My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus)

Peter felt as if time had stopped. He rested his cheek against Aria's head, holding her tightly. He saw out of the corner of his eye how everyone else had quietly left the room, but it didn't matter. Nothing else mattered. He felt good-for the first time in a long time-wrapped in the arms of this woman.

He had never spoken about it, but he had always had the same dream. A silhouette of a woman would appear, but his mind played tricks on him. He used to think his subconscious was bringing back memories of someone, maybe Mary and what they had lived through. But no... this feeling was different.

And then, when he finally heard the woman in his arms call him son, it was as if a shock of energy ran through his entire body. That single word confirmed what he had somehow always known-she was the woman from his dreams. No one else. He was sure of it now. He had been seeing her his whole life. He didn't remember when the dreams had started, but now, his scattered memories told him that even as a child, she had always been there.

"Mom..."

Peter wiped his tears and looked at the beautiful woman with the sad eyes. He pulled her close again, inhaled her scent, kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her hands-desperate, longing. She was the woman who had always been in his dreams. He knew he wasn't crazy. She had always been there, unseen but waiting.

"P-Peter... my son..." Aria stammered, barely able to form words.

She could only look at him, mesmerized. He was the spitting image of Leonardo- the man she had known, the man who had been her first love. She had never known the monster he had become. To her, Leonardo had been nothing but her first and only love. And now, seeing her son, seeing that she had never truly lost him, knowing that he had been waiting for her too... It brought back a peace that had been stolen from her so many years ago.

Aria caressed his face with her thin hands, tracing every inch. He was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. His long, thick eyelashes-he had gotten those from her. His dark hair was hers too. Even a small, distinct mole near his ear—it was exactly like hers.

"Peter... You have no idea how much I've missed you. I should never have trusted my father. I should never have gone to that cursed place. I lost you. I wasn't strong enough to protect you. I thought your grandfather would never hurt us. But I was wrong... I was so wrong! It was all my fault!" she cried, her voice full of pain and regret.

"No! No, Mom! It wasn't your fault! No! People can be cruel-you couldn't have known what would happen," Peter said, falling to his knees so he could be at her height.

Like a child, he clung to her waist, looking up at her.

"I know there's so much we need to talk about. I know you're my mother. I know you never stopped thinking about me, just like I always saw you in my dreams. I could never see your face, but I knew you had to be important because you were always there. Don't think I blame you. No, Mom. You are the last person to blame. My father and your father-they're the ones responsible for all of this." "My son!" Aria sobbed.

She still couldn't believe it. He was here-the baby she had carried inside her, the little life that had kicked her from within. That tiny soul who had moved in response to her voice was now a grown man, a man with a family of his own. A man she had been kept from for 48 years.

"My son, my baby... You are my baby, my child... I have always loved you. I have loved you without knowing you. I... I have always loved you," Aria whispered, pulling his head against her chest.

Peter closed his eyes. He could hear it-the rhythm of her heartbeat. A deep sense of peace washed over him, something he had never felt before. It was as if he recognized that sound. As if he had never truly forgotten it.

"Come, sit, Mom... I don't want you to cry anymore. I want you to tell me what have you done all these years? Tell me everything... tell me about your life," Peter asked, eager to hear her story.

Aria looked down, avoiding his gaze. She had no real life to tell him about. Her life had stopped when she lost him. It had only truly begun again when she took control of her own fate. When she finally chose to live.

"What is it? Tell me..." Peter asked, gently lifting her chin so she would meet his eyes.

"Oh, my son... There's not much to tell..."

"Mom, we've spent a lifetime apart. You must have so much to say."

"Peter, after you were born... my life didn't change I stayed at the convent for years, devoted my life to prayer. Your grandfather left me there. had no control over anything. For years, he kept me locked away, moving me from convent to convent.

"Leonardo-your father-he told me he searched for me. But every time he got close, my father moved me again.

"This went on for years, my son. Your father never stopped looking. And then, one day, he finally found me. He freed me from that place. But by the time he did... you were already gone.

“Leonardo told me you had died when you were 31 years old. He said you had already been dead for six years when he found me.

"My heart broke, son. I was finally free, but you were gone. I spent so many nights hating myself..."

"No, Mom! You shouldn't have "

"Yes, Peter, I should have. If I had

been stronger, if I had been braver, ifnoveldrama

I had escaped, if I had searched for

Leonardo he would have helped me. I could have known you. But I was afraid. I was terrified your grandfather would hurt you.

"He was insane, son. A dangerous man. And if I, his own daughter, suffered at his hands, I couldn't even imagine what he might have done to you.

"I never realized that you weren't a baby anymore. You were a man..."

"Mom... You couldn't have done anything... If my own father, with all his power, couldn't find you-how could you? Please don't blame yourself. None of that matters now.

“What matters is that we're together. And we still have time. You're a grandmother now. And a great-grandmother. I have a 24-year-old son, a 6-year-old grandson, and two newborn

daughters. I'm about to mavel

their

mother-her name is Celeste. You'll love her.

"Mom, you and I... we've both suffered. But in the end, life brought us back together. And that's all I need. Nothing else."

Aria knew her life had been hell. She knew it. But things had changed when Leonardo found her. And even more when she met Danielle and her husband.

Peter, on the other hand, felt there was still so much to tell her. But the memories were blurry, vague. The only thing he truly knew was that he had always felt her.

For him, none of the past mattered anymore.

What mattered was that she was here.

That she was home.