Chapter Five
The Captain returned with a bottle of whiskey. "I found this. Should keep us warm at any rate, I suppose."
Maria shook her head, "I'll do without, Captain. Thank you."
"Fraulein, I know drinking is forbidden at the Abbey, but I'm a Catholic too, and I have been known to indulge," the Captain told her. "It's not a sin. It will help with the pain."
Maria shook her head, "The Abbey has nothing to do with this. I don't like to drink, I don't like the taste, the smell, the feeling, none of it. I don't care for you after you do it. How much care can you take to ensure I stay awake if you drink that?"
"Touche," Georg agreed. Instead of taking a sip of the whiskey, the Captain sat down beside Maria and took her injured leg into his lap.
"What are you doing?" Maria gasped. "This is highly inappropriate, Captain."
"I am massaging the area to make sure they injury gets enough blood flow to start to heal since I don't have anyway to realign the bone here, we don't want any lasting damage. I'll be gentle."
Maria leaned back and tried to relax. She trusted the Captain to know such things and not to hurt her or take advantage of her. His hands felt sure, warm, yet so soft and gentle as he lightly massaged the injury to her ankle. "I'm not entirely sure this is a break, Fraulein. I think it might be a very bad sprain but in any case it needs a physician to see to it properly. If I keep this up, 15 minutes or so each hour it'll help until morning. Max will send Franz after us I'm certain when the weather clears."
Maria had her eyes closed again. She sighed, "But Captain, if you are here who is with the children? Gretl gets terrified of storms and she always cries for you."
"Me?" Georg arched his eyebrow. "She has you, why me?"
"Because you are her Father and she needs you to teach her how to…" Maria gasped as the Captain's hand started to move a bit up her leg.
"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized and slid his hands back down. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Gretl is just a little girl, she needs a mother."
"She needs love," Maria corrected. "However it comes, that is what she really needs."
"I love my children," Georg said defensively. "I have never stopped!"
Maria held up her hand. "I know," Maria soothed. "No one ever doubted you loved them. I, of all people, know what it looks like when you're…"
The Captain stopped his ministrations and reapplied the cool pack to Maria's leg. "I don't want to talk right now. I…"
"Your head?" Georg asked. "What if we just…" Georg shifted so that Maria was lying against his chest instead of the side of the sofa.
"Captain," Maria gasped. "This is highly inappropriate. I am your children's governess, I work for you, I…""
"Ssh," Georg soothed. "We will talk about it appropriately tomorrow. For tonight, what if…just for the night, we are just two people that own a lovely cabin in the hills, and we are sitting by the fire, taking care of each other. Just Maria and Georg? Hmm?"
Maria moved to look at the Georg. "What are you talking about? Just Maria and…" Maria had never said his name before.
"Georg" the Captain said more slowly this time. "Did you ever want to do that, Maria? Just be two people instead of playing the roles society puts us in? Employer and employee, that doesn't exist here. Just Maria and Georg, an ordinary couple."
"Couple?" Maria's brows arched. "Is that what…I mean is…Captain…"
"Georg," he corrected. "Say my name. Say it, Maria."
Georg's lips were inches from hers now. Her head was spinning as their breaths mingled. He gently reached out to cup her chin and moved her closer with a slight tug of his hand. "Georg," she whispered as her eyes fluttered closed and their lips met in the gentlest of kisses.
Georg's lips softly caressed Maria's. She had never been kissed before, he could tell by the shy way she moved her lips as if testing to see if the water was warm before jumping in. Georg gently pulled Maria closer. He felt her mouth open slightly to invite him to deepen the kiss. Maria wound her arms around Georg's neck, then slowly slid her hands down his chest. She slid her palms upward underneath his arms and pulled him closer. It was as if each desired to be transformed into one body.
The need for air eventually broke the kiss. Georg pulled back and met Maria's wide eyes. He gently caressed her cheek and waited to see if she had anything to say before he kissed her a second time.
Maria was silent, her thoughts so jumbled and her mind so dizzy she could not help but to whimper just a little bit in fright. When Georg heard the muffled sound he instantly broke the kiss. "Have I hurt you?" he asked. That was a loaded question. Of course he had, but how did she say that?
"I just feel a little light headed," Maria replied. "The last thing I expected to do tonight was end up kissing my…that is, kissing you while trespassing in an old cabin. It's all a little overwhelming."
Georg nodded. "I'm sorry if I frightened you."
"Frightened me?" Maria clarified. "No, that's not the right word. Surprised perhaps, but not frightened."
"Why are you so surprised, Maria?" Georg asked. "You're a very enchanting woman. Beautiful, talented, gracious…Why would you be surprised that a man would desire you?"
Maria blushed, "I am none of those things. I'm clumsy, outspoken, boisterous, obstinate…A failure.."
"No!" Georg said hurriedly. "Not that, never that and I never should have said it!" Georg grasped Maria's hand. "You are beautifully flawed, Maria, you are human, just as I am human, and my human instinct right this minute is telling me I have a lot more work to do if I am to be worthy of you. If someone else gave me that opinion of you, I'd call them out for it, I'm disgusted with myself for being so foolish. Max…"
The way Georg said Max got Maria's attention. The jealousy was dripping off the word. "Cap…Georg, Herr Detweiler is only a friend, nothing more. I could never, that is, I don't have romantic feelings for him. None at all."
"And you know what romantic feelings are like?" Georg pressed. "How does one know these feelings?'
"Well, I…" Maria began. She didn't know how to explain it. "It's nothing I can put in words, I'm not the poet. It is just an intensity, a longing to be near the person, to be recognized by the person…you feel safe, confident, joyful…and free, you feel free."
Before Georg could answer, his stomach rumbled reminding him he had barely eaten supper and had enjoyed a liquid lunch. "Oh, my…" Maria laughed, glad to break the tension for a minute. "If we were an ordinary couple, I would see about your supper so perhaps I best get up and try and find…"
Georg moved quickly so Maria wasn't able to stand. "And I would stop you immediately from trying to stand on that leg. As an ordinary couple, I would never allow you to do something for me when you could be hurt. Never."
"But that would be my duty, wouldn't it? To cook and clean and care for you and the children?"
"Yes, I suppose so, but a man's duty is to always protect his family, to keep them safe. I haven't succeeded at that very much in life, but I'm only 47, there is, as you have said, still time."
"So what would ordinary Georg do about arranging a hasty meal if ordinary Maria wasn't able?"
"Hunt," Georg replied. "Do not get up, and don't fall asleep okay? I'll be right back."
Maria sighed and laid back on the sofa. The aching in her ankle was getting worse but her head felt better. All she could think about now was that kiss and everything that it meant. There was emotion in that kiss, hunger yes, desire, yes, but also, dare she say it, dare she even think it, love?
When Georg returned from the pantry, he had located some old crackers and salt pork. "Nothing else in there was much good. I brought in some snow, if we put it by the fire it'll give us water. We will be okay until tomorrow."
Georg took a seat on the floor and immediately began touching Maria again. It was as if Georg had to have his hands on her, had to physically feel her. Maria wondered aloud about it.
"Why do you keep touching me?" she asked boldly. She was not unkind, but curious.
"I need to feel you, I need to know you're real, and that you're safe," Georg replied. "Maria, I behaved abominably earlier today. Marta falling wasn't your fault, it was my fault. I was tired, I hadn't been eating well or sleeping well since you came back and…I was horrible to say such things."
"There was a grain of truth in them, Georg," Maria sighed as she moved to lay on her side, one arm under her head. They picked at the crackers and sipped the water Georg made. "In vino veritas as they say and you have had your fair share of late."
"The drink sometimes makes you speak the truth, that is accurate, but it also masks your feelings, dulls the senses, makes it easier in a way to realize your dreams will never come true, that you are…going to face the world alone. ".
Maria felt sorry for Georg. He must miss the Baroness terribly to be in such a dark place. "You'll never be alone. You have seven beautiful children that adore you and love you so much. You have Herr Detweiler, a true and honest friend.. But if you keep drowning yourself, your true self…You are a different person when you have had too much, Georg. You don't come around the children when you have been drinking, thank the Lord, but it is not becoming on you."
Georg nodded, "Max tells me I'm not just a drunk, I'm a mean drunk, and once more I know it, so I don't engage with people often if I had a few too many. I don't want to behave in a manner I'll later regret as I did with you. I hurt you,.Maria. I hurt you and I beg your forgiveness. I…You are the last person in the world I'd ever want to cause pain. Maria, I…I love you."
A/N: I am terrible, I know. Last chapter tomorrow though idk if there is a more angsty story here given Georg's tendency to drink to excess. Also, is there any interest in another piece in the Trust universe showing Maria and Georg's first time?
Stay tuned for the final chapter.