My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus)

After breakfast, where Maximus, Lucius, and Laura just stared at each other, waiting to see what would happen, Maximus decided he'd spend the day with Paul. He wanted to take him out for a bit. Maurice tried to tag along, but Laura and Lucius kept him distracted.

"Dad, where are we going?" Paul asked, curious.

"Hmm? No idea. I just want to talk with you. There are two things I want us to chat about."

"What things?" Paul asked again, not quite getting what his dad meant.

"Well... The first and most important one-You know I love you, right?"

"Yes, Dad! I love you too, but... what's all this about?"

"Oh, I know! Let's go to the lookout point!" Maximus said, remembering it was an open spot, perfect for a heart-to-heart. "I want to have a man-to-man talk with you," he said sincerely.

"Really? Why?" Paul asked, surprised.

"Hey, do you want anything from the store?"

"A soda?"

"Alright, first store we see, we'll stop and grab one."

As soon as they saw a little shop, father and son hopped out to get sodas and some snacks.

"What's up, Dad? You seem kinda off today," Paul asked, a bit thrown off by his dad's mood.

"Hey... how've you been these past few days?"

"Great, Dad! Really great, I'd say..." he answered honestly.

"Remember a while back, when we went to the Maldives, and you asked me about the woman I was married to before your mom?" Maximus said, trying to ease into it.

"Yeah... but you didn't want to tell me anything," Paul said seriously.

"Well, I dreamed about her today. It was such a vivid dream... it almost felt like going back in time."

"What?" Paul said, surprised.

"Son... I've noticed you've been going out with a lot of girls, which isn't a bad thing, but I just want you to keep something in mind."

"All those girls are with you because they want something from you. I won't lie, I'm not totally okay seeing you surrounded by so many girls.

"And I've got to admit it—you're a really handsome kid. You got that from your mom. But you need to be careful.

"Sometimes, without meaning to, we hurt the wrong people... and that's the kind of karma that sticks with you for life."

"What do you mean by that, Dad? Are you finally gonna tell me the story about that girl and you?" Paul asked, seizing the moment of honesty from his father.

"What do you want to know?" Maximus replied calmly.

"Everything!"

"Well, I'm not gon

tell you everything. That's a whole lifetime, and I don't want to dwell on something that happened so long ago.

"But what I will tell you is that I put her through some pretty rough moments- moments you should never, and I mean never, repeat."

"Tell me..." Paul said, leaning in with interest.

Maximus went on to tell him what he felt Paul needed to know. He felt ashamed that his son would find out the kind of man he'd been when he was younger.

"Dad... I never would've imagined you and Mom did all that..." Paul said, shocked. "That was really messed up, what you two did. That poor girl didn't deserve that."

"Son, it's not something I like talking about. Honestly, if I'd left her right after we got back from our honeymoon, she...

"She wouldn't have gone through so much. But like I said, we were young-well, she was, I wasn't that young.

"And honestly, being totally straight with you, I think it wasn't really love or affection at the start. It was more like... dependency.

"She caught my attention, and I won't lie-I did like her, just like you like the girls you go out with. But l don't think I was strong enough, in the end, I hurt her, and she didn't deserve to go through everything I put her through," Maximus said, clearly ashamed.

"What happened to her, Dad?" Paul asked, curious.

"Well, she's a great woman now. Really beautiful, strong. She met a good man and is happily married. After a lot of misunderstandings and arguments, she and I... we kind of tried to smooth things over."

"What do you mean? Do you still see her?" Paul asked, surprised.

"It's not like we hang out, but yeah... we do need to see each other now and then. There's something that ties us together..."

"What is it?"

"A daughter."

Paul went quiet. Then everything clicked.

"The girl you've been talking about... is she Serenity's mom?"noveldrama

"Yes, Paul. She's the one I've been telling you about. And believe me, I'm not proud of the man I was back then. Especially now, seeing that she ended up with

a truly good man-someone I can't even compare to."

"Dad... You're not a bad guy," Paul said sincerely. "You're a great dad, and you always will be."

"Son... You see me through your son-eyes. But I know I made a lot of mistakes in my life. And she... she was my biggest one."

"But... I don't get what all this is for, Dad..."

"What I want you to understand from my past is that when we're young, we think we own the world.

"We think life will always go our

way-but that's not how it works. At one point, felt on top of the world thought was untouchable. But all the hurt I caused? Trust me, I've paid for it... and then some," Maximus said, looking at his son, already knowing what was coming.

"Dad, I still don't get why you're telling me all this."

"I'm telling you this, son, because I see you going out with a lot of girls. And while I get it—it's fun, for a while—I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I did.

"Someday, you'll meet a really great girl, and you'll fall in love. I honestly hope that happens. But I also want you to learn the difference between real love and just a passing illusion."

"Dad, that's still a long way off, don't you think?"

"I don't know that... All I want is for you to understand that sometimes we get carried away by an illusion, and that illusion makes us mess up.

"We don't regret it right away, but down the line... it catches up to us. Maybe not directly to you but it could come back around through your kids." "Dad... I promise I'll be more careful with the people around me and with the girls I date too," Paul said, really taking in his father's words.

"Thanks, son Really. Now, there's one more thing I want to talk to you about. It's a little delicate, but I need you to know that no matter what you decide, I love you. You're my son, and Nove you just like I love all of

you."