Mirabella frowned when he said the matter of it hurting depended upon many factors. She just nodded and felt a little comforted as Ebeneezer stated when the time came he would be gentle with her. She took a deep breath, nodding as she leaned into his touch of her cheek. This made her feel a little better about her situation. She was somewhat starting to see this marriage would indeed be one both he and she could work together on. She looked up at him and watched as he reached into the pocket of his jacket.

She looked at the key ring he handed her and was a little confused when he stated there were two locks these would not open. What were the locks? And what would be hidden there? It made her curious. But she also knew it would be best to not go searching for the keys to those two locks. She did not wish to angry her new husband so early in the marriage. So she slipped the keys into the pocket of her dress, speaking, "I would not put it past Enoch to do something vengeful. You be very careful as well."

Mirabella blinked in surprise when he pressed his lips to her forehead before leaving to her in the house by herself. It was very quiet, something she was used to and somewhat enjoyed. She smiled softly to herself, barring the door as he said to before getting to work. She straightened up a bit as she explored the house, taking note of little things, then noticing the time draw closer to noon she looked in the kitchen to see what she had at hand and began lunch for the three of them, reading a book from the bookshelf she found in Ebeneezer's room as she cooked to pass the time until Ebeneezer and his father returned.

It was a strange feeling, Ebenezer thought as he took his leave of her, being married. It was not a notion he'd had yesterday afternoon nor any afternoon for some time! Always he had been... otherwise occupied, with no time to dedicate to even the consideration of what married life might be like for him. And now, in that short time span between midnight and noon, he was wed to a beautiful young woman that he knew absolutely nothing about! She and her family had arrived some time after he had been sent abroad, he thought. He'd been born in the early days of the town and had a good notion of which families had and had not been about at the time. That was all. He had literally just married as complete a stranger as was possible. Still... the marriage would help protect her; he did not think of himself as a bad man by any means, merely a man caught up in circumstances beyond his control. Was he wrong to force her into this match? Not when it would reap such benefits for both of them? And who was to say that, in their Calvanistic influenced views, Ebenezer and Mirabella might not find this was all to God's plan anyway.

He shook his head sadly as he walked. He was rationalizing again, he knew. Lapsarianism, as popular as it was with many of the town, was not a view he agreed with anyway. Ebenezer had sinned and as such was so condemned. That did not mean he had to be a monster.

"Goodman Stone!" Simon Kuyper hailed the preacher's son as he approached the smithy. Setting down hammer upon the anvil, the burly man bulked his way over to Ebenezer while wiping his hands on the scorched leather apron. The man was all beard and smiles. "God keep you, sir!"

Ebenezer nodded solemnly in turn. "And you, sir! I bring the payment, as I promised. Might we settle the matter between you and my father?"

The blacksmith nodded in turn. "By all means. Your father is the best of men. Always has been. I'll be glad to have this debt settled for him!" And Ebenezer knew why: of all the debts, the debt to Simon was the largest. Ebenezer had been paying things off bit by bit since he arrival, and now this final payment would put all to rest. After handing the tradesman the leather purse, Ebenezer waited patiently for him to count it and write him a receipt. Mirabella being alone in the house with Enoch as large was not a comforting thought! Schooling himself to patience, he gazed up at the clouds overhead in the azure sky when Simon's started cry caught his attention.

"Is there something wrong, Goodman?"

"No, not at all, Goodman Stone." The smith had pulled one of the coins out and was holding it up to the light. "There's a few Spanish escudos in here! Wherever did you get these?"

Blast and damnation! Ebenezer thought in a mad panic. I thought I had sorted those all out! "On the Continent, I was sometimes paid for my assistances and duties to my tutors in whatever coin was at hand. My honored father was kind enough to produce some change for me when I returned and must not have had time to exchange them yet."

The smith still held the coin up to the light for a little longer than Ebenezer would have liked before finally shrugging and tossing it back into the leather purse. "I'll have to make change-"

"No, no," Ebenezer insisted smoothly. "I know this debt has been some time in the paying. Take it then in interest and in gratitude!"

It took some time longer to convince the smith that more than the approved 5% interest was still acceptable and that if he felt any shame or guilt in it, he could always gift it to the poor. Still it was nervous heart that Ebenezer made his way home. He would have to be more careful in the future; Simon Kuyper was not the smartest of men, and not all would be fooled by such a quick explanation as to how Spanish coin ended up in the purse of a man who was supposed to have been in the Netherlands.

***

Enoch's fist pounded heavily on the door to Reverend Stone's house. "Open the door! Open it, I say, or it will be all the worse for you, Mirabella!" That hammock of a hand struck the wood again, shaking the thick bar in its sockets. "At least come to talk to me! You can do that much, can't you, woman?"

Striking the door's frame now, the whole of the wooden planking vibrated from the sheer force of the blows. "Mirabella, come to this door now!"

Mirabella had been sitting beside the fire where the lunch for Ebeneezer and her father in law cooked, a book in hand, reading silently, when she heard a mad pounding at the door, and from the force of it, she knew just who it was even before the man behind it spoke. Enoch yelled angrily at the door, commanding she come out and speak with him. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly placed the book down, fear growing in her as she saw the door and the frame shake, the bolts in the bar vibrating. Surely the door wouldn't hold if the man kept that up. She wasn't sure what she should do. Ebeneezer was gone and she was home alone. If Enoch managed to break the bar, then who knew what he could do to her before anyone showed up. Mira stood against the wall beside the door, speaking loud enough for the man to hear, "There is nothing to speak about! Ebeneezer will be home soon, now get you gone or you will regret coming to this door!"

Yet, that only seemed to make the man madder. The door shook harder and Mira flinched with each beating of the door. Her fears grew more as she saw the wood in the bar begin to split and her frantic eyes began searching for something that would give her an idea of what to do. Maybe if she locked herself in one of the bedrooms? She nodded to herself and moved quickly to Ebeneezer's room, getting the key ring out of her dress. Only there were so many keys, she wasn't sure which went to what door yet. She started trying each one and when she was halfway through with the ring, she heard the nasty cracking of wood and just knew he had finally broken the bar.

She fearfully moved into the room and shut the door, though she found the right key a moment too late. She slipped it into the hole and was about to turn it when Enoch got to the door and threw it open. A loud yelp come from Mira as he grabbed her arm and jerked her out of the room, the force so strong that it caused her fall to the ground. She tried scrambling to her feet but he just hit her in the back with his foot and rolled her over pinning her down there. With one last chance at getting help, for she wasn't sure what Enoch would do to her at this time, she screamed as loud as she could before the man hit her hard enough to knock her unconscious, laying there motionless under him.

Enoch panted with the exertion, staring down at her with a half snarl still on his face. After leaving the courthouse, he had taken lunch in the form of several beers, and while beer and ale were staples in the colony he had downed several pints of the brew before deciding that Mirabella needed a lesson. One did not simply walk out on one's fiancé. More importantly, one did not walk out on a legal contract. Enoch desired her, wanted what was owned to him and now he was intent on taking it. His eyes roved along her prone body, taking in its pleasing curves and sweet face. As drunk as he was, he could still function... But not here. Not in the preacher's house with her so called husband returning soon. Enoch did not fear Ebenezer. The man was nothing a scarecrow with a beardless and boyish face, stuffed with nothing but scripture and hot air instead of leaves and straw. What could he do against a man such as Enoch, who was stronger than even the blacksmith??

Bending low, he scooped Mirabella up into his arms. He slavered slightly as the sigh of her lips parted just so, her neck exposed. It was tempting to take her right then and there, oh so tempting! But no. Not when he might be found out too quickly. He also wanted her awake for this, to know that it was the man she had betrayed who took her maidenhead and bound her. Out the door and into the woods he went, unknowingly following that same deer path that Mirabella and Ebenezer had used just the night before until he came to that same clearing that she had danced in. Settling her down as she started to groan, he ripped off her bonnet and pulled her long hair freely from its bun. It spilled luxuriously out upon the green grass, shining brightly in the sunlight and arousing her attacker all the more. To see a woman's hair unbound like this... Enoch cruelly grabbed at its length, pulling and twisting her hair into a rough rope and tying it off around a handy tree root. With her hair tied to the ground, she would not be able to escape his attentions so easily.

***

Ebenezer felt a hint of panic when he saw the house door standing ajar. Surely his father had returned first was all, and Mirabella was airing out the house? Two men living on their own had given the house a certain odor, he had to cringingly admit; what woman would not want fresh air as she cleaned? The closer he came, however, the more the worry increased. "Mirabella? MIrabella!"

The door bar had been forced, he found, the one bracket literally smashed out of the doorframe and allowing the thick wooden bar to drop away. Ebenezer called her name out again, several times more as he searched the house without sign. "Enoch," he muttered, "It had to be Enoch. But where would he go? Think! He wouldn't take her to his home, even his father would not stand for that... The woods then. He would have taken her away unobserved and into the woods, it was was the only answer! Any other direction and he would have been seen in the broad daylight by any number of people, but as the forest's edge bordered the Stone family's property... There was little time to waste, but a few seconds were spared for an additional consideration. Off into the woodlands Ebenezer charged, each hand carrying a piece of his past that he thought he would never pick up again.

Mirabella was confused and dazed when she awoke, her head throbbing making it hard for her to really focus enough on the situation at hand. It was only when she tried to lie her head that she realized something was terribly wrong. She then s.aw that over her was none other then Enoch, having her pinned down, her bonnet gone and her hair, though out of its normal bun, was attached to something, leaving her unable to escape.

She tried to scream, but his mouth roughly covered hers, shuffling her frightened screams, tears streaming down her face, her delicate hands trying their best to weakly push him off and nails trying to scratch at his skin. All that did though was make him all the more determined.

She cried more in fear, struggling under the man's weight and feeling her dress get ripped at more, she was so sure she wouldn't be able to escape her horrid fate this time.

<<Time Lapse>>

Ebenezer was glad she understood his need to see the magistrate immediately. The truth, or at least a version of it, had best be outed for all to hear and see if they had any hope of remaining free and alive. The colony laws were fair in judgement but harsh in sentencing, and Ebenezer had no desire to see himself stretched at the end of a rope with his heels kicking before the crowd. He'd seen too many hangings and had no desire to be a part of one ever again! But it was Mirabella's tenderness that caught him off guard at that moment, not the fear of the noose. The way she begged him to return as soon as allowed, the tightening of her hand upon his, the look in those all too blue eyes... The preacher's son felt his heart skip a beat. Was she falling in love with him? Or was this merely a reaction to the fact that he had been her savior, the man who blackmailed her into marriage also being the one to come to her rescue against a far more heinous crime? Worse... was he falling in love with her? He shunted that aside for the moment as he kissed her forehead once more and then reluctantly departed.

Goody was home, thankfully. A stout, roly-poly woman of some sixty years with no living husband and three daughters, she was a no nonsense soul that all the same would do anything for a friend. Or in this case, a deceased friend's family. While displeased to have her baking interrupted at Ebenezer's sudden arrival, the hastily imparted information that Tace Stone's son had just gotten married that morning and his wife had been attacked before luncheon that same day calmed her ire. She took charge, a natural element for her actually. With daughters directed to carry on the baking, the old woman bustled quickly out the door to the Stones' house to see what aide she might render. Ebenezer's somber thanks followed her out the door, himself a moment after to head towards the courthouse.

Even before he burst in, he could hear men talking inside the courthouse regarding the matters of the day. His arrival drew stares of clerks and townsfolk all at their business, not only for the manner in which he had slammed open the doors but in how he huffed from exertion, his face red from running. Gulping a large breathe, he called out, "Magistrate! Magistrate Willford!"

So presumptuously summoned out of his office, the beefy man appeared with a frown to stare at the young man as he gasped for air. Ebenezer was glad to see his father, Reverend Stone, follow Willford out of the room and into the hall. Less fortuitous was the appearance of Judge Mayhew. Ebenezer had hoped to lay the matter before everyone... except the dead man's father. This was not going to be pretty, only there was no way around it.

"Magistrate Willford," he said in a slightly calmer voice. "God's mercy. Enoch Mayhew is dead." There was a sudden uproar of questions, questions, questions from all around him, startled declarations and demands for clarification from every man within ear shot as they converged upon him in concern and outrage; only the three old men held both ground and tongue until the matter was laid out before them. If only all three: magistrate, judge and preacher.... if only all three did not look so grim. Ebenezer did his best to speak above the crowd until they began to settle. "After my newly wedded wife and I left her, I escorted her back to my father's house and bid her bar the door until either I or my father returned. I went then to see Goodman Kuyper to settle some matters of account, a debt paid to him. Upon my return, I found the door into the house had been forced! Mirabella was missing! Fearing savages, I took up a wheel lock pistol and gave chase in the most likely direction: the woods."

He raised his head to stare Judge Mayhew in the eyes. Ebenezer had no quarrel with the Judge, but given the day's events and Mirabella's past beatings, he felt there should at least be some shame in the old man's heart for his son's character. "Some ways in I found Enoch Stone and my wife. He had abducted her and tied her hair to a root branch so as to keep her pinned, her clothes askew and him poised above her. I arrived in time to stop him before the act could be committed, only he charged at me with breeches half down. So murderous was his intent, that I shot him dead in protection of myself and my wife, Mirabella."

The courthouse had become deathly quiet as each man thought on what they had just heard. Ebenezer knew he had to keep going, that he had to hammer in his version of what had happened before any of them might recover from their shock. "Enoch Mayhew abducted my wife against her will for his own carnal pleasure, attacked her and attempted to attack me, leaving me no choice but to shoot him dead. And may God have mercy on my soul for it."

Mirabella was quite nervous in seeing Ebeneezer leave, and hoped that all would be well when he returned. After his departure, she got up from the bed and dressed herself properly, though did not throw out the ripped clothing. Best to keep that as some form of evidence in case the court wished to see it. She layed the crumpled pile that had once been a dress on the dresser.

As she moved into the kitchen, she gasped, finding the lunch she had been cooking before Enoch's unwelcome visit was still over the fire and now burning. She quickly put out the fire and sighed as she started to scrape the burnt contents out of the pan. Though, she didn't get too far with it because right as she scraped the first burnt piece off, in without warning, walked Goody Owlswick came in and seemed completely shocked Mirabella was out of bed.

The old woman scolded her for not resting after such an event and shooed the girl out of the kitchen to the bedroom. Mira reluctantly agreed and layed in the bed, covering herself up with the blanket as Goody closed the door leaving her to nap. Mira didn't fall asleep immediately. She curled up there, thinking about everything that had happened in less than 24 hours. She had been caught doing something 'sinful', been black mailed by none other than the preacher's son, refused her betrothed, gotten married, and then saved by her husband from the abusive man attempting to harm her. And she was so sure more new experiences would come within the next few days.

Sighing, she rested there and soon her eyes felt heavy, causing her to fall asleep.

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."

Mirabella's peaceful rest had helped to ease her mind and heart for the time being. She, surprisingly even after all the horrible events of the day, was able to sleep and have good dreams. She dreamed of her father and mother, of dancing about in the forests, of being free of Epoch and the rules of the village, and of Ebeneezer. She didn't know why she dreamed of him, but she did and she didn't mind it. He was very kind and handsome, and him being her husband only seemed to add to what was good about him. But, there was also that other side of him. The side that he had shown when saving her from that beastly Enoch. He had been dark and dangerous. It was scary, unheard of, and.....exciting. She knew it should be wrong, how he had acted was extremely sinful, but strangely that side of him was something she yearned to see again.

In hearing a soft voice call her name, Mire stirred slightly from her sleep, mumbling and whining as she turned over to avoid being woke up much as a child would. But the voice and the hand that held hers was persistent and so her eyes blinked open, immediately confused and somewhat frightened at her surroundings, as this wasn't the place she normally woke up at. But then her mind event back to the events of that day and her body relaxed. She looked over to see who had waken her and when she draw it was Ebeneezer back from the court house, she quickly sat up.

"You're back! Are you okay? What happened? What did the court say? They didn't do anything to hurt you, did they?" Realizing she was blabbering and asking too many questions, she stopped herself and decided to let him speak before asking anything else. She sat there, looking at him with worried eyes, silently begging him to speak.

Ebenezer let her go on, too weary to put any halt to her questions while also finding her concern charming. It had been a long afternoon and a longer evening, one with results that he should have expected but feared all the same. He summoned up a calm smile for his new bride as he did his best to explain.

"I took them to the body," he began carefully, "so they might see for themselves what was wrought. Even showed them where some strands of your hair were tied about the root as further evidence. Most of them were much inclined to believe our story at face value. Enoch had... few friends willing to speak up for him in his death, and so his sins in life have caught up with him to skew any possible claim to his innocence. Judge Mayhew, however... still demand an inquest and trial. A judge shall be brought up from one of the other towns to preside, although who is not known yet. The magistrate insists that this is all just formality, that I should have nothing to worry about and in time this will all be behind us. My father... seems less than sure of that. He's moving himself to his cousins' house, the Chandlers, until this has all blown over. In the meantime, while not in chains I am to consider myself under house arrest. It is upon my honor that I remain here unless otherwise summoned by the court until the matter is settled, save for church attendance, for if I attempt to flee then my guilt in this is as sure as a confession to murder."

"There was little mention of you in any of this," he reassured Mirabella, "and you are not bound by the same restrictions as I. Keep you to your silence and we should weather this storm well enough."

Raising his hand gently, he cupped her cheek in his palm to gaze at her with both attraction and... guilt? "I am sorry, you know. That I forced you into this. Only it's for the best for us both, you see. Once we're out of our current dilemma, at any rate. I wish I could have given you at least a proper wedding night, not one where we must fearfully await the dawn to see what the new day might bring us. Beautiful Mirebella.... Married as we are now, what is there for us to do?"

Mirabella frowned deeply when he said they were having a judge come down for a trail. It worried her. She couldn't help but wonder if the trail would go in his favor. What would happen if it didn't? The thought of the noose being around his neck nearly brought her to tears.

When he placed his hand on her cheek she leaned into his touch, finding some comfort there, her blue eyes moving to look up at him, a little surprised when he actually apologized to her for forcing her into this marriage. If she were honest, she hadn't wanted to at first, mainly out of fear from Enoch's wrath. But, even in this little time with him and with Enoch out of the way, she was finding it extremely easy to fall for him.

As he spoke, Mira moved closer to him on the bed and curled up there against him where he sat on the edge of the bed, her head rested under his chin, "What happened doesn't have to bother us. You can still give me a proper wedding night." She said quietly, moving slightly to look up at him for his response.

Staring down at her, Ebenezer was taken aback by her statement. It was not one he would have expected her to state! Mouth slightly agape at he recovered from his confusion, he stared into the depths of her incredibly bright blue eyes to become slightly lost in them. It did nothing for his sense of guilt for blackmailing Mirabella to have her now so clearly infer that she not only accepted the fate he had forced upon her but was willing to see it through in every detail. He felt horrified at his own actions and intensely charmed by hers.

"Mirabella," he uttered softly, "I... You do not have to... do this, if you do not wish. I am well aware that what I have done to you is... not something a good Christian man should do, even though it solves many problems for us both. Enoch can no longer harm you, and I swear that I am not a man to raise his fists to any woman save in defense of my own life. I needed a bride to help... become who I need to be at this time. I know that makes no sense now, and I pray you forgive me for both that and for hoping you need never know the truth behind it all." Ebenezer left it unsaid that other problems had arisen from his hasty solution, but that was the way of the world anyway. "You have bound yourself to me. But I know you do not love me, and you should not have to sacrifice your maidenhead to a man who is not in your heart! Especially so soon after Enoch attempted to take you in so vile a manner. Look, you! I can take my pen knife and cut the heel of my palm so we might smear the sheets with blood! That will convince any who might pass by and see our laundry drying that the deed was done!"

"Only..." Suddenly, Ebenezer's throat felt dry. He had to lick his own lips as he began to recall how hard some temptations were to resist. Mirabella curled close against him where he sat, he could feel both her softness and her warmth through his clothing. It was a sensation that promised everything. And that she was a virgin, untested and ignorant, meant she was his for the molding! Mirabella may not love him, true. Had that stopped him at any other point in his time away? The only difference now was that she was his wife!

He started again. "Mirabella, I would have you take your own will in this," Ebenezer carefully instructed despite the heated beating of his own heart. "If it... If it is in your will to have a proper wedding night... then but kiss me now."

Mirabella listened to all Ebeneezer said carefully. It was true, Enoch's attack on her had shaken her up a little bit, but it wasn't enough to keep her from her wedding night. Ebeneezer continued on, saying how he had needed a bride to hide his past. What that past was, Mira was curious to know, but would wait until later on to ask such questions. Then he was stating that if she had no will to give herself away to him, she didn't have to. And yet, him telling her that made her all the more willing to do so. She was his wife and he her husband. She was sure the deed would be done sooner or later no matter how long they waited, and Mira herself preferred that it be on her wedding night.

She looked down at her hands shyly for a moment as he spoke, her body still closely against his, and when he said if she willed for a proper wedding night to kiss him, she hesitantly looked back up at him. She carefully leaned up, pressing her lips against his in a slow and sweet kiss. Pulling back, she spoke softly, an unsure look on her face,"Was that okay?" She had never kissed anyone before, and wasn't all to sure how what they were about to do would go or how they would go about doing the deed. She was heavily relying on him as the man to lead her through this. She just hoped it would be pleasant for both of them.