Snow on a Tropical Isle

Nine years ago, he said: "I promised to take care of you—until you grew up and married." Nine years later, she said: "Since it's not you, anyone else will do." She thought he was bound by duty, never guessing this man of monastic restraint hid an obsession with her alone. "The day I married, his wedding gift to me was an entire subtropical island—and snowfall under a blazing sun."