It was dark outside. The candles were guttering. The two performed their nightly tithe. A drop of blood spilled into the bowl near their portal. Words murmured. Edmund's family had used a different phrase from hers. Their words collided over each other. She wasn't certain she had said the full benediction, yet the words didn't matter as much as the intent. It was the most they'd spoken in each other's presence since they'd been wed.
They retired to the bedroom. Shyly, she undressed under the covers. She hadn't been nude around anyone other than a doctor since she was old enough to bathe herself without needing help. Edmund joined her.
The consummation was quick and almost painless. She'd heard stories of pain and blood. Even violence when men couldn't perform their marital rights. Edmund was tender. After the end he collapsed next to her. She stroked his broad arm curiously. It was covered with curly dark hair. He was asleep.
She was truly a wife now, in name and in fact, she thought as she lay in bed, a near stranger beside her, snoring. Her mind raced with the events of the day, dwelling on and repeating innocuous matters, considering the future she had with Edmund. How it would affect her teaching. How she'd learn to live with this person. How she had to share a life with him. Her thoughts skittered away whenever they touched on the subject of children of her own.
Staring unseeing at the ceiling, her mind too agitated for sleep, her body too drowsy for activity, Anne passed her first night as a married woman. The warm bulk giving the occasional gurgled snore. His breath was none too fresh so she curled with her back to him. The dark depths of slumber claimed her soon before the sun rose.