The Parent Trapp

Chapter 10

Maria was worried sick. The girls should have landed already. She waited by the terminal as the last trickle of people filed out. Where were they? Brigitta had all the information and according to Margaret handed everything on the way down there. Had they been kidnapped? gotten lost? died! Oh no! She's ruined everything. Little did she know Brigitta's phone died, but as soon as she unpacked Louisa's room, which was the size of Maria's whole apartment, she plugged it in. It began to ring as Brigitta stuffed in clothes in a drawer

Louisa walked over and looked at it "it's Maria" she sighed

"Crap" Brigitta sauntered over and picked up the phone.

Maria's sigh of relief could be heard throughout the airport. "Oh my Lord, thank heaven you picked up! Where are you? Are you safe? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, I actually made a new friend at camp and well, I guess we thought the flight was postponed" Brigitta stumbled

"Brigitta Marie don't you dare lie to me, you're not even good at it" Maria began to pace, stepping aside for people with luggage to pass.

"Well my friend is named Louisa and she-"

Maria immediately put the pieces together. Agathe's other children, while not as familiar, were still part of her life. Maria remembered Agathe's love for literature and her sentimentality. Liesl was named Elizbeth after her grandmother, and Lee after Harper Lee. Louisa had been special though. Her middle name would be Jane after her other grandmother as well as Jane Austen, but Louisa was the name Agathe had picked out since college. "Little Women'' was her favorite book and impacted her fully. Thus when Louisa Jane was born a dream came true for Agathe.

"You're with them aren't you?" Maria's voice shook "You f-found them?" she panicked, was excited, scared, in trouble, Maria felt everything fully and this information held so much emotion it was overwhelming.

"How did you know?" Brigitta and Louisa both stood shocked since she was on speaker phone.

"I'm not stupid Bri, I've been with your mother through thick and thin, she and I knew it was only a matter of time before you found out, but I guess your father, her and I have the same taste in summer camps." Maria couldn't help but chuckle this whole thing is so crazy

"So I'm not in trouble?" Brigitta bit her lip.

"Oh, you're in more than trouble, but hang tight. I'll be there as soon as I can, but it might be a couple days. I can't exactly afford a plane ticket right now."

"Alright, I will" Brigitta said "Do you want to talk to Marta and Gr-"

"No no, I think they've probably experienced enough recently"

"Okay" Brigitta sighed

"Bri?"

"Yeah?"

"You know I love you right?" Maria asked, leaning against the wall. These three girls had always held a special place, but now they were her life, she felt irresponsible, but not angry.

"I love you too" Brigitta said, and for the first time ever she truly meant it.

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Dinner came too quickly for Ellen's liking, the more she got used to the noise of the kids bonding the more fear crept up over their father's reaction. He had texted to say that Max and Elsa were going to stay in town for a while longer. He however felt obligated to return home at an acceptable hour to greet his kids. But when he opened the back door no one heard him come in except Ellen.

"Oh good afternoon Georg" Ellen greeted as she pulled her casserole out of the oven.

"Thanks, smells great" He replied with a smile and hung his jacket up on the hook.

"Thank you" She smiled back awkwardly

"He looked around before asking "where are the ch- '' at that moment a stampede of feet came down the stairs but froze halfway when they saw who was standing in the kitchen. Friedrich felt Marta grab his hand. Liesl once again felt that horrible sinking feeling, Louisa and Brigitta were both scared, and Kurt was uncomfortable. Gretl on the other hand, never possessed fear of any kind and bolted down the stairs, the others and the two adults watching her every step until she screamed "Daddy!" before wrapping her tanned little arms around Georg's legs.

The kids slowly made their way down the stairs. Ellen stood behind him awkwardly as he knelt down to the unknown little girl.

"Uhm, I'm sorry bu-"

"Look Georg" Ellen nudged him before he could say anything and he saw his little girls right in front of him with their older siblings behind.

Neither Marta nor Brigitta wanted to approach him, he was a beast, he never tried, never reached out, their mother had called him too many names to count. Could he really be trusted?

"Marta? Brigitta?" Georg stood and approached them before kneeling once again. Marta, who now sobbed, poor thing, watched as he reached out and grabbed her tiny hand. Ellen consoled Gretl, who was beyond confused.

"My babies" he teared up but neither girl embraced him like they had with Ellen. This man was their father, and a stranger, and vile.

"I'm so sorry" he bowed his head "But your mother was right, I was a jerk to her, but I knew you just now, you will always be my babies. You were so much better off without me" he shook his head

"But why didn't you try?" Brigitta asked firmly

"Because I didn't know how. I knew there was no chance of seeing you ever again. And after your mother, I knew you were safe with Maria- but there's really no excuse, I'm so so sorry" he cried even harder until Marta caved and hugged him around his neck. He stood and picked her up and squeezed her as hard as he could without hurting her "and who would've thought God put you all in freaking summer camp together" he chuckled through the tears.

Gretl stomped her foot which made him turn around. He gently set down Marta and looked at Ellen

"She's your Georg, I'm positive" Ellen said straight faced. Doing the math based on what the kids had shared about Gretl's birthday there was no other way.

Georg knelt down once again in front of the tiny stranger. Who was she? To him she didn't exist, he had another child and didn't know the first thing about her.

"What's your name hun?" He asked gently

"Gretl May Whitehead" She answered in her big girl voice.

"Nice to meet you" Georg smiled "Now miss Gretl, you must tell me all about yourself. Do you like horses?" He asked as he grabbed her hand and Marta reached for his other. Brigitta reluctantly followed with Liesl's arm wrapped around her while Louisa and the boys followed their father out the sliding door into the backyard, presumably to the barn. Ellen looked on with pride. Agathe would be proud of him in this moment, he handled himself with maturity and composed his shock well, especially with the little one. She had a gut feeling that this may have been exactly what he needed the past 5 and a half years. 

Hey Y'all

So Georg met the girls! Exciting stuff.  How will Maria act? That's a great question. You'll have to be patient. 

Idk if I will get two updates this weekend again. I'll have to see. The story is completely written but I transfer and edit which takes the longest. Please be patient with me

Thanks for reading! Things are about to get interesting.