The question brought him up short. Was it painful? How should he answer?? A claim of ignorance would portray him in light less than favorable, he was sure. When a wife went to her husband for answers, he'd best have them, especially as he was the head of the household! And if neither of them knew, it would only make her all the more anxious, perhaps, when the time came. Yet as a proper and pious young man with a religious background, he should be ignorant of such things! Should he say that it wasn't painful at all would be an outright lie, an option he discarded in the immediate. Yet his only other option was to tell her the truth, a truth she not only may not wish to hear but a truth that could give more light to his past than he cared to shed. Ebenezer thought about his answer carefully, working the best way in his head as to phrase his reply.

"Do I know myself? No." That part was true enough. He had never been a female virgin deflowered, so how could he know? "But I have the understanding that it may hurt, yes. Some women feel next to nothing at all. For others it is an agony quickly washed away in the moment. Others, or so I have heard, may ache for a day or so. A physician friend of mine told me that there is usually some bleeding, but that this is natural and does not last." Ebenezer paused for a moment again as though giving careful thought to the matter, a thought he already had formed long before returning to the colony. Old Jacob the Tar had taught him much in their short time together. He decided to skip the fact that some women might bleed more than once; it was not a 'comfort' his wife needed to hear. "I believe... I believe there are a number of different factors involved as to whether it will hurt or not, and if so by how much and how long, not the least of which is God's will."

Ebenezer raised his hand again to caress her cheek. He did not know why he found such a pleasure in the gesture, why the skin of his fingers sought to trace the contours of her face so readily. No doubt the sin in his heart tempted him. Yet the touch was so gentle upon her that he could not see how it could be sinful. "What I can tell you, wife, is that [i]when[/i] the time comes, I shall be as gentle with you as I may be."

Dropping his hands from hers, he pulled forth a ring of keys from within his coat. "I will have others made, but hold you these for now, wife. These keys open all locks within the house save two, and should you find them those locks are best left alone. Explore the house. Find and arrange things to your liking, for it is your house now as much as it is mine and my father's. Although... best to leave his room alone. It is the smaller of the bedrooms near the back of the house." With a glance in the direction of the Judge's house, he added. "For the time being, if I or my father are not home... or if you do not have guests in place of your own choosing.... keep you the door barred. I do not trust Enoch Mayhew to leave the matter be, for even as a child I remember him to be as thick as an ox and more stubborn than a mule, may God forgive me for saying it. I have some business in town to attend to."

Leaning forward, he gave her a kiss upon the forehead. "God keep you safe, Mirabella. I shall return within the hour."