The Life of Beth Corcoran
My name is Beth Corcoran. Elizabeth Quinn Corcoran. I'm 17 years old, and live with my adopted mother, Shelby Corcoran, In Lima, Ohio. I have long blonde hair, but have brown eyes. I have a kind of slender physique, but am kind of muscular…but I don't work out though, I just go running a lot. I love running; it always helps me relax and clears my mind when I'm stressed out.
All my life, I grew up thinking Shelby was my birth mother, but when I was 9 years old, she finally sat down with me and told me the truth. I was really her adopted daughter. That explained why I had blonde hair, and she had black. She then told me that I was really mature for my age, and it was better I knew it now. A few days later, a couple came over, there names were Quinn and Puck. Here's how it went.
"Beth, come here sweetie, I want you to meet some people." Mom called upstairs. I was in my room, reading my favorite book. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In my opinion, it was the best book in the series, and I had read it about…45 times. I put my bookmark on the page I was on, and set it down on my bed, and went downstairs.
When I got to the end of it, I could see into the foyer just a tiny bit. I saw mom sitting and talking with two people, a man and a woman it seemed. The man had a Mohawk, and the woman had blond hair tied back neatly. Mom saw me and told me to come in the room.
"Beth, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Quinn and Noah Puckerman."
"Puck, actually. I still go by Puck." This made me laugh. How could it not? A grown man going by the name Puck. That was funny. He noticed, and turned to smile at me. He was kind of handsome. A rugged looks, but if you looked close enough, he was easy on the eyes, and had a sort of young boy's innocence to him.
"So, you're Beth, huh? Wow, you look just like your mother, see Quinn?" The woman, Quinn, looked at me for a while. She just took a moment to take in everything, I guess. My hair, my features, my body, then she looked even closer at my face, and finally said,
"No, she looks like you Noah, I always thought she did. On the eyes mostly, but other than that, yes, she does." Wait…what?
"Mom, what's going on? And, not to seem rude to you both or anything, but, who are you guys?" Mom and our guests looked at each other for a second, then finally she spoke to me.
"Beth, honey, do you remember a few days ago, I told you that you were really adopted and I wasn't your real mother?"
"Yeah, I remember"
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Puckerman are your real parents. Why don't I give you some time to let you three talk. Or would you prefer to go out in the backyard by the swings?"
"The swing area seems like a nice idea. C'mon Beth. There's a lot we have to tell you, and discuss with you as well." I lead them to where the swings were in our backyard. Mom had these swings put in when I was about two, and I came out here a lot, especially during summer. At night you could see all the night stars, and it was absolutely beautiful.
"Wow, it's so nice out here. Open, but private, I like it." Quinn said very softly, well, really in normal voice. She seemed like a very soft spoken person. Still, Mr. Puckerman hadn't said anything since he saw me first.
"Well, Beth, we should go through some introductions first. I'm Quinn Puckerman; you can call me Mrs. Puckerman or Quinn, whichever you prefer. This is my husband Noah Puckerman, you can call him Mr. Puckerman, Noah, or as he prefers, Puck." I looked at them both for a minute. Quinn had a very sweet, motherly look to her, like mom when I should her something I had done to make her proud. And Noah still wouldn't look at me. That was weird.
"Okay, so, you're Quinn and you're…Puck?" That got his attention, it seemed like no one called him Puck a lot, because he looked kind of surprised.
"Yeah, Puck, that's me." He gave me a faint smile, like he was kind of sad.
"So, Beth, tell me one thing really quickly before we start. What's your full name?"
"Elizabeth Quinn Corcoran. But I like to go by Beth." Puck looked up as soon as I said this, and Quinn got tears in her eyes.
"Oh, Elizabeth, that's very pretty, and you like to go by Beth, you say? Well, that's very nice. Also very sweet of Shelby." I didn't question this, but instead asked if we could talk about what they wanted to talk about.
"Yes, of course. Well, as you already know, Noah and I are your birth parents, and Shelby's your adopted mother, we just wanted to make sure you understood why we had to give you up for adoption." Oh, this is what they meant. Well, okay then.
"You see, I was only sixteen when I got pregnant with you. My first thought was abortion, but of course I couldn't do that. I am pro-life you know. Then, I thought about giving you up when you were born, but then, I actually thought about keeping you. And for a while, I really felt like I should keep you, then I realized how hard it would be to keep you, and I decided to give you up for adoption. That was when I was eight months pregnant with you. But when I gave you up, after that, I was miserable. I wanted so much just to hold you again, to see you sleeping, peaceful. To watch you grow up, to help you with your homework, to make all your pain go away, that's when I realized what a huge mistake I had made.
"That's when I finally decided to find out who exactly had adopted you. When I found out it was Shelby, something told me that you would be better off with her. That she would be able to turn you into a beautiful and amazing lady, something I didn't think I could do." She couldn't look at me because she was silently crying.
"When she told me she wanted you back, I was scared." It was Puck this time, I turned to look at him sitting on one of the chairs on our patio.
"I was scared that I wouldn't be a good father. I've never had any experience with kids, and my own dad was never…the ideal father. So, first I was scared that if she got you back, how would I support you guys, or how could I be someone to be looked up to? And I second Quinn's thought, that Shelby could be someone you could look up to, and model yourself after and turn out to be a fine young lady. But now, I see you all grown up, and I just wish I could've been there to see you grow up." I didn't know what to say. Quinn was turned around looking at our garden, or maybe she was still crying. I think she's still crying.
"I'm not mad at either of you." I said, the both looked at me. Quinn came over to Puck's side, and I turned to face both of them, and then said again,
"I'm not mad at either of you. I understand that it must've been hard to be only sixteen and have a child and be able to support them. I just want it to be known that, yeah, I'm kind of upset that I never really got to know my own parents, but I realize where you're coming from, and just, don't be mad if I ask to stay with mom." I then gave both of them a hug. Something felt weird. I felt a different kind of…I don't really know what it was, I just know that I've never felt anything like that when I hug mom.
Just then mom came outside with a tray of lemonade and her famous cookies. Chocolate chip with nuts, my favorite.
"I hope I'm not interrupting, but I feel that 1) we should all have a little snack, and 2) we should all talk as a group." I let Quinn and Puck get their snacks first, then took a glass of lemonade and a cookie.
"First of all, Beth, I'm sure you know everything, and you might still have some questions, so we're here to answer them for you." I thought for a second, but I couldn't think of anything to ask.
"No, I don't have anything to ask, but I just want it to be known that, I do want to spend more time with you guys, to get to know you better, and let you guys get to know me better. Can we do that?" Quinn looked ecstatic.
"Of course we can do that." Mom said,
"I would love for that." Quinn smiled at me.
"How about this, every weekend, or every other weekend, you can spend it with your parents, and I'll be home during the week, and the weekends in between too." There was a moment's silence. Then Mom spoke,
"Sweetie, you're not doing anything today, are you?"
"No, I'm not, why?"
"And Quinn, Puck, you two, do you have any plans for later?"
"No, I don't, and Puck took today off from work too. Why?"
"I was just thinking that maybe, Beth, if you like, you and Quinn could go to the mall or just hang out or something, and I would like for you both to join us for dinner tonight as well." Quinn and I looked at each other. She had a hopeful kind of expression, so did Puck.
"We'd love to join you for dinner, and, how about it, Beth? Would you like to hang out with me today?"
"I would love to!" And I meant it too.
An hour later, Quinn and I were at the mall, and having a great time. She told me about how life was in high school for her. She told me about how she was in Glee Club, and how it all happened. Apparently she was dating Finn Hudson who was quarterback of the football team at the time, and is now apparently married to Rachel Berry, who was the best singer at McKinley High School at the time. Also the mother of my best friend in the entire universe, Nina Hudson.
I told her about how life was for me. I told her about my friends Nina, and Lilly Groff. I told them about how I was in my schools Choir, and about how I had just received the presidential fitness award in Gym and my Gold Award for Girl Scouts, and the perfect attendance award, and I had made the All A-honor roll at my school as well. She looked at me with the same kind of expression mom did when I told her about all of these awards, except, there was a different kind of warmth in her eyes, just like there was a different warmth in the hug she gave me.
"Beth, I just want to know something. Would you really like to come and spend time with us? Because I know how much you love Shelby and I don't want it to seem like we're forcing you, because we're not, this is completely up to you." We were sitting in the food court sharing a salad. I looked up at her, and told her,
"Quinn, I said I would love to spend time with both of you every other weekend, and when I said it, I meant it, and I still mean it. I would really, honestly LOVE to spend time with both you AND Puck." She looked down at the table with an expression of pure joy.
"I still have just one question." She looked up, and said,
"Go ahead, if you have a question, I'm here to answer it for you the best I can."
"I already call Shelby mom, but you're also my mom, but, what do I call you? I don't want to call you just Quinn, because it seems rude because you're still my mother too." She pondered this for a moment. Then said,
"That's true. How about…you can call me…Mama Quinn, or better yet, Mama Q!" I had to laugh, it sounded like a name for a Rapper.
"That sounds perfect, Mama Q. Now you have a unique nickname!" After that we walked around the mall a bit longer talking about TV, actors, movies, music and a bunch of other stuff. I told her about how I was on the school's track and field team. She told me about her experience as the captain of the Cheerios in High School.
A few days later, I hung out with my dad, it was easy to just call him dad, I didn't have an adopted dad. Mom never chose to marry; she told me it was just easier for her to be single. It wasn't hard for us either. She started working from home. Dad was amazing though. At one point he took me out for dinner and I met up with Jonathon St. James, a guy in my school. We have Science together, and we talk. But when he said hi to me, I went over and introduced dad and Jonathon. It seemed like Dad liked him, but when he left with his mom, Alice, dad pulled me aside and asked me what was up with us.
"What's going on between you two?"
"Dad, nothing. I assure you, Jonathon and I are only friends!"
"It's not the friend thing I'm worried about, but, well, he's the son of Jesse St. James you say?"
"Yeah, that's what I told you, why?"
"Well, Jesse St. James used to be in Glee Club over at Carmel High School. Their Glee Club, Vocal Adrenaline went up against us, New Directions from McKinley, and used us just so they could win. We all swore to hate their guts. Which we all still do." Whoa. Okay then.
"But dad, that's a rivalry between the parents, not the kids!"
"True. Very true." After that, he didn't mention it.
8 years later, I still go over to their house every other weekend. When I was 16 they had another baby, this time, a boy. His name? William James Puckerman. This time, he looked just like dad.
The past eight years were spent with me going back and forth between Quinn and Dad's house and Mom and Logan's house. Dad just couldn't get over the fact that I really wanted to spend time with him, and how much I loved him, he spoiled me. He bought me anything I wanted. At one point, him and Quinn bought their first house, and kept a room for me for those weekends and breaks I spent at their place. When that happened, dad took me shopping and let me decorate my room exactly the way I wanted. He frequently got lectured by mom and Quinn about spoiling me, but that didn't stop him from making me Daddy's little princess. And I didn't mind it either!
Quinn and I became really close. When mom was really busy with something, or wasn't home to talk to, I would call Quinn and she would listen to me for hours on end complain about something or another. And we always had our girl time! We would go shopping or out for dinner, or to a movie, or we would just cook together. Something I became really good at, and something that helped us bond too.
For the past eight years, we've stayed very close. Mom and Quinn both became really good friends, Dad became the vice president of his company that he worked for, Wonder Rush Inc.''' And me? Well, let's just say that I have my way of working things out for people in love. Mom ended up marrying my English teacher, Logan Miller. And I got dad to accept me and my love for Jonathon St. James. By the way, I don't call my step dad, dad, I call him Logan. And call my dad, dad. Jonathon and I, we're doing fine. We really do love each other, and well, his parents and mine just have to accept that.
Fin