Epilogue

10 years later

Deacon woke up and slowly opened his eyes. The brightness in the room told him he'd slept late. He rolled his head to the side and looked at the unmade half of the bed and sighed deeply. Then he sat up and rubbed his face with the heels of his hands. He looked over at the clock by the bedside and saw it was just past eight. Not as late as he'd thought. He sighed again and then pushed back the covers and slid his legs over the side of the bed. He got up and walked into his closet and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and then padded barefoot out of the bedroom, down the hall and the stairs, and into the kitchen.

The house was quiet. Too quiet. He busied himself making coffee, pulling out a mug and setting it on the counter next to the coffeemaker. He reached for his medications and popped them into his mouth, then opened the fridge and pulled out a bottled water. He uncapped it and took a long swallow. He looked around the kitchen and thought again that this house was too big. He wondered again about the wisdom of keeping it, especially now that both girls had moved out. It was just too much house.

When the coffee was done, he poured a mug, then leaned on the counter and opened up his laptop. He searched for Highway 65 and the top article was a review of Outlaw Rodeo's concert at the Bridgestone the night before. He'd been there and had been pleased with how it had gone. The band was on its first arena tour and was selling out like crazy. He skimmed through the article, which talked about the rapport the band had with the crowd, the noise level inside the arena, how the crowd seemed to out-sing the band. The four member band had had a meteoric rise ever since they'd signed with Highway 65. Deacon was particularly proud of them, since he'd discovered them one night at the old Claybourne & Gray, renamed Third & Church. The guys had been on the honky tonk circuit for years, but that night had been their lucky break and now it was all coming to fruition.

Deacon had never thought he'd want to be a label executive, but it had been an easy transition for him, as it turned out. He'd always been glad Rayna had convinced him he could do it. It had sort of brought them full circle, back to the days when music had been part of the glue that held them together, that tied them to each other. Doing it together had been better than he ever could have imagined. He smiled to himself as he took a sip of the hot coffee.

He breathed in. He missed her. All she'd ever had to be gone was a minute and he'd miss her. They had both wondered what it would be like, to be married and in a good place. It had been his drinking that had destroyed them the first time around and they had both been cautious, her more so than him. What they had found was that they were still the same people, with the same personalities and passions and determination, but in a different world, where they were equals and strong in their own right, things had been different. Better.

He hated the quiet. He hated her gone.

His phone buzzed and he picked it up, turning it over to look at the screen. He smiled as he answered. "You're up kinda early," he said.


He was running a little late and drove a little too fast to John Tune airport. It wasn't like the plane would leave without him, because it was his plane, after all. But he was ready to go, ready to be on his way. Maddie was performing at the Grammys in LA the next night and she was up for five awards and he wanted to be there to support her. It wasn't her first Grammy performance and it wouldn't be her first award, but it thrilled him every time he saw her on stage and every time she got that confirmation that she was a success.

He never watched her without thinking about how much she was like Rayna. Maddie had had a little easier road to success, because they had helped her, and she'd had a lot of success quickly and at an earlier age than Rayna had. But he had been so proud of how down-to-earth she was about it. She had become a real role model for other young artists just starting out, including Daphne, who would be flying in the same stratosphere soon.

He settled back in the seat and closed his eyes. He was too old for late nights these days. He was asleep almost as soon as the plane left the runway.


When he walked down the steps of the plane, he was nearly blinded by the white sunlight. He pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and slid them on. It was warm, warmer than Nashville, but not hot. But, as usual, whenever he was in LA he was always conscious of the almost constant sunlight, a brightness that seemed brighter somehow than the sunlight in Nashville. In Nashville, a sunny day seemed clear and filled with color, the color of flowers or the green of the trees. But in LA the light was white and made everything seem washed out.

Well, everything except the head full of red-gold hair that waited for him just outside the FBO door. That was full and vibrant color and he picked up the pace of his steps as he got closer, his smile growing wider the closer he got. And then he was in her arms and his lips were on hers and he was breathing in her scent. Then she laughed softly in his ear. "I know it's only been two days, but I have missed you so much," Rayna whispered in his ear.

He grabbed her belt where it lay across the top of her jeans and pulled her in closer. "I missed you more, Mrs. Claybourne," he growled back.

THE END