Ebenezer returned late and with a weary tread. Goody was full of questions, but knew the man well enough to know by his expression ( a look that mirrored his father's own in such times) to leave off for now. The old woman advised his wife to have gone abed and then left to tend to her own brood. After the dame had left, Ebenezer stop in the kitchen of his house and looked about as though seeing it for the first time. It had been such a... strange, unworldly day! And now? 

Taking care to move without noise, he eased himself into his... their... bedroom and carefully settled himself upon the edge of the bed. The sight of Mirabella slumbering innocently stirred his heart somewhat, and he felt all the more guilt for forcing her into this over hasty marriage. He was using her to hide from the sins of his past and her outstanding physical charms were not without temptation either. Only why had he rushed her so into it?? She might have come to actually love him before their marriage was recorded, it was possible. He should have dragged it out, created the illusion that they had been courting for at least a few weeks first instead of their marriage being an overnight whirlwind that surprised all. Was it fear for himself that drove him to have the matter over and done with? Or had it been the knowledge that however rash he might be, Enoch was far the worse and the more brutal; a long lead up to the marriage, even if coerced, could have given the brute more time to interfere. It also would have given Mirabella more time to find a way out of it, he admitted with self-recrimination. Or had it been pity for Mirabella? All the same, even tempered by the tribulations that had sprouted so quickly up around their wedding, he found himself glad in the having of her as his wife.

With great care, Ebenezer reached out to lightly take one of her slender hands in his own, calling out to her in a lullaby voice. "Mirabella? Mirabella? Time to wake. There are... things we need to discuss."