Chapter 21: How to Please A Woman Like Maria.
Georg and Maria didn't have a chance to speak privately to each other until after dinner that night. As the evening concluded and everyone said their goodnights to each other, Maria and Georg walked silently together towards their suite. Despite their conversation and Georg's apologies earlier that day, there was still an air of tension between the two of them, like there were some unresolved issues that still needed sorting out.
Finally Maria broke the silence. "Thank you for what you said before," she began. Georg turned his head slightly as they walked, giving her a quizzical look. "I mean, how you announced that we were going to leave," Maria clarified. "I, uh… really appreciated the gesture."
Georg stopped walking and turned to face her. "I meant it when I said we could leave right away," he told her earnestly. "I know you're unhappy here and I want to make things better for you-for us! We don't have to stay. Just say the word and we can be gone tomorrow."
Maria placed her hand on his. "I know," she told him appreciatively. "But it's important to Liesl that we stay for her party."
"I wish I'd never agreed to that blasted party," Georg lamented as they both began to walk again.
"I know you were against it to begin with, but she's so excited about it. Not to mention how she's now met this young man who's taken her fancy."
"Ah yes," scoffed Georg as he rolled his eyes. "The love interest." He sighed. "Our daughter: destined to always be in love."
Maria giggled. "It's just the age she is. Pretty soon Friedrich will be the same, then Louisa, and then Kurt…" she began to list.
"Alright," Georg replied with a sigh as he held up his hands in defeat. "You've made your point. Now tell me what you know about this boy." His snide tone of voice made Maria think that convincing Georg to allow his eldest daughter to go on a date wouldn't be easy.
"Not much really, but he's hardly a boy. Liesl tells me he's 19…"
"Way too old for her…" Georg immediately interrupted, his chin pointed out defiantly. Maria tried to suppress a smirk. Watching Georg behave like an overprotective parent was practically amusing.
"Liesl is turning 17 next month, and 19 isn't really that much older," Maria justified. "And besides, when has being older ever bothered you? You're much older than me…"
"That's beside the point," he defended straight away. "Anyway, Liesl is far too young to be dating."
"Georg…" Maria sighed in exasperation.
"And what do we know about him?"
"Apparently he is the son of a family friend. The Collins family? Do you know them?"
Georg scratched his chin as he thought. "Perhaps. I don't know every family friend of the Whiteheads. But at least that's something, being from a reputable family, that is. Unlike the other boy, the telegram boy, what was his name? Rolf?" Maria nodded. "Sneaking out to meet him at night," Georg huffed. "And you encouraged her!" he glared at Maria.
Maria raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth in surprise. "I did nothing of the sort! I just kept her confidence, that's all. I felt it was important to gain her trust, especially in those first few days being her governess."
"Well, that's true. But you didn't particularly discourage her either."
"No, I suppose I didn't," Maria agreed as they reached the door to their suite. "But remember Georg, Liesl is almost a grown woman; we can't forbid her from seeing him. If we do, she will sneak off to meet him, and do you want that again?" Maria gave him a pointed look.
Georg pursed his lips. "No," he let out a defeated sigh. "I suppose not." He clicked his tongue against his teeth. "So when was she going to see him?" he asked.
"Thursday," Maria confirmed. Georg was silent. Maria watched him think, clearly agitated as the fingers on his left hand were wiggling incessantly. "I want to meet him before I let Liesl go out with him," Georg suddenly announced.
"Alright," Maria agreed. "How about this? We tell Liesl to ask Daniel to the manor on Thursday and we'll all have tea together - the four of us, and then if we approve of him, he can take Liesl out."
Georg's lips curved in a faint smile. "I think I can live with that."
"Good," she replied through a big yawn. Suddenly all the emotional stresses and strains of the past twenty-four hours hit her all at one, not to mention how tired she was since she'd only gotten around an hours sleep the previous night. She leant against the doorframe and touched her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes as a wave of dizziness came over her.
Georg looked at her concerned. "I hardly slept last night and I'm exhausted," Maria explained as she opened the door to the suite and walked half way through the doorway. "I was hoping to get an early night. Perhaps we could continue talking about this tomorrow?"
"That's fine, an early night sounds good. I didn't get much sleep either last night," admitted Georg as he started to follow Maria inside their suite but she stood firm in the center of the doorway. He almost bumped into her. She gave him a look that said: What do you think you're doing? He was instantly confused.
"I don't understand, I thought …" Georg stammered. Maria just gave him a blank look. What had he thought? That she'd welcome him back into their suite with open arms? He supposed so. "I mean I expected that… well, after today and our conversation that well…. Perhaps…?" But the more he stumbled over his words, the more stupid he felt as it became obvious that there was no way Maria was going to let him back into their room that night. "I'm sorry Maria, I just presumed…"
"No, you were right to presume," Maria bit her lip as she cast her eyes downwards. "You apologised for last night and I accepted that, and you've even tried to make amends, and that means more to me than anything." She paused as she looked up again to lock her gaze with his, hoping he'd understand what she was about to say. "But you broke my trust and you hurt me very much last night, and that kind of pain just doesn't disappear instantly." She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I-I n-need some time, and I need some space… Please."
Georg felt stunned and taken back. Apparently things were a lot worse between them than he had initially thought. "Of course darling," he nodded faintly feeling defeated. "Goodnight then."
Maria watched him go, looking despondent and utterly crestfallen. She knew she couldn't let him go without another word between them. So he had only taken a few steps down the hallway when she called out to him. "Georg!" He quickly retraced his steps, hoping she'd changed her mind, but no. "Please try and understand…" she asked him pleadingly but still not moving from the open doorway.
"I do," he replied with a soft smile. "Take as much time as you need," he told her as he kissed her on the cheek.
"I-I do love you," she told him sincerely. Georg let out a sigh of relief. Her declaration of love reassured him and it gave him hope that he could win her back.
"I love you too, Maria." He turned and continued back down the hallway to return to his cold and lonely room in the guest wing of the manor.
XxXxXxXxXx
Georg had a restless sleep. He had become so used to curling his body around Maria's as they slept together, that being alone kept him awake most of the night, not to mention how his mind was churning over exactly how to restore his broken relationship with his wife. While he knew she still loved him, he needed to regain her trust.
When the morning came, he headed down to breakfast and found the children already in the dining room. Maria was nowhere to be seen, Georg presumed she still up in her room. Kurt was practicing juggling apples again while being cheered on by Friedrich and Marta. Kurt let out a groan as he dropped the bunch of apples again. "Oh grrr…" he moaned as he stomped around the room picking up the loose apples. Georg picked up the one that had landed at his feet and handed it back to the boy.
"You don't have any tips for juggling, do you Father?" whined Kurt.
"Sorry, no. I can blow a whistle, but I can't juggle to save my life," Georg chuckled as he putted Kurt on the head. "You're best asking your mother. She's the expert juggler in this family."
Kurt groaned again. "I already did yesterday. All she told me was that I had to practice."
"Well she's right," Georg told him as he joined the other children.
"Where is Mother?" Gretl piped up looking around the room. "Is she coming to breakfast soon?"
"I'm not sure. I suspect she's tired and is still in bed," surmised Georg as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
"You mean you don't know where she is? Didn't you see her this morning when you got up?" Brigitta asked pointedly. Georg squirmed in his seat. It was useless trying to put anything past Brigitta. He decided it was best to be honest.
"Actually no Brigitta. I didn't see her this morning. I, uh… slept over in the guest quarters last night." The children all looked around at each other in surprise, their faces full of questions.
"Father, is something going on between you two?" Liesl asked. "Yesterday at breakfast she seemed angry with you, then again at lunch with you announcing we were going to leave the manor. And now, this morning… well, we've all noticed how you both seem to be very upset with each other."
Georg let out a deep sigh as he sipped his coffee. He placed his cup down on the table and gazed at the seven faces all crowded around him. "Well," he began a little sheepishly, "we've just had a little disagreement, and I'm afraid your mother is still rather upset with me."
"She isn't going to leave us again, is she?" Marta asked straightaway, tears forming in her eyes.
"No," Georg immediately reassured her and patted her on her cheek. "Of course not. She's not going anywhere, well not without the rest of us anyway. No Marta. Your mother and I are married; we've made promises to each other, and to your children that we are going to be a family forever. Nothing is going to change that, not even a silly argument."
"Well if it was so silly, why is Mother still so upset with you?" Louisa asked him, looking slightly confused. Then her eyes widened with curiosity and she gasped. "Oh, what did you do?"
Georg instantly noted Louisa's assumption that he was the offending party, and not Maria. Of course that was true, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Georg felt uncomfortable. He wasn't quite prepared to tell his children the intimate details of his argument with Maria but he did wonder whether the children would have any ideas on how to win her back. She did get along very well with them.
"Never mind about what I did," Georg laughed nervously. "But she's unhappy. I was hoping to do something to cheer her up. You children, uh… don't have any ideas do you?"
The children glanced around at each other in surprise. Their father was almost never stumped for ideas on how please Maria, and it was even more bizarre that he was asking them for help. "You mean you don't have any ideas on how to make her happy?" Louisa asked, a bit skeptical.
"Nothing." He shrugged his shoulders and gave them a goofy grin. "I'll need lots of advice."
The seven children glanced around at each other one more time before they all started speaking at once.
"Well first thing you need to do is spend time with her, talk to her and listen to her…" remarked Liesl.
Brigitta then interrupted. "Perhaps you could take her out somewhere?"
"Or sing her a song?" Gretl suggested. "You know how much she likes music."
"Make her laugh. Maybe you could learn to juggle for her?" That was Kurt's unhelpful contribution. Georg swatted him away playfully.
"Or sneak something into her pocket?" laughed Louisa.
"But don't use a frog like we did," Friedrich added helpfully. "Mother screamed when she found the one we put in her pocket on the day she arrived at the villa."
Georg put his hand up to stop them. "Friedrich and Louisa, I can assure you, I will not be hiding small animals in your mother's pockets."
"But Father you could still get her a gift," Marta insisted.
"A gift? No, I really don't think…" Georg narrowed his eyes and scratched his chin thinking about the disastrous moment the day before when he'd tried to smooth things over with Maria by giving her the expensive diamond necklace. "Besides, I already tried that yesterday…"
"Oh Father! You didn't go and give her something frightfully expensive, did you?" Liesl exclaimed. She seemed almost disgusted by the idea.
"Well as a matter-of-fact," Georg began guiltily when Liesl cut him off.
"No Father, you're going about this all wrong!" Liesl huffed in exasperation at her father. "I remember you used to buy our real mother all sorts of expensive gifts each time she was upset with you. But Mother, I mean Maria, is different. She doesn't want or need any of that. She'd prefer simple things, or doing nice things for her, or thoughts from the heart…"
"Flowers!" Gretel cried out in enthusiasm.
"Flowers?" Georg questioned.
"Yes, roses!" Brigitta added. "Mother loves roses."
"Raindrops on roses," sniggered Kurt.
"and whiskers on kittens…" Friedrich joined in, chuckling.
"bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens…" the rest of the children began to chant in excitement. Georg watched them in amusement as after they ended the first verse, all seven children launched into the second verse. He leant back in his chair and mock conducted their performance, a big grin on his face. He had forgotten how much fun it was being with his children. Maria was right, ever since they'd been at the manor, he'd been neglecting them and he knew it was time to change.
"and then I don't feel so baaaaaadddd!" Kurt ended the performance dramatically with his impersonation of an operatic aria. All eight of them burst into laughter.
"Well, children, I'm glad you didn't sing like that the night of the festival," Georg chuckled, "we would have been hauled off the stage before we were even able to escape!" The seven children laughed.
Georg cleared his throat to bring them all back on topic. "Right, well there are some good ideas there. I mean the roses, naturally," he gave a nod to Brigitta, "and the brown paper packages tied up with string, that's easy. But I think I might skip some of the more obscure ones like wild geese and doorbells. I mean doorbells? Your mother honestly likes doorbells?" he shook his head in disbelief.
"Oh she loves them!" Louisa confirmed. "Do you remember how many times she commented on how good the one at the villa was?" She glanced around between her bothers and sisters who all instantly nodded their confirmation.
"Oh yes!" agreed Liesl. "She used to like the way you just pressed it, then she'd comment on how much it was better than the one at the Abbey. Remember how you had to yank the chain to ring the bell there?"
"And she was the best at playing 'ring and run'," Friedrich added. The other six children agreed gleefully.
Georg was confused. "Ring and run?" he asked them.
Brigitta explained. "Ring the doorbell then run away and hide before Franz had time to open the door. She was the only one fast enough to never be caught by him," she giggled.
"Ah," Georg understood right away and chuckled to himself. He remembered how many times Franz would come to his study complaining about mystery doorbell ringers. Never in his life would he have imagined to find out later that it was his beautiful and sophisticated wife who was the one playing all those tricks on the butler.
"Alright children." Georg clapped his hands together. "Now your mother will be down soon, we need a plan of action. Help me?" They all nodded and huddled together in a conference.
A few minutes later Maria entered the breakfast room to see her seven children crowded around Georg. She couldn't hear what they were talking about but she watched them for a few moments before she loudly cleared her throat, announcing her presence. All eight of them looked up at her, guilty expressions on their faces like they'd all just been sprung. At once the children scattered back to their places at the breakfast table while Georg waltzed up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Good morning darling," he said pleasantly. "Sleep well?"
"Um, yes," she replied, a little surprised at his good mood. "What's going on?" she asked him as her eyes scanned over the children in curiosity.
Georg gave her a sly smile. "It's meant to be a secret between the children and me."
Although still curious, she decided not to push the point but just wait and see what they'd had planned. "Alright, I'll let you keep it," she giggled, playing along with them. She glanced at the children over Georg's shoulder who were grinning mischievously back at her. "But I think it's time to eat. I'm starving," she declared brightly.
Only moments later the Whiteheads joined the rest of the family for breakfast. After the past few days of barely eating anything, Maria found that between getting a good night's sleep and Georg's jovial mood, she was famished. She had several helpings of breakfast, much to Lady Whitehead's displeasure. But to Maria's surprise, every time Lady Whitehead made some sort of snide comment, Georg instantly came to her defence so very soon Lady Whitehead stopped her unpleasant remarks towards Maria altogether and ate her meal in silence. It seemed like Georg had just realised how unpleasant Lady Whitehead was being to Maria and he was finally doing something about it. Maria found his constant and unwavering support refreshing and also very comforting.
As they ate breakfast, every once in a while Georg would glance sideways at Maria then smile and wink at her, or squeeze her hand as he sat next to her. The awkwardness and tension between them from the previous night was dissolving fast, which made Maria feel worse about keeping Georg out of their suite the night before. While she had slept well eventually, it had taken her hours to fall off to sleep as she missed the sensation of falling asleep with Georg's arms around her. She could see he was clearly trying hard to make amends for his mistakes and she appreciated it. As for what he was concocting with the children, well she had no idea. But the fact that he was reuniting with them, and trying to do the same with her warmed her heart.
Maria had hope that she could eventually start to trust the man she loved so much once again.
A/N: Thanks once again to everyone who has read, followed, favourited, and of course reviewed. It means so much to me and is such a great encouragement. Please keep those reviews coming!