When The Lord Closes A Door

A new story from me which will be updated in between "The Lonely Goatherd" chapter updates. This follows the canon storyline until Maria leaves the villa during the party. AU after that. The timeline has been tweeked a little so that the story occurs a year earlier than the movie meaning that the Anschluss is over a year away, rather than just months away. I'm also experimenting with writing quite short chapters, something that is very unusual for me! Please be kind and review!

Prologue

Georg walked out onto the back terrace to hear the sorrowful sounds of the children singing. He knew why they were sad – they missed Fraulein Maria. She had mysteriously disappeared the night of the party just one week before. The note she'd left only gave a vague reason for her leaving. Georg didn't quite believe that she truly missed the abbey and he suspected that there was more to her sudden departure, especially after the intimate moments they had shared dancing the Laendler together.

Georg had seen the blush rise to her cheeks as he'd held her close in his arms. He'd wanted to kiss her there and then but she'd pulled away moments before he could. Georg knew something had begun to happen between them, starting that day where they'd argued on the lakeside. He remembered the look on her face as he'd sung Edelweiss to them all and how his eyes had been drawn to hers almost the entire time.

Perhaps he should have made his move and told Maria about his developing feelings the night of the party, but he'd felt so frazzled after Elsa had caught him dancing the Laendler with Maria that he'd been distant, aloof and almost cold towards her later that evening when Max had proposed that Maria stay for dinner.

Georg had instantly regretted his behaviour later when he'd found Maria's note. Dismayed and confused, part of him wanted to run after her to see whether she'd felt something happening between them too, but he didn't. Instead Georg decided to do the 'right' thing and respect her choice to leave them to become a nun.

Georg knew the children were devastated to have Maria leave but he also knew they would get over it soon enough and so would he. He had a life to live without her and that's exactly what he intended on doing. So just a day after the party, Georg proposed to Elsa. Elsa had been a close friend for the longest time and he did feel a strong affection towards her. He had been seriously considered marrying her for months even before he'd met Maria. Georg knew Elsa expected him to propose and practically everyone else in Salzburg did too, especially after the grand and glorious party he'd thrown her.

And so it was done. Now all he had to do was to tell the children.

Georg had been putting it off for days but he wasn't able to put it off any longer as only a few minutes later, the children asked him directly about who their new governess was going to be.

"Well…" Georg began slowly. He saw Elsa purse her lips and look at him accusingly. He knew she wasn't pleased that he hadn't told the children immediately. She wanted to start with all the wedding preparations and she had, without his approval, already rung the newspaper to put an elaborate engagement notice in. Georg knew he couldn't delay the moment much further.

He moved to stand behind Elsa and he placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're not going to have a governess anymore."

"We're not?" Liesl replied surprised.

"You're going to have a new mother," Georg announced and forced a smile. "We've talked about it and it's all settled. And we're all going to be very happy."

Georg tried to sound as convincing as he could. Marriage to Elsa would be very different from the passion-filled marriage he'd once had before and he was aware that Elsa not the mothering type. Georg knew she found seven children incredibly overwhelming. But she was a kind and lovely person and she was the one who had brought some meaning back into his life. Georg was sure that getting married to Elsa would be perfectly… adequate.

The children stood in front of him in silence, stunned at his announcement. Georg made eye contact with Liesl and awkwardly inclined his head toward Elsa. She took the hint and one by one, the children walked forward to kiss their new mother-to-be on the cheek before Georg ushered them away to go and play. Soon, Georg became engrossed in conversation with Elsa and Max and so didn't notice the children sneak away…

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Maria had been in seclusion for a week before she was summoned to meet with the Reverend Mother. As she waited to enter her office, Maria saw a new postulant being inducted into the convent. Maria closed her eyes and sighed. She remembered what it had been like to be young and carefree and full of hope of the life to come. But now, Maria felt like she had grown up beyond her years during her time away from the abbey. She'd been part of a family and had fallen in love, which terrified her and exhilarated her at the same time. Maria had tried to hide it but when the Baroness confronted her over her growing feeling towards the Captain, she'd fled to the only place she knew she'd be safe and where she could hide: the abbey.

But rather than being able to hide from her feelings, the Reverend Mother made her confront them right away.

"Are you in love with him?" the older nun asked her as soon as she'd worked that that the Captain was the reason Maria had left the family.

"I don't know," Maria cried. "I don't know! I… The Baroness said I was and that he was in love with me… But I didn't want to believe it. But, Reverend Mother…" Maria gasped. "There were times where we looked at each other, oh I could hardly breathe!"

"Did you let him see your feelings?" the Reverend Mother asked.

"If I did, I didn't know it," Maria replied in anguish. "That's what's been torturing me. I was there on God's errand. To ask for his love would have been wrong. I couldn't stay, I just couldn't!" Maria turned around to look at the statue of Jesus on the cross. "I'm ready at this moment to take my vows. Please help me."

"Maria," the Reverend Mother sighed. "The love of a man and a woman is holy too. You have a great capacity to love and you must find out how God wants you to spend your love."

"But I pledged my life to God," Maria cried. "I pledged my life to his service."

The Reverend Mother smiled. "My daughter, if you love this man, it doesn't mean you love God less. No. You must go back; you must find out."

"Please don't ask me to do that," Maria protested. "Please let me stay."

"Maria," the older nun was firm. "These walls were not built to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live."

As the Reverend Mother went onto explain by song how Maria was to climb every mountain and follow every rainbow until she found her dream, Maria knew that the Reverend Mother was right and she was determined to go back and find her Captain and declare her love to him.

Hours later, Maria was packed and ready to go and even dressed in a brand-new outfit, courtesy of the new postulant. Maria felt happy and excited to return to the villa, the children, and most especially, to their father.

She couldn't help but smile and hum to herself as she merrily made her way through the streets of Salzburg to where she would catch the bus to Aigen. But as she arrived at the bus stop, she glanced at the timetable posted on the wall and realised that she would have to wait almost an hour for the next bus to arrive.

Not having anything to do but wait, Maria plopped herself down on the bench. There were a couple of other people sitting at the bus stop too, either deep in conversation or reading the newspaper. Maria watched the traffic and the nearby people go by for a while before she stood up to stretch her legs. As she did so, a bus arrived but Maria saw from the sign that it was travelling to a different part of Salzburg. Feeling disappointed, she sat down again as the other people at the bus stop stood up and boarded the bus. As the bus departed, Maria noticed that one of the people had left their newspaper on the seat.

With nothing else to do, Maria picked up the paper and began to read. The front few pages were filled with reports of the growing German threat and the political situation in Austria. She flicked quickly past those articles in the hope of reading something less worrying but apart from the crossword and recipe section, there wasn't much more to the paper and she was about to put it down when something caught her eye that made her heart stop.

There, right at the back in the socialite section, was a picture of her Captain and the Baroness. Obviously it had been taken at the party the week before as the Captain was dressed in his tuxedo with his Marie-Theresa cross pinned at his throat and the Baroness was wearing her sleek, platinum ball gown with the puff on the shoulder. Maria felt her body start to tremble and she swallowed hard as she read the text below the photograph.

Engagement announcement: Salzburg, Austria. Baroness Elsa Schraeder of Vienna, Austria, (widow of Baron Hans Schraeder) to marry Baron Georg von Trapp, decorated captain of the Imperial Navy at Mondsee Cathedral on November 4, 1936.

Maria let the newspaper drop from her hands and it fell into her lap. "Oh, I see," she whispered to herself as the news of the Captain's engagement began to sink in. She felt like someone had just struck her hard in the chest. He was getting married? Maria closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wall. She felt foolish for having a sense of hope or even believing that the Captain loved her in return.

Oh, what was she going to do now? she wondered. The Reverend Mother had told her to go back and find out – but she just found out where the Captain's affections truly lay so she couldn't go back, could she? No. There was no way she could. The Captain had made his choice and Maria had no right to come between him and the Baroness, nor could she return as governess to his children knowing how much she loved him while he married another. It would be unbearable!

Oh, what was she going to do? Maria wondered again. Her return to the convent and heartfelt conversation with the Reverend Mother had also made it completely clear that she would never be a nun. So, she had no place to go: she couldn't go back to the villa and she couldn't return to the abbey as a postulant. Maria was at a complete loss.

She sat for a long time alone at the bus stop thinking and praying until she realised that no matter what, the Reverend Mother would always ensure that she was taken care of. Maybe the Mother Abbess could find some sort of home for her. Another governess position, perhaps? She did seem to have a talent for it and maybe this was the life she was born to live? Maria was reminded of what the Reverend Mother always said: When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window…

Still feeling absolutely crushed and broken hearted, but at least hopeful that she wouldn't be destitute, Maria wiped away the tears from her cheeks, stood up, collected her bag and guitar and returned to the abbey.

Two months later, there was another announcement in the newspaper, but this time it was a wedding announcement: Captain Georg von Trapp had married Baroness Elsa Schraeder in a grand and glorious wedding ceremony with half of Salzburg in attendance.