Three years after I buried my wife and five-year-old daughter, I caught a little girl slipping into the one garden everyone on my estate had been forbidden to enter. I should have sent her away—but when I heard her kneeling in the dead soil, talking to a photograph as if someone were listening, I realized the child of my new housekeeper was about to uncover the part of me I had spent years locking away.

Matteo didn't drop to one knee with the dramatic fanfare of a young man. He sat beside her on the wooden bench, under the warm spring sun, holding her hand with steady, unbreakable devotion.

He opened the velvet box.

Inside sat a beautiful, vintage ring featuring a warm, glowing yellow diamond surrounded by small, brilliant white diamonds—resembling the center of a sunflower.

"Grace," Matteo said, his voice rich with deep, undeniable emotion. "Three years ago, I thought my life was over. I thought the only thing left for me in this world was to guard a house full of ghosts until I died."

Grace’s eyes filled with tears, her hand trembling in his.

"Then you and Lily walked through my staff entrance," Matteo continued, his dark eyes shining with love. "You brought life back into these halls. You brought light back into my heart. You showed me that love isn't something we lose when people die; it's something we keep giving to the people who stay."

He looked toward Lily, who was busy watering her newly planted seeds with a bright red watering can.

"I don't want you to be my housekeeper, Grace," Matteo said softly. "I want you to be my wife. I want to build a real family with you and Lily in this home. Will you marry me?"

Grace let out a choked, joyful sob. She didn't hesitate for a single second. She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face into his chest.

"Yes," Grace wept happily against his neck. "Yes, Matteo! A thousand times yes!"

Matteo slipped the yellow diamond ring onto her finger, pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss as the warm spring wind rustled the leaves of the rose bushes around them.

Lily ran over, setting her red watering can down, her eyes wide as she looked at the sparkling ring on her mother's finger.

"Are we staying here forever, Mama?" Lily asked excitedly.