Chapter 10 - Bloodlines of the Great LakesI didn’t hesitate.
I dropped onto one knee on the flagstone path beside the marble fountain, surrounded by the snow-covered rose bushes and the crying of the gulls over the lake.
I opened the velvet box.
Resting inside was not a commercial diamond bought from a retail catalog.
Inside sat an exquisite, hand-crafted ring of solid platinum, featuring a flawless, six-carat cushion-cut royal blue sapphire cradled by two delicate falcons carved from white gold—the historic engagement ring of my mother, Donna Francesca Moretti, which had been locked in the family vault for twenty years, waiting for the woman who would bring honor back to our name.
“Maria Ward,” I began, my deep baritone carrying an emotional tremor that shook my entire being.
“Three weeks ago, you entered my library carrying silver trays with your daughter holding a one-eyed bear, fighting through fear just to keep your child safe. You were surrounded by wealth, arrogance, and deceit, yet you never let this world tarnish the pure gold of your spirit.”
I took her hand into my massive, warm palm, my thumb gently caressing her knuckles.
“Your daughter broke the curse that held my brother’s memory in chains. You brought light into a house of shadows, and you taught me what family really means.”
I lifted the sapphire ring, holding it poised before her trembling finger.
“Maria Ward, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, Clara’s mother-protector, and the true Donna of my life, my home, and my empire?”
Tears of pure, unadulterated happiness spilled over Maria’s lashes, hot against her cheeks.
“Yes,” she choked out through her laughter, throwing her arms around my neck as I rose to my feet. “Yes, Alessandro! A thousand times yes!”
I swept her up into my arms, lifting her off the flagstones, spinning her beneath the vast winter sky before bringing my lips down onto hers in a fierce, breathless, deeply tender kiss that sealed our destiny forever.
I slid the sapphire ring onto her finger.
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It fit with absolute, divine perfection, gleaming brilliantly beneath the Chicago sun.
Clara cheered loudly from the grass, hugging the golden retriever puppy tight against her chest, while Roberto and Father Thomas raised their hands in celebration from the terrace above.
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