Rayna was startled awake by the front door being kicked open. After Tandy and Watty left, she fell asleep on the couch. It had gotten dark out and she couldn't see who it was. She turned on the light on the side table.
"Ugh!" She heard Deacon groan as he stumbled in the doorway. "Rayna," he exclaimed, "Baby, what have you done?"
Rayna couldn't tell if he was mad or happy. She hopped up and ran over to him. "Deacon, what the…?" She was pissed. He was drunk! He reeked of whiskey. "Where have you been?"
Deacon tried to walk over to sit on the couch but missed and landed on the floor. He laughed hysterically as he tried to get up. "Well when y-you," he stuttered, "needed some t-time alone I went to the bar and," he paused again burping, "d-decided to have a few drinks." His words were all slurred. "How could you do this to us? You r-ruined my life," he shouted in anger, throwing his hands up in the air.
"What do you mean I 'ruined your life,' Deacon? Do you think this is ideal for me? I wanted to be a country star! Now I've got a baby to think about raising. I didn't exactly wish this on us and I sure as hell didn't do it alone!" Rayna couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. Drunk or not, he needed to realize she was not the sole person responsible for this.
"You weren't supposed to get pregnant, Rayna. We're too young to have babies. I can't be a father yet. I just c-can't," he fell over onto the rug and passed out.
Rayna went to the guest bedroom and collapsed on the bed, giant tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She couldn't believe the wonderful man this morning had turned into this monster tonight. She wrapped her arms around her flat stomach and whispered, "I know you can't hear me and you probably aren't even the size of a pinpoint yet, but I'm sorry about your daddy. I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I will love and protect you until the day I die." She cried herself to sleep, sobs wracking her body.
The next morning, she found Deacon still lying in the same position she left him in the night before.
"Hey," he said sleepily as he sat up and saw her standing behind the couch. "What happened last night?" He rubbed his eyes and squinted at the morning light.
"Why don't you tell me," she snapped. "Mr. 'I'm-Not-Ready-To-Be-A-Father!'" She started towards the kitchen.
"Wait, what," Deacon called out. "When did I say that?" He stood up as quickly as possible and then grabbed his head, wincing. The hangover he had was definitely becoming a problem. He hurried after Rayna. "Baby, I am more than ready to be a father. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be there for every moment. More importantly, I want to be."
"Sure," she scoffed. "You told me I ruined your life last night Deacon. You single-handedly blamed me for this baby." Tears were filling her swollen eyes again and she turned around quickly so as not to give him the pleasure of seeing her cry.
He grabbed her arm and turned her body towards his. "Please, baby. I'm sorry! I didn't know what I was saying. Of course I was part of this. You didn't ruin my life. You're making it better. You are my life, Ray. I didn't know what I was saying," he pleaded with her with remorse in his eyes.
She looked up to the ceiling to stop the tears from falling. "Deacon, if you want me and this baby to stay, you have got to get help for your drinking. I cannot raise a child in an environment where you get mad, go get drunk, and then stumble home in the middle of the night in a fit of anger. Do you realize you could've killed yourself or someone else last night driving home? My child could be fatherless today if the events of last night had transpired differently. This isn't the first time this has happened but it better as hell be the last, or you will not be in this child's life. You better get your shit together." She pulled her arm out of the grip of his hand and walked back to the guest room to cry.
He gently knocked on the guestroom door. "Ray, may I come in?"
She didn't answer so he turned the knob and peeked in. She sat on the bed, surrounded by tissues, and nodded.
"I'm so sorry, Ray. What can I do to prove to you it will never happen again?" He slowly walked over and sat down on the opposite side of the bed.
"Get into an outpatient rehab program," she responded quietly. "Stop going to the bar and learn to talk to me when you're upset. Stop turning to alcohol or this will never work."
He nodded. "I'll start looking for a program today," he assured her.
"After your last outburst, I did some research. I got some information on Cumberland Heights. I think it would be good for you to look into it." She handed him a pamphlet out of the drawer of the nightstand.
He took it and looked over it. "I'll go down there now, Ray. I'll do whatever it takes. I'm going to be the best damn father in the world to this baby."
She smiled through the tears that had started to fall again as she nodded her head. "Thank you." She didn't know if he'd keep his word. She'd learned in her research that he was battling a disease, but the fact that he was willing to try was what she needed right now.
While Deacon was away at the center, Tandy called.
"Ray, Daddy's officially out of the house. When are you moving back in," she asked.
"I don't know. I need to talk to Deacon," she replied. "We've been going through some stuff and haven't really had a chance to discuss it."
"Well, I've met this guy and I'm thinking about moving in with him. That'll give you and Deacon some privacy."
"Tandy, you don't have to move out," Rayna insisted. "You're still my sister. I'd never kick you out."
"No, I know. I just can't live here anymore knowing what Daddy did. It brings back too many memories. I need to get out and move on. I planned on being his partner for life. Now it's all over. I just can't, Rayna," Tandy sobbed.
"I understand." Rayna took a breath and wiped a stray tear from her own eyes. "Let me talk to Deacon and I'll let you know something. Who's the guy," she asked curiously.
"His name is Teddy Conrad," Tandy replied.
"Nooooo," Rayna gasped, her eyes wide. "Tandy, he's horrible! He's an asshole!"
"Oh, you just see business Teddy," Tandy laughed. "He's nothing like that in reality. You'll love him, Ray," Tandy assured her.
They finished their conversation. Rayna hung up the phone and went to the living room to work on some music. Their performance at Exit/In opening for Clint Black was coming up the next day. They would only be singing two songs but she wanted the ones she chose to be perfect.
Several hours later, as she sat on the living room floor finishing up the lyrics to "Changing Ground," Deacon walked in the front door with a bouquet of roses.
"What's this for," she asked looking up at him.
"Just wanted to remind you how much I love you, Ray," he grinned a toothy smile as he handed them to her. "Because I do love you, more than anyone else in the world. I want you to know that." He leaned down and kissed her.
"How did the program go," she asked after their kiss ended.
"Very well," he replied excitedly, sitting on the couch beside her. "I realize I did what I did last night because of my insecurities about my own father. I'm terrified of turning out like him," he confided.
"Deacon, you're nothing like Gideon. You're kind and caring. You don't put alcohol above family. Hell, you usually get drunk when you're trying to protect the ones you love and don't know how. You've never been abusive. Babe, you're the exact opposite of your father." She looked up at him and took his hand.
"Thank you, baby," he squeezed her hand. "I think this program is really going to help me, Ray. I'm determined not to fall off the wagon again. I know I have a problem and I need help. I'll do anything to get sober, baby. Thank you for recommending it."
She pulled herself onto the couch and grabbed his hand. "I'm so happy to hear that. You're gonna make a great father," she assured him.
"And you're gonna make one hell of a mother."
She wrapped her arms around him as she kissed him.
"So what have you been working on," he asked her as they pulled apart.
"Well, I've been trying to get something prepared for our performance tomorrow. I wrote a song called 'Changing Ground,' wanna hear it?"
"Sure," he replied, getting out his guitar to find some chords to go with it.
"Also, I thought maybe we could do a cover of 'Wayfaring Stranger.' It's my favorite song and the reason I got into country music."
"Of course, Ray. That's a great idea," he assured her.
They spent the evening working on the songs together. This is what Rayna dreamed of: a sober Deacon who talked to her and wrote good, old-fashioned country music with her. After everything that had recently happened, she was finally in her happy place again.