A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers. The songs used in this chapter are You Save Me by Kenny Chesney and I Need You by Tim McGraw.
Chapter 29
Deacon stood huddled off in a corner with his phone pressed to his ear. "Ok, that's a tired cry if you rock him gently and pat his little butt he will be out like a light in no time. If he's ready for a nap his brother is too. Just get them both down at the same time. My wife will be out for blood if those two aren't on the same schedule." He was checking in with the nanny they had hired for the night since no one else was available. She had come with impeccable reference, but he was still leery about leaving the boys with someone that they didn't know.
"Deacon, what are you doing huddled in this corner all alone?" Rayna came up and touched his shoulder.
He jumped like he had been shot and a sheepish look appeared on his face. "I was just checkin' on the boys and I didn't want you to know I was doin' it."
"Oh, babe, you have so much to learn." She opened an app on her phone that showed a live feed of their house. The boys were being tended to by the nanny and they were perfectly fine.
"So you're not mad at me?" He asked.
"No I'm not mad at you. I would think that there was something wrong with you if you didn't want to call and check up on them every few minutes. That's why I put the nanny cams up. That way we know what's going on when we aren't there." She explained to him.
"Now that that is settled. Let's go see what those girls are up to." He put his arm around her waist.
"Daphne I'm sure is fine. We should be more worried about what Maddie could be up to." She replied.
They found the girls harmlessly looking at items for the silent auction. For a change Maddie wasn't up to anything they needed to be worried about.
"I'm really glad that you guys could make it." Teddy said when he got a chance to talk to them.
"It's a good cause and I'm always happy to lend a hand when you need it." Rayna smiled at him.
"Like we had a choice in a matter those girls heard the words perform and they would have drug us here against our will if they had to." Deacon chuckled.
"Where are the girls?" Teddy looked around for his daughters.
"I think Daphne is off bidding on a pony." Deacon informed him.
"I wouldn't be surprised. I better go stop her." Teddy went off to find the girls.
"You wanna go walk the red carpet with me?" Rayna batted her eyelashes at him.
"I can't think of a single other thing I rather do right now." Deacon let her lead him away.
"That is one awesome guitar. I would give up one of my kidneys for a guitar like that." JC approached Maddie. He couldn't be in the same room as her and not attempt to make conversation with her.
"It is very nice." Maddie agreed with him. They were looking at a black Gibson acoustic guitar.
"I just wanted to thank you again for your help last night." He grinned at her.
"Don't mention it. You helped me with Jayme and I still owe you one for taking care of me the night I was drunk." She replied.
"That was nothin' I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if somethin' bad happened to you." He shrugged his shoulders to say that it was no big deal.
"You look good without the cowboy hat you should take it off more often. I like the scruff you're growing it makes you look older." She teasingly rubbed her hand along the stubble on his face.
"Thanks, I figured I would look presentable for the night. I even wore a shirt with a collar on it." He had his hair parted off to the side and he wore a red and white checkered shirt. He had a big silver belt buckle with an impression of a longhorn steer on it. His cheeks and chin were covered with a thick dusting of five o'clock shadow.
"You picked the shirt that looks like a table cloth, but you look nice." She laughed.
"Since I look so nice that means you gotta go walk that red carpet with me." He bargained with her.
"Sure, just give me a minute and I will be right there." She agreed.
"I'll be waitin' for you. Just come get me when you're ready." He went to go mingle while she took care of whatever it was she needed to take care of.
Maddie picked up a pen and put a bid down on the guitar.
"I should have known that you would be over here looking at guitars." Lamar commented. "You and Deacon have that in common."
"We do, it's very nice and well built." She replied.
"And like your mother you know how to appreciate a good guitar player." He added.
She looked at him questioningly. "I don't know what you're talking about, pawpaw."
"Not yet anyway. If you like it so much it's yours." He put a sizable bid down on the guitar.
"Pawpaw, you don't have to do that. I don't really need the guitar." She put up a protest.
"I meant the guitar too." He gave her a knowing smile.
When Maddie finally caught up with JC he was talking to Daphne.
"Daph, you walking the red carpet with us?" She asked.
"I already did with dad, but JC said I can with you guys too." Daphne replied.
"Look at you, ladies man, you're making the rest of us look bad. I can't even wrangle up one date and you've got two." Will joked around with the younger man.
"Some of us are a little more gifted in that department than others. Don't worry you'll get the hang of it one day." JC shot back.
"Miss Daphne, will you do me the honor of takin' a stroll down that red carpet with me?" Will bent down to Daphne's level.
"Sure, Will," Daphne looped her arm through his.
"I believe he just stole my other date." JC's brown eyes sparkled with laughter.
"That just means I don't have to share you this way." Maddie took his offered arm.
"So, how well do you know this JC guy that Maddie seems drawn to?" Teddy watched the teens on the red carpet.
"Very well. We were at the hospital the day he was born. His father was Deacon's best friend. He's a good kid you don't have anything to worry about." Rayna assured him.
"He's a boy and he's around our daughter I have plenty of reasons to worry." He scoffed.
"You don't have to worry about that boy. Maddie has a boyfriend. They are just friends." She replied.
"Just friends like you and Deacon have ever been just friends? She looks him the way you look at Deacon or how Deacon looks at you. I can't decide which one of you she took after there. Either way that's not a look of friendship." He corrected her.
"I know that and you know that. Maddie doesn't know that yet. It wouldn't be a horrible thing if it took her a little while to figure out that she feels that way about him. Like you said they remind me of me and Deacon. We almost burnt each other to the ground numerous times with our passion because we were too young to know how to handle it." She agreed with him.
"You two are standing across the room from each other right now and I'm at risk of being burned from standing next to you. I didn't think that anyone else on the planet was capable of having something that intense. I was wrong. I can see it coming." He marveled at the way her and Deacon could look each other across a crowded room and have it seem like they were the only two people there.
"Teddy, I know that you're freaking out because it's our daughter with a boy, but that's not the boy you have to worry about doing anything to her. Believe it or not that boy is prince charming. Worry more about the boy she is dating." She advised him.
"I have to go mingle we will finish this conversation later." He left her to go make his rounds.
"Oh, Deacon, the level of bad that you have it for that woman is ridiculous. You can't even be on the other side of the room from her without pining for her." Sadie didn't have to follow Deacon's gaze to know he was looking at Rayna.
"Stop bustin' my balls, Little Sister. I can't help it that she makes me want her all the time." Deacon shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm now sorry that pursued conversation with you tonight. Ya'll make me sick with how cute you are and I think that you are worse than she is." She rolled her eyes at him.
"I may be guilty as charged, but she sure as hell ain't innocent." He defended himself.
"Whatever kind of shit you two are about to stir up don't. Be on your best behavior tonight." Rayna warned them.
"When have we ever not been on our best behavior together?" He scoffed.
"The one night before I found out that I was pregnant you joined us on one of the tour stops and you locked Sadie out on the balcony drunk for an hour because she dumped a whole bucket of ice down the back of your shirt." Rayna refreshed his memory.
"The way I remember it I locked her outside because I was tryin' to sober you both up and you were feedin' off each other." He corrected.
"Let's go find our table the girls are sitting with Teddy tonight. That should mean that I only have to manage Juliette and her personality, but we will see." Rayna gestured for them to follow her.
"JC, what in the world possessed you to leave the house lookin' like a mountain man tonight?" Scarlett asked her roommate.
"I guess the same thing that possessed you to let Gunnar out of the house wearing those ridiculously tight pants." JC took a pull off his longneck.
"You've got a belt buckle the size of Texas I don't want to hear you talk about anyone. I surprised that you and Will haven't gotten matching tattoos of the Texas flag yet." Gunnar pointed a threatening finger at him.
"Gunnar, you're from Texas too. I don't know why you talk about us like that." Will jumped in.
"If I were Gunnar I would be mad at you both too. I mean you leave him out of your weird little 'Texas Forever' secret handshake that you do." Maddie formed air quotes around the words Texas Forever. It seemed to be Will and JC's catch phrase.
"Did she just mock Texas forever? Because if she just mocked that we are gonna have to kick her out of the group. I don't care how insanely talented she is." JC wore a look of mock indignation on his face.
"JC, I'm pretty sure that your girlfriend just mocked our catch phrase. We are gonna have to do worse than kick her out of the group." Will said solemnly.
"He only wishes that I was his girlfriend and I'm not being kicked out of the group. I'm leaving the group and Scarlett, Layla, Daph and I are starting our own group. Right now I'm leaving the group temporarily because I have to go sit at the mayor's table." Maddie rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't love Teddy, because she really did, but she was a teenager and she much rather hang out with her friends.
"Hey, Maddie, before you go." Will and JC both flipped her horns with their fingers. "Texas forever,"
"Layla, be a pro stop making googly eyes at the man candy." Jeff sighed when he saw that Layla was yet again staring in JC's direction.
"Don't be an ass all the time, Jeff. I wasn't making eyes at him he is a friend of mine. He's the guy that was singing on that recording I played for you the other day." She rolled her eyes. He could be such a child sometimes. If she didn't care about him she would have kicked him to the curb a long time ago.
"Oh, he's that guy? That kid is going to be huge and I have plans. Layla, get close to him befriend him sleep with him if you have to just stay in his good graces. You two could be an up and coming power couple in country music. Strictly for the press of course." His ever present evil smirk appeared.
"I tried that with Will and you saw how well that turned out for me." She reminded him.
"You know better than that this time, Layla. I sincerely hope that you wouldn't be stupid enough to really develop feelings for that pup. Stop questioning me and just do what I tell you." He sighed exasperated with her.
"Problem with that I'm Will's ex-wife and Will just so happens to be one of his close friends. There is some macho bro code that says you don't get with your buddy's ex." She informed him.
"Stop thinking, that's not what anyone pays you for. I've got this taken care of." He brushed away her concerns.
"And you're not getting paid to be such a jerk all the time." She spat back.
"Thank God, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so glad that she got to do that performance or there would have been no living with her. Maybe now she will go back to some semblance of normal." Avery was relieved he needed Juliette to get a win so she would relax.
"She can't be any worse than normal." Gunnar disputed.
"You would think that she couldn't get any worse and you would be wrong. She got on a plane and flew to LA to record the end credit song for that Patsy Cline movie on the spur of the moment. Not only that, but she forced Deacon to come over and help her write it." Avery informed him.
"That still isn't that crazy for Juliette. She's done worse." Scarlett threw out.
"As long as she isn't stealing nail polish, sleeping with married billionaires or saying that God doesn't exist I can deal with whatever trouble she decides to cause." Glenn had learned to just go with the flow.
"That makes the cow tippin' we used to do sound tame." JC chuckled.
"And you win for the most Texan statement made in the last ten minutes." Sadie had taken a shining to the young man and she liked to tease him.
"Texas forever," JC and Will whooped.
"New rule the next time someone says Texas forever I'm imposing a fine and that fine is burping Jayme." Rayna threatened them.
"Jayme and I are old pals. He's not gonna do anythin' that I can't handle." JC laughed.
"I'm gonna shut up now." Will and Jaymes had a contentious relationship. He liked to spit up on Will every chance that he got.
"That's what I thought." Rayna winked at him.
Deacon grabbed his phone quickly when it buzzed in his pocket. He thought it was the nanny calling about the boys. He smiled when he saw that it was his mom's attempt at texting him and he showed it to Rayna after texting her back. "I finally found someone worse than I am at this."
"Maddie and Daphne are trying to teach her you see how that's going. She told me that when I talked to her earlier. She Facetimed with the boys because she misses them and says she's gonna have to visit again soon." Rayna bumped her shoulder into his.
"Lord help me, what are you girls doin' to my sweet innocent momma?" Deacon laughed.
"Teaching her how to appropriately respond to messages. I shouldn't have to call you every time I email you to make sure that you read it and get back to me right away." Bucky had a hang up with Deacon not checking his emails.
"I've gotten better and you know it. I can't help it that I find these forms of communication informal and impersonal." It wasn't that Deacon wasn't capable of using electronics it was that he much rather handle things in person.
"I'm giving you a heads up right now that I'm scheduling you and I a meeting first thing tomorrow morning. I want to discuss the direction that we are going to take JC's album in. Sinners Like Me is a great single, but we need something else queued up and ready to go." Bucky informed him.
"Alright, Buck, we can do that." Deacon replied.
"Maddie, what did you need that guitar for? Between you and your dad there's about to be no space for anything else in the music room. As a matter of fact he still has guitars at his place and at the cabin. But, your pawpaw would give you the world if you asked him for it. I had to threaten him to keep him from buying Daphne a pony." Rayna put her arm around Maddie's shoulders as they walked through the parking lot. Daphne had wanted to spend the night with Teddy and Maddie had begged out of it.
"Actually, would it be ok if we stopped at dad's house for a minute? I have something that I need to do." Maddie carried the guitar Lamar had bought for her in the hard case that had come with it.
"Ask your daddy he's driving." Rayna got into the truck.
"Sure, Maddie, we can make a quick stop. And I mean quick. I don't think I like this nanny." Deacon climbed into the driver's seat.
"I promise it'll be quick." Maddie swore to him. She got out of the truck at Deacon's house and she took the guitar with her. She taped a not to the case and left it on JC's bed.
"Any reason for leavin' the guitar here?" Deacon asked when she got back into the truck.
"It wasn't for me. It was a thank you present for JC." Maddie told him.
Rayna shot Deacon a look and he smirked in response.
"Look at how handsome daddy is tonight." Rayna pushed the boys into Deacon's dressing room at the Opry.
Deacon wore a dark blue button up with a vest over it and a pair of jeans. "There are my boys. I was afraid ya'll weren't gonna make it on time." He smiled widely.
"It took us a little while to get out of the house. Jayme decided that he was gonna spit up all over his outfit." She told him.
"That sounds about right to me." He laughed. He picked both boys up and cuddled them to his chest. "Now don't you two spit up on daddy. He needs good luck cuddles from his dudes." He kissed them both.
"It looks like they both missed daddy a lot. Look at the smile on Deac's face. He is a big daddy's boy you are one of the only people who can get that smile out of him." She kissed his cheek. "You nervous?"
"Nope, this is far from the first time I've played here. I regularly lead the house band. I'm just excited." He put the boys back in their stroller.
"I'm so proud of you, babe. I always knew that you were capable of this." She cupped his cheek.
"I couldn't do this without you by my side, babe. I need you just as much as you need me." He took her hand and kissed it.
"Mr. Claybourne, you're on soon." The stage manager stuck his head in the door.
"Thanks, I'm ready." Deacon replied.
"Hey, JC, I just wanted to wish you luck. I know that this is your first night as my dad's bandleader." Maddie walked out on stage where JC was going over last minute things with the band.
"Thanks, I got my trusty new Gibson and I'm sure I'll do just fine." JC grinned at her.
"That Gibson does look pretty good on you." She grinned back.
"Maddie, thank you for the guitar you didn't have to do that. I would have scraped up enough money to get a new one eventually." He was touched by her gesture.
"I did have to do it and I wanted to. I owed you one we are even again." She blushed when she saw the way he was looking at her.
"I really appreciate it. I will pay you back." He took her hand and held it.
"If you get nervous up here and need something to focus on look over at me. I will be on the side of the stage the whole time." She echoed the words he'd said to her the night she made her Opry debut with Daphne. She laced their fingers together.
He tenderly brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I'll be lookin' for you in that case."
"I'll be there I'm not gonna give you the satisfaction of saying I broke a promise to you." She teased him lightly.
"You know me I'll tease you every chance that I get." The smile he gave her showed off his dimples.
"I know you will that's why I'm not giving you a chance this time." She bumped shoulders with him.
"Maddie, you coming?" Colt called from the side of the stage.
JC closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You better go your boyfriend is waitin' on you."
"Yeah, I should go, but you're gonna kick ass tonight and I know it." She dropped his had guiltily and made her way over to Colt. She had turned her back just in time to miss the hurt flash in his eyes.
He turned his back to the side of the stage and pulled a note out of his pocket. Maddie's handwriting was scrawled across the page. Jimmy, you're great anyway, but I think this guitar will help you become even better. Thanks for being my knight in shinning armor. Maddie.
Just seeing that she had used his given name had sent a shiver down his spine. For some reason it seemed more special coming from her.
"Every now and then I get a little lost. My strings all get tangled my wires all get crossed. Every now and then I'm right upon edge danglin' my toes out over the ledge. I just thank God you're here." Deacon sang into his mic.
"Rayna, I think we may have a situation." Scarlett whispered in her ear.
"What's going on, Scarlett?" Rayna asked.
"Look for yourself." Scarlett pointed with her eyes to where Paul stood.
"I'll handle it." Rayna walked over to Paul.
"I don't want any trouble I just wanted to hear my boy sing that's all. I'll go before he knows I was here." Paul swore to her. He looked human tonight. He looked like a frail old man instead of a monster.
"Cause when I'm a bullet shot out of a gun. Cause when I'm a firecracker comin' undone. When I'm fugitive ready to run all wild eyed and crazy. No matter where my reckless soul takes me baby you save me."
"I guess I can't fault you for that. Listen to this song then go." Rayna told him not unkindly. She could see the man that Deacon could have easily become had he not gotten his act together when she looked at him and it broke her heart.
"It's hard lovin' a man that's got a gypsy soul I don't know how you do it. I'm sure you how you know the perfect thing to say to save me from myself you're the angel that believes in me like nobody else. And I thank God you do."
"Thank you," Paul replied simply.
"Will, keep a discreet eye on him and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble." Rayna whispered to Will before making her way back to where Scarlett stood.
Will looked over at Paul and then looked back again. He knew a thing or two about tough family relationships.
"Cause when I'm a bullet shot out of a gun. Cause when I'm a firecracker comin' undone. When I'm fugitive ready to run all wild eyed and crazy no matter where my reckless soul takes me baby you save me."
JC played his guitar solo and he looked over to where Maddie stood wrapped in Colt's arms.
Maddie could feel his eyes on her before she saw them. She stepped out of Colt's embrace and smiled warmly at JC.
He winked back at her.
"Well, I know I don't tell you nearly enough, but I couldn't live one day without your love. When I'm a ship tossed around on the waves up on a high wire that's ready to break. When I've had just about all I can take. Baby you, baby you save me. When I'm a bullet shot out of a gun. When I'm firecracker comin' undone. When I'm a fugitive ready to run all wild eyed and crazy. No matter where my reckless soul takes me. Baby you save me."
"Give me a mic," Rayna told one of the stage hands. She took the microphone that was offered to her and walked out on stage. She was on a very special mission.
"Well, hello, Mrs. Claybourne. I didn't know you'd be gracing us with your presence out here tonight. This is a very nice surprise." Deacon grinned.
"I couldn't resist myself after that song. I'm so proud of my husband." She replied. "Isn't he amazing?" The audience cheered wildly. "Deacon, let's do one of the new songs for them."
"I Need You?" He asked in reply. It was one of the songs on their duet album.
"Perfect, babe." She smiled at him.
Deacon started picking a tune on his guitar. "I wanna drink that shot of whiskey I wanna smoke that cigarette. I wanna smell that sweet addiction on my breath. I wanna ride cross West Virginia in the back seat of a Cadillac you know some cowboys like me go out like that. So I need you. Like a needle needs a vein like my Uncle Joe in Oklahoma needs the rain. I need you like a lighthouse on the coast like the father and the son need the holy ghost. I need you."
"I wanna get lost in some corner booth cantina Mexico. I wanna dance to the static of an AM radio. I wanna wrap moon around us lay beside you skin on skin. Make love 'til the sun comes up 'til the sun goes down again. Cause I need you like a needle needs a vein. Like my Uncle Joe in Oklahoma needs the rain. I need you like a lighthouse on the coast like the father and the son need the holy ghost. I need you." Rayna sang into the same mic Deacon was using.
"I wanna drink that shot of whiskey I wanna smoke that cigarette you know some cowboys like me go out like that. So I need you. oh I need you. I need you I need you I need you I need you." He sang. They stood so close together that they were touching because they couldn't hold hands.
"Oh, I need you I need you. I need you I need you I need you too. Ohhhh." She closed the song out. She kissed him softly.
The audience erupted in thunderous applause.
"Ya'll are just too kind." He beamed this had gone better than he expected.
"Hey, babe, I have a question for you. You and I are family anyway we share children that makes us bonded in just about the deepest way that two people can be. But what do you say we try to make that bond a little stronger?" She asked a smirk playing around the edges of her lips.
"How do you mean?" His confusion showed on his face.
"Deacon, how would you like to join me as an official member of the Opry family and not just as the house bandleader?" She broke out into a smile.
Deacon put his hand over his mouth. "Ray, you're kiddin' me right now right?"
"I'm not playin' 'bout this darlin'. I'm bein' dead serious. So what do you say?" Rayna repeated the question.
"I say hell yes." He picked her up and spun her around. He kissed her deeply when he put her back on her feet.
A/N: Here is the new chapter for you guys I hope you liked it. Until next time please review.
