Chapter 1:
The late afternoon sun shined through the window of The Queen of Country's bedroom as she awoke from her afternoon nap. She could hear the voice of her eldest daughter telling her aunt about some new boy in her class. Rayna looked out the window, seeing the final bit of sunshine of the day disappear. She had slept most of the afternoon, as she was battling flu after returning from a disaster of a tour with Luke. The two of them just didn't work professional and romantic, her heart would always belong to one man. Luke didn't want to share her with anyone, which was understandable, as she wouldn't have shared him if she were in his boots. So they end both relationships and moved on with their lives, Scarlett still had the opening act on his tour. Rayna returned home to spend a month or two with her daughters before hitting the road again this time as Scarlett manager and not the wonderful country singer that she was.
It has been nearly two months since the accident; she still felt some of the scars as the cold winder started in Nashville. Her and Maddie had slowly but surely started to return to normal again or as normal as you could get after all that had happened in the last few months. Maddie started visiting Deacon weekly for guitar lessons and by now it was dinner every Wednesday evening. The two of them were building a relationship that they should have had begun years ago if it wasn't for a lie. As for Rayna and Deacon, they only spoke when it came to arrangements to Maddie visits. Other than that they haven't spoken since she left him at the side of the road with the engagement ring telling him to move on with his life.
Her thoughts were broken when the bedroom door slowly opened and she looked up to see her eldest daughter enter the room. She had changed into a pair of pj bottoms and one of Rayna old White Lies and Red Lips tour t-shirt. She looked like she was also getting what Rayna had and that was never a good thing. Luckily Daphne was away with some friends for the start of the winter break and would only be back by the end of the week. Maddie walked a few steps into the room and stopped. "Sorry, did I wake you up mom" asked Maddie not moving from where she had stopped. Rayna knew by now that her eldest daughter was really feeling under the weather by the way she formed that sentence and was trying to once more be the perfect child. "Hey little one, no I was awake and get in here it freezing" answered Rayna lifting the covers for her daughter to get into bed with her. Her eldest daughter didn't have to be invited twice before she slide into the bed next to her mother, laying her head down on her mother shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment before she looked up at her.
"Mom, do you still love Dad" asked Maddie. Rayna looked at her with wonder, was she talking about Teddy or Deacon, cause both men Rayna had loved at some point in life. One she had still not stopped loving, as he was after all the love of her life. Maddie must have sensed that she was a bit confused so she adds on to her sentence. "I am talking about Deacon, Mom" said Maddie carefully waiting her mother face. She knew that Deacon was a hard topic for her mother to talk about these last few months. Maddie want to ask the question ever since she saw her mother looking at an old band photo from back in the day and crying soft tears. "I will always love Deacon as he was and will always be the love of my life, not that I didn't love Teddy, there is just different forms of love my darling" answered Rayna. Her eyes moved to the old guitar that she had been playing on earlier in the day. It has been a gift to her from Deacon when they got their first radio song back in the day. She still missed him every single day of her life but wasn't sure if she could ever go back to being that careless girl that he has fallen so deeply in love with back in the day. Her thoughts were broken when Maddie spoke again, this time her voice was even softer then the first time round. "I think Deacon still love you too, cause he always asks about how you doing and how things are with you and Luke" said Maddie. "I am sure he is just being thoughtful, Deacon and I will always share a daughter and a love for her, now get some rest" said Rayna stroking her daughters hair. Maddie just smiled at her mother before she closed her eyes and drifting off to sleep. Rayna looked at her daughter, and smiled before she also closed her eyes once more. But before she could drift off to sleep once more with her eldest daughter close to her the bedroom door opened for a second time that afternoon. Rayna looked up to see who it was and watched as her sister walked through the doors with a look on her face that made it clear this wasn't just a quick check in on them to see how they were doing. She was clearly worried about something.
Rayna looked at her sister, waiting for her to speak and say what she was doing opening the door so fast. "He isn't taking no for an answer" said Tandy. "Who" asked Rayna slowly placing Maddie head down on her pillow. "Deacon, he is downstairs demanding to talk to you about something importuned" answered Tandy. "Fine, I will go see what he wants can you stay with her" said Rayna slowly getting out of bed and making her way out of the room. Tandy watched her sister leave the master bedroom, wondering what could possibly happen within the next few minutes. But for now she would look after her niece that was feeling under the weather.
