The Parent Trapp

Chapter 16

TW: Infertility

The day progressed as usual. Max came by and spoiled the kids with stories about their father in his military days, Maria and Georg got along better, even though they still needed to do some talking and the kids grew closer by the minute.

It was a clear sunny afternoon so Georg thought it would be a good idea to teach the younger girls how to ride horses properly. Max chose to stay back, for only a reason he knew. Georg relented and led Maria and the children to the barn.

The kids at this point had seen the barn before, but Maria hadn't. It was to the left of the house facing the front. It was big and seemed to be old, but well taken care of and repainted. Maybe they had painted it since they moved here a few years ago. When entering on the right side of the barn there were four pens and the rest of the equipment was stored on the left. The hay was brought in through the other side.

"Do you have farmhands?" Maria asked as she made her way in taking in the smell of hay.

"Yes, but since this is all we have and no actual crops they work for us after working for the Ebberfeld's down the way." Georg explained.

The four pens all had four horses' names carved in the door. The one closest to the entrance was Duke, then Delilah, Ray, and Annie at the end.

"Ray?" Maria chuckled

"We named that one for mom" Liesl said "Ray Bradbury '' Liesl rolled her eyes and Maria had to admit that it was rather funny, Agathe and her bookish-ness.

Georg went out to the horse pen outside and rounded up Delilah and Annie, but before had instructed Friedrich to get Duke out of the pen.

"Ok girls, let's see what you can do," Georg smiled. Delilah was smaller than the other horses and he figured the girls could ride her with ease. He also wanted Duke to get some fresh air.

After a full afternoon of riding and Maria watching, she felt content. It had been a beautiful day and now she could really see how much Georg genuinely wanted to reconnect with his children. Marta and Gretl had done as well as could be expected. Brigitta had been more timid on the horse though.

Typically Brigitta wasn't scared of anything, or anyone, but for some reason this spooked her.

"I'll be right here" Georg had assured her with a nod "All you gotta do is jump '' Brigitta nodded in understanding and mounted the horse. Georg led her around the pen and Maria noticed her posture became less rigid. He really had done it, he calmed her nerves and she seemed more relaxed then the whole time Maria had been there.

Ellen came by moments later and sent the family off on a picnic, saying it would be good to show Maria and the younger girls the grounds since they hadn't really seen much other than the house and the barn. When Georg asked whose idea it was, Ellen had simply said Max before looking at Maria.

Louisa went back into the barn to fetch Annie and get her ready while the rest of the children sorted out who was gonna carry what.

"Can you ride? I can always grab a bike-" Georg addressed Maria

"Believe it or not I can ride" Maria crossed her arms and gave him a sassy look.

"Agathe did say she was friends with a hick" Georg teased as he crossed his arms

"Ugh" Maria scoffed "I'm not a hick, I have all my teeth thank you very much, but I learned how to ride when I was about Kurt's age." Maria said as the pair made their way back over to the children from talking to Ellen.

"Well then we ought to race sometime" Georg smirked "Although I think Duke could run any of these other horses ragged" He bragged

"Hmm I don't know I feel like Ray could give him a run for his money" Maria chuckled.