Chapter Six

Maria didn't reply for a moment. When she did, it wasn't with her words. Instead, she reached out her hand and gently ran her fingers down Georg's cheek, softly stroking the stubbled skin until her fingers brushed past his lips. Georg kissed her fingers as they drifted by and waited for her to say something. "I love you, too," Maria finally said. "I have for so long now and I thought maybe you loved me too when the Baroness left but you never said anything. You disappeared into yourself again, Georg, and before I can let myself feel truly free with you I have to know why."

Georg bit his lip and moved so he could rest his head against the rise of Maria's hip. She slid her arm around his broad shoulders from behind and rubbed up and down gently as he spoke. "My Father died when I was four. I was confused and scared. My sister was only 7 but she took charge of me and Werner. I was close to my brother and his loss was.. "

Maria placed soft kisses along Georg's cheek and jaw as he told his story. She felt how tight he was holding the muscles in his jaw and moved to softly massage the area as he gathered his thoughts. "I was a little older than he was, not by much but…enough that I knew I had a responsibility to him. To Hede too truth be told, as the oldest boy."

"I didn't know you had a brother," Maria said softly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

"Sometimes, I feel my entire life is about loss," Georg sighed. "My Father, my brother, then the Navy I gave so much to, then my mother, Agathe was carrying Liesl…Then Agathe herself. Through all that from my brother at least until just a few days ago when I felt myself losing you.. I would drink to forget the truth, not live it, not.speak it…"

Maria sighed, she had to tell him now, especially since he was so open with her. "Turn and look at me, Darling," Maria whispered trying out a tern of endearment on Georg for the first them.

Georg did turn and he smiled all the way to his eyes at the new title. "I cannot imagine the pain you have gone through. That is a lot of loss, a lot of hurt for one lifetime. My mother died when I was 2 and my father when I was 9. I don't even remember my mother. In fact, I'm older now than she was when she passed away. It's hard to miss her when I don't remember her."

Georg listened intently as Maria shared her past with him, their hands never leaving one another's bodies, they were touching hands, caressing cheeks, dropping kisses as they talked. "When my father died, I was shuffled around a bit until my maternal uncle took me in. He legally adopted me, gave me his last name. My father's name was Kutschera but my uncle, he was Rainer so…He liked to drink. He liked to drink a lot."

"Many men do," Georg empathize with Maria's uncle at first but the haunted look on Maria's face turned his heart pretty quickly. "Was he…was he a mean drunk, Maria?'

"Mean would be kind," Maria replied, breaking eye contact with him, all of the shame she felt in her wicked youth rushing back. "He drank every night, whiskey, brandy, vodka, if he was desperate he would get cough tonic and drink that…The nights I was lucky he would pass out before supper time and I would go and try to find some pickled vegetables or dried fruit. But other nights…"

Georg reached up to gently cup Maria's chin. He ran his thumb over her cheekbone softly, trying to erase any trace of pain that might still linger there. "You don't have to tell me, Maria. You don't have to say it, my love."

Maria swallowed hard shaking under Georg's tender gaze. "Yes, I do because, Georg, we can't be together if you don't understand, please hear me out."

Georg felt his heart clench when Maria said they couldn't be together, but she said if he didn't understand, he wanted to so much. Maria took a breath, "Bad nights…he would stumble around the house, knocking things over, kicking the chairs if they were in the way…then when he destroyed most of the house he would turn to me. He never used a belt or any other implement, he liked to use his fists and his feet. He was so drunk he had no idea what he was doing, he would wake up the next day, and I would be bruised and bloody, he thought robbers came into the house, Georg…"

As the memories continued to surface, Maria began to perspire, then tremble but she didn't cry. Georg thought back over the time he had known her, not a single tear, not one. Not in anger, not even in what had to be agony given the state of her ankle. She had learned not to cry, just like him.

Georg moved to the sofa and pulled Maria on his lap. Maria described the beatings, she recalled being thrown down the stairs and hurting her ankle, the same one that was hurt now. She recalled concussions and split lips as Georg held her and rocked. When she finished Georg waited before he spoke, "If ordinary Georg knew ordinary Maria then, if I knew what he was doing I would have been there, I would have killed him with my bare hands."

"I know," Maria whispered. "I joined the abbey to hide I think and I returned there to hide as well, from you, from this…But I don't want to hide anymore. I want to love you, Georg, openly and honestly, but I can't let myself if…if you don't make me one promise, one vow, right this minute."

"What is it?" Georg gently queried. "If it is mine to give it is yours, Maria."

Maria moved so that her wide, blue eyes met his intense ones. She pinned him there with her penetrating gaze and spoke her request, "You need to promise me, you will never take another drink, not of whiskey any way. A wine at supper, but nothing else. Nothing that changes who you are and Georg, the amber liquid, that liquid fire, it changes you. Will you promise me that?"

Georg took in a sharp breath. All he had to do was say two little words, "I promise" and he could have her, his Maria, as his own forever. But could he mean it? Could he give up the feeling, the burn against his throat, the warmth in his stomach drowning out years of repressed pain and dare he say it, vulnerability? One look into his Maria's blue eyes and he knew, he didn't need to hide anymore. He didn't need to use whiskey or vodka or anything else to weather the storms in his life, for now, he had Maria, she would be his soft place to fall.

Georg's eyes glistened with tears he should have shed long along. He swallowed as he leaned in to touch his forehead to Maria's. "I promise. I love you so much. I need you, Maria. I need you."

"I'm yours, Georg," Maria promised. "I will forever be yours."

They kissed then with wild abandon and poured every emotion that felt from anger and fear to joy and loss into their kisses. Georg never tried to escalate things, he did not want this night to end up being about that, not at all. This night was about their past and their future, this night was only going to be about emotional love.

Through the rest of the night, they talked. Georg continued to massage Maria's ankle and kept icing it to relieve the pain.

When morning came, the sun shone brightly in the sky, it's glow augmented by the snow that had fallen. Georg pushed the door open and there was clearly a way out for the storm had been wild but not prolific. "I can walk out, down to the train and call for Franz. We will get you to the doctor as soon as we get into a car. Your ankle is still swollen."

Maria sighed, she didn't want to be left alone there in the cabin, but she knew there was little choice. Georg saw the haunted look on her face and read her like an opened book. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself worse, Darling, but if you are nervous about it…"

Maria nodded, "I feel better this morning. My headache is gone and my heart is light as it's ever been. I can make it.if you help me."

"All right," Georg replied. "Let's get you bundled up, the last thing we need is for you to catch cold."

"Georg," Maria said softly. "In spite of the mess you found last night, I am not a shrinking violet. I am stronger than I look."

Georg cupped her cheek, "I know. I do, but Maria, one thing I need to ask of you, is your understanding in these matters. I can be over protective and skittish when it comes to you and your well being. I am sorry for that. I want to keep you safe and I…'

Maria tipped her head and gave Georg a gentle, reassuring kiss, "I understand and I love you all the more. Now, let's start for home, and we can begin our life together, our arms around each other and our children by our side.

"I love the sound of that," Georg whispered. "Our life, our children."

Georg closed his arms around Maria and placed a kiss in her forehead, then her cheek, and then her lips. "Maria. Is there anyone I need to see, need to speak to to ask permission to marry you? To make you my wife?"

Maria laughed lightly, "Why don't we ask the children?" The children they finished together.

Georg slid his arm around Maria's waist and she anchored her balance with her own arm.around him. They started a slow walk/hobble toward town leaving behind them all of the pain, misunderstanding, and doubt they had experienced.

As they worked their way toward the nearest town, Georg asked, "Why were you really up on the mountain last night? Gretl would have managed without the doll, even if it had to be replaced. It was just a toy, not an heirloom or anything with much meaning to it. It wasn't from her Mother or anything like that."

Maria sighed, "No, but she loves her and I love Gretl so…Besides, I go to these hills when my heart is…"

"Lonely?" Georg offered, copying the words to the song.

"Yes," Maria replied. "Or delighted or sad or seethingly angry, like it was yesterday…I come whenever I feel anything overwhelming really, good or bad, I suppose you could say I go to the hills when my heart simply is…"

Georg nodded, and he fully understood, for he often sought out water whenever he felt strongly even if it was just their own private lake.

That was the first time Georg had to search for Maria when she was seeking refuge on a mountain, but it certainly wasn't the last. He found her their the night before their wedding when she had the jitters, the day she found out she was carrying their first child when she was so giddy with happiness she literally had to sing it out, and after they escaped to America, and sought out a new home, he had made sure it had a hill as close to the one Maria loved back home as possible.

They had their children's weddings there, they watched the grandchildren play, and when God decided to call him home, that was where Maria would go to feel closer to him and lay flowers on his headstone every Sunday. When her own time came, the children saw to it Maria was laid to rest at Georg's side, each and every one always remembering their parents went to the hills when their hearts would overflow with pain, with fear, with joy, but most importantly, with love.

A/N: Well, that's all she wrote, for this one at least. One shot coming out tomorrow and then hopefully another story beginning in a week.

Thanks for the reviews and fans. I do think in future stories I will continue to tackle the Captain's desire to drown his pain. How does one combat alcoholism when it was so taboo? I'll see what research is available, as you all know, I like my stories historically accurate as possible when it comes to those things.

TTYL.