Opening Windows

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Sound of Music, including the characters.

Georg sat on a smooth rock, looking at the mountains that he had loved for so long. 'How could such treachery coexist with such beauty'? It was a question he had asked himself again and again, and he knew he would continue asking it, possibly for the rest of his life. His feet hurt, his knees ached, and most of all his back and shoulders hurt from carrying his youngest daughter, but he barely noticed. Having already fought in the war to end all wars, he was used to ignoring physical pain. He had even learned to recognize pain as his friend. It meant he was still alive.

As he looked at the mountains, the impact of leaving the country he had been born and raised in, that he had fought for and that he had loved for his entire life, hit him as a blow to his heart. He had been ready to die for his country, he had killed for his country, and now he was leaving it. Leaving it in the hands of a mad man. 'There was no other way,' he reminded himself. The country he had loved was gone - at least for now. It was either leave or fight for this mad man, and ultimately have a hand in the further destruction of his beloved country.

Still, he was no stranger to heartache or crisis. He had lost many men under his command. Good men. Enthusiastic, patriotic men. The name and face of each still burned in his memory. And of course he had lost his beloved wife, Agathe. Georg heaved a deep sigh and let his shoulders relax. He had not realized how tense they still were. He would have preferred to still be walking - he wanted to put as much space between his family and the Nazis as possible. But after walking through the night and most of the next day, he knew his children needed some rest if they were going to be able to continue on this long walk. As he looked out at the mountain tops again he silently thanked God that this time he was only losing a country and that he hadn't lost his family. He would not lose his family, he would not lose a single life. And after this walk he would not have to see them suffer this much again. He had never felt so determined about anything in his life before, not even when he was facing an enemy ship.

Georg had not gotten to be a naval hero and decorated sea Captain without learning how to think ahead and strategize. He had learned to hope for the best but plan for the worst. While on his honeymoon in Paris he had wired substantial amounts of money from his bank in Austria to a bank in Paris, all under the guise of having a luxurious honeymoon, complete with extravagant shopping. The honeymoon had certainly been luxurious, as had the shopping, but they didn't need anywhere near that kind of money, which is why he had wired it to several different banks in Switzerland. He had wired an even more considerable amount of money to more Swiss banks the day before, shortly before they left their villa. Now he prayed that the Nazis hadn't intercepted it. Either way, his family would be comfortable in Switzerland. It was just a matter of how comfortable.

Suddenly a heart-rending sob pierced his reverie and he turned around to look at his family where he had thought they were all asleep, curled up in a little valley they had come across. His heart sank as he heard the sob and the following hiccups, but rose again when he saw that Maria was already cradling their weeping youngest daughter. He hoped she wouldn't wake the others, but Maria had obviously already had the same thought and was quickly walking away with Gretl in her arms. Georg could only make out a few words: "doll" and "good-bye". For some reason Maria wasn't trying to cheer her up, there were no raindrops or whiskers. She just kept walking away. She caught his eye and motioned with her head for him to come down and check on and watch over the rest of the children.

Most of them were still asleep, he discovered. He imagined that they were tired enough to sleep through just about anything. But Brigitta and Louisa had woken up, groggily asking what was wrong. "Nothing's wrong," he whispered. "Gretl just had a bad dream. She's fine. Go back to sleep. I'm here. We're all safe." He smoothed back Brigitta's hair, a gesture he would never have done mere months ago, and was gratified to see her eyes close and hear her breathing return to the deep rhythmic breathing of sleep. He looked over at Louisa and was relieved to see that she had fallen back to sleep as well.

As he sat watching his 6 sleeping children, Georg thanked God once again for bring Maria into his life. He tried to imagine Elsa comforting Gretl, or even making this journey with them, and he realized that never would have happened. Without Maria's strength, her love of their children and her support of his ideals, they probably would not have been able to make it out of Austria. Certainly not through the mountains. Maria was born and bred in the mountains and was helping him in ways he could never have imagined. If it weren't for Maria, he might well have been on his way to join the Third Reich, just to save the lives of his children. His heart swelled with love. He hadn't thought it possible, but he loved her more and more by the minute. What was that quote of the Reverend Mother's? Ah, yes. 'When the Lord closes the door, someway he opens a window.' The Lord had closed a big door with the Anschluss - with the loss of Austria to the Nazis. And yet what a window He had opened with Maria. Georg knew his family would be able to survive - away from the Nazis - because God had given them this incredible, strong, spirited, loving, loyal, beautiful wife and mother. 'Come to think of it' he mused, 'the Lord closed a big door when Agathe died as well. And the same window opened as a result of that as well, it just took longer.' Maria, his window when so many doors had closed. Her presence was enough to keep a man believing in God, even in the face of such loss and evil.

Eventually Maria came back into view, this time carrying a sleeping Gretl. Georg got to his feet and hurried over to help her. Gretl was adorable, but a very sturdy 5 year old, and not the easiest child to carry. His sore shoulders and back were evidence of that. He lay their sleeping daughter on the ground with her siblings, stood back up and wrapped his arms around his beautiful wife. She lay a weary head on his shoulder, glad to feel his arms around her, missing the closeness they had been able to share in Paris.

Together they walked several paces away so as not to disturb their sleeping children, and sat down on nearby patch of smooth grass. For a while they just held each other, but finally the Captain simply asked "Gretl?". Maria sighed and smiled ruefully. "She realized she hadn't said good-bye to her favorite doll. But she was really just exhausted and overwhelmed and needed to cry it out. I did tell her, though, that she we would figure out a way to say good-bye to everything we left behind once we are in Switzerland." Maria spoke with a low chuckle. The intense drama of the last few days, the sadness of leaving Austria and the villa, even the pain that she knew her husband was experiencing still could not dampen the deep happiness inside of her. She felt a warmth inside of her heart - almost a bubble of happiness - at the thought of belonging to Georg as his wife, and being mother to the children she had come to love so much.

Still, Maria could feel her husband's sadness, concern and tension and addressed it without being asked. As she leaned her head against his chest, she whispered "We are doing the right thing. The children will be fine ... they will be more than fine. All they have ever wanted is to be close to you. It would have been far worse for them to lose you than to lose their home. And now you are teaching them a lesson that is worth more than any amount of money: you are teaching them to never compromise their principles, and to not support tyranny, whatever the cost. They will be better and stronger for this."

Her words released a weight from Georg that he hadn't realized he'd been carrying and he thanked God once again for having sent them this remarkable wife and mother, both beautiful and wise beyond her years. He gently stroked her short hair back and lifted her face towards his for a kiss.