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CLOVIS, N.M. – A 36-year-old New Mexico woman and her 19-year-old son face incest charges and say they’ll do anything to stay together.

Monica Mares gave Caleb Peterson up for adoption when he was an infant, according to KOB. When the two met later in life, they became romantically involved and decided to become a couple.

Police said a neighbor confronted them about their relationship; officers showed up at Peterson’s house and the couple told investigators they were sexually involved. They were then arrested.

Peterson, a mother of nine children according to the Daily Mail, said she’s willing to give up seeing her other children in order to be with Peterson. A court ordered the couple not to see each other.

“He is the love of my life and I don’t want to lose him. My kids love him, my whole family does. Nothing can come between us not courts, or jail, nothing,” Mares told the Daily Mail.

“It went beyond a mother-son relationship. I never really viewed her as my mom. In certain aspects I do but mostly I don’t,” Peterson told the website.

Peterson said their relationship never felt wrong. He described it as a normal romantic relationship and said he wants to raise awareness about Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA) relationships–relationships in which closely related adults are attracted to one another.

A hearing is set for September. They face 18 months in prison if convicted.