Eyes were completely glued to them from the moment they entered the mansion, the party in full swing by the time they made their entrance. As much as she had talked herself into being brave and having confidence, it all went completely out the window the moment she set foot inside. Georg smiled at a few acquaintances, her arm threaded through his as she had no intention of leaving his side the entire evening. He was her strength in so many ways, and it seemed he would be taking on that role once again. He met her eyes and gave her a gentle smile, his reassurance that everything was perfectly fine. She still couldn't be so sure.

The judgemental looks she expected were absolutely left unhidden by her peers. Women she had been forced to share tea with or go to their garden parties in the past were suddenly shunning her. Nobody would say anything overly obvious to her in the way of negativity, it just wasn't how things worked, but she knew there was plenty of talk behind her back. She smiled brightly as Georg introduced her to one of his oldest acquaintances as his fiancée. The man smiled, not seeming to be bothered at all that she was still married to another man, and she accepted the kindness for what it was. She was certain he knew; everyone knew.

"You're alright?" It was a question, but also a statement, whispered sweetly into her ear. She met his eyes and nodded, giving him a soft smile. She couldn't get over how handsome he looked. Her knight in shining armor. And then suddenly she saw Otto from across the room…his eyes narrowed as they met hers, and she felt her heart beat a bit faster. She prayed he wouldn't make a scene.

"Here we go." Georg followed her gaze and sighed, knowing there were too many directions their evening could go for them to predict the outcome.

"You're here with me. As long as you look into my eyes, it's only us." She smiled at his sentimentality, meeting his eyes just as he asked.

"It's only us." He returned her smile, taking her hand in his as he walked her toward the sitting room. He took a couple glasses of champagne and handed her one, which she gladly accepted. She certainly didn't want to overdo it, but she couldn't deny that she needed a drink in that moment.

Georg smiled to a few more acquaintances, again introducing her as his fiancée, but she found that they were less impressed than the first gentleman he introduced her to. The wives looked her over quite viciously, even though she greeted them with nothing short of kindness and respect. She complimented the host's home, at the very least scoring some points in that regard, but the majority of her interactions were quite cold. She knew she couldn't have expected anything less, but it still hurt. She had hoped that being kind and courteous would at least get her ahead of things.

After a particularly awkward conversation with a woman she knew who had traveled in from Vienna, she decided she needed a break from socializing and excused herself to the ladies room. Georg gave her a gentle smile as he released her arm from his grasp for the first time that evening, leaving them both feeling more exposed than they expected. She promised to hurry back at the feeling, knowing she wouldn't want to be away from him too long and risk a conversation without him. He had lived in that world his entire life, and she still didn't understand why there were such expectations around a dinner party, so she definitely needed him to navigate them through.

"Maria, how are you?" She groaned inwardly as she left the ladies room, having only needed a moment to compose herself. As she turned, she found one of Otto's cousins approaching her with a smile upon his face. She returned the smile, a bit surprised when he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek in greeting.

"I'm very well. How are you, William?" He smiled happily, taking her hands in his.

"I'm quite alright. Though, it has been such a bore without you at family gatherings." She laughed, shaking her head as she imagined their topics of conversation.

"I guaranty I still help keep them lively, whether I'm there or not." He laughed, nodding his head a bit in affirmation.

"But it's just not the same without my aunt insulting you the whole time. It seems she has chosen to simply insult all of us to take your place. Terribly unfair." She laughed, remembering very well how judgmental and rude Otto's mother always was to her. No one ever said a thing to protect her from the constant criticism.

"She isn't here is she?" Maria looked around a bit, causing William to laugh.

"No, she and my uncle are on holiday. The stress of the divorce is weighing upon her so heavily." He spoke in a mock exasperation that let her know he was making fun, and she laughed a bit. "But how are you really? I have thought about you quite a lot."

"I really am doing very well. Though, I must say, being here tonight has been most uncomfortable." He chuckled, looking about to be certain nobody was listening. He moved a bit closer to her ear, wishing to be discreet.

"Otto won't shut up about the affair, but I heard a rumor that he…well, that he was physical with you, and I can't get it out of my mind." She smiled at the concern in his voice, reminding herself that there really were people she connected with during her marriage. William was one of Otto's cousins who was given the role of chaperone during their engagement, so she got to know him quite well. A man who had never married, he was always surrounded by women as friends, and he had an eye for fashion and interests that she never knew a man to have. It didn't take her long to understand why he never married.

"It was…quite terrible, but I'm well now." She gave him a gentle smile, and she could see the empathy in his eyes. He reached forward and pulled her into a hug, which she immediately returned. It felt wonderful to find someone who seemed to be on her side, finally.

"I'm so sorry things worked out the way they did. I do like you so much better than I like Otto." She laughed, pulling away from their embrace to share a smile. "But thankfully you'll be free of him soon enough."

"If he ever signs the papers. He's been terribly stubborn about punishing me."

"Well, he's going to have to sign sooner or later, given the circumstances."

"Which circumstances?" She knew it couldn't be anything from her own perspective, of course. Otto was set on punishing her forever if he could.

"You mean you don't know?" She frowned, shaking her head in response. He seemed excited to be the one to tell her. "The girl he's courting is pregnant. He's going to have to marry her sooner than later."

"What? You're joking."

"No, not at all. She's here tonight with him, actually. You'll know her when you see her, she's quite homely." He looked around for them, and Maria slapped his shoulder at his comment, causing him to laugh.

"I can't believe it. And here he's been condemning me to Hell this entire time…"

"Oh Maria, you have the kindest heart of any person I've ever met. Don't ever let someone like him make you feel less than you are." She smiled, having missed her conversations with the only real friend she had in Vienna.

"I should be getting back to Georg. He's looking for any excuse to lay Otto flat." He laughed, pulling her into a hug once more, pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek. "Are you in town long? You must come for tea."

"I'm leaving in the morning, unfortunately. But next time I will ring you up."

"Oh, please do. I would love to make up for lost time." He nodded, and she excused herself to return to Georg's side. He seemed quite rigid, tension flooding the air around him, and she feared that another of the guests had said something particularly offensive to him in her absence. She vaguely wondered just how long they would be required to stay before they could leave without it being rude to the hosts. "Are you alright, darling?"

"Fine." His voice was sharp, and she decided not to push for more until they could speak freely. He seemed in a good enough mood when she left him only ten minutes or so prior, and she looked around to determine who may have spoken to him in that short time.

The party continued on, well into the night, and Maria felt herself begin to loosen up as Max and Elsa joined them on the terrace. They chatted a bit, and Max made sure Maria had a glass of champagne in her hand the entire time. He was a terrible influence, she mused, pacing herself with conversation. Georg seemed quite changed though, she had to admit. He was hardly participating in their conversation at all, and he was very grumpy in comparison to everyone else. She held his hand, doing her best to bring him out of his brooding with extra attention, but even that wasn't doing the trick. And then suddenly the Landler began to play from the ballroom, and her eyes lit up.

"Will you dance with me, darling?" She smiled happily, and he sighed in frustration.

"Not tonight." His words were short, and she frowned.

"Please? I would so love to…"

"Enough, Maria, not tonight." She was taken aback by his tone, no longer even concerned with dancing. She needed to know what was troubling him. She met Max's eyes in question, but he only shrugged.

"Max, did you hear that the girl Otto is courting is pregnant?" His eyes lit up at her words, surprised and excited for the gossip as he looked to Elsa in shock. She seemed surprised too, but understood very well that Maria was asking for time alone with Georg.

"Well then, isn't it terribly lucky that we are here to help him spread the news?" Elsa raised her eyebrows at Max, and he laughed happily.

"Please excuse us to do our bidding." He gave Maria one more smile as the two of them slipped away in their excitement to gossip. She smiled a bit before she turned to face Georg, who was looking out over the back garden. There were a great many people scattered about, so she knew they wouldn't be able to have a proper conversation yet, but she needed to know what was troubling him.

"His cousin told me that news, by the way. He'll have no choice but to free me soon enough." Georg gave a grunt in response, and she rolled her eyes as she found herself becoming very frustrated with his attitude. "Georg, talk to me."

"You won't like what I have to say." She scoffed, shaking her head in annoyance.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" He met her eyes, a bit surprised by the frustration in her voice.

"I saw you with that man. You seemed quite comfortable with him touching you." She frowned, quickly determining that he must have seen her talking with Otto's cousin earlier in the night.

"You mean William?" She laughed a bit, surprised by his implication.

"There was a fair amount of familiarity between you."

"Yes, we're friends. He's Otto's cousin, the one who told me about the pregnancy." Georg scoffed, wishing they were alone so he could say everything he really wanted to say, perhaps he wanted to yell at her, he wasn't sure. The sight of her being so close to another man nearly sent him over the edge.

"I could see that you appear to be very good…friends." She felt her cheeks burning red, her body becoming a bit hot and rigid at his tone.

"You are incredibly out of line."

"I am? It seems you are the one who is openly flirting with a man who is not me, while you're still married to another man, I should add."

"You're implying that I have an inappropriate relationship with William then?"

"You have an inability to sit still, and you are quite impulsive. Perhaps you've grown bored of me." She fumed at the words spilling from his lips. She truly couldn't believe he would think such a thing.

"If we weren't in public, I would have already slapped your face for the way you're speaking to me." He grumbled a bit, crossing his arms and biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying anything he would regret later. "Georg, I would not have destroyed my marriage for just any man. I am yours, and you are mine."

"Yes, I'm the reason your marriage was destroyed."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it." She felt herself beginning to lose control over the volume of her own voice, and she knew they needed to hold the conversation for a private setting. It would not do for them to argue at a party, of course. Their presence alone was enough for the gossip chain, they didn't need any help in that regard. "We need to finish this later."

"Yes, go say goodbye to William, and we'll make our way to the car." His voice was quite snarky, and she felt another flame ignite in her stomach as she stepped closer and met his eyes.

"William only sleeps with men, by the way. You jealous, pompous ass." She narrowed her eyes at him before turning toward the house and leaving him on his own on the terrace. He followed quickly, wanting nothing more than to continue their argument the moment they could be alone. In his heart he knew she would never betray him. Contrary to the way her own marriage had panned out, she was not an unfaithful woman in the least. He wasn't exactly sure what had come over him, but he couldn't help himself in the moment.

He caught up with her as they joined the other guests in the ballroom, and she met his eyes with fire behind her own as she tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. They each faked their best smiles as they made their way toward the hosts to bid them farewell. There were a few other couples that had made their leave already, so they had stayed long enough to remain polite. It seemed that neither could get out the door fast enough, each pulling the other a bit as they navigated through the crowd of guests.

The moment they walked outside and were out of sight of the other guests, she nearly ripped her arm away from him and began to walk ahead of him to the car. She was incredibly angry with him, unable to believe he was the type of man who would ever be jealous in that way. It felt a bit possessive, and while she knew he wasn't like that at all, it made her feel vulnerable in ways that Otto used to make her feel. The idea that the two men could ever make her feel the same way in the slightest scared her quite a lot. The main difference in that moment though was that she knew Georg would work things out with her in a civil and constructive way, eventually. Though that knowledge didn't do much for how hurt her feelings were in that moment.

She made it to the car first and opened her own door, slamming it hard as she crossed her arms and waited for him. She wondered if he could see steam coming from her ears as he approached, opening his door and slamming it after he joined her. And then there was silence…it was almost unbearable, each of them having so many things to say to the other, but not knowing where to begin. He started the car, deciding it would be best to begin their conversation away from the possibility of others overhearing. As they drove toward home, she bit her lower lip in frustration, shaking her head angrily as she looked out the window.

"You say he sleeps with men…"

"Yes, and last time I checked, I don't meet his preferences." She interrupted him, her voice lower and more direct than he had heard her in a long while.

"I've just never seen you act that way with another man. It made me wonder if I…" He stopped, knowing he would cross a line with his words, and he was feeling a bit more rational as they drove away.

"If you, what? If you aren't the only man I'm engaged to marry? Or perhaps you aren't the only man whose children I want to become a mother to? Oh, wait! Perhaps you aren't the only man I trust with every part of my heart?"

"Maria, stop."

"No, you don't get to tell me to stop!" She yelled louder than he expected, and he held back his response. "I don't know how much clearer I can make it to you that I love you and only you, and I will do so for the rest of my life. I never expected you to be such a jealous, insecure…"

"Insecure? Bullshit."

"It's not." He began to fume once more, stopping the car on the side of the road so they could argue properly. He turned to her, their gazes full of fire.

"All I'm saying is that you probably told your husband the same things to get yourself out of Salzburg in the first place, and perhaps now you're needing to get out of your marriage." She felt sick to her stomach at his words, implying that she was the type of woman to use a man in that way.

"Wow…I think you've actually made me speechless." She felt tears welling behind her eyes, but she fought them desperately. If he really felt that way about her, then she would not allow him to see her vulnerable in that way.

"Christ Maria, look at us. Look at our age difference, the difference in our upbringing, our viewpoints on so many things." She shook her head, knowing it wasn't really about any of those things.

"Insecurity." He felt his anger boiling. How dare she suggest such a thing about him.

"Well how do you expect me to feel, given how easy it was for you to completely disregard your wedding vows from the moment you returned to Salzburg, and you haven't stopped fucking me since." She quickly met his eyes, incredibly hurt by everything he said to her that evening. She had no idea why he was pushing her away so hard, but he certainly wanted to make sure he hurt her in the process, it seemed.

"So, I'm wearing this ring on my finger, but it's only been about fucking? Never making love or wanting to spend the rest of our lives together?"

"Maria…"

"No, I'm not finished." His eyes bore deeply into hers, and she could see how hard he was trying to push her away in that moment, but she had no idea why. "Let me remind you that you chose Elsa over me before I even considered looking at another man, let alone marrying one. You are the reason I left, you are the reason I thought I needed to make it work with someone else, because you very clearly showed me that I didn't mean anything to you. I don't know what I thought would have changed between then and now."

"I thought we had buried that."

"Why, because it shows your mistake and not mine? We've both made mistakes in our lives, and with each other, and we can't change the past. But if you're always going to think I'm just jumping into bed with any man who is kind to me, or that I'm somehow waiting for a moment to betray you, then I don't see how we have a future." She gingerly reached for the ring on her finger, sliding it over her knuckle and giving it one last look before holding it toward him. She felt tears fall down her face, and she was unable to look at him as he stared at the ring between her fingers.

"Maria, I…"

"Please stop speaking. Everything you've said to me tonight has broken my heart." His own heart broke at her words, wishing he could have sorted out his own feelings before sharing anything with her at all. He knew in his heart that it was all his own perception of things and his own insecurities, she had done nothing wrong at all.

"I'm sorry."

"Please take this." She shook the ring at him, her hand trembling.

"No…I won't let you go again." She scoffed, shaking her head.

"You have no choice. You've pushed me away." He sighed, gently taking the ring in his hand, his own fingers brushing hers in a way that reminded him just what her touch could do to him.

"Maria, I'm sorry. I love you, and I've been a complete idiot tonight. I saw you with him and I lost my mind. I don't know, I…" Suddenly there was a loud crash, and they felt time suspend for a moment as their car was sent sailing through the field on the side of the road. He heard her scream before they were both launched from the car, and the entire world went black.