Chapter 18: The Fight

Maria was wildly pacing up and down the sitting room, wringing her discarded gloves in her hands. Georg arrived at the suite a few minutes later and as soon as he closed the door, she exploded. "Georg how dare you speak to me like you did! Ordering me up here like that. I am not your governess anymore, I am your wife!"

Her outburst took him back for an instant but just as quickly, his own anger rose to match hers equally. He was cross with her after what Camilla had told them Maria had done downstairs only minutes earlier. "Yes you are my wife," he spat back, "and I expect you to behave appropriately."

"Behave appropriately?" Maria replied furiously and Georg ducked as she threw her gloves at him. "What about you Georg? Believing her over me? Jumping to conclusions without giving me the courtesy of even listening to my side of the story?"

He glared at her for a moment before sighing deeply. She was right; he hadn't listened to her side of the story. Although he was still angry, he gestured with his hand to go ahead and speak. "Alright," he replied, lowering his voice quite substantially to speak in a much softer tone. "Tell me what happened."

"W-what?" Maria spluttered, not expecting to get her chance to speak straight away. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and lower her voice. "Well I went to the ladies lounge and when I came out, Camilla was waiting for me. I didn't 'corner her' like she claimed I did. I asked her if there was something she wanted before she told me that you made advances towards her during the car trip yesterday, how you kissed her and told her you loved her before saying how you were the type of man that looked for affections outside of your marriage."

At hearing the blatant lie told to his wife by Camilla, suddenly all the blood drained from Georg face. "She said that?" he whispered.

"Yes," Maria replied honestly.

Georg put one hand over his eyes and groaned. Recollections of the uncomfortable car trip back from town the day before flashed through his mind. Camilla had made several advances towards him, and despite rejecting her, Georg had deliberately not told Maria about what had happened between him and Camilla. But now Georg knew he would have to admit to Maria that he'd lied to her the night before.

"I told her that I knew she was lying, but…" Maria paused. She licked her lips nervously when she saw the stricken look on his face. "Georg… she was lying wasn't she?"

"Yes of course," Georg retorted a little too quickly, not meeting her eye.

"Georg…?"

Georg shifted on his feet and turned around as not to face Maria and began to pace the room, trying to figure out how to explain to Maria what had happened the day before.

"Georg, what is it you're not telling me?" Maria probed, fear suddenly entering her wondering whether, indeed, something had happened between her husband and Camilla the day before.

Georg stopped in his tracks and ran one hand over his face again. He let out a deep sigh before turning around to face his wife. He knew there was no use putting it off any longer. "Alright, something did happen yesterday…"

Maria opened her mouth to speak but he put up his hand to stop her. "Camilla made several advances towards me yesterday in the car," Georg finally confessed, "but I told her no."

Georg approached her and took Maria's hands in his. "I assure you, Maria," he looked earnestly into her eyes, "it was all one sided. I didn't return her advances at all. I never did, nor never would do, those things she claimed I had done. You know you can trust me."

"Trust you?" Maria pulled her hands out of his grasp. "How can I trust you when I find out you've lied to me?" Her words stung. He looked at her open-mouthed, unable to reply. "Why did you lie to me?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Georg shook his head slowly, now not even sure himself why he foolishly kept the truth from her the night before. "I didn't want to upset you, I suppose. I thought by not telling you of that awkward, uncomfortable situation that I was protecting you."

"Protecting me? From Camilla? I had nothing to use against her tonight, except my faith in you and to now find out you've lied to me…" her voice trailed off for a moment before her eyes narrowed and she looked up and glared at him. "What else have you lied to me about?"

"Nothing!" Georg instantly proclaimed, despite inwardly cringing again knowing he hadn't told Maria anything about his struggles with the memories of his late wife. Maria looked at him unsurely, almost as if she was working out whether she could trust him. But then an instant later, all the emotion of her worries throughout the day combined with the distress from her altercation with Camilla suddenly caught up with her. Anger gone, she immediately fell into his arms, wanting and needing his reassurance that everything would be all right.

Georg stroked her hair tenderly as he held her. "I'm so sorry this happened to you Maria, and I'm so sorry I didn't believe you," he soothed softly. "I should have believed you over her." He felt her body relax into his, but almost like he had to make up for that way he had treated her only moment before, he continued speaking. "I had no idea that Camilla would tell such vicious lies to you… perhaps if I'd said something earlier to her about her flirting then…"

Maria's head snapped up. "Yes you should have spoken to her before tonight," Maria told him, as Georg nodded in agreement. "You're right Maria," he admitted with a defeated sigh.

But despite his admission, Maria was irritated that the whole situation with Camilla had spiralled out of control, and she didn't want him just to dismiss that. It was all his fault and Maria needed to tell him just how frustrated she felt by the lack of action on his part to stop Camilla earlier. "Georg, it was left up to me to say something to Camilla: to ask her to stay away from you. I had asked you, and asked you repeatedly to put a stop to her flirting but you hadn't said anything to her! This is all your fault!"

Georg was astounded that Maria was blaming him for the entire situation. "Maria, this is not all my fault," he exclaimed. "I didn't ask Camilla to throw herself at me. Do you honestly think I liked any of this?" His voice started to rise in frustration at her accusation and lack of understanding about any of this. "Perhaps I should have spoken to her earlier. You were right and I was wrong but I've already told you I'm sorry. Anyway Maria, regardless of the situation, it was not your place to speak to her."

"Not my place? Georg you are my husband. Of course it is my place when another woman makes moves…"

Georg groaned and stamped his foot, as his initial irritation was quickly turning into anger. He clenched his teeth together and closed his eyes, trying to mentally drown out her voice. Was there anything that she didn't question? He wondered. Opening his eyes, he let out an exasperated sigh and replied. "Maria, have you ever stopped to think there may have been a reason why I didn't want you to speak to her directly?

Maria looked confused so Georg began to explain. "Maria, I know how upset you were when Elsa came and spoke to you the night of the party to warn you away from me, and I didn't want you to look, er… hypocritical, I suppose."

"Hypocritical? What? Georg, I don't understand the comparison. You weren't married and I was hardly throwing myself at you."

"No, of course not darling," Georg replied brazenly, "you were much more subtle." Instantly Georg saw Maria's body stiffen and jaw drop open.

"Subtle?" She looked up at him, her eyes wide with disbelief to what she was hearing. "I wasn't… I mean I didn't know that I was letting you know how I felt about you."

Georg was astounded at her reply. Sometimes he found Maria's innocence endearing, yet other times he was perplexed that she really could be so naïve about such things. Surely she had to have known what she'd been doing. "Oh come on Maria, how could you not know?" Georg scoffed. "Those adoring looks you'd give me across a room? The bright and charming smiles you'd give me? And even the way you pressed yourself up against me when we danced the Laendler together? Are you honestly saying you had no idea what kind of signals you were giving me?"

"What? Of course I didn't know!" Maria exclaimed.

Georg rolled his eyes in irritation. "Maria, everyone knew. The children, Max and even Elsa. Especially Elsa. How do you think it made her feel to see the way you'd look at me across a room?"

Maria looked at him in disbelief at where he was now taking their conversation. They'd never spoken again about the Baroness since the night of their engagement. It was almost like they'd made an unspoken agreement not to discuss his relationship with her and put that behind them. Yet, several at times since that night, Maria felt that there was something that had been left unresolved between them concerning the Baroness. However despite that, she didn't understand why he was suddenly bringing all of this up now, and why with every comment or question he subsequently fired at her, he was becoming angrier and angrier.

"Well? Do you now see the comparison between Elsa's treatment of you and your treatment of Camilla?" he asked.

"Wha…? No, NO!" she stammered. "That was different to this! When the Baroness confronted me about my feelings towards you, I was shocked – horrified even because until that moment, I barely knew myself how I was feeling." Maria turned away from him. "I didn't mean to fall in love with you, it just happened. I left that night, thinking I couldn't face you again. I had come to your family on God's errand and asking for your love would have been wrong."

"But surely that couldn't have been the only reason you left."

"No, it wasn't," Maria replied truthfully. "I didn't want to be the one who came between you and the Baroness…"

"And yet you did come back knowing all too well that I was as good as engaged to her." Georg replied sharply. "If you didn't want to come between us, then why did you come back?"

"You know why!" Maria cried. "I came back to find out whether you felt the same way about me as I did about you."

"And thoughts of Elsa still being in the picture never entered your mind?"

"No, I never thought about her when I came back," Maria admitted, "not until the children told me you were engaged to be married. At that moment, all my hopes and dreams of being with you were crushed." Maria bit down on her lip as she remembered. "I'd planned to leave again, if you remember correctly. I didn't want to be the 'other woman'."

"And yet you were," Georg stated at once. Maria looked at him in stunned silence.

"I had my path set," Georg continued stiffly. "I had been courting Elsa for the better part of a year when you entered my life. I had brought her to Salzburg to introduce her to the children and announce our engagement when you arrived and turned everything upside down. Everything I'd planned changed once you came back. I broke off my engagement to Elsa because of you. Like it or not, Maria, you were the other woman."

Maria pointed her chin in the air defiantly and replied angrily. "Well I suppose you think you'd married the wrong woman then…"

"I never said that," Georg defended at once. "Maria, I married you because I fell in love with you, I never loved Elsa…"

"…But I'll tell you this," Maria interrupted hotly, not heeding his reply. "I know where you'd be if you'd married her: rotting away in Bremerhaven, your children miserable in some distant boarding school while the Baroness socialised with the likes of Herr Zeller!"

"Elsa's no Nazi!" Georg snarled.

"Maybe not," Maria countered stiffly, "but I could hardly see her supporting your decision to refuse to join the Third Reich and leave Austria after the Anschluss." Georg narrowed his eyes as Maria went on, their argument escalating quickly. "Seriously Georg, could you really see her leaving her life of luxury to walk across the mountains for days on end, not knowing where you were going or how long it would take? I have supported you on everything! Leaving our honeymoon early, the decision to flee from Austria the moment we arrived home, the uncertainty of the journey to Switzerland, and even the decision to travel here to England. I have never once questioned your decisions or your authority!"

"Until now," Georg shot back through gritted teeth.

"Yes, until now. Georg, since we arrived here in England, everything has been awful. I've had to learn another language, then had our children taken away from me by Nanny Jones, been treated appallingly by Lady Whitehead, not to mention tonight being viciously attacked by Camilla…"

Georg spun around and began to pace back and forth around the room again as Maria continued.

"You're always away at some sort of business meeting and the children have barely seen you. Every single one of them at different times has told me just how much they missed you. They loved having their father back over the past few months but now it's like you've shut them out all over again…"

"Maria…." Georg warned.

"And what about me Georg? You've shut me out too! You won't talk to me, or spend time with me and I practically had to beg you to make love to me last night. Look at us! We're fighting and I hate it! The children are miserable, I'm miserable and it's pretty clear that you're miserable too. Georg, let's leave."

"Leave?" Her request shouldn't have taken him by surprise but it did.

"Yes, we're now safe from the Nazis. You told me you're making progress with your investments. Why do we have to stay here? We could get ourselves a house somewhere; we could make a happy home with the children together…" her voice trailed off.

Georg was too seething with fury at her for unleashing at him for everything that was going wrong since they'd arrived in England that he couldn't see the pleading in her eyes. "No," he barked back. "We're all settled here and I'm in the middle of these important business dealings. It's just not that simple."

Maria stared at him in astonishment. "Why isn't it that simple?" she asked. "Those aren't good reasons to stay. And besides, we left Austria in a blink of an eye to keep our family together," Maria tried to reason. "Why can't we do the same now?"

"Maria, we can't leave and that's final," he stated sharply.

"We can't or you won't?"

"The answer is no, Maria." He turned around and began to walk angrily away from her.

"Georg, you're being unreasonable," she cried.

His rage was rising further; he could feel the blood pulsing hotly through his veins. "That's enough…"

"Georg, please…" she begged.

Georg began to see red. He tried to block out Maria's persistent voice but he couldn't. Suddenly thoughts of an argument from long ago flooded his brain. Agathe arguing the same thing: frustrated by the unfair treatment her mother had putting on her, begging him to leave England and go back to Austria straight away. Those recalled memories suddenly made him feel sick. He wished to escape, to block everything out, to make it all stop. "I said that's enough…"

"I am not finished yet!"

Maria's insistent voice cut through him like a knife through hot butter. He pivoted around furiously and spat. "Oh yes you are, Agathe!"

The look of surprise on Maria's face caught him first before he realised what he'd said. Quickly, he tried to correct himself. "Maria."

She looked at him in bewildered silence as she tried to process what he'd said. All of a sudden images of the previous night flashed through her mind. Agathe, Agathe, Agathe… Instantly everything became clear. Her hand flew up to her mouth. "No, not Camilla," she closed her eyes and whispered to herself. "Agathe." Maria now knew the name Georg had moaned as he'd made love to her was Agathe.

She opened her eyes and looked at him repulsed. "Is that what you wanted to tell me before? That you were fantasising about your dead wife as you made love to me?" she asked him, somewhat disgusted.

Georg immediately realised that Maria had worked out the truth about what had been tormenting him. Georg's anger straightaway dissolved and his outer façade crumbled as his legs gave away underneath him. He collapsed onto the nearby sofa and looked pleadingly up at her, the strain of a broken man apparent on his face. "Maria, please…"

"Please what?" she snapped back. "How am I supposed to respond to this?"

"Maria, you don't know what it's like for me here," he cried out in anguish. "Everything reminds me of her… EVERYTHING! Her house, her room, her bed… She's invaded my senses night and day, when I'm asleep, when I'm awake: it's like she's haunting me. I can't escape her. I've tried, oh how I've tried…"

Maria blinked, trying to process what he was telling her. "How long?" she asked softly "How long has this been happening?"

"Since the night we got here," he admitted sheepishly, hoping she would understand his torment. But instead of offering words of sympathy and love, Maria exploded in a frenzy again.

"A month! Georg, we've been here a month! And you've never thought to tell me about this? Why?" Georg opened his mouth to speak but she didn't give him a chance as her tirade of anger continued. "All those nights I found you awake and I asked you what was wrong. You said nothing! Nothing! You could have told me. You could have confided in me. I would have understood, you know. I could have helped you through this! But yet you chose to lie to me. You're wife! You've been lying to me from the moment we arrived here haven't you?" Her words were like daggers piecing his heart, and what made it worse was that he knew every word she spoke was the truth.

He nodded faintly. "Maria…" he pleaded, his voice a broken whisper.

"Georg, you say the memories of Agathe are too painful for you, are haunting you in fact, but yet, you have no intention of leaving. Why? If everything is so bad then why can't we just go?"

Georg had no words to say but merely hung his head in his hands, weakly shaking it. He knew he was a walking contradiction. She asked the very question he'd been asking himself repeatedly since the night they'd arrived at the Whitehead manor, but yet he had no answers for her for he didn't know himself.

"I don't understand you at all," Maria continued. "I have no choice but to think you would rather wallow in the memories of the dead and be amongst her things than be with me, your living breathing wife!"

"That's unfair…" Georg began to protest.

"Unfair? Why you…!" Maria twirled around away from him, flinging her arms up on top of her head in frustration.

"Maria…" Georg rose to his feet and approached her gingerly. He reached out and placed one hand on her shoulder. She shook it off instantly. "Don't touch me," she snapped.

"Maria, please."

"I've lost my faith and trust in you, Georg." She stifled a sob. "You promised me as long as we're together we can get through anything. But we're not together now. You've shut me out and you've lied to me…" She shook her head and blinked away the tears in her eyes. "First Camilla, then the Baroness and now this, your dead wife..." She swallowed hard against the angry lump that had formed in her throat. "I can't even… No."

There was a certain eeriness to the way her wrath suddenly dissipated and she moved away from him across the room to the door. She opened it and holding the door in her hand she turned back towards him. "Get out."

"What?" Georg couldn't believe his ears.

"You heard me. Get out."

"Maria… please listen to me."

"OUT!" she screamed.

Georg found his feet moving of their own accord as he crossed the room and entered the hallway. He opened his mouth to protest once again, only to find the door being slammed in his face.

A/N: Sorry about the delay in updates. Thankfully I should have a little bit more time to write now that real life busyness has calmed down somewhat. Once again, thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and/or reviewed! I really do love all the reviews – I'd really love to hear what people think of the chapter, so please keep the reviews coming! Thank you!