She stood before a faded oak door and unlocked it with shaky hands. Jacob greeted her with a caress and pulled her inside.

They were alone together in a silent, dark, empty room, accompanied only by a solitary candle.

Jacob and Rose made love for the first time that afternoon.

“Oh, Rose,” said Jacob. “Please don’t go. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“I made a promise,” Rose said calmly. Her words were stone in the air, unrevealing of the tears welling in her eyes.

Her pure-white dress whirled as she closed the door behind her.

“I love you,” she whispered.

She walked down the path toward her house. Everyone else was continuing their merry little lives, as if hers wasn’t ending.
She kissed her parents goodbye, emotionless, and gingerly stepped into a solemn, ebony cab. It sped off down the lane, sputtering.

Her mother dabbed her eyes with a Kleenex. “My baby girl,” she whispered.
Her father stared at the sky. “She did promise Ma she’d join the convent, but I never thought she’d really go…”