My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus) novel Chapter 167

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After Valerie brought Marcus back from the garden, the two of them returned to the bedroom. During dinner, the new bed for the master bedroom had been delivered and set up, so tonight, they wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. She hugged him, running her fingers through his unruly hair. Valerie loved playing with his dark brown locks–they were thick, soft, and irresistible. Slowly, the rhythmic motion of her fingers lulled him to sleep. 

She held him close, cradling him like a child. The way he clung to her as he slept reminded her of her little Jonathan, her baby boy. Jonathan was a five–year old who had brought joy and warmth into the lives of the Bartz–Hunter family. 

Marcus adored Serenity, but Valerie knew she wasn’t his biological daughter. He’d never had the chance to be a father–what little opportunity he’d had was cruelly taken from him. Despite their efforts, they hadn’t been able to conceive. There had been a time when they tried, but Marcus eventually gave up, not wanting to see Valerie’s tearful face after yet another negative test. One day, he told her: 

“Valerie, we have Serenity. We’re already complete, and we’re happy. I don’t need anything else.” 

Valerie felt guilty. She believed their struggles to conceive were because of the lack of proper care she’d received after returning to Hesperia. Her labor had been painful, and her recovery even more so. She suspected that neglect during that time had caused her infertility. Although she never expressed it to Marcus, the thought weighed on her heart. Watching Marcus pour his love into Serenity, she couldn’t help but feel it was unfair that she couldn’t give him a child of his own. 

But then time passed, and when they least expected it, a miracle happened during a vacation in Coravela. 

Marcus and Serenity were playing at the shoreline. Despite being a teenager, Serenity couldn’t resist Marcus’s antics, which somehow always managed to soften her adolescent attitude and make her play with him like a little girl. 

Meanwhile, Valerie had gone to the pharmacy to pick up painkillers for her menstrual cramps. She thought fate had a cruel sense of humor, as her period seemed to have chosen their vacation to arrive. Being irregular, she had learned to expect the unexpected. 

Standing at the pharmacy counter, a thought crossed her mind, “What if I’m pregnant? No, that’s impossible.‘ But the idea nagged at her, so she bought a pregnancy test along with her pills and hurried back to the house. Before taking the painkillers, she went straight to the bathroom. With shaky hands, she opened the test, used it, and placed it on the sink. The five–minute wait felt eternal. 

When she finally looked at it, her hands flew to her face. 

Two pink lines. 

It felt as though a nest of butterflies had suddenly taken flight in her stomach. She was pregnant! At 38 years old, when she had stopped expecting it, this incredible news had arrived. 

She couldn’t hold it in. Grinning ear to ear, she ran out of the house, her excitement bubbling over. Her heart was racing, her throat tight with emotion. Within seconds, she was crossing the garden, her eyes fixed on Marcus and Serenity playing at the beach. Marcus, no longer a young man but still strikingly 

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handsome at 50, was about to get the surprise of a lifetime. 

“Marcus, my love!” she called, but he didn’t hear her, 

“Marcus! Marcus!” She finally shouted, “Serenity!” 

Marcus turned and waved for Serenity to stay put as he walked toward Valerie. Her cheeks flushed as he approached. He was stunning, his time at the gym evident in the way he carried himself. 

‘Valerie, focus. This is serious, and here you are thinking about other things,‘ she scolded herself. 

Finally, Marcus was in front of her, towel in hand, drying his hair. 

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay? Is your stomach still hurting? I told you to rest!” he said, concern. etched on his face. 

Valerie couldn’t contain herself anymore. With one hand behind her back holding the test, her eyes filled with tears, and a smile spread across her face. 

“My love, I’m not scolding you. I just want you to take care of yourself,” Marcus said, trying to comfort 

her. 

But before he could finish, Valerie pulled out the test and handed it to him. Marcus took it, his eyes widening as he processed what he was holding. A wide grin broke across his face. 

“We’re pregnant!” Valerie said, her voice trembling with joy, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

“What? Mom? Dad? What’s going on?” Serenity asked confused by her mother’s tears and her father’s stunned expression. 

“We’re going to have a baby!” Marcus shouted, pulling his wife and daughter into a tight hug. 

“What? How? But you two… Ugh, you’re shameless! I bet this happened while I was away at camp, didn’t it?” 

Both Marcus and Valerie blushed, laughing at her accusation. 

“You two are hopeless. Now I’m going to have to help raise this baby because if I leave it to you ‘hippies,‘ what kind of upbringing will it get?” Serenity said, pretending to scold them. 

Her rebellious tone couldn’t hide how thrilled she was for them. For Serenity, this was her way of showing love, and Marcus and Valerie knew it. That understanding made them even happier.