Prettier Than The Lillies

Once upon a time there was a garden where the lilies bloomed long through the year and though they were never grown there before. It was in that garden that Essmerelda Genevieve Delgado lived and worked along the gardens edge.

She would arrive early every day and stay late into the night nurturing and caring for the lilies that grew wild there.
One day while she was working she looked out to sea and saw a great vessel approaching and she wondered to herself who it might be and she wanted to hide from its owner the beauty of the lilies that were in full bloom. She watched as the ship docked and she watched a young man come walking off the vessel and with a curious heart he walked into the garden and began to look around.

He was overwhelmed by the beauty gathered there and with the number of lilles that were growing there. He admired the wide array of colors and the sheer number of plants that were growing there.
He slowly walked toward her and she shyly pulled away but he was insistent as he pursued her deep into the garden where she made her home. He saw her standing in front of a small modest house and he asked her if that was her home and she said yes with a questioning tone in her voice. I mean you no harm he replied and he told her that his name was Reginald Edward Copenhagen and that he had set out on a journey to find beauty in the most unusual and ordinary of places and he believed that this was such a place.
She looked at him and told him her name but said that her friends called her Essy for short and he asked permission to call her that and she agreed as she called him Reggie and he smiled at her. What are your plans for this place? she asked bluntly and he responded by telling her that he would protect it from those who would rather destroy it for financial gain than to allow others to enjoy it as the people here obviously do.

source
She smiled at him and began telling him the stories of her homeland and how the lillies began to flourish and grow from one lone plant years ago before she was born. He was intrigued by her tales of love and longing as she told him that a sailor came to this land and brought the first lily to his beloved which was her distant relative and so she felt an obligation to fulfill the wishes of her ancestors and watch over the lilies that had spread far and wide across the landscape where they stood.
He told her that he was a merchant and that the beauty of this place must be preserved and protected and he was willing to stay and help her keep the land a treasure and the lilies growing but only if she wanted him to stay.
She said yes and the two of them were wed and they lived a rich life filled with love and laughter amidst the lillies that grew wild and had captured the heart of the merchant that sailed there one day and the beautiful Essmerelda Genevieve Delgado stole his heart and captured his imagination and set his heart on fire with a love more beautiful than the lillies that grew there.

Thanks for stopping by