Chapter Fourteen

The following morning, Marta called her parents to check on how they were doing, then called Friedrich. This was a family problem if there ever was one and when they couldn't look to their father or mother for a solution, Friedrich took the lead. He called an emergency meeting for all of the von Trapp children at the bakery for that day. Spouses too.

"What are we going to do with our kids?" Marta asked. "If all the spouses come, the meeting is at 5pm. That is a detail Father would never let slip, brother dear."

"Thankfully I'm not taking over for Father yet," Friedrich replied. "The older ones can watch the little ones; they'll be all right. We'll be there, they can play outside. Georg can help Matthew keep an eye on them, and Julia..."

"I think if we exclude her from a meeting with all the children and we send her outside with the grands, she's going to be mad," Marta replied. "But it's up to you."

Friedrich agreed. Julia was the baby; he had a hard time seeing her as anything but a tiny little girl with wavy pigtails. "I'll see you later then, we'll figure this out."

"Have you talked to Kurt at all?" Marta asked. "Did he go up to the house? I called, but I didn't see how they looked."

"He went," Friedrich replied. "He said Mama was making coffee and Uncle Max was reading the paper. Mother said Father was in the shower, but Kurt didn't see him. He said it felt like business as usual."

"We'll see," Marta sighed. "Because it's anything but."

Von Trapp House

The air was so thick Maria could hardly take a breath. Georg refused to speak to Max, he barely even looked at him. Maria secretly hoped that Max's apartment would be ready by the 1st of September so the tension would be relieved, but that was still weeks away.

Maria had been awake all night tending to her husband's needs. It wasn't surprising that when the spell had broken, and he had released some of his anger and pain into her arms that he wanted to make love to her. Georg wasn't prone to powerful emotional displays, when he had them, he had to let off some stream.

Maria was glad to be there for him, to let him have her body, her heart, her strength, anything she could offer to him. She felt responsible for all of this, for her husband's broken heart and her daughter's shattered world. If she had been stronger, if she could have faced the reality of what had happened to her, Lida would have been told the truth years ago. That's what Georg wanted. That's what Maria couldn't bear.

It had been a few weeks since the had made love. A few times they had begun only for Georg to back off a little and simply cuddle with her instead. Maria didn't ask any questions, there were more than enough times when she had done the same thing. She knew by now that it didn't mean anything was wrong with her, it simply meant that Georg's mind wasn't focused on marital relations. When it was, he let her know it.

After a tense breakfast, Georg holed up in his office. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want any lunch, he wanted to be left alone with his brooding thoughts and 12 year old Scotch. Maria would let it go, for the time being. When Georg was hurting, he was like a wounded bear. First, he attacked with all he had, then he retreated to his "den" to lick his wounds. Sometimes, he would emerge ready for another battle, other times he would find his peace.

"I'm sorry, Maria," Max said to her as she cleaned up from their silent lunch. "I felt like it was the right thing to do. She had to know, she had to understand. When I heard Lida starting to rip into Georg like that, we know how he holds everything inside, the things that she was saying…"

"Max, I know we had no choice," Maria sighed. "Georg said he wanted to try, but it didn't work. I didn't think Lida had that in her, to be so…volatile."

"She has a bit of a mean streak, Maria," Max replied. "And it was out in spades last night. I couldn't watch you and Georg be attacked like that. You have given your children everything, I couldn't. I'm sorry. It seems in trying to help you I've hurt you both and I'm sorry. I'm not sure I'll ever look at any of this the same way again. After all of the terrible emotions, and then that young man, stunned, just stunned when I told him."

"I know that Jakob Braun is burning in Hell for all he's done," Maria said with conviction. "But somehow that doesn't make any of this feel any better. Was William terribly upset?"

"No," Max replied. "He said he was going to end things last night. That he felt it was best they only be friends. Apparently, his mother telephoned him and let him know we were asking questions. He was going to bow out gracefully as not to hurt anyone, but…when man plan God laughs. I just hope and pray that Georg will be able to forgive me pushing this out of him."

Maria shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're the greatest friend my husband has ever known. He understands deep down you only did this to help us. He was struggling so much to try to and prevent this, and I pushed him for years to continue the lie. I'm as much at fault as you are for how it ended up."

"No," came a hoarse but firm voice from the entrance to the kitchen. Maria looked at Georg. He was a mess. His eyes were blood shot, his skin was pale, he was sweaty, his hair was all over the place. He'd been on a bit of a drinking binge the past few hours. "This wasn't your fault, Maria. All you wanted to do was protect Lida from knowing she came from a man that's more monster than human. You've been violated enough by Braun; he took more from you than anyone has right to take." Georg swallowed; his words coherent yet slurred. "Max, Maria's right. I haven't known a better friend in my life than you. You've always been there to save me from myself and if I'd listened to you in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess now. No, this is on me. It's all on me."

Max shook his head, "Georg, you know that's not true. You cannot blame yourself for any of this. Lida was angry, she was hurt, she'll realize what she said was wrong."

Georg fiddled with the buttons on his shirt sleeve, a nervous habit, one of many that involved his fingers. "About my not being her Papa, yes, she might. About my cowardice, no. I was afraid of my own heart break, and I didn't do what I had sworn to God I would. I didn't protect you, Maria, I failed then and I failed now. I didn't protect you from Braun, and I didn't protect Lida either. There's no greater pain than being betrayed by the the people that are supposed to love you."

Maria didn't say a word. She slowly crossed the room and put her arms around Georg's waist. "Darling, I know you are hurting inside, but please don't do this to yourself. Don't let the past take anything else. We'll make it up with Lida. You have loved her from the very beginning of her life, she'll calm down and realize that everything she said last night was only in anger. It was only anger, Darling, it was not truth. It was not truth. Max, help me?"

Maria pulled back and tried to turn Georg so that she could lead him to the bedroom. Max moved closer to help her in case Georg decided to put up a fight.

Just as the trio turned for the stairs, Julia bounded down them. "Where are you going?" Maria asked noticing her daughter had her purse.

"Rosamaria's," Julia replied. "Friedrich called some kind of family meeting over there. Guess it's about the fight you had with Lida."

Maria shut her eyes. The truth was about to come out on all sides. "Max, please help Georg upstairs. Julia, I have to talk with you for a moment, Darling. There's something you are going to hear at this family meeting I want you to hear from me."

Rosamaria's Bakery

Julia was 10 minutes late for the gathering. When she got off the bus, the grandchildren, young and old, were all playing ball out front. Julia smiled at the little ones then reached down to hold onto Maria's hand.

Maria had told Julia everything. She told her about the attack, getting pregnant, giving birth to Lida, the entire gory story. If the truth was going to come out, it was going to come from her. No more hiding, no more secrets, and hopefully, as time went on, no more pain. Maria had given up her power for the last time.

Friedrich looked up when Julia and Maria came in. "Mama, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"No, Friedrich," Maria replied. "Everything is not okay, but that's something I can't do anything about. That's going to take a lot of time. What I can do is explain things to you, all of you, the whole story."

"What are you talking about Mother?" Brigitta asked. "Where's Father?"

Julia was so angry with Lida she wanted to spit nails. "He's home, he doesn't feel well. Uncle Max is taking care of him."

"What's wrong with him?" Curtis asked quickly.

"Too much to drink, Dear," Maria replied. "Unfortunately, that's one vice I wasn't able to get Georg to give up. He drinks when he's hurting, and he drinks when he's angry and right now he's both."

"I don't see why the Captain is angry," Lida said earning her a sharp look from both Julia and Liesl.

"Captain?" Louisa asked in order to clarify what she just heard.

"Before anyone says anything else," Maria broke in. "There's something I need to tell you all, and then, then you can make whatever judgments or decisions you want to make."

"Mother, you're scaring us," Gretel piped up. "What's happening?"

Maria took a deep breath. "A few weeks ago, it seems Friedrich spotted Lida with a young man in the park. They were kissing and laughing, being two young people that cared for one another. Your brother, ever faithful to your father's ideas and wishes, broke that up and the young man came to the house a few days later. That was why I had that spell of fright that time."

Louisa shifted baby Margaret and looked at Brigitta, their eyes met with mutual curiosity.

"The young man, William, was kind enough, but he wore a cologne I smelled before," Maria explained. "A cologne, Liesl, I smelled for the first time at the von Klauss party when I was still your governess and for the second time, on the Untesberg a few months later."

Maria's breath caught, she needed Georg to get through this next part, but he was not able to do what she needed right now. He'd done enough, he'd carried the burden of this lie long enough, it was her turn to "man" up and do this on her own.

"You can say it, Mama," Julia encouraged. "Papa would be so proud of you."

"It seems that the night of that party," Maria went on. "I didn't only attract one suitor, that was Herr Mueller, some of you remember he came to ask your father about me, but two, only the second one…"Maria swallowed. 'I didn't care for him at all, and I didn't pay him any mind. That made him angry and the night I told Herr Mueller that I couldn't formally court him, this man followed me to the mountain where we would all picnic, grabbed me in the dark and pulled me down into the bushes."

Liesl's eyes flashed. She knew it. She knew that it was something like that. She knew in her heart that her father and mother would never, ever have had intercourse before they were married, but, she understood the secret, she wanted it kept from her even when Maria had tried to tell her all those years ago.

Maria was struggling to continue, but Curtis, ever reliable when it came to ripping off the bandaid gave her a push. "Did he forcibly enter you?" he asked.

"Yes," Maria replied biting down hard on her lip. "Yes, he did. At the time, I couldn't see him well, only smell him, and I forced the entire thing from my memory when your father found me. It wasn't until a few months later, that your father helped me see the truth. It was when I'd fainted that time, and we had the doctor to the villa. That day, your father learned I was pregnant and he, of course, had no idea how I got that way."

Rosamaria saw how Maria was shaking and got her a cup of water. "Thank you, Dear," Maria whispered and took a long drink. "We married quickly once he told me what he'd learned, we both loved one another very much, it was just a matter of time for us, but we had to accelerate things a bit. Your father gave Lida," Maria fixed her daughter with a glare. "His name and his love and this family. He chose to love us, he chose to have this family love us."

Maria had tears running down her face. Friedrich moved to hold onto her gently, while Cathy slid her arms around Lida. She was shaking, but not with sadness, with barely controlled rage.

"It turns out, that fate can be very cruel," Maria continued. "That lovely young man that wanted to court Lida, his father is the man that raped me on the mountain. Lida's father is the man that raped me on the mountain, they can't date each other. Your father tried to protect you, Lida. He tried to protect you from hearing this truth, but you didn't let him do that. You fought back, like I failed to do all those years ago, you fought back and now it's out in the open."

"Of course I fought back," Lida replied pushing Cathy away. "I was lied to for my entire life. The Captain is not my father, he's nothing to me. He's not my blood, most of you aren't either, not really. It was all a lie, everything!"

Maria shut her eyes for a second, "Your heart is hurting right now, and that's why you cannot see that nothing was a lie, nothing that mattered. You have been loved all your life, you were loved by Papa and me since before you were born. I need you to know that, and I need all of you to know that nothing has to be different now. Your father will expect that it won't be and so will I."

With that final remark, Maria rose and took a deep breath. "I'll see you girls at home," she said to Cathy and Julia. "Lida, the farm is your home, and even if you are angry, I expect that you'll come and talk this out with us in a few days' time."

Maria turned again and bestowed a hug on Lida. The girl was stiff in her arms, but Maria hugged her anyway. "He loved you first, Lida Rose. If you believe anything, believe that."

With those final words, Maria left her children and in-laws to talk amongst themselves. She felt so much lighter having told them, having had the strength to tell them all what had happened to her. Jakob Braun took her virginity, he took her ability to trust, he took so much from her, but he would not take anything else. Not one more thing.

A/N: I'm going to be back to updating twice a week now that the secret is out and that I kind of depleted my chapter store, lol. Not sure of the length of this yet, but when I finish I'll start daily posts again. Hope you enjoyed!