My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus)

The week had flown by, and Lucius and Amanda were getting everything ready to head back to New Zealand.

Their time in Valentia had been amazing. This visit had given them a lot of good memories, but it was time to return to university.

Maximus and the others were hoping they could visit during the kids' next break.

Lucius, on his end, would've preferred to stay until Paul talked to Pierre, but the boy still hadn't decided whether he wanted to speak with the man claiming to be his father.

Reluctantly, Lucius had to leave the matter in Laura and Maximus's hands. Maximus had told him he just had to wait until Paul was ready, and that it shouldn't hold Lucius back from leaving.

So he advised him to let Paul make the decision when he was ready, without pressure. Maximus would take care of things once the boy made up his mind to meet his real father.

Before leaving, Lucius and Amanda stopped by the Palmer house. He wanted to introduce Amanda and, more importantly, wanted her to meet little Isabelle.

"Hey there! We came to see Serenity... Do you think I could say hi to her?" Lucius asked as he stood at the entrance of the mansion.

"Good morning, Lucius! Yeah, she's in bed with our baby-come on in," Alden replied kindly.

He could've held a grudge in his heart for everything the young man had done, but he had to admit-if Lucius hadn't been there for Serenity, she would've felt totally alone, or maybe wouldn't have even made it to the hospital the way she did.

Lucius held Amanda's hand, and she walked beside him down the hallway, taking in the decor of the place. It was obvious she couldn't stop being amazed-this family was really rich.

Her thoughts drifted back to the moments she'd had with her own father. He always acted like one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in Spain, but nothing compared to what she was seeing now.

When they reached the master bedroom, Alden knocked on the door.

"Babe! Hey... You've got visitors. Decent?"

"Oh! Yeah, come in, come in..." Serenity said as she gently laid Isabelle down on the bed and stood up.

Alden opened the door and let her brother and his fiancée in. Serenity looked at the girl and smiled when she saw Lucius-the new version of him-holding her hand.

Even though Serenity had shared the experience of giving birth to her daughter with him, she still found it a little hard to adjust to this new side of Lucius.

But she had to admit her brother looked genuinely happy in this new chapter of his life.

"Lucius! Come in look, the baby just fell asleep..."

"That's great! Although... kind of a shame."

"Why?" Serenity asked, a little surprised by her brother's comment.

"First off, I want you to meet Amanda Hayward. She's my girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you, Amanda! So you're the one making my brother's heart beat faster!" Serenity said, and without a doubt, Lucius blushed. "That's wonderful...! Welcome to the family!" she added, pulling Amanda into a hug.

Feeling Serenity's warm, genuine hug, Amanda felt a wave of nostalgia. She didn't have sisters and barely any close friends, so being welcomed like this made her feel a strange kind of warmth.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," Amanda said, a little shy for the first time.

"Oh, don't mention it! I can see Lucius is totally into you... That makes me happy. He and I have only just started talking and making amends... We still have a long way to go, but so far, so good."

"Really, thank you! Thanks again for being so welcoming," Amanda repeated, clearly feeling at home.

"Alright, alright—let's not get too sentimental just yet, we haven't even told you why we came," Lucius said, breaking the emotional moment as he noticed Amanda's eyes starting to tear up.

"What? Didn't you come to meet little Isabelle?" Serenity asked, waving them over to where the baby lay asleep.

"Well yeah, I wanted Amanda to meet her... but also, umm... we came to say goodbye..." Lucius said, unsure of how to break the news.

"What?" Serenity said, caught off guard.

"Yeah... So, we'd asked the university for an extension and came to spend a month with Maximus and the others. That month's up now, and we're heading back to New Zealand this evening..."

"Wow... I wasn't expecting that. Not now, just when we were finally starting to talk like normal people again," Serenity said, clearly a bit let down.

"I know! But trust me, if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't want to face Judge Moriarty's wrath. If we don't keep our word, he'll send his goons to drag us back."

"Plus, I really don't want to disappoint Angela-his wife. She trusted me enough to let me come, and I don't want to let her down..."

"You lived with a judge?" Serenity asked, intrigued.

"That's right. Before my mom passed, she left me in Judge Moriarty's care. He's a tough, fair guy-but if you get on his bad side, yikes. Let's just say his methods aren't exactly gentle," Lucius said, thinking back to old memories.

"Oh, I see... Honestly, I thought we'd get to spend more time together, but if you have to go, I'm glad we at least made peace before you did," Serenity said, a little resigned.

"Don't worry, Serenity! As long as I'm

around, I'll make sure to drag him back here to visit. He tends to craw into his shell sometimes, but I promise he'll come back-he's got two nieces now, and he'll want to see their first steps."

"Thanks, Amanda. I know a lot of that's thanks to you, and really—again— welcome to the family. I hope we'll be celebrating a wedding or some other happy news soon..."

"Well, we're still in school and we've got a lot planned out... but first, we want to get a little more settled, right?"

"Don't listen to him! He always thinks everything goes exactly according to plan," Amanda said with a smile.

"Well, what is true, is that once we're back in New Zealand, this amazing woman's not living in the dorms anymore-she's moving in with me," Lucius said, totally sure of himself.

While the three of them chatted away, Alden came by to check in on them. Serenity might've accepted her brother, but Alden still had some reservations. "Babe... Can you believe Lucius and Amanda came to say goodbye?"

"What?"

"Yeah, we've got to head back to New Zealand. That's where our life is our studies, everything. But don't worry-we're definitely planning to come back," Lucius said confidently.

"When are you leaving?"

"This evening. We just stopped by to say goodbye... Hopefully, we'll be back during the next school break."

"Well, what can you do... Honestly, I'm glad you two worked things out, and more than anything, Lucius, I'm glad you were there for Serenity when she needed you

most."

Both couples talked for a little while longer. Isabelle stayed sound asleep, so Lucius and Amanda said goodbye quietly. They gave her a gentle hug, then laid her back on the bed.noveldrama

Lucius looked at the baby one last time and smiled-because that little girl symbolized the bond that now existed between the two siblings.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. Serenity felt a lump rise in her throat. She

didn't understand why it hit her so hard-just a week ago, Lucius had been a total stranger.