The Parent Trapp

Chapter 1

     "Once upon a time there was a wealthy man, a good man, a strong man, who loved so fiercely he even fought for his country. But during his training he met the most beautiful woman in the world. She had long golden hair and dimples when she smiled. It was love at first sight and they quickly married before he was deployed. However, while this man was serving he decided to pursue another life in a different place. The lovely woman was heartbroken as she had two little girls and one on the way. But she promised her daughters that one day if they grew up big and strong and brave, they would find their father."

"But where do we start?" A five year old little girl asked from the pillows she was propped up on in a small bedroom

"Well, we know his first name and where he was born" A brunette of 9 said from her spot.

"And we have this" a six, almost 7 year old girl pointed to the nightstand off to the right of their shared bed.

The young woman telling them the story reached over and grabbed the ripped picture of the man in a suit and tie that sat alone, smiling across the table at what she knew to be his new bride, but she was ripped from the scene.

"Father was so handsome, like a knight in fairytales" the middle girl crawled to take a look.

"Yes Marta, he is"

"Maria?"

"Yes Bri?" Maria looked up towards the oldest of the girls

"What else did mother say about him? What was he like?" Brigitta asked as she held a blanket close to her on the bed

"Well I only met him a few times in passing. They didn't have a big wedding or else I would have been maid of honor" she winked

"Was he nice?" the five year old asked

"Yes Gretl, he was very nice. One time I saw him was when your mom was in the hospital after Lie-I mean after they thought your mom had appendicitis" Maria caught herself.

"Was he as nice as mommy was?" Gretl shot another question

Maria mouthed and "oh" and reached for the little girl. Maria now had an arm around both Marta and Gretl as they faced Brigitta on the bed. "There is no one who was more kind than your mother. She helped me find this place and made sure that there was enough money set aside for anything you could possibly need." Maria hugged them

"I need my own room" Brigitta sighed as he head collapsed into her right hand

"I know, but-" Maria didn't know how to handle it. Brigitta was a clever girl and had a few snapshots of memories of her father. Now only a month since their mother's car wreck Maria had been left in the will to take care of them, but she was only one person. She lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment, had a meager job and was now raising three little girls all alone. And now the eldest is asking questions that she didn't want to answer nor did she know how to.

Agathe and Maria had been best friends despite the age gap, it had been sisters from another mister. And more than anything Maria wanted to raise her friend's girls right, hopefully sending them to camp for a few weeks like Agathe had already scheduled would buy her some time to figure everything out. "Maybe after you get back from camp I'll have found a new apartment for the four of us" Maria soothed.

"I don't want to go! I'll be all alone!" Gretl pouted, she was five after all, but at these wealthy summer camps there were helpers for everything and perhaps it would help the little girl move on.

"You won't be alone, there'll be tons of other kids to play with" Maria stood up off the bed

"But you won't be there" Marta whined as she crawled to her designated middle spot.

"You can call me anytime you want if you ask and can find a signal." Maria assured

"But we won't have the internet ever again after tomorrow!"

"Relax Bri, it's only for a few weeks" Maria tucked them all in and kissed their heads "besides you never know who you'll meet."

-----

"I called dibs on that suitcase!" A blonde girl shouted

"No! I did, because Kurt said he'd trade you his large duffel bag!" an older brunette shouted back

"What's going on?" A man walked into the room, followed by a teenage boy.

"Liesl won't let me use that suitcase-" the blonde girl pointed to her big sister

"I called it fair and square, plus I have a lot more stuff-" Liesl tried to defend herself

"Do not-"

"Do to-"

"Enough girls" the man held his hand up. 'Liesl, you can use mine and Louisa can use the big one, you and your brother will take the bags" The man turned to his eldest son.

"Ok Dad" The boy sighed and walked out of the room."

"Girls, you need to behave yourselves while you're gone. You can't keep fighting like this"

'She's the one who starts it" Louisa nodded her head toward Liesl

"I don't care who starts it, I don't want any calls telling me you've killed each other." Georg hoped this was the right decision. They had been called about their mother's passing but the family had all passed around strep throat. They didn't go to the service, but came after so as not to get anyone else sick. In the back of his mind he knew that his kids wanted to see their sisters, but the arrangement had been settled long ago. It wasn't that Agathe didn't love her children, but she thought they would be better off in a comfortable home.

But the kids needed time to heal and perhaps spending time outside and away from home would do them some good.

The next morning he and Ellen, the housekeeper, loaded up the car with bags and suitcases. After the long day's drive they arrived at the camp.

'Please be on your best behavior, especially you two" he looked to his girls "And i expect the same from you boys" he ruffled his youngest son, Kurt's, hair.

He hugged all of his children and when he got to Liesl he said "I'm sorry, but this will be good. You never know who you'll meet."

Hey Y'all! I'm back from the dead. I watched "The Parent Trapp" back in the spring and went down a rabbit hole and of course I'm always into Sound of Music stuff. This is what I came up with. There will be plenty of references to both and while it is inspired by both of these movies it does have it's own story. It's not like a retelling or anything. Anyways I hope you enjoy!