Stepping into the Lima Bean, the smell of coffee and freshly baked goods immediately filled the air. Shelby looked around the crowded coffee shop and saw a group of Dalton Academy students, recognizing a few of them from show choir competitions, sitting in a corner. The Berry men were sitting at a table directly adjacent to them. Leroy spotted her first and waved to flag her down. Shelby waved back in acknowledgement, took a moment to gather her strength, and walked toward the couple.
"You guys, just wait until this kid I know, Blaine Anderson, starts at Dalton next year. He's got a killer voice and he's definitely Warbler material. He'll for sure help us get to regionals, and maybe even beat Vocal Adrenaline next year."
Not a chance, Shelby smiled to herself as she walked past the group of well-dressed young men engrossed in loud conversation.
Hiram and Leroy quickly got up when she approached. "Shelby, thanks so much for coming," Leroy said as he pulled her into a polite hug.
"I got you tea," Hiram said after quickly kissing her cheek and motioning for her to sit down. Shelby put her purse down and took a seat across from them. She nervously took a sip from the steaming cup of tea and smiled, "Thanks, you remembered."
"Lemon ginger with honey," Hiram recalled. "You drank it every night when you were pregnant with Rachel. Decaf, of course."
"That and gallons and gallons of strawberry ice cream," Leroy quipped. "I remember when I had to drive to not one but three different grocery stores during a late summer storm because you just had to have it."
The table broke out in laughter and Shelby smiled fondly at the memory of Leroy coming back drenched in rain with seven tubs of her favorite strawberry ice cream. He cleaned out the store so he wouldn't have to go on another disastrous search for them. They had to finish two tubs between the three of them that night since it all wouldn't fit in the freezer.
"I would say I'm sorry, but I also feel like you could've said no or gone back home after the first grocery store," she retorted.
"And tell you no?" Leroy fake gasped. "I wouldn't have dared tell a pregnant Shelby no."
"That's right," Hiram added. "Or else you get a locked door and an angry pregnant Shelby blasting 'Don't Rain on My Parade' on the stereo after telling her that she couldn't go on the elliptical anymore after the doctor ordered bed rest."
The three of them laughed again at the distant memory.
"Again, I would say I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to blame that one on my raging hormones."
"Oh sure, and not at all on your flair for the dramatics," Leroy jokes.
"Nah, not at all," Shelby shrugged, feeling slightly more comfortable after the light banter between them. She crossed her legs and took another generous sip of her tea. After a few moments of silence she met Hiram's wistful expression. She looked away suddenly feeling the gravity of the situation hit her.
"It really is nice to see you, Shelby," Leroy said truthfully. "You look great. How are you?"
"I'm alright," Shelby smiled kindly. "I've been busy."
"Busy winning a Tony and building a show choir dynasty," Hiram chuckled.
Shelby felt her cheeks burn red, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. She'll always feel like a young and confused 23-year-old in front of them. She made a split-second decision to just cut to the chase.
"Is Rachel okay?" she said, drawing the conversation away from herself. "When did you move back to Lima? I didn't hear from you last year."
Shelby didn't miss the quick look the two men shared and she felt defensive all of a sudden remembering that she was the outsider in this situation.
"Shelby, there's something we need to tell you."
"I know and that's why we're here aren't we?" Her patience running thin. "What's going on?"
Leroy shifted in his seat and Hiram grabbed a manila folder out of the messenger bag hanging off his chair. He pulled out a stack of papers and pushed it towards the woman. Shelby felt her breath hitch recognizing the documents.
"Do you know what this is?"
"Of course I do," she said, picking it up carefully. I've memorized every single word of this contact. I can recite what it says by heart. She dropped the contract on the table and pushed it back towards Hiram.
"Listen, like I told you before, I didn't know Rachel was going to be at that competition. I didn't seek her out." But believe me, I've wanted to. Shelby was trying to stay calm but they had thrown the contract in her face, she felt attacked now. "Trust me, I know what that the contract says but I really think that—"
"—We want to change the terms," Hiram interrupted.
"What? What do you mean?" Shelby began to panic. What more can they do to separate her from her daughter?
"We're getting a divorce," Leroy said, straightening up in his seat. "I mean, we just got a divorce. That's why Hiram and Rachel are back."
Shelby was beyond surprised. Of all of the possibilities that she thought of, this wasn't what she was expecting. She slumped her shoulders and leaned back against her chair. She then allowed herself to examine the two men in front of her for the first time since she sat down. They had visibly aged in the 13 years since she last saw them, but in a way that only accentuated their handsome features. Some of Leroy's dark curls had started to turn gray and his caramel eyes now wore a sort-of sad expression. Hiram, who she remembered was usually clean shaven, was now sporting a scraggly graying beard and beneath his thick-rimmed glasses were prominent dark circles under his eyes. Shelby was so caught up in her own anxiety that she didn't realize the awkward space between the two men. She didn't see how just how tired they looked.
"It's been bad for a while now, and we've been separated for the past year," Hiram explained as he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "We wanted to wait until Rachel finished middle school until we made the divorce final. My old boss at the law firm in town offered me Senior Partner at the beginning of the summer, and I couldn't refuse. You know that I'm from here and my family's still here. There was nothing really left for me in Chicago." Shelby instantly noticed the darker man's body tense up and she kept quiet feeling more and more like she was intruding on a private matter.
"And I have tenure at Northwestern and I had planned to take a sabbatical next year in London to finish writing a book," Leroy continued the story. "So we decided that Hiram and Rachel would move back to Lima right in time for Rach to start high school here. They've been here since mid-August, and I leave for London after the holidays."
It was now the end of October, it was almost Halloween. Her baby had been so close to her for almost three months now, and she had no idea.
"What—um, what happened?" Shelby said, genuinely confused. She didn't know if was prying but the two men that she met 14 years ago were madly in love, they were perfect for each other. Their love for one another was so palpable and so pure, and it was one of the reasons she felt confident in being their surrogate knowing that their love would hopefully bring stability and security to their child. Maybe it was naive of her to think of or believe in love in that way.
"It may sounds cliche, but life did," Leroy spoke up first. He looked over at his ex-husband and then at the young woman who had given him his little girl. "We just got lost somewhere along the way and by the time we realized it, we were too late to fix it. We tried to make it work but then realized that we needed move on and do what was best for everyone involved."
Hiram nodded in agreement. "We've tried to be respectful and civil for Rachel. But, I'm not going to lie, Shelby. It's been a really, really difficult year for all of us. You're not married yet, right? And you don't have any other kids?"
"No I'm not and I don't, so I really can't imagine what it must be like," she said emphatically. It was true. Shelby had been in only one serious relationship while she was in New York. They dated for nearly three years and she knew they loved and cared for one another, but something always kept her from taking it to the next level. "I'm really sorry that things didn't work out. How is Rachel taking it?"
"Good. And bad," Leroy answered. "Rachel is extremely thoughtful, sometimes to a fault, and I think she's been trying to stay strong to spare our feelings."
"Definitely," Hiram agreed. "And she's had a hard time with the move. We've lived in Chicago since she was five, so she's having a rough adjustment moving away from a big city. She calls herself a 'cosmopolitan woman' and keeps going on about how we're trying to 'keep her talents in a cage that is the small town of Lima, Ohio.'"
Shelby smiled at the description of her caring and dramatic daughter but then frowned realizing the hurt that she must be going through.
"Rachel was involved with our community theater back in Chicago, and she was very disappointed because she was about to start at a performing arts high school. She loves singing and dancing and she's always needed that outlet, so that's why she decided to do show choir at McKinley. But she only joined last minute to help her Spanish teacher reach the 12-member requirement a few days before Sectionals, so we know that you couldn't have known that she was competing. It was weird that I ran into you though, because Leroy and I were just talking about how we wanted to reach out to you."
Shelby felt the pit in her stomach grow again, unsure of where this conversation was leading. Did they want to change the contract to make sure it was stricter now that they were all in the same town?
"To change the terms of the contract? Because I have a few thoughts on this myself."
"We want to change it to give you shared custody of Rachel," Leroy cut her off, sensing that the woman was getting worked up. "So, I guess, really, we want to terminate it."
"That is, if you want to be in Rachel's life," Hiram quickly added. "If you want to be her mom."
"Yes," she said without skipping a beat, nodding her head in disbelief. "Absolutely, yes. I want Rachel. I've always wanted Rachel," her heart was pounding in her chest and tears automatically began to pool in her green eyes. "But why? Why now?"
Leroy gently took Shelby's hand and looked at her seriously. "You have to believe us when we say that when we drew up the contract, we really thought that we were doing it in everyone's best interest. And in a way, we did for the most part. Am I wrong in saying that you weren't ready to be a mom then, Shelby?"
To her own embarrassment, Shelby was full out crying now. All of the regret, the insecurities, the hurt she's felt over this during the last 14 years was swirling inside of her like a raging storm ready to be let go. She shook her head no.
"You had dreams that you needed to accomplish Shelby. And you did," Hiram said, his voice thick with emotion. "You were so young and determined and we didn't want to take that away from you. It wouldn't have been fair. We also really needed the space to start our family on our own. But we're so grateful for you. You took a chance on us when nobody else did and you've given us the greatest joy of our lives. We know that we asked you to make a huge sacrifice, but now we want to correct that."
"Why are you letting me be a part of her life now? You just got divorced. I don't want this to be confusing for her. I don't want to be some sort of consolation prize. How do you even know that I'm ready now? How can you just trust me right away?" She was trying so hard to reign in her emotions and think logically but she was operating on pure shock and adrenaline now. So much for being the Ice Queen.
"Because we knew that from the moment you got pregnant that you wanted the baby. And we encouraged you to walk away anyway," Leroy answered, feeling the guilt rise up in his chest. "I mean, Shelby, c'mon, you paid us back what we gave you a year after Rachel was born, with interest," he laughed. "We definitely knew then that you were never in it for the money."
That was always true. One of the biggest regrets Shelby had was actually taking money from the Berry's. Although she needed it to help her parents, she never felt right about it. She saved up every penny she earned during her first year in New York. When she got her first Broadway paycheck from "Rent," she immediately wrote a check out to the two men.
"And we're not going to pretend like the lovely Christmas presents that Rachel gets every year from 'Santa' aren't from you," Hiram said amused. "We also talked to your father."
"What? When?" Shelby said in shock. Her mind was going into overdrive trying to process all this information at once.
"He tracked us down. It was right after Rachel just turned 12 and he came and tried to pay us back the money you used for his cancer treatment. Like father, like daughter, I guess. And he told us how much giving up Rachel affected you. We started talking about letting the two of you meet then, but that's when things really started to fall apart in our marriage. We're so sorry, Shelby," Hiram apologized. "Do you regret giving us Rachel?"
"I don't know... no… then yes, then so much," Shelby confessed. "I really don't know. I was so young and so confused and I wasn't ready to be a mom. I couldn't have provided for her in the way that you have, that both of you have. I've missed so much already."
"But there's so much more ahead," Leroy assured her.
"I want Rachel, I do. I think I probably even need her, but how do you know that she needs me?" Shelby questioned, saying her deepest fear and biggest insecurity out loud for the first time.
"Leroy and I have tried our best to be everything for Rachel, but the one that thing we absolutely can't be is her mom. Rachel needs you. We know that our divorce is impacting her more than she lets on. She needs us right now. All three of us."
"She also just started high school," Leroy chimed in. "She's a teenager now and she's going to need her mom more than ever to help her navigate all the pressures that come with that from her classes, to her friends, and to even boys," he shuddered.
"And not to mention, and genetics really are amazing, that Rachel's dream is to be Broadway star. Can you imagine when we tell her that her mom is the Shelby Corcoran. I don't think she'll ever forgive us." Hiram joked but paused and looked at her seriously. "There's so much you can teach her, Shelby. Only you can teach her."
"Okay," Shelby said, not needing any more convincing. This is what she's always wanted. Broadway was her dream but being Rachel's mom was always her bigger and better dream. "I'm in. I'm all in."
Hiram and Leroy instantly got up and wrapped Shelby into a hug. She smiled to herself realizing that this was the position she found herself in almost 14 years ago after she signed the contract agreeing to give her baby away. Except this time she was now getting her baby back.
"So what now?" Shelby asked as she pulled away from the two men.
"Now, everything changes," Hiram replied as he ripped up the contract.
A/N: Just a fair warning that this is going to be a mostly Shelby-centric (and Rachel) story, but I'll try to include as many characters as I can. Rachel to come in the next few chapters!