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She was disappointed. She wanted to stay right here in Salzburg, at the Von Trapp mansion if possible.

Okay, she knew that wasn’t possible, as they’d used a Hollywood set and different locations in Salzburg for the interior and exterior of the home, but she wanted to see every iconic filming location.

She wanted to sing and get carried away in the music and the picturesque indoor and outdoor settings.

“Do you think we’ll come back for a Sound of Music tour?”

“It’s on the schedule for the end of next week,” Peter said.

“Oh, bless you.” She relaxed into the seat and was quickly distracted and had plenty of mind-blowing scenery to occupy her.

She gaped at and commented on the picturesque canyon overflowing with greenery.

A river rushed along beside the car and if she tilted her head, she could almost see the tip-tops of the green and blue mountains.

These mountains blew her away. They were as thrilling and novel to her as the fortress, the Nonnberg convent, the Von Trapp mansion, and the opera house made from a stone quarry.

Would she be able to hike or bike and explore the gorgeous mountains? What would she do when her legs got tired? She’d be mortified if her protector noticed the disability her former boyfriends had at first tolerated and eventually ridiculed her for. The familiar panic pressed in on her chest.

The men hadn’t said much on the flight, and none of them were too chatty on the drive. They simply murmured responses to all her effusiveness.

She exclaimed over every bit of the scenery from the mountains to the river and every wildflower and craggy rock and …

“Bells!” she cried out when they reached a wider valley with green sloping hills and cows chomping lazily on the grass. “The cows really do have bells on them.”

They all chuckled.

She rolled down her window and leaned out. It was cooler than she was used to in June and she only had the thin dress on, but she didn’t care. She could smell the freshness of this land, the river and flowers and greenness of it all, and she could hear the cowbells.

After half an hour of geeking out about the landscape, she realized they were approaching their destination and found herself praying.

She prayed she hadn’t offended any of the men with her earlier comments, prayed she’d made the right choice coming on this crazy adventure and trusting Madelyne and Brandon.

She wished Janie was here or that she was comfortable enough to share her feelings with one of these men.

Being surrounded by children all day, mostly toddlers, silence was an anomaly to her, but even as verbose as she was, she wouldn’t share the discomfort creeping back in with huge men she hardly knew.

The epic scenery the good Lord had created had distracted her, but as the minutes wore by, she started to worry again about being alone with some tough military man for two weeks. She tried not to focus on her sweating palms and tightening neck muscles whenever she was approached by a buff man.

Four weeks ago, she’d broken up with her abusive ex Darren when she found out he was only marrying her for an inheritance.

He’d pushed her to the ground, mocking her.

She’d been attacked by the disgruntled father of one of her charges two days later.

Added to previous boyfriend neglect or misuse and her own father’s abuse, her fears had grown to where her friend Janie had to greet any large men who brought their children into the center.

Spending most of her life in Eudora, Kansas, she’d never been around mountains and had seen nothing to compete with the likes of the soaring and verdant Austrian Alps. She’d only seen such scenery on a movie screen or social media post.

She loved her hometown—down-to-earth people, the vast prairie stretching from their small city as far as the eye could see, lots of opportunities to help the children shuffled through foster care and using her facility as a safe space until they were placed in a new home.

She’d miss the children for the next two weeks, but her staff at The Safe Spot reassured her they had it all under control.

The local police were more diligent than ever protecting her facility, staff, and children since the awful night a month ago when Grady Worthen had broken in, tried to kidnap his two-year-old son, and almost killed Lizzy as she fought to protect little Harrison from his abusive father.

She boasted a gnarly scar from the knife wound to her chest, but miraculously she’d lived.

Her efforts to battle Grady had held him at bay.

Her best friend Janie had hid with Harrison in a closet, and Grady had no choice but to run when he’d heard the sirens approaching.

Harrison was with a loving family in Lawrence now.

They all prayed his father never found him.

Unfortunately, Grady was still at large and sending her threatening notes through the mail.

The notes all stated that she’d ruined his life and that he would destroy hers.

Two nights ago, her ex Darren had the nerve to show up at her apartment, acting all sweet and humble and offering to be there for her as he’d heard about the notes and threats from Grady from a friend in the police department.

She’d been terrified to stand up to him, but she’d stood her ground and told him their relationship had ended a month ago when she’d found out he’d asked her to marry him because he received millions in inheritance from his grandfather for getting engaged to a ‘sweet, God-fearing woman’ and he’d get more money when they wed.

She had told him she didn’t want any kind of help from him, and if he didn’t leave she’d call the police.

It was a relief when he claimed she’d live to regret dumping him and stomped away. He hadn’t hit or shoved her again. That was something.

Her mom and Janie believed she’d find an amazing and kind man someday. The easier and wiser plan was to stay single.

She wouldn’t be alone for the next two weeks.

What would that look like? Terrifying was the only answer she had.

Maybe it was just unsettling. Surely the ‘kindest man’ Brandon and Madelyne knew wouldn’t physically abuse her.

The men in this vehicle were supposed to protect her, and they’d been nothing but kind to her.

She’d be fine. She hoped.

Lizzy pushed all the angst away and focused again on the vibrant landscape framed by the vehicle’s windows.

The soaring purple, blue, and green Alps, the sweeping green carpet covering the fields and the hills leading up to the mountains, the wildflowers, the sparkling teal-blue streams, rivers, and lakes.

Even the sky looked more intensely blue than she’d ever seen it.

The valley started to open up again, and they drove past more cows grazing in the fields. She heard the clanking of bells as they bowed and lifted their heads.

“The bells are so quaint and perfect,” she said and gestured up the green hill. “This looks like where Maria sang in the opening scene.”

The men smiled but didn’t comment.

She leaned out the window as Peter slowed down.

“This is Hallstatt,” he explained. “We’ll be staying just across the lake.”

“Oh, my,” she breathed.

The mountainous town of Hallstatt and the lake were a feast for the eyes and something straight out of a storybook. The small town looked to boast several churches, but she loved the Gothic style church complete with the perfect steeple the best.

“You were right, Peter. I’m not disappointed. This is gorgeous and I love it here!”

The men chuckled.

“How old do you think this town is?” In the cemetery at home, they had some graves that were from the 1800s.

“Hallstatt is actually seven thousand years old,” Elijah said.

“What?” She yanked her focus from the view to the man.

He nodded seriously. “The salt mines date back to five thousand BC. It’s on the schedule to take a tour and you can learn about it.”

“Oh, my. I am overwhelmed. I can’t even wrap my mind around that.” She wanted to get a daily itinerary, but she adored surprises and would love to simply see what each day brought. As long as she got her Sound of Music fix eventually, she’d be thrilled.

She focused on the beauty as they skirted the lake and drove away from Hallstatt.

For the moment, she buried her uncertainty and fear of Grady Worthen or Darren Henderson and reveled in the scenery.

Sadly, she couldn’t completely bury the anticipation slash trepidation of meeting the man who would be by her side for the next two weeks.

She couldn’t believe the famed model Madelyne Presley and the even more famous billionaire bachelor Brandon Richards had found her through a newspaper article online about her center and the drama of her and Janie protecting Harrison and her being knifed by Grady.

Those two incredible people had offered her this two-week escape.

She prayed it would be an escape and not another nightmare.

What if the man she was supposed to hang out with the next two weeks made her feel uncomfortable and uncertain? What if he scared her and she couldn’t relax even amidst such beauty?

She knew logically that most men were great guys, and it was on her that she was uneasy around the opposite sex. But she preferred children and skinny teenagers of the male variety.

She’d been born with a mild case of cerebral palsy.

When she got tired or overanxious, her knees naturally bowed together and it was hard not to drag her feet.

Most of the time nobody noticed, but it was something her exes had belittled her about and the reason her dad had most often touted for hitting her.