It's Deacon and Rayna's ten year anniversary and they have a lot to celebrate. This chapter and one more will be some little special moments for them as they think back over ten years of marriage.

The buzzing of a phone woke them both up. They rolled apart from each other to check their respective bedside tables. "It's mine," Rayna said, her voice rough from both sleep and annoyance at being woken up. She hit "Accept" and put the phone to her ear. "Hey, Buck, what's up?" She listened and then said, "Okay. Well, thanks for letting me know." She disconnected and put the phone back down. Then she rolled over to face Deacon, who was watching her. She smiled sleepily and scooched over to nestle into his side. "We got nominated for a CMA. Vocal Event of the Year."

Deacon put his arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing her lightly on the lips. "Really?" he asked, smiling at her.

She nodded. "You, me, and the girls. For the version of 'This Time' we did. Can you believe it?" She laughed softly. "I mean, that song is old, babe. Remember when I won 'Song of the Year' for that?"

He grinned. "I do. Nine years ago. Your big night." The Red Lips/White Lies tour had led to a resurgence in her solo career that had culminated in her winning five CMA's, including her first, and only, 'Entertainer of the Year' award. She had enjoyed teasing him afterwards, that she had actually overshadowed him, with his band only winning two awards that night.

She leaned in and kissed him, tugging at his lip until he opened his mouth to hers, kissing her hungrily. She ran her foot along his calf and moaned low in her throat. He slid his hand down to her knee, hooking it behind her leg and gently pulling it towards him. She pulled her lips from his just briefly. "I love you, babe," she said, her voice husky.

"I love you too," he responded, finding her lips again and rolling them over so that he was on top of her. "Happy tenth," he whispered, before he moved inside her.

They had gotten married at the cabin, which seemed fitting somehow. Ten years ago today. It didn't feel like it had been that long. But maybe that was how it was supposed to feel when you were with the person you were meant to be with. Deacon sat on the side of the bed and pulled on his boots, while he watched Rayna putting on her makeup in the bathroom of the hotel suite.

After everything they'd gone through, both together and separately, for them to have ended up back together sometimes seemed like a miracle. They had always loved each other, but for many years they hadn't been good for each other. They'd created Maddie together, but even she wasn't enough to hold them together. It had taken a lot of years apart and a lot of hard work for them to find their own individual strength. He was just glad that when all the work was done, it had still led them back to each other.

As he watched her now, he thought that she was still as pretty as she'd been the first time he'd laid eyes on her, at the Bluebird, when she was just barely sixteen years old. He'd known then that she was the woman he was meant to spend his life with. It had taken them a long time to finally be ready for that, but it had been worth it to get there.

They hadn't been back together that long when he'd turned to her one night at the cabin and said, "Marry me."

She had looked at him with surprise in her eyes. "Really?"

He nodded and smiled. "Really." He shrugged. "It's really only ever been you, Ray. For me. This is what I've always wanted. I don't want to wait."

She looked at him and bit down on her lip. "When you say you don't want to wait…."

He raised his eyebrows. "I think we should just do this. As soon as we can. I already done the whole big wedding thing. You already done that too." He paused and reached for her hand. "Just Maddie and Daphne and you and me. Let's just do this."

She looked a little surprised, but then a smile crept over her face. "I think that sounds perfect," she said, and leaned in to kiss him.

~nashville~

They went to the courthouse and got a marriage license. Because Rayna had wanted a minister to do the ceremony, Watty volunteered his minister. "I want God to bless this, Deacon. After everything we've been through, I want to know God's looking out for us," she'd said. So that's what they'd done. Because it was just the four of them, everyone picked out their own clothes for the ceremony. He walked into the bedroom as Rayna was finishing her makeup. She caught his eyes in the mirror and smiled.

She was wearing a dress that was almost white. "I can't wear white, because that would be silly," she'd told him. "I didn't even wear white at my wedding to Teddy. That would have been crazy for a pregnant bride. So this is the closest I'll come."

He put his arms around her and kissed her warmly. "I don't care what you wear," he'd responded. "Just so long as you're marrying me in it." Blair had made him wear a tux and he remembered spending the whole day feeling uncomfortable. Today would be different, so the only thing he did differently from any other day was wear a jacket.

Rayna reached up and ran her hand over his cheek. "This is the happiest day of my life," she said. "All I ever wanted was to be your wife. Now I finally will be."

~nashville~

It was the happiest day of his life too. As he stood holding her hands and repeating his vows to her, as well as listening to her vows to him, he felt a peace he'd never known before. He felt a love that was greater than anything he'd ever experienced. He'd felt like he was home. This woman, this life, this was what he'd known was meant to be from the day he'd first seen Rayna Jaymes, when she was just sixteen and he was nineteen. They had taken some winding turns to get here, but it felt right.

Rayna watched him as he sat on the couch in the living room of the suite, working on a song. He was leaning over his guitar, scribbling in his notebook. It was hard to believe she'd met him thirty-five years ago and he still was the love of her life. She smiled to herself as she remembered standing on the Bluebird stage, singing into the microphone on open mic night. It wasn't her first open mic, but she still was nervous and she could feel her knees shaking. She had looked out into the crowd and her eyes had landed on him. He was looking back at her and she'd felt something almost electric in that moment.

She told Maddie once that she had fallen in love with him right then and there, and she had. She had fallen in love with him again when Watty introduced her to him and again when he smiled at her and again when she heard him on stage. It occurred to her that, even in their darkest days, that had never truly changed. She'd always loved him, but there was a long time when she couldn't be with him. She was grateful for the healing of that time, for both of them. It had made them both stronger, made them both ready to be together again.

He was still as handsome as he was the first time she laid eyes on him. And he still made her quiver inside in that delightful way whenever he looked at her and smiled at her.

They'd had a baby scare during their second year of marriage. Rayna was late – and she was never late – and she had wracked her brain trying to remember when they could have been careless. It happened around the same time that Juliette Barnes had had her baby. Rayna thought later that it probably caused her to think about the possibilities more than she might have otherwise. She wondered what it would be like to have another baby. Then she thought about Deacon and his sadness over losing his son. Would he want a baby now? He'd completely missed out on that experience, raising a child.

She'd found him on the couch in the music room and sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her, tangling his fingers in her hair and kissing her on the forehead. "Hey," he said with a smile.

"Hey." She paused. "So, I'm late." She just decided to dive into it.

He frowned. "Late for what?"

"You know." She gave him a look. "Late."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. A few days. I'll go get a test. To be sure." He looked serious and the little line appeared between his brows. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

He looked at her and then breathed out. "I don't know," he said. "I think you should check it out first."

"How would you feel?" she pressed.

He got up and walked over to the window, rubbing his hands over his face. Then he looked back at her. "I don't know," he said. "I really don't know."

~nashville~

She'd felt a little disconcerted. That had not been the reaction she'd expected. So when the test was negative and her period started a couple days later, she asked what he'd been feeling.

He was standing next to her at the kitchen island, leaning on his elbows. "If you'd told me you were pregnant, I would have accepted it and we'd have figured it all out. But I guess I'm past wanting that now, truthfully. I got you and the girls and I just don't need anything else. We got a good life, Ray." He looked at her. "I'm sorry if that wasn't what you expected. Or wanted to hear."

She shook her head. "I only thought about it for a minute. I mean, I'd just held Juliette's baby and she was so soft and warm and she smelled so good. It had been a long time since I'd held a baby." She sighed and then she smiled at him. "I think you forget the morning sickness and feeling bloated and not being able to see your feet. And then the spit up and diaper changes and baby tantrums." She leaned over and kissed him. "You're right. We have the perfect life and, quite honestly, I was relieved."

He looked at her closely. "You sure you're okay about it?"

She nodded. "I am. I promise." And she was. For a brief moment when the test was negative, she'd felt sad, but they were finally together and that was really all that mattered. She had the family she'd always hoped for and that was enough.

And now they were ten years in and she had never been happier. When she looked back on that, she really was relieved that it had turned out as it had. She and Deacon had been apart for so long and their time together before that had been so troubled and difficult, that it was a blessing to have had these ten years for just the two of them. She smiled happily to herself.

Deacon still hated after parties. They were a necessary evil, in his mind, and he knew they were important, but he still hated them. He'd hated them when he was with Rayna and the focus wasn't even on him. He always went with her, though, and usually was the one prompting her with names. He thought about the days when they would sit up at night on the bus, back in her tiny suite, and he would quiz her on who they would be meeting in the next city. These days, though, he was the one all the press and radio people and publicity folks wanted to see and talk to. Small talk wasn't his forte, not like it was Rayna's, and he'd never really gotten comfortable with it, even after all these years.

So when he got to the hotel in Salt Lake City, he was exhausted and drained. His head was buzzing. He didn't mind being out front on stage. Actually, he liked it a lot, but glad handing and smiling and trying to be witty and articulate just wasn't his thing. Rayna was always so much better at that than he was. Lately, though, he'd really felt even more dragged down by it all than usual. He was looking forward to the tour being over and being able to rest. He walked into his room and dropped his bag on a chair, then took off his vest and dropped it on top. He walked towards the bed and unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it on the end of the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands and then, pulling his phone out of his back pocket, collapsed on the bed.

Leaning back against the pillows, he called Rayna. "Hey, babe," came her voice, sounding sleepy.

He frowned. "Did I wake you up?" he asked.

"No, not really. I just had my eyes closed, waiting for you to call."

He smiled. "How was your show?"

"Good. Good crowd. You know."

"Where are you again?"

She laughed softly. "Detroit. So how was your show?"

"It was good. I'm worn out though." He sighed. "I think I'm getting too old for this."

"You're not old, babe."

He smiled. "The hell I'm not. I just turned forty-six. That's pretty damn old in this business."

"I don't know, babe. You're still selling out stadiums at forty-six. I'm sure not doing that." Her voice sounded wistful.

He was quiet for a moment. After a couple of resurgent years, Rayna's popularity was on the wane again. Her current tour was small venues, not even arenas. She put a good face on it, but he knew it was tough for her. "I've been thinking about something, Ray," he said. "When our tours are over, why don't we do a record together? Just you and me."

"Really?" She sounded surprised.

"Yeah. A duet record. We can do some of our old stuff and write some new stuff too. We haven't written anything together since 'This Time'." He smiled. "I kinda like writing with you. And what comes after writing with you."

She laughed. "I kinda like that part too."

"So? Want to?"

He could hear the smile in her voice. "I would love to."

Deacon had convinced her to do the record in Austin. Mix it up a little, he'd said. Actually it hadn't taken much convincing for her to agree. They hadn't been to Austin together in almost a year and she knew he hadn't been in almost six months, longer than he'd liked. Although their home was in Nashville now and he was glad to be back, she knew that a part of his heart was still in Texas. He usually tried to get to Austin every couple months, to stop by the cemetery and spend some time at Jackson's grave. But with trying to get together to write whenever they both had a break, he hadn't managed it lately, and she knew he was anxious to get there.

She actually liked Austin. It reminded her in many ways of Nashville. Besides, home was wherever Deacon was, and so this was as much home as Nashville was. She found him on the deck that first morning back, leaning on the deck rail, already dressed. She walked up to stand beside him, running her hand over his back. He turned to look at her and smiled. She looked at him, squinting into the sun. "You're up early," she said.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep so well and I didn't want to wake you up." He put his arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss.

She leaned into him for a moment, then looked back up at him. "Do you want me to go with you today?" she asked. Sometimes he'd go alone, but if she were in town with him, usually she went.

He took a deep breath. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

"Well, let me get a quick shower and get dressed." She kissed him and turned to go in the house. She stopped at the door and turned back to look at him. He was leaning on the rail, looking out over the lake. Her heart fluttered a bit with love for him, so grateful they'd made their way back to each other. Then she walked in the house.

~nashville~

Deacon parked the truck and they got out. He waited for her as she walked around, then took her hand as they headed for the gravesite. They stood there quietly for a moment, just holding hands. It had been nearly six years since Jackson had died. Rayna couldn't imagine a greater pain than losing a child, even one you hadn't had time to know. She watched him as he dropped her hand and walked over to stand right beside the grave marker. He reached out and placed his hand on top, then sighed deeply. She wondered sometimes what was going through his head. He didn't talk to her much about Jackson. After he'd told her the whole story that day at the cabin, they didn't discuss it much.

Afterwards, he'd always be quiet and introspective, and she just let him have his own thoughts for a while. Before long, he'd come to her and wrap his arms around her and kiss her, as though he were thanking her, without words. And then they'd move on.

So she stood and watched and then, when he turned back to her, she took him in her arms and just held him. Then they slowly made their way back to the truck and headed for home.

~nashville~

They sat on the deck and worked at several different song ideas. It had been a frustrating afternoon, when nothing seemed to flow right. They'd come up with a verse, but couldn't figure out a chorus, or they'd get started on a melody, only to not be able to make it work. Deacon dropped his notebook on the deck and made an irritated noise.

"We can stop, babe," Rayna said.

He shook his head. "We need one more." He sat back in the chair.

"If it's not there, though…."

He rubbed his face. "Just wait," he said. He closed his eyes and sat quietly. Rayna watched him. He'd told her that often, when he got stuck, he would just sit and let everything drift out of his head, waiting for an inspiration to take hold. He would let everything go black and, at some point, a picture would form in his head and he would let it play out to see what would happen. That would usually end up giving him some inspiration for a song.

She imagined that he'd started this when he'd been writing alone all those years. When they were together, writing was all mixed up with loving. They would always sit close and it would feel like they were inside each other's heads as words and music would flow. It could still be that way, and was, but Deacon had developed these different songwriting methods and that had intrigued her. She loved to watch him as he went deep inside himself for an idea and she watched him now, seeing something in his face that let her know he'd found the muse.

Finally he opened his eyes and picked up the guitar. It surprised her when he told her that what he pictured in his head was the night she'd come to the cabin, that night they'd made Maddie. He still only remembered bits and pieces, but what he did remember ended up becoming a wistful song of love and leaving and everything they'd missed about each other then. And the song ended up, as always, practically writing itself.

I never thought you'd pick up the phone / It's Friday night you should be out on the town / Didn't think you'd be / Sitting at home all alone like me

Nothing on TV, nothing to do / Nothing to keep my mind off you and me / And the way it was / Are you thinking 'bout it now because...

...I could be there in five? / One more, one last time

We don't have to be lonely tonight / (Need you, want you, I'm right here) / We don't have to be lonely tonight / (I know we shouldn't, but I don't care) / I don't wanna be right, I don't wanna be strong / I just wanna hold you 'til the heartbreak's gone / When the sun comes up, we can both move on / But we don't have to be lonely tonight….

When they finished, they sat quietly and smiled at each other. Then Deacon put his guitar down and reached for her, pulling her into a deep, lingering kiss. He let his lips move across her cheek and down her neck and she moaned with satisfaction. Then he raised his lips to her ear. "Now that we wrote the song, it's time for after the song," he whispered, with a smile.

She leaned her head back a little and laughed softly, then turned to look into his eyes. "Yes, it is," she murmured. He reached for her hand and pulled her inside the house.

One of the things Deacon was most grateful for was the chance to finally be a father to Maddie. Having Rayna there to help with all the things he didn't know had made that a little easier, but there were still times when he'd been faced with a situation that he'd felt seriously out of his depth about. Maddie and boys scared him, still scared him.

When Maddie was fifteen, she'd been interested in Colt Wheeler, the son of Luke Wheeler. Luke had come up in the business the same time Rayna had and their paths crossed periodically. Deacon knew that Luke had had a thing for Rayna back then, but she had never really even noticed it. He'd kept his eye on Luke, to make sure he didn't try anything, but he met someone else and eventually married her. They'd had two kids, one of them Colt, before divorcing.

After Deacon had left Nashville, he'd run into Luke from time to time. While he'd never characterize their relationship as a friendship, they were always cordial and friendly when they ran into each other. Luke had been single for a long time, developing a reputation as a partier and a womanizer. But he was now seeing Sadie Stone, an up-and-coming artist and accomplished songwriter, and seemed to have settled down. Still, Deacon was wary of Luke's son being around Maddie. The apple didn't fall far from the tree and all that.

He and Rayna had talked about it when Maddie first expressed interest in him. Maddie wasn't really old enough to date, so most of the time they went to group events. They attended the same private school and Deacon had eventually decided that Colt was a decent kid and, although he was still very protective of Maddie – overprotective, she would say – he relaxed a little about it.

But then he'd gotten sick and found out he had liver cancer. It had shaken the whole family's foundation as they waited to see if he'd get a transplant. Maddie had struggled with the news, maybe more than the rest of them. She was angry that she hadn't had more time with him, she was scared he would die. She started spending more time with Colt, often out at Luke's ranch. Deacon and Rayna weren't thrilled about it, but decided that as long as they were supervised, they'd just keep an eye on it.

Deacon had been to the doctor that morning and was supposed to meet Rayna at the studio, but he was feeling tired and decided to head home instead. When he got to the house and pulled around back to the garage, he noticed an SUV down near the pool house. He frowned. There were no workmen that he knew of that were scheduled to be there that day and so he walked down to check it out. He could hear noise inside, voices and some muffled laughter. It sounded like Maddie, so he walked to the door and opened it.

For a moment, it felt like time stood still. He saw Maddie with her shirt unbuttoned and pulled out of her skirt. Colt was putting his shirt on. "What the hell?" he shouted.

Maddie's face drained of all color and she looked terrified. "Dad, I can explain," she pleaded.

Colt grabbed up his things and started to leave. "It wasn't her fault," he said. "She didn't even want to."

Deacon chased Colt out onto the pool deck as he ran towards his car. "You better run!" he called after him. "You better run away from me right now!" When Colt backed his car out, Deacon turned back to Maddie, who was crying. "You skipped school?" he asked, his eyes wide in anger. "You thought you could do this when you thought nobody would be here?"

Maddie shook with sobs. "I'm so sorry," she cried.

"Get your stuff," he said firmly. "And get up to the house." As he watched her run to the house, he stood shaking, with anger and fear. Then he felt tears spring up in his eyes as he thought about not being there to watch out for her in situations like this.

~nashville~

He was glad that situation turned out to be not as bad as it first appeared. He and Rayna had had a long talk with Maddie and were relieved to confirm she had not actually had sex. While they knew it would happen one day, he hoped it would not be for a long while. Colt didn't come around again, for which Deacon was grateful. He wasn't sure he could keep his temper under control around the boy.

He was also grateful that he did end up being around to keep watch over his daughter and keep an eye on the boys she was interested in. And, while his heart hurt for her, he was glad to be the shoulder she cried on when she was nineteen and had her heart broken for the first time. He was the one she came to and he cried with her, assuring her that she'd find someone much better one day. And that he would be there to make sure that boy treated her the way she deserved.

He felt blessed every day to be Maddie's dad and he was happy with the relationship they'd built together. He couldn't have loved her more than if he'd been there every day of her life and he always cherished the days they did have.

Rayna watched as Deacon selected the guitars he wanted to take on the tour. She had to smile. She was the only one in the family that didn't play and there were times when she was on the outside watching her husband and two daughters talk about guitars, debate which ones were best, and then play them together. These days she was even more grateful that she still had all three of them, playing guitars and debating their merits. There was a time when she was afraid that Deacon was going to be taken from her forever and those days still haunted her.

It had started with Deacon getting a cold that he couldn't seem to shake. After they had recorded their first duet album, they planned a very short tour to introduce it. Deacon was exhausted at the end of every show, which worried her. But he insisted it was just getting older and not getting enough sleep. She tried not to worry too much and just enjoy spending time together. Towards the end of the tour, he seemed to be better and in better spirits and she shrugged off her concerns.

Almost as soon as they were back in Nashville, he went back in the studio with his band to record their next album. He was always tired then, never feeling a hundred percent. She would fret over him, he would get mad at her for hovering, then he would be remorseful for being upset with her. As tired as he was, he slept poorly, and he had episodes of disorientation. He was stubborn as a mule, though, about being sick and, as usual, he'd work through it.

One night, when the girls were with Teddy, he'd fallen asleep on the couch while he and Rayna watched a movie. She woke him up when it was over. "Hey, babe," she murmured. "Go on to bed."

He smiled sleepily. "Will you come with me?" he asked.

She smiled back. "I'll be there in a few minutes. I have a couple things to do first." She frowned a little at how flushed he looked. She laid her hand on his forehead like she might have done with one of the girls. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not really feeling tip top, but, you know, we had a pretty intense day in studio today."

She stood up and reached for his hand to pull him up. "Go on to bed. I'll be there shortly." He let her help him up and then he took her in his arms and held her close for a moment. Then he headed for the bedroom and she stood watching him until he disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

What happened after that seemed almost like it had happened to someone else. She had felt a little like she was standing outside her own body from the moment she walked in the bedroom and found Deacon face down on the floor and unresponsive. She was shaking so hard that she dropped the phone more than once trying to call 911. And then she could hear her voice rising nearly an octave in her terror as she gave the address and gate code to the dispatcher.

She vaguely remembered the ride to the hospital in the ambulance. She remembered holding his hand tightly, crying over and over again for him to wake up. When they arrived at the ER, he was whisked away from her, as she was left standing bereft at the admitting station. She called Scarlett, who raced over as soon as she called. They sat together in silence, just holding each other's hands.

Deacon finally woke up after they got him into a room. He was a little disoriented and surprised at the oxygen tube in his nose. "Where…where am I?" he asked, fear in his eyes as he looked at Rayna, then Scarlett.

She tried to smile encouragingly, holding his hand tightly. "In the hospital," she said. "You passed out, or something, and I couldn't wake you up."

He still looked puzzled. "I'm sorry, baby," he said. "I don't know what happened."

"Well, that's what we're gonna find out, I hope," she said, trying to hide her concern.

Just then, one of the ER doctors came into the room. She walked over to the side of the bed. "So, Mr. Claybourne, you have pneumonia and you were pretty dehydrated, which is why you passed out. Those are things we can treat and you'll feel better." She frowned. "But your blood work is a different matter. Those results have me quite concerned."

Deacon looked like he was in shock and Rayna swallowed hard. "What did you find?" she asked.

"Cirrhosis of the liver that went undiagnosed, for quite some time, based on these results. And we have a seriously elevated white cell count, which strongly points to cancer."

~nashville~

For the next several days everything was a blur. The appointment with the oncologist, all the tests, hearing the news that it was, in fact, cancer, and not only that, but it had advanced to the stage that a transplant was the only answer. Even more devastating was the fact that the window of opportunity even for that was fast closing, as the tumor was growing.

Telling the girls was heartbreaking. Dealing with the aftermath of that news felt desperate. Maddie acted out, first by pushing both her parents away and testing her limits, and then lashing out in anger at the universe for screwing up her life. Sadly, Rayna could empathize with the last part of that, as she prayed diligently to the God she'd counted on to look out for them. Even Daphne chafed against the sadness that seemed to underlay everything, asking to go live with Teddy.

Deacon seemed to revert back to his old ways, pulling inside himself and pushing everyone away. After the initial conversations, he wouldn't talk about his diagnosis. Rayna feared he was giving up. He went on about life as normal, but he seemed distant. She tried leaving him alone, but her instinct was to try to fix things, and she couldn't leave it alone for long. When she tried to help, he got angry and lashed out, only to later beg her forgiveness. It felt so much like it had back when he was drinking, only this time he wasn't drinking and the future looked much more bleak.

~nashville~

Eventually life returned to normal, or as normal as it could be under the circumstances. Most of the time Deacon didn't seem sick, which made it easier to act like it wasn't happening. By the time the DCB was scheduled to go back in the studio, he was ready. Having something to do helped him forget for a while. Rayna felt encouraged, seeing him feeling positive and smiling again. His mood improved and life around their house was better.

He was on the transplant list, waiting for a donor. Scarlett had gotten tested and was not a match. Rayna wasn't a match. Even Beverly was not a match. Rayna was determined, though, not to let him give up and tried to keep them all focused on being positive. He'd still not told anyone outside the immediate family, trying to keep life as normal as possible.

That all changed the day he passed out at the studio and he finally told his bandmates what was going on. Shocked at the news, they quickly pulled together a show at the Bluebird, filled with Deacon and Rayna's friends in the country music community. They made a plea there for anyone who could to be tested and from there the news spread like wildfire.

~nashville~

Rayna put down her phone and walked into the den. She sat down next to Deacon on the couch and curled up under his arm, resting her hand on his leg. She took a deep breath. "Hundreds of people have called about being tested to see if they're a match," she said. "Right now, eleven people are going through more thorough testing." She raised her hand up to cover her mouth and choked on a sob. "I can't believe it," she whispered. She turned and looked at him. "It feels like there's hope." He nodded and then his face crumbled with emotion, tears streaming down his face. She put her arms around him and they just held each other as they cried together.

~nashville~

Rayna still got a little teary when she thought back on those days. It hadn't been long after that Bluebird show when they got the call that an anonymous donor had been found. Although the surgery was painful and his recovery seemed slow, they'd been eternally grateful that Deacon had his second chance. She smiled as she watched him pack up the guitars he'd chosen. God had taken care of them, and him, after all.

The song in this chapter is "Lonely Tonight" by Blake Shelton.