After his fourth date with Julia Kaitlin Liverton in October 2022, Marco Foster Santarlasci called his parents, excited to share with them that he had met someone special.

“Within seconds, my mom went online and found a bunch of Julia’s photos, and my dad remarked that she’s so beautiful,” Mr. Santarlasci said.

Days later, on Oct. 29, Mr. Santarlasci’s father, Joseph Howard Santarlasci Jr., died unexpectedly. Though only two weeks had passed since Mr. Santarlasci and Ms. Liverton met, Mr. Santarlasci wanted her by his side, so he asked her to come to his apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where his family and close friends gathered to mourn his father.

Ms. Liverton called her mother, Foong-Khwan Siew, for advice. “She said, you don’t need to say anything or do anything, you just need to be there for him,” Ms. Liverton said. “So that’s what I tried to do.”

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“Her being there meant the world to me,” Mr. Santarlasci said. “It cemented our relationship. Since that night we haven’t been apart from each other for more than 24 hours.”

Ms. Liverton, 26, grew up in Harleysville, Pa., and moved to Brooklyn in 2016 to attend Pratt Institute, where she received a bachelor’s degree in industrial design. She is a freelance industrial designer for various companies, including Chewy, which sells pet-related products, and has a side business designing wedding stationery.

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