From This Moment On
Chapter 9
Finn POV
"Is my dress ok?"
"Rachel it's the fifth time you've asked me about your clothes. I already told you that you were perfect. Can we please just go?" I plead with her as she goes back to looking through her closet for what seems like the tenth time in twenty minutes.
"Finn, this is the first time I've ever had dinner with my mom at her house. I need to make sure that I look right." She turns to look at me and I try not to roll my eyes. "Where is your tie?" She says suddenly.
"Rach, do I really have to wear a tie? It chokes me."
"Finn, it does not choke you. You just tie it too tight." She pushes past me and grabs a tie from my drawer and slings it over my neck. "The trick is not to pull it too tight so that you don't spend the whole night pulling on it." She looks up at me with her beautiful brown eyes and I know that I would do anything she asked me to do. When she finishes with the tie, I take both of her hands in mine and bring them to my lips kissing them lightly.
"You look beautiful."
She bows her head toward the ground, a grin forming on her face. "Thank you, you look pretty spectacular yourself." Her eyes drift back to mine and I bend down to bring her lips softly against my own.
She pulls away, grinning. "Finn, my makeup."
"You don't need to wear makeup baby." She slaps my arm as she pulls away checking her reflection in the mirror one more time.
"Are you ready?" She says looking at me from the mirror.
"Seriously? You're asking me when I've been ready for an hour."
An hour later we are sitting in the car outside of Shelby's home in the suburbs. It's a very pretty single story home with a little fence out front. I smile to myself when I think about living in a house like this with Rachel one day. I look over at her as she is chewing on her bottom lip staring at the house.
"We gonna sit here all night or do you think we should go in?" I laugh.
She breathes in and then looks back at me. "Let's go."
We walk up the small pathway to the door and I ring the doorbell. The door swings open and the pretty little blonde girl is standing in front of me, the scariest smile I have ever seen on her face.
"Rachel!" She yells as she lunges forward and wraps her arms around Rachel's waist.
"Hello Beth. It's nice to see you." Rachel says giggling.
Beth steps back and looks up at me extending her hand. I look at Rachel and she nods her head toward the little girl. I hold my hand out and Beth grabs it and shakes it. "Nice to see you again Finn." She says matter of factly.
"Very nice to see you too Beth." I laugh.
"Are you going to let them in or just keep them hostage at the front door?" I hear Shelby yell from inside the house.
"Yes mom." She says rolling her eyes and I chuckle at the small girl who flips her hair back and walks into the house.
"She's got some Berry in her." I whisper into Rachel's ear and she rolls her eyes at me. I point at her and my mouth drops. "See that's what I mean!"
She grabs my hand and pulls me into the house.
"Finn, Rachel. You both look so nice. You really didn't have to dress up on my account." Shelby says as we enter the living room.
My hand instinctively goes to loosen my tie but Rachel grabs my hand and shakes her head no.
"Please, the dining room is through here. Beth darling, will you please find out what they want to drink."
Beth runs up to Rachel and Rachel tells her she would like water. The little girl stands in front of me smiling. "Water's fine." I say.
"Are you sure, cuz we have all kinds of things back there. Water, tea, coke, I'll get you anything you like." She giggles.
"Water's fine really sweetie."
She blushes and then runs to the kitchen.
"Someone has a little crush I think." Rachel whispers as we follow Shelby to the dining room.
"She's six Rachel. She's a bit young for me to….." I look over at her and she's holding in laughter. "Oh you meant her didn't you?"
"Yes Finn." She giggles.
We settle down at the dining table and Beth takes the seat right next to me, scooting her chair as close as she can as she sits down. It's the first time that it hits me that this is the same little girl that at one point I thought was mine.
'I read thatGwyneth Paltrow named her kid Apple and I think that's so cool, 'cause you know how much I love apples. So I figured we should name our kid something more original, poetic. Then I came up with the best baby name of all time. Drizzle!'
I laugh to myself quietly as I watch the little girl pushing some vegetables around on her plate. I wonder what my life would have been like if she were mine. Would we have kept her? Would Quinn and I still be together? I look up at Rachel and smile, thankful that things turned out the way they did.
"So Finn, what is it that you do?" Shelby asks, shaking me from my thoughts.
"Oh uh, I'm still in school. I'm studying music education."
"Listen to him being all modest. He's already doing student teaching. He's going to be a music instructor. And he's the drummer in the band 'One Night Stand'." Rachel says proudly.
"Oh wow. You sure are busy."
"Yes ma'am. It does feel that way." I laugh.
"So you both love music. That's wonderful. It's nice to have something so beautiful in common."
"Well music seems to be our only real common thread. Finn and I are usually on different ends of the table on everything else." Rachel says seriously. I nod and look over at Beth who is smiling up at me. I grin and wrinkle my nose as I look down at the vegetables on my plate and she giggles. We both push them under our mash potatoes to hide them while Rachel and Shelby talk about the show.
"Smart move." I whisper over to her.
She holds her fist out and I bump it with my own.
"And just what are you two up to?" I hear Shelby say and we both look up guiltily.
"Nothing mom, gosh, can't we have our own conversation over here!" She says indignantly.
"So this band of yours, is it with friends?" Shelby asks.
"Yeah, my loft mate Blaine, and then a friend from college and Sam and Puck." Her face falls at the mention of Puck's name.
"Puke head is in your band. Gross." Beth gags.
"He's a pretty good guy." I say winking at her.
"Whatever, I think he looks like a skunk." She says sticking her finger down her throat.
"Beth, why don't you go clean up and get your pajamas on." Shelby says sternly.
"Mom, I want to stay here and talk."
"Now. Just go get ready for bed."
Rachel and I look up at each other surprised at her tone as Beth stomps off toward her bedroom.
"I'm uncomfortable discussing him around her. I would like to make sure he doesn't see her again if you two don't mind."
"Why?" Rachel says surprised.
"You have to ask?" Shelby scoffs and then whispers. "He's her father. I don't want her around him." She gets up from the table and takes some of the dishes into the kitchen. Rachel follows hot on her heels.
"I don't understand. He's not a bad guy." Rachel says sternly.
"She doesn't need to see him. And that's final."
"And what if my dad's had the same attitude you have right now? They didn't want me to see you either. In fact they were flat against it. But you tried to find me anyway. Even if it completely destroyed me." Her voice is getting louder as she follows Shelby back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room table.
"It's not the same."
"THE HELL IT'S NOT!" Rachel shouts and Shelby turns around quickly and stares at her. I get up from the table and check to make sure that Beth has not come out of her room.
"My dad's finally realized that I needed to get to know my mom. And now I'm here. Would you have wanted them to stop you from that?"
"He gave her up. They both did. She's mine!" Shelby says staring Rachel down.
"And you didn't? They don't want to take her from you. He didn't even tell her who he was."
"But how long until she finds out and then what?"
"You didn't tell her did you?" Rachel says with her hand to her mouth.
"Tell her what?"
"That she's adopted." Rachel whispers.
"Of course not."
"You've raised a beautiful little girl Shelby. You can tell she adores you. But what can it hurt for her to know her dad? He doesn't mean any harm. She doesn't even have to know."
"Absolutely not." Shelby says turning back to the kitchen.
Rachel turns and walks away from her. She stomps off toward Beth's room.
"Where are you going Rach?"
"I'm going to go hang out with someone who is more mature than she is right now." She says pointing toward Shelby as she storms off and knocks on Beth's door.
Shelby comes out of the kitchen and I quickly start carrying some of the plates to the sink.
"Well that went well." She laughs.
"Well, Rachel can be kind of stubborn." I say shaking my head.
She leans against the stove and sighs. "Is it wrong that I just want to keep her as my little girl? I never planned on them coming back into her life."
"It's not wrong to love her. You raised her. I guess it's just…." I look down at the floor. "I never met my dad. He died when I was a baby."
"I'm sorry to hear that." She says softly.
"I had a great mom. She took care of me really well and I would never look down on her for what she had to do for me. But…." I sit down at the chair by the kitchen table. "I would have given anything to meet my dad just one time. Even if it was just for a minute. Just to see what he was like."
"I'm sure you would have, but this is different. She doesn't know she has a dad."
"Where did you say he was?" I laugh.
"I've just never talked about it. So she has no reason to question it."
"Trust me Shelby. She may not tell you, but she wonders. My mom didn't tell me my dad died until I was older but I had questioned it every day before I found out."
Shelby sits down on the chair next to me. "I lost Rachel. She had two dads who did a wonderful job raising her, but I lost her to them."
"You never lost her. She's always wondered about her mom. And honestly, she's a lot like you. I never saw her dad's belt out a note like you two can."
"But she didn't know me and she turned out fine."
"You really think that just because she's fine now that there isn't something missing inside of her because of you? Because trust me, I've known Rachel a long time and there has always been this part of her that isn't filled. I tried to fill that part for years but it wasn't until you came back into her life that I realized, I can't fill it. Only her mother can."
She sighs and pats my arm. "You're a smart guy Finn."
I laugh. "No one's ever called me that before."
"Well you are. Rachel is a lucky girl." She stands up and walks toward the back of the house and I sit there feeling pretty proud of myself.
I walk into the living room and sit down at the couch and wait, not wanting to intrude on the three girls in the back bedroom. But after an hour, I look at my watch and get up and walk back to the room where the laughter is coming from and I knock on the door.
The door swings open and Beth is standing there with a doll in her hand. "Finn! Come in." She grabs my hand and pulls me toward the bed. "Sit." She orders.
I sit on the bed and she hands me a tiny cup. "Uh ok."
"Drink."
I look into the cup. "It's empty."
"Silly boys. It's supposed to be empty. Now drink the tea."
I tip the glass to my mouth and hold it there. I look over at Rachel and she's giggling.
"Now give some to Sally." She says thrusting a small dark haired doll into my lap.
"Um. I don't think Sally is thirs…."
"What's that Sally?" She says leaning over to the doll in my arms. "You are thirsty? See she's thirsty; now give her some tea Finn." She demands again.
"OK." I say quickly. I tip the tea glass to the dolls face. "SOOOO Rach, I was just thinking that we might want to make that drive home."
Shelby looks over at the clock. "Oh goodness is it that late already?"
"Yes, we really do need to go."
"Noooo, I want them to stay." Beth pouts.
I lean over and pick the little girl up into my lap. "We'll come back another time? And maybe you can come visit us sometime?"
"Really?" She shrills.
"Yes really?" Rachel agrees.
She latches her arms around my neck and I hug her tightly and set her back down on the ground. We make our way to the door and I hug Shelby on the way out.
"Thank you." She says into my ear.
I pull back and smile at her, not entirely sure why she's thanking me but from the smile on Rachel's face I think it must be good.
When we get back the car, I pull out onto the road and Rachel waves out the window at the two ladies on the steps.
"So she said she wanted to have another dinner, and maybe invite Blaine and Kurt, and Sam and Noah."
"Really?" I say surprised.
"Yeah, she said some smart guy reminded her that everyone needs a chance to get to know their birth parent."
"Wow, I wonder who told her that?" I laugh.
"Thank you Finn."
"For what?"
"For being amazing." She says taking my hand. I grin as I lace my fingers with hers and head for home.