The car ride back to the villa was filled with laughter and excitement of the day. Each of the children were talking about their favorite moment on the mountain. Maria joined in every so often, plastering a big smile on her face. Trying to keep up with the conversation of the children proved difficult for her as she was too aware of the captain, who she was currently pressed against. His warmth radiated through his trousers which were beginning to grow cold from the rain. She shivered slightly.
Every bump in the road brought her a little closer to him and she would shift herself slightly, to put a little bit of space between them, but to no avail. Georg glanced at her a few times through the side of his eyes. Her hair was pressed against her forehead, much like it had been when she climbed out of the lake. His grip on the wheel tightened at the thought.
"Father?" A small voice asked.
"Hm? Yes? I'm sorry darling." He wasn't sure when the question had turned to him, too focused on the warmth of a certain governess squirming beside him.
"What was your favorite thing of today?" Gretl's sweet voice asked.
He chuckled. "Spending time with you all!" Another bump, legs gliding together. "Seeing the view from the mountains and hearing your laughter." He stole a glance at Maria, who just so happened to be looking at him. Damn. She smiled appreciatively at him, which he quickly returned, eyes returning back to the road ahead.
Almost there. Though, if he were being completely honest to himself, which he wasn't, he enjoyed being close to her.
By the time they arrived back, the rain had slowed from a downpour to a steady shower. Georg pulled the car in front of the house and parked. Each child quickly climbed out of the car, Leisl helping the younger ones and they all ran quickly back to the house.
Maria slid away from the Captain, ready to run inside after the children.
"Thank you, Fräulein, for allowing me to join you all today."
She stilled and turned to him. His hand on the handle of the door, eyes staring straight ahead. He turned to face her, his eyes staring straight into her own, with a look of honest thanks. "Of course, we had a marvelous time! It's a shame the rain cut our trip short!" She paused. "Ah well! There's always next time."
Georg hummed. Next time. He pushed the door open of the car and climbed out. Against his better judgement, he leaned down and reached a hand out for Maria, who tentatively took it and climbed out.
Electric. That was what he could only describe the feel of her hand in his. Their eyes met briefly. She slowly pulled from his hand, maintaining his gaze, her mouth slightly parted. A deep rumble of thunder broke the spell and she gave a quick smile before turning and walking quickly toward the house, leaving Georg transfixed as her form walked away from him.
He was headed towards a dangerous path if he kept this up. It was then he decided he needed to keep a little more distance and decorum. No matter how difficult it may be for him.
The days following their picnic in the mountains, Georg had kept his promise to himself and distanced himself from Maria. He would see her at breakfast and at dinner, but during the day, he holed himself away in his study, or as he was currently doing, sitting on the terrace with Elsa and Max, listening to their silly gossip about people he couldn't bring himself to care about.
No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts always drifted back to rose-colored cheeks and golden hair.
He thought back on the last couple of nights. Each night that week, after dinner was over he spent time with his children. The first night, he decided to show Kurt and Friedrich a card game he learned while in the navy. He was proud that they had caught on quickly and were, he'd dare say, better than him.
The second night, he took Louisa on a walk around the grounds. She showed him her favorite spot close to the lake where tadpoles were becoming frogs. He knew she loved things that other girls would find creepy, with how many creatures made their way to old governesses.
The third night, he found himself with Brigitta in their library. She had grabbed a stack of books, showing him all the ones she had read and all the ones she wanted to read. For being 10, she had read a lot that were over her age and he made a note to get her a few more from town.
On the fourth night, he sat next to Marta and Gretl who were drawing and coloring and chatting happily with their father. He looked on as Gretl grinned a crayon tightly in her little fist and Marta hummed softly to herself. He remembered their drawings and thought back fondly.
"Who all have you got there, Marta?" He pointed at her paper. A total of ten people on the page, at various sizes.
She pointed to the one with a pink parasol indicating herself. She went through the list of all his children.
"And who are these two?" He pointed to the stick figure couple who were standing next to each other, holding hands.
Marta had giggled and gave him a large grin. "That's you and Fräulein Maria!" His heart skipped a beat.
"And who is this?" He pointed to the one floating above the rest.
She had gotten a little quiet, observing her drawing. "That's Mama. Fräulein Maria says she is always watching over all of us from heaven."
Even thinking back, sitting outside with company, the thought had threatened to bring tears to his eyes. He blinked them away quickly, trying to focus on the people in front of him, but his mind had now drifted back to his governess.
He knew she had done something he couldn't bring himself to do, talking about his wife with his children. She had wanted to keep her memory alive within the children while he tried to squash everything that reminded him of her. He was glad this spitfire of a woman had not only chastised him of his behavior, but also brought something back into his life he knew he was missing. He was going to be thankful to her for the rest of his life.
The sound of laughter floated around him and pulled him out of his thoughts. He watched as his children came off from the left of the gardens, dancing and singing together followed by Maria, holding onto Gretl's hand.
They all approached the three on the terrace, excitedly talking over each other. Maria had let go of Gretl's hand and she bound happily over to her father. He placed a tender hand on top of her head, smoothing her hair, and gave a quick kiss above her brow.
"Dinner should be soon. Why don't you all go get cleaned up?" He stood and shuffled a few of them in the direction of the doors, following them inside.
He could sense Maria behind him, her eyes felt hot on the back of his head. He watched them climb the stairs toward their rooms and heard her begin to shuffle towards them.
"Er, Fräulein?" he then turned his head towards her, meeting her gaze. "Meet me tonight to discuss the children's studies again?" His tone was soft and not demanding in anyway, more of a careful question.
She nodded and broke away from his stare and turned up the stairs towards the children's rooms.
A smile graced his face as he turned to go to back outside on the terrace. He couldn't wait for dinner to be over.
Dinner came and went, too slowly in Georg's mind. He had watched her throughout dinner, as he had been doing for the last couple of days, doting on his two youngest who sat next to her. Whenever she looked to him, he would give her a warm smile and she would return it.
Thankfully, no one had noticed their stolen glances to each other, at least he thought no one had been noticing. Both were unaware that they were being watched by two different women, one of whom was confused of the interactions happening between them, and vowed to put an end to it, somehow.
Now, Georg found himself in his study, surrounded by important documents and drawings from Gretl and Marta. He had been rereading the same paragraph over and over, not entirely grasping what they were saying as he waited for a knock from the governess.
Finally it came, a delicate knock and then the click of the door opening and closing. "Ah Fräulein! I was beginning to think you'd forgotten!" He chuckled and stood beckoning her to the chair across from him.
She crossed the room swiftly and sat down, crossing her legs in the process. "I apologize, Captain. Brigitta had questions about one of her books and-"
He held his palm up and sat in his chair, pulling it closer to the desk. "It's quite alright. Really! I know the children respect and adore you, it has to be difficult to pull yourself away."
She nodded and smiled and shifted slightly in her seat. She didn't want to meet his eyes, but it was inevitable. She couldn't stop herself. Ever since their very loud row in front of the gate of the lake, she found herself looking at him often. Whenever she did her heart would flutter and when he looked to her, it would begin to beat furiously against her chest, much as it did now.
He looked into her eyes and she wasn't sure whether she was going to be able to breathe properly. "So what have you been teaching this week?"
"Just as we discussed the other day. We had lessons on science outside, some mathematics." She trailed off as she flipped through her journal to the pages where she wrote how they had been doing that week. She handed the open book to the Captain, where he gladly took it and began skimming the pages. "Oh! And I hope you don't mind, I began teaching them a little English."
He paused and looked up at her, wonder in his eyes. "You speak English?"
The look on his face made her heart feel like it was going to beat out of her chest. It was a complete look of adoration. She could feel her cheeks begin to redden. "Oh not too much really. I am afraid I'm not very good."
His eyebrows raised and he smiled at her, chuckling softly. "I seriously doubt that. You seem to be good at many things."
She blushed furiously at the sweet comment, while he enjoyed this shade of her, and looked away from him. "No really! I only learned the basics." A quiet pause and she looked back to him. "Do you speak it?"
He leaned back in his chair. "Yes, I speak a few actually." He folded his hands and brought them to his lips. "English, Italian, French."
"Really?" He hers were wide with surprise. He laughed and nodded to her response, leaning forward in his chair and resting his arms against his desk, meeting her eyes. "Was that because of the Navy?"
"Mostly. It did help a bit." She hummed in thought. "What else have you planned for them this week?" He changed the subject, not wanting to reminisce on the brutality of the war.
"Well, Herr Detweiler said he had gotten a gift for the children that was arriving tomorrow. A puppet show."
Georg stilled and shook his head, closing his eyes. Of course he got them a gift; he had mentioned wanting to get them something.
"Did he not tell you?"
He looked back to her and shook his head. "No. Though his view is ask for forgiveness, not permission." He smiled and chuckled.
"We are going to put on a show for you, the Baroness and Herr Detweiler. We will be practicing tomorrow, and I'm sure the children will have a lot of fun. They want to impress you."
"I am sure, with you as their teacher, they will." The simple compliment made her blush.
"Thank you, Captain, but I really haven't done much."
"Oh-ho! I beg to differ!" He hoped that his eyes conveyed how thankful he was for her coming into their lives, like a whirlwind. He stretched his hand across the desk, palm facing up. "We all have changed so much for the better since you came and-" There was a loud knock on the door, stopping him from revealing how grateful he felt, and stopping Maria from reaching out to grab his hand. "Yes?" He asked sharply.
The door opened and Elsa strode in. "Georg, darling, I- oh Fräulein Maria. I didn't know you were in here." A lie. She knew they had been in here for nearly an hour, discussing god knows what, and she was glad she came in when she did. Georg looked stony, a mask she came to know, but the governess looked as though she had been caught doing something she should not have been.
"Elsa, darling, we were just finishing up." He looked to her and gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
She looked between the two of them and flashed a grin to Georg. "Well, darling, it's a beautiful night and the moon looks so wonderful. How about we take that stroll through the gardens?"
"Sounds wonderful. Give me a few minutes to finish up with Fräulein Maria and I will meet you out on the terrace."
Hesitantly, she retreated out of the study. Georg looked back to Maria who sat with her hands folded neatly on top of her journal. He chuckled nervously and stood. "I cannot wait to see what you and the children do with that puppet show." He said breaking the awkward tension that had come. Maria had stood and began to walk out of the room with him behind her. "What I was going to say before-"
She turned to face him. "Yes?" Her eyes innocent with a simple smile on her face stared back into his. It felt as though his heart was going to beat out of his chest the way she looked at him.
"I really do very much appreciate everything you've done for me and my family. Thank you." He spoke simply and quietly, looking directly into her eyes. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her.
Her cheeks, for the hundredth time, turned a wonderful shade of pink. "You're welcome, Captain." She turned and walked out the room, a bemused Captain standing behind her.
He definitely needed to keep his distance.
A/N: history: crayons have been around for a very long time and believed to originated in Europe, originally using oil, but was switched to wax in the late 1800's, so very possible that they would have had some laying around
While the real Maria didn't speak English until they arrived to America, Georg did. I however figured since she attended teaching college, she would have been taught a little bit of English so I took liberties and that's what we are rolling with. Mainly so he can be more amazed by her ;)
This was definitely a filler chapter and I apologize for the delay in this chapter, but the next one is half written so expect it soon, and I'm sure we call all guess what's next! :)