On a Friday Night…
"Ray, come on, we're gonna be late!" Deacon yells up the stairs.
He's waiting for her to finish getting ready so they can head out to their engagement party. The wedding is in three months. He doesn't know why you can't just tell people you're getting married, why there has to be some fancy ass party, but if this is what Rayna wants, she can have it.
There's no answer from her, and with a sigh, he climbs the stairs.
She's in their big walk-in closet, still in her underwear and one of his old tshirts, staring at the racks upon racks of shoes contemplating. She's not even dressed yet? he thinks. What the hell has she been doing up here for the last two hours?
And he knows if they make it to this party on time it's going to be nothing short of a miracle.
"What are you doing?" he says, with utmost patience. "You going to the party like that?"
"I can't decide which shoes," Rayna says, hands on her hips. "You pick which ones you like best, Babe."
"Does it matter that much what shoes you wear?"
Rayna looks appalled. "Of course it matters Deacon, because I have to pick a dress that matches the shoes, and then the jewelry has to match the dress and-."
"Okay, okay," he says quickly, rolling his eyes. "Forget I asked."
He points to the first thing that catches his eye, and she laughs, it bouncing off the walls in the crowded space. "Deacon, I am not wearing cowboy boots."
He grins. "You asked which ones I like best."
There must be a hundred pairs of shoes in there, so he points again- to some shiny silvery things that look like they're tall enough to wash the top set of windows on the Batman Building. How women can even stand in those pointy things without breaking their necks, he has no idea. "How bout those?"
"Good choice," Rayna says with a smile. She grabs the shoes and slips them on, and heads right to the racks and racks of dresses for a sparkly blue off the shoulder dress she knows will match.
He leans in the doorway and watches as she flings off his Johnny Cash t-shirt, and searches through another drawer for something. Now she's just standing there in her black lace bra and her skivvies and those silvery shoes looking in all her glory like the hottest damn thing he's ever seen. And she's all his.
"What," she says, pausing mid flurry of activity. "Whats the matter?"
He's got that look in his eye, and Rayna can't help but laugh as he takes a few steps toward her. There is no way in hell I'll ever get tired of this man, she thinks, even when we're 80. The passion between them is like a never-ending flame, it burns as hot now as it did the first time they ever met.
"Babe… you said it yourself, we're gonna be late," she reminds, her eyes glittering with amusement.
His arms steal around her waist and he pulls her in tight against his hips as he nuzzles her bare neck and pushes down one of her straps, leaving a kiss in its place. "Well I didn't know I was gonna come up here and find you prancing around in your underwear. We could tell them we made other plans."
"It's our party, though." She arches her head back and laughs softly as he trails kisses down her neck and onto her collarbone and his fingers tease their way along the edges of her black lace panties, making her shiver in anticipation. "Sorry for making you wait on me."
"I don't mind one bit, Baby. You're worth the wait."
########################################
A sunny summer afternoon…
He's waiting at the mall for the girls. They were supposed to meet him at the food court an hour ago.
Maddie texts. We're coming. Just three more dresses to try on.
With a sigh he slumps onto a bench. He has learned to have infinite amounts of patience since living with Rayna and the girls. But they are always making him wait.
Next to him, an older gentleman with gray hair and a cane waits also. He's wearing overalls, his eyes watching Deacon in amusement. The eyes of a lifetime of experience.
"Waiting on a woman?" The man says with a knowing smile.
"My girls," Deacon says. "You?"
"Son, I've been waiting on a woman at least once a day since 1952. Get used to it."
Deacon laughs.
They talk a little bit as they wait. George has been married 63 years to the love of his life. 10 kids and 40 grandkids, and a couple greats in there too, he says.
It sounds like a real nice family, and Deacon tells him so.
"Gonna tell me your secret?" he asks. "We're getting married in a couple months."
"Don't go to bed angry," The old man says immediately. "Tell her she looks pretty at least once a day. They like that. Flowers for no reason at all once in awhile are real nice. And don't insult her cooking, even if it's the worst thing you ever ate in your life. I made that mistake the first week we were hitched. She cried. And then she made me eat baloney sandwiches for three days."
Deacon grins. "I'll keep that in mind."
George's wife arrives at the same time that Maddie and Daphne come flying from the other direction, laden down with shopping bags. He bids the older man farewell and gets to his feet.
"Dad, we're sorry," Maddie says apologetically. "I found this perfect pair of shoes, so then I had-"
"-to find a dress to match, right?" Deacon finishes.
Daphne giggles at this. "Dad, I think you've been hanging out with us too much lately."
He likes seeing this little one smile. She calls him Dad now. He caught it a few weeks ago, her trying it out once in awhile as if she wants to see how it sounds. Things have been real hard on her since Teddy got hauled off to jail six months ago, and worse since the trial. Her father would probably be in jail for the remainder of her childhood. He doesn't know if he can make up for Teddy not being there, but he's sure as hell trying.
After all, Teddy was there for his little girl when he couldn't be.
"It's okay," Deacon says easily to the girls, watching over their shoulders as George walks off with his wife, carrying her shopping bags in one hand and holding her hand tightly tucked into his arm with the other. He thinks maybe they'll stop and buy Ray some flowers on the way home, just for no reason. She's fond of yellow roses, always says they remind her of her mama.
"I don't mind waiting."
##############################################
A pretty fall day at the cabin…..
He stands off to the side, taking it all in.
They're getting married today.
All their friends and family, all lined up in the neat little rows of white chairs waiting, craning their necks to see if the bride has arrived yet.
Maddie sends him a message. Mom says 20 minutes.
He sighs, shakes his head and smiles. Rayna would be late to her own funeral.
She also said to tell you she loves you. And you better not be wearing those old crappy boots.
Deacon looks down ruefully at his formal attire and his feet shoved into the pinchy black shoes. Only for Rayna.
After all, he has waited for her for 27 years. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt.
Their conversation from a few nights ago runs through his mind. They haven't told anyone yet. Ray wants to wait a few weeks, make sure everything goes alright.
"Babe", she came into the music room, her face pale. "I'm late."
"For what?" He said absently from where he was sitting on the sofa with a guitar in his hand writing on a notepad. He had the perfect song in mind to play for her at the wedding. "We gotta be somewhere?"
"Deacon," she said again. "Not that kind of late. The other kind."
He looked up at the urgency in Ray's voice, and realized what she was saying.
She stood in the doorway, biting her bottom lip, arms crossed uneasily.
"Um, okay," he said, trying not to completely freak out. "Well we talked about this, right? The "if it happens, it happens" approach?"
"We did," she agreed, her expression a little bit stunned. "I just didn't think it would…"happen" that fast. I mean, we have awhile until the wedding yet."
She might have been surprised, but he wasn't. They were like teenagers who couldn't keep their hands off each other.
"I guess we should get one of those test things and see for sure, huh?"
A few hours later, they sit together on the edge of the bed in their room and wait the required two minutes.
"This is the longest two minutes of my life," Rayna murmured.
He reached for her hand. "It's okay. I don't mind waiting."
The wait is worth it, to see the plus sign on that stick.
The wait has always been worth it to him.
"They're here," someone signals, and Deacon makes his way to the front of the aisle to wait for her to appear, standing next to Watty, who has been ordained to marry them. He can't think of any he'd rather have marry them. Watty was the one who brought Rayna into his life in the first place all those years ago.
Daphne comes down the aisle first, looking pretty in her pale blue dress and first pair of heels, a bouquet of daisies in her arms, smiling proudly at all of them as she stands off to the side like they practiced in rehearsal yesterday. He send her a wink and she shoots him a thumb up. He can read her thoughts.
I didn't trip, Dad!
See, I told ya you wouldn't.
Maddie is next down the aisle, and it brings a tear to his eye, how much she's grown up. She'll be driving soon, then off to college, out in the real world. Both of the girls are growing up way too fast, but they'll always be his little girls. He wonders a lot lately about the new one coming next spring, if it'll be a boy or a girl. A son would be pretty cool. But girls, he's almost got girls figured out now. Almost, he thinks with amusement as Maddie smiles and hugs him. He still can't figure out why they like those pointy heeled shoes so much.
"I love you, Dad."
"Love you too, Baby. You look beautiful."
Maddie picks up the guitar that's waiting, and she starts to play "You Keep Me Believing".
Rayna appears then, and his heart swells with love and pride as she walks down the aisle towards him in her breezy white dress, with her hair down around her shoulders and a bouquet of yellow roses in her arms. For a moment he forgets everyone else there, that they even exist. His eyes are only on her.
She is everything he has ever wanted, everything he's ever needed. She is his soul mate, his best friend, the love of his life, his other half. She is everything and 10 times more. And he'll tell her that every day for the rest of their lives. When they're 80, sitting on that porch over there, he'll still be holding her hand telling her that. This is about as good as life can get.
Rayna gets that shy little smile on her face. Deacon remembers the first time he got that smile, her looking at him from that Bluebird stage. She got him in ten minutes with that smile. She still has him. "Hey, Babe." She says, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. "Sorry I'm late."
His face crinkles into a grin. "Ray, I've gotten pretty good at waiting for you."
She laughs softly. "I guess you have, huh?"
Watty gives them an encouraging smile as they stand in front of their family and friends and he starts to read.
We are gathered here to unite these two in holy matrimony…
Later, as they talk and dance, and laugh surrounded by everybody under the large tent, he takes the stage with a microphone and a guitar. Rayna is sitting in a chair at the front table. His wife now. It thrills him just to hear the sound of that.
"Well, I wrote this song awhile ago," he says with a smile. "When I was waiting for Ray to do something or another. It's called "Waitin on a Woman."
A little laugh scatters throughout the crowd.
"Anyway," he continues. "Seems like it would be about right for tonight, so I thought I'd share it. Baby, this one's for you."
He starts to play.
Sittin on a bench at West Town Mall
He sat down in his overalls and asked me
You waitin on a woman?
I nodded yeah, said how bout you?
He said son since 1952
I been
Waitin on a woman
When I picked her up for our first date
I told her I'd be there at 8
She came down the stairs at 8:30
She said I'm sorry that I took so long
Didn't like a thing that I tried on
But let me tell you son,
She sure looked pretty
Yeah she'll take her time
But I don't mind
Waitin on a woman
He said the wedding took a year to plan
You talk about an anxious man
I was nervous
Waitin on a woman
And then nudged my arm like old men do
and said I'll say this about the honeymoon
it was worth it
Waitin on a woman
And I don't guess we've been anywhere
She hasn't made us late I swear
Sometimes she does it just cause
She can do it
Boy it's just a fact of life
It'll be the same with your young wife
Might as well go on get used to it
She'll take her time
Cause you don't mind
Waitin on a woman
I read somewhere statistics show
The man's always the first to go
And that makes sense cause I know
She won't be ready
So when it finally comes my time
And I get to the other side
I'll find myself a bench, if they've got any
I hope she takes her time cuz I don't mind
Waiting on a woman
Baby, take your time cuz I don't mind
Waitin on a woman
Rayna has tears in her eyes as she rises from her chair, and he comes off the stage and hands the guitar off to someone, and pulls her into his arms. The crowd cheers, glasses clinking madly as they embrace. Maddie takes the microphone and makes a toast to them and "a life that's good."
It's been a long wait, Deacon thinks as he gazes down at the woman in his arms, her eyes shining up at him with all the love he could ever ask for. 27 years to be exact. But he didn't mind one damn bit.
Some things were just worth the wait.
The song is "Waiting on a Woman" from Brad Paisley. Thanks for reading!