enjoy your reception." He raised his glass to them, "Prost!"

In the two months' time that Maria had spent at the Von Trapp villa she had learned the danger signs in the Captain. He could go from nonchalant to murderous in an instant. Not that she ever really feared him. Even when they had argued that day of his homecoming by the lake, she had known he was angry. She had felt the heat of it coming at her in waves, but she never feared he would strike her or hurt her in anyway. But for Mikesh she was scared. When the Captain threw the handkerchief down and reached over the table towards the man's throat Maria was ready and stilled his thrashing arms.

"Captain!" she pleaded. Her voice broke the spell that the Captain was under and he stopped halfway across the table. His arms were still in midair and poised at Mikesh's throat with Maria's resting on top of his. "Don't." She quietly whispered. Mikesh recognizing the threat for real was tipped all the way back in his chair. She believed at this moment the fool had figured out that neither one was joking nor was there anything to laugh about.

"I don't understand." He turned questioning eyes first towards Maria and then the Captain.

The Captain looked down at Maria's hands resting on his forearms. He had had enough and pushed Maria's grasp away from him. Growling at them both he then stalked out of the tent raking his hands threw his hair.

Mikesh's eyes followed the Captains retreating form. "Last night you two couldn't thank me enough…you were so…" Mikesh swallowed his last word in his throat. Perhaps he recognized the anguish on Maria's face as she felt it coursing through her body. There were a thousand questions running circles around her mind. What in God's name had happened to them last night that she couldn't remember a single thing? And how in the world would either one allow this to happen? If what Mikesh was saying was the truth whoever she was last night was a stranger to her. She was betrothed to God, for heaven's sakes. The Captain was courting the Baroness. He would never...he was always a…gentleman?

Of course he is, Maria chastised herself for questioning the man's honor. She wasn't so naïve to not understand the growing attraction for the Captain inside of her. She fought it every day back at the villa. Especially when they found themselves alone together. Which seemed to happen quite often these days. At first she had told herself that it was all accidental. But then she found she sought out the places unconsciously that he had found her in at the same time every day. Two o'clock by the lake shore every afternoon. Seven thirty after the family dinner near the gazebo. The kitchen after the children were tucked into bed for tea. At first it was always to discuss the children but then the conversations started to take on another form.

One night when the "encounters" had first started happening they had stayed up until nearly one in the morning talking and laughing at the small kitchen table. When his hand had softly touched her fingers to take her tea cup to the sink her stomach had done this amazing flop inside of her. She had never felt such a magical thing from such an innocent touch. The catch of her breath had been loud enough to deafen her and the Captain had met her eyes from the sound. She will never forget the moment his eyes changed from kind and concern to….what she could only describe as…. hunger. Nor will she ever forget the way her body trembled in reaction. If it hadn't been for the tree branch striking against the kitchen window she was sure he would have kissed her then and there. The scary part was…she would have let him.

After that night, he had kept his distance from her. At first Maria had thought that she had provoked him and he simply wanted nothing to do with her. But then she realized he was protecting her from himself and that only made her respect him more. Yes, the man is a gentleman. He would never willingly lead her into this catastrophe that they now found themselves in.

Even still there was this little voice in the back of her mind. That little voice of distrust that she had learned to quiet since her childhood that piped up at this point. It's only question was, "Or would he?", and it sent her stomach into tremors. She ran from Mikesh's questioning eyes out of the tent. Running past the pacing Captain past the corner of the church where she hoped to find solitude, she stopped near the well that was about three feet from the building. Bending over she yet again lost her stomach contents, which thankfully was only water at this point in a puddle right next to the handle for the well pump.

When her body was done emptying what little it had from it, it still wasn't satisfied. It was as if her body was trying to bring up anything it could find and she convulsed from the effort all the way down to her toes, choking on the air in her lungs.

She felt a calming hand on her back and then the Captain's warm voice in her ear. "It's all right Maria," he whispered in even tones, "Just take deep breaths." He swirled his hand in a circle on her back and it calmed her instantly. And for some reason made her angry. So, so very angry.

Remaining in her bent over position she shoved at his midsection and pushed him away from her. Which made her heave even more violently inside.

"Don't fight it, Maria." Was his reply and he simply put his hand onto her back again. The man was persistent if he was anything. "It only makes it worse." He rubbed another calming circle, "Trust me, I know."

It was all a little too much for Maria and she started to sob along with the heaving. "What is wrong with me?" She asked through her tears.

The Captain let out a little knowing sigh, then helped her to stand upright again. Giving her a little wink he stepped to the well, suddenly stopping and looking down at his foot. He had just stepped in her puddle of vomit. He made a little disgusted sound and closed his eyes and bent his head while shaking it from side to side. Getting over the mishap quickly he pulled the water bucket up from the well and dipped his handkerchief into it. Then he gently rubbed the cooling cloth over Maria's forehead.

"You're hung-over." He flatly replied, then dipped the cloth into the water again. This time patting Maria's cheeks and mouth with it. "Well, partly hung-over." He dipped the cloth yet again, this time wiping away the tears from her eyes, "The memory loss I believe has to do with whatever was in that old lady's water. I think that was something other than alcohol."

"Uh-ohh. Which old lady?" Mikesh's sudden presence startled both Maria and the Captain. Instantly the Captains hands fell to his sides. One from Maria's face with the handkerchief and the other that had been caressing her upper arm. "I'm sorry," Mikesh apologized holding his hands out in front of him indicating a truce, "I didn't mean to intrude." Then he raised his arms up in the classic form of uncertainty, "As you can imagine I am little confused and concerned by your reactions today." Taking a worried glance up and down of Maria, he came over and placed his hand onto her back much in the same way the Captain had only moments ago. Only his didn't feel quite right. Sweeping a hand out in front of him he nudged Maria a little forward. "Why don't we go into the church so we can all sit and talk in privacy? I think I would like to know more about this old woman and her water."

After Maria, the Captain and Mikesh kicked out a kissing couple from the corner of the church. They settled themselves onto one of the wooden benches at the front near the altar. If it hadn't been for the two cabinets at the back of the Altar Maria would have thought they were in a government courthouse. Behind the glass doors she could see in one, the tabernacle that held the host and the other a Star of David and some prayer scrolls. Behind one of the cabinets she could see a large wooden cross, just the corner sticking out and one hand of Jesus's nailed to it. Behind the other she thought she saw a Menorah.

Other than that the place looked like any other meeting hall. Wooden benches, tiled floor. Regular windows with curtains. No stained glass with the sacred heart of Jesus, no gold crosses, no candles to light in vigil. It was nothing like the church in Nonnberg. And it made her feel homesick and more lost than ever.

She tentatively listened while the Captain explained to Mikesh about what had brought them to this town the day before. She heard him describe the old Gypsy behind the counter at the Inn while continuing to look around the church to give her some kind peace that she was indeed in the house of the Lord. When she heard Mikesh exclaim, "That would be Samarra." Mikesh then slammed his palm onto the edge of the wooden pew behind him. He was sitting in the pew behind Maria and the Captain with the Captain half turned in her direction and Mikesh's while she had been staring straight ahead. Now she turned abruptly in her seat brushing her knees against the Captains.

Mikesh shook his head, "I should have known," he mumbled to himself and then continued, "I am quite familiar with Samarra and her toxic water." He fixed his tie and shook his head, "You're lucky all you lost was one night. I lost a week thanks to that woman. It was during that time that I agreed to hold their festival here in our town."

The Captain who had been resting his forearm on the back of the pew now removed it and rubbed his brow vigorously with his hand.

"What festival. Please explain what this festival is."

"Well…" Mikesh began then bit his lips and gave them a sheepish smile, "it's a group wedding festival." When their faces dropped he continued, "You see, here in this town, we are more open to other cultures and their differences. They wanted to hold a legal group wedding ceremony that could incorporate all of their old worldly traditions with the laws of the modern world. Thus making them all legal marriages." When the Captain and Maria didn't move and simply continued to stare at him he continued, "You know the sharing of the blood. That's why they took your blood and put it on the marriage certificate. The sharing of the blood is symbolic of their ways and your signatures on it is our legal way to contest that it is a binding contract." Mikesh paused here for a moment then finished his statement driving it all home to both of them, "After you took your vows along with everyone else and I signed the contract it became a legal union."

The Captain was the first to speak, "So you're saying that she and I, stood with every other couple there last night and actually said the vows?"

Mikesh shook his head and laughed, "No, you didn't say them Georg."

The Captain immediately sat back in his seat with a satisfied look on his face. Maria believed he had found the loophole that she was desperately hoping for.

"Everyone else said them. You however got up on the Altar and told everyone how lucky you were to have found another amazing woman to love and pronounced your vows loudly enough for them to hear in the next town. Which is about ten miles away."

Maria wasn't sure if the Captain was now cradling his head in both of his hands because of the fact that he and she were actually married. Or if it was Mikesh's announcement that he had married her while making a complete and utter fool of himself. She felt so bad for him, forgetting for a moment that she herself was in the same predicament that he was.

"But Mikesh, surely having known the Captain from before, you had to know that he was acting completely out of character. Why didn't you question it?"

Holding up his hands in self-defense Mikesh replied, "I did! For goodness sakes, I did. I talked to him before the wedding. He seemed himself. He told me he was there because of your family. How was I to know that he was lying? I mean, he seemed so happy. And I was happy for my old friend. I had heard about your first wife." Mikesh turned his eyes to the Captain, then quickly back to Maria when he saw the pain in the Captain's eyes at the mention of his dead wife, "I had heard how badly he had taken the loss. It thrilled me to see him so full of life and love again." He waved his hands dismissively in the air, "And when I saw the two of you together all of my doubts disappeared. For you both looked completely in love with the other."

"Ugg." The Captain exclaimed while rubbing is injured eye.

"Stop that!" Maria said removing his hand from the orb and taking a closer look at it. What she could see of the eye where the swelling wasn't covering it was nasty. It was blood red and teary. She swatted at his hand when he went to put it back to the eye, "You're making it worse."

Mikesh chuckled behind them calling the Captain's attention back to him.

"We were drugged!" He said in self-defense.

"Well I know that now. I didn't then. Everything seemed on the up and up." Again Mikesh chuckled watching the two of them fight over the Captain rubbing his injured eye. "But you know what I think?" Maria gave him a half interested look as to what his thoughts were, but that didn't stop him from speaking. "So you two hurried your relationship along a little faster than you would have." He gave them a little wink, "It'll work out in the end."

"What relationship?" Maria exclaimed holding the Captains left hand down away from his eye. Which the Captain immediately snatched away from her. Mikesh took a long sip from the glass of water that he had been holding in his lap.

"She's my children's governess." Mikesh took the glass away from his lips at the Captains newly given information.

When Maria finished her own thought from her head out loud, "I am in the convent waiting to take my vows as a nun." Mikesh sprayed them both in the face releasing the water from his mouth. The Captain cocked his jaw the side pursing his lips while wiping the water out of his eyes.

In between his choking coughs Mikesh said, "Oh this is bad."

Authors Note: I wasn't all that surprised when I received the chastising review from the last chapter. Believe me, I know where the reviewer was coming from, and if I were a reader who had stumbled on this story I might feel the exact same way. However, I would not personally jeopardize the integrity of these characters. I hold them near and dear to my heart and would never to anything to sully their reputation. Having said that, whether or not I decide to have them having "consummated" their marriage without Maria's consent(for I haven't decided yet where to go with this) I will do it so that neither one will be worse for wear. Trust me. It may not be to each readers liking, for life in and of itself is not perfect, but the Maria in this story will be okay. I can't do it without it being okay for her. For I love her and like the Captain in this story I would never do anything to hurt her. Now don't get me wrong, she's gonna have to go through a lot to get to a better place. But trust me when she does it will be worth the journey. Thanks for reading and keep reviewing. As I said before even the hurtful ones help. They keep me centered and I will try not to disappoint you all. As for the grammar and the typos…sorry to tell ya, those are never going to get better. My grammar is a crapshoot and I rely on word to fix my spelling mistakes. lol