Time was always such an interesting concept to her she decided, as she and the girls walked along the sidewalks of Paris. It felt like only yesterday that she had become their governess, and suddenly she was preparing for her wedding to their father the next day. So many things had happened between the two events, entire lifetimes it seemed, but she could not have been more elated that the time had finally arrived to become his wife. She truly felt there was nothing else in the entire world she should have been doing with her life. In hindsight, she knew on the day of her first marriage that she was making a grave mistake. There were absolutely zero feelings that even registered in the same vicinity of her first wedding, and she knew she was finally turning her life in the right direction.

While the men were off doing…whatever it was they were doing, she and the girls had decided they should get their hair and nails done before the wedding. The little girls were hardly able to stop dancing about with excitement at the idea of having their nails painted, while she could tell Louisa would have preferred going along with the men. She did perk up a bit when Maria promised they would go to a cafe she saw close to their hotel and eat nothing but desserts for lunch. It wasn't hard to keep them all excited in their own ways, she mused.

The women in the salon marveled over the girls, and Maria couldn't stop herself from smiling brightly as they were pampered and fussed over. She could tell that Liesl loved every moment of their visit, but she was doing her best to remain dignified and indifferent about it all. She certainly took after her father. Even Louisa found enjoyment when it came to getting her hair trimmed, smiling a bit when the women complimented her freckles and beautiful blue eyes. The little girls were given sparkling water and had their nails painted a pretty pink that she hoped Georg wouldn't mind. She couldn't have said no to the glittery polish if she wanted to, they were in love with it before she had a chance to think. Her own hair was easy, she knew it would be, and she asked for an elegant French tip for her nails. She didn't want to seem so simple, but it really didn't take much to make her feel pleased.

The salon itself was beautiful, elegant and much more lavish than any she had ever seen. While she wasn't one to set foot in a salon on a regular basis at all, she knew she was in an establishment that was quite impressive. While her French was subpar at best, she felt the communication was going well enough. Thankfully Liesl and Brigitta were very skilled in the language, and they had proven to be quite helpful. She was incredibly thankful for the education they were given growing up, as her own education had never allowed her the luxury of learning much of another language. Anything she knew had been picked up from the families of children she tutored or friends she made in teacher's college, which she hated to admit was quite minimal. Suddenly, a woman squealed in excitement, and she jumped to look her way in surprise.

"What is she saying?" She turned to Liesl, who carried a bright smile upon her face.

"She's just found out that you're getting married tomorrow, and she finds it terribly exciting." Liesl laughed as the woman continued on, and Maria found herself able to only pick out a few words before the woman came to address her directly. Her eyes widened, as she could not understand what she was saying. She was speaking way too quickly. "She says congratulations and…I'm not picking up the rest. Une fois de plus, s'il vous plait?"

The woman continued to explain herself, using expressive gestures and phrasing. Liesl was doing her best to follow, but she was not sure even she knew some of the words the woman was using. The excitement drew the attention of Brigitta, who began to giggle. Maria looked to her for help, and she smiled brightly.

"She says that German women are too hairy, and she would like to wax you." Liesl giggled as well, and Maria felt her mouth fall open in surprise. She laughed, shaking her head.

"Well, we're Austrian anyway…" She shifted a bit in her seat, wondering if that were really true. Judging by all of the photographs and sculptures of nude people she had seen so far, she was under the impression that the French were either one extreme or the other: smooth in every way, or quite a bit hairy themselves. Either way they seemed incredibly proud of it. She would shave her legs again before the wedding, and she always kept her underarms smooth. Georg certainly never complained about her body. She shook her head, smiling politely. "Non, merci."

The woman went on about something or other, which Brigitta and Liesl seemed to enjoy quite a bit, but she couldn't follow. The woman working on Liesl's hair couldn't stop herself from smiling, and Maria desperately wondered what was going on in her head. She wished in that moment that she had taken Georg's suggestion that she learn French seriously instead of only halfway practicing with a book she found in the library. She sighed, and Liesl smiled as she turned to her once more.

"She says it lasts longer than shaving and you should have smooth legs on your wedding night." Liesl blushed, which of course caused Maria to blush. She turned her head away, thinking for a moment.

"You are always telling us to try new things, Fraulein." She gave Louisa a dirty look, which was returned with a smile as she repeated Maria's words from when she was talking her into getting her own hair done. Somehow she knew that was going to come back to her.

"Alright, you know what…we are experiencing a different culture than ours. We can't say no to everything." She stood and handed her purse to Liesl as she followed the excited woman into a back room.

The room itself was calm and pure white, some candles burning to make it smell quite beautiful. The woman motioned for her to turn around so she could help with the buttons of her dress, which made her blush, but she obeyed and stripped down to her slip. She was guided to a small table in the middle of the room where she sat, and the woman held her arm above her head to investigate. She wiped her underarm clean with a cloth, and Maria jumped a bit from the warmth of the wax as she smeared it across her skin.

"Deep breath." She was surprised by the words she could understand, and she took a deep breath just as the woman yanked the strip of was from her skin. She groaned, gritting her teeth as she did her best not to yell or slap at the woman, who gave her a small pat upon the back as she moved to the other side of her body.

The legs didn't hurt as badly as her underarms, and she found she didn't mind so much as the woman worked quickly. She had removed her stockings and revealed more of her skin to a stranger than she ever had in her entire life, and she did her best to pretend she was fine with it all. The woman didn't seem to mind in the slightest, clearly a true professional of her craft. She had to admit, after the woman rubbed a sweet smelling oil across her bare skin, she felt quite smooth and lovely. She touched her thigh, looking a bit before instructing Maria to lie back. She obeyed, unsure what exactly she would need to lie down for, and she quickly grasped the woman's wrist as she felt her lifting her slip and tugging at her panties.

"I beg your pardon!" She met the woman's eyes in complete horror, to which she only shook her head. She spouted off so many words that she didn't understand, and Maria sighed in frustration. The woman stopped speaking, deciding how best to go about bridging the language barrier. She quickly rushed to find a photograph, handing it to Maria to explain herself a bit better. Maria's eyes widened as she looked at a photo of a woman's pelvis with her pubic hair nearly removed completely. She laughed a bit and shook her head as she handed the photo back to the woman. "No, I don't need that. Merci."

"Oui…nuit de noces…special." She wasn't sure a wedding night needed to be any more special than it already was on its own. She shook her head, beginning to stand and rush away, but she stopped herself when a thought struck her. She wasn't a virgin by any means, and Georg had seen her naked more times than she could count by then. She had a new nightgown to wear for their wedding night, and some perfume she bought the day prior, but aside from that she hadn't thought about anything else to make it special for them. She wondered what he would think if he took her clothes off to find her looking like a French woman, so exotic compared to everything she knew.

She bit her lip, sitting back down upon the table, and the woman gave her an excited smile as she moved to gather her wax once more. Maria removed her panties, feeling very strange as she was only covered by the silk of her slip, as she laid down upon the table. She took a deep breath, sighing to release her nerves as the woman gave her a smile of encouragement and began positioning her legs where she needed them. The wax was warm, and she felt a bit violated, but aside from that it felt a bit like a medical procedure. The woman was incredibly professional and gentle….and then she saw white as the wax strip was ripped from her skin.

"Fucking hell!"

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Georg walked down the sidewalk with his sons and his best friend, unable to be happier in that moment if he'd tried. They spent the day wine tasting, he wouldn't tell Maria that he let the boys try a few, and making arrangements for the next few days. He had been staying in a room with the boys, while Maria had stayed with the girls, but after the wedding he would take his new wife to the honeymoon suite, and they wouldn't see the children again for days. While he knew Max was up for the challenge of entertaining them, he felt he should assist with planning as much as he could.

It was a wonderful time spent with his sons and his closest friend, which he realized was not common at all. He vowed to make more time to spend with his sons without their sisters around. He distinctly recalled his and Maria's first argument when she spouted off that his son wanted to be a man, but there was no one to show him how…he took the words to heart, and he hoped he was teaching his sons the most important things he could.

As they walked down the sidewalk, he smiled brightly to find that Maria and the girls were seated at an outdoor table at a small cafe that Louisa had been begging to visit. He assumed it was the agreement she and Maria made if she would stop complaining about going to a hair salon, he mused. He looked to the boys and smiled when they agreed it would be alright to join them, as he found he couldn't stay away from his future wife if his life depended on it. It was their wedding trip, after all, so he felt he could justify his co-dependant behavior.

They quickly rushed to the girls, surprising them all by pulling up extra chairs to the table and bombarding them with their presence. Georg was able to somehow squeeze next to Maria with his chair, sneaking a quick kiss in greeting. She gave him a smile, although it seemed a bit tense in comparison to her usual brightness. As he looked around, he noticed that the older girls were acting a bit unusual as well. They were all uncharacteristically quiet for having spent the morning at the beauty salon.

"Why are we all acting so strangely?"

"Are we?" Liesl's words were meant to deter his line of questioning, he could see it from miles away, but she only sounded more suspicious than he thought they seemed before.

"Yes, you are. What's happened?" Louisa began to giggle, and Maria met her eyes in warning. Georg laughed, catching his daughter's attention. "No, look at me. You nearly said it."

"I was mistaken." He frowned, looking to Maria in question. She rolled her eyes, wishing he would let it go.

"I'll tell you later, darling." She mumbled, wishing he would just let it go. She was embarrassed enough without having to talk about it in front of everyone.

"But I'm so curious now." He looked at Gretl, who was doing her best not to smile. He narrowed his eyes; she would be the one to talk. "Gretl, how was your trip to the salon?"

"Wonderful, Father. Marta and I got pink, glittery nails." She held up her hand, and he smiled in appreciation. He didn't love the idea of his little girls having paint upon their nails, but it was tasteful enough. He knew Maria would never allow anything that wasn't appropriate for their ages, of course.

"And what else?"

"Fraulein Maria said swear words." The rest of the girls giggled, and she felt her face burning red as she looked down to her lap and covered her eyes with one of her hands.

"Certainly she didn't. How unladylike." He acted appalled, and she felt the mortification return to her after the past half hour of decompressing. The pain of being waxed between her legs was enough to make her lose control of her words, and it seemed the room she had been in carried quite an echo. It seemed all of the girls were able to hear her very plainly.

"I'll tell you later, I said." She didn't meet his eyes, and he smiled as he ran a hand over her back in comfort.

"Well, certainly it was just a slip up. I can't imagine anything too terrible would come from a former postulant's mouth." The girls giggled once more, and she bit her lip as she still refused to look at him. "Or was it terrible?"

"Please drop it. I said I will tell you later, in full and agonizing detail, alright?" She bit the words to him, and the girls stopped their giggling promptly. Max chuckled, looking about the table with an evident need to break the tension.

"Perhaps Georg will tell you then how he allowed the boys get smashed at a wine tasting." Her eyes shot across the table to Max with great interest, before looking to Georg. He rolled his eyes, laughing at his friend's extreme exaggeration.

"That is not true. But to be fair, we are in Paris. I'm surprised we aren't required to bathe in wine." He reached forward and took Maria's half empty water glass from the table, taking a drink.

"Well, you've both been terrible influences as parents today. Shall we lighten things up with some ice cream?" The children cheered excitedly, as Max always knew exactly how to save the day. He gave the soon to be newlyweds a wink as he waved down a waiter.

As the children were distracted, Georg leaned toward Maria's face until she gave in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. They shared a smile as he took her hand beneath the table, squeezing a bit as the children took the lead in ordering ice cream for everyone. He couldn't wait to hear the full story, if he could be honest. He always enjoyed hearing about her behaving in undignified ways, as it wasn't often she did so. She took a deep breath to release the tension and gave him a gentle smile, making her apology for being so agitated. It didn't matter, nothing mattered. They would be married in less than twenty-four hours, and she refused to focus on anything but the joy of the occasion.