Maddie couldn't believe how easy it had been. Her parents were in New York for their album promo, so she and her sister were staying with Tandy. That morning, she'd told her aunt she felt sick, and she'd asked if she could stay home. She knew that if it looked like she was feeling better by dinner time, Tandy couldn't resist going to work in the afternoon. That would give Maddie just enough time to sneak out to Sadie Stone's private show and come back home in time.

And surely, everything had worked according to plan. She was standing in the front row of a selected crowd inside Two Old Hippies, waiting for Sadie Stone to hop on stage, still beaming at the fact she'd pulled it off. That was when she heard a familiar voice. "Hey, kiddo. No school today?"

She spinned around, fast enough that she almost got dizzy, and she found herself face to face with a smirking Adria. "No, we have... we have reduced hours on Fridays this year," she panicked.

Adria shook her head, amused. "Sweetie, you're the worst liar. Have I taught you nothing? I feel like I haven't fulfilled my godmother duties here. Never hesitate and never give too many details when you lie. A simple yes or no."

"Know what would make you the best godmother ever?" Maddie tried her luck. "If you could not tell my parents or Tandy."

"Yeah, not a chance in hell of that happening, but since you're probably going to get grounded anyway... you may as well stay and watch the show."

Maddie groaned. "Thanks... I guess."

Adria wrapped her arm around Maddie's shoulders. "Come on, you can sulk or you can enjoy your last couple hours of freedom."

Rayna's daughter let out a defeated sigh. She'd been so close. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Your mom is trying to sign Sadie Stone to Highway 65," she explained, and Maddie's face lit up at that. "They'd already had a couple of meetings, but since your parents are out of town, Rayna sent me and Buck to represent her today."

"Bucky's here too?" Maddie asked. Damn. A couple hours might have been enough to coax Adria and change her mind about telling her parents, but there was no way she would convince Buck.

Right on cue, Rayna's manager made his way toward them, eyes glued to his phone. "No school today, young lady?"

Maddie resigned herself to her fate. "We've already established I can't lie and I'm probably grounded for life."

"For life? Sounds like a long time," Bucky gently mocked her. "How did you get in here?" he asked, finally taking his eyes off his phone.

"Sadie did a giveaway on Twitter, and I won one of the tickets."

"We're supposed to meet with her after the show. Do you want to come with us?"

Maddie wondered for a second if Bucky was messing with her. "Seriously? Of course!" She refrained from squealing. She didn't want him to change his mind.

"Alright, but I'll text Tandy to inform her we've found her runaway niece and we'll drive you back home after we're finished here."

As she watched him type, Maddie thought how she was probably going to have to say goodbye to her phone for a while. But she was going to meet Sadie Stone. So, all in all...

—

june 1999

—

Adria knocked and stuck her head in the half-open door of Rayna's hospital room. "Is it a good time?" she asked.

"Of course." Rayna smiled, gesturing for her to come in.

Deacon was sitting in a chair next to her bed with their daughter in his arms. Maddie Virginia Claybourne was born late last night, just two days short of Rayna's due date. Tandy and Lamar had already dropped by in the morning, as early as visits were allowed, to meet their niece and granddaughter.

"Hey, you... three," Adria said, smiling. She'd brought flowers that she put on the table before she walked around the bed.

Deacon stood up, the baby quiet in his arms. "Maddie, meet Aunt Adria. She can be a bit scary sometimes, but it's gonna be fine," he teased.

"Oh, you are the most beautiful thing," Adria gushed as Deacon handed her his daughter, very carefully and quite reluctantly. She looked at Rayna. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm okay," Rayna replied, smiling. She wasn't sure she had done anything but smile since they'd put Maddie in her arms for the first time. Deacon sat down next to her on the bed as they and Adria started to talk. After a moment, Rayna tapped her finger on Deacon's elbow and tilted her head in Adria's direction as to remind him of something.

"Oh, right," he said. "Well, Ray and I have been discussing this earlier, and we wanted to ask you... Would you agree to be her godmother?"

Adria beamed up. "Really?"

Neither Rayna nor Deacon was religious, and so it was more symbolic than anything else, but they still liked the idea of choosing godparents for Maddie.

"Really," Rayna and Deacon confirmed.

"I would be honored." She looked down at Maddie in her arms. "I'm going to teach you so many fun things, baby. And once you'll be 21, I'll teach you even more fun things."

"See, that was the part I was worried about," Deacon remarked, amused.

Adria leaned over to whisper in Maddie's ear as if it was a secret between them. "And we won't tell your Daddy about any of it."

Deacon turned to Rayna, pretending to be scandalized. "I'd like to officially recant my vote to make her the godmother," he said, and Rayna chuckled at that.

"Nah, it's too late now," Adria objected. "Who did you choose as her godfather?" she asked. "Because if something happens to you two, this is the man I'll have to raise this little one with."

"This is not how it works at all," Rayna guffawed, "but it's Bucky," she revealed.

"I'm fine with that."

"I doubt Janet will be fine with that," Deacon pointed out.

"I don't make the rules, Deacon," Adria joked, "if something happens to you two, Bucky's mine."

Rayna burst out laughing. As she watched Adria, she remembered the day she'd learned she was pregnant, how emotionally drained she'd been back then. She was a thousand times more exhausted today, but it was a different kind of exhaustion. She was a mom. She had a daughter, a healthy, beautiful, 6.8 pounds daughter, and she'd had to say that aloud a few times already to remind herself it was real. What made her the most happy was that she hadn't had to do this alone. Deacon, sober and elated, even if mostly terrified, had been with her every step of the way.

She wished she could bottle that day, keep everyone she loved safe and sound inside.

—

"Remind me why we're eating hot dogs while it's New York and there are at least a thousand fabulous restaurants we both love here?"

"Because you like hot dogs, but you won't admit it, so you pretend it's my fault you're forced to eat them," Deacon shot back with a smile.

Rayna bumped his shoulder and made a face. "You're right," she confessed, and sometimes it annoyed her he knew her so well.

It was indeed nice walking back to the hotel with Deacon in this early October weather. The whole last three days had been great. It was a lot more fun doing promo with Deacon than by herself. The idea of ever recording another solo album had lost more and more of its appeal since they'd started working on this one. If this was up to her, she would be fine only doing duet albums henceforward.

Someone who hadn't seemed on board with this plan, however, was Edgehill's new label head that Rayna had met for the first time the day before leaving for New York. He'd appeared to already have a clear idea of what he wanted Rayna's next solo album to be. He'd also shown very little enthusiasm for Highway 65. Rayna had fought so hard to convince Marshall about her label, and she didn't want to have to start all over again with this new guy.

She was going to wait and see how things would evolve, but if it turned out they were heading the wrong way... she was ready for a change. Sooner than later.

Her phone rang, and she handed her food to Deacon. "Can you hold this, please?" she asked before she rummaged through her bag. "Rayna," she announced as she picked up. "Wait, what?" She stopped walking. Deacon did the same, trying to decipher the expression on her face. "No, no, no, we'll do it. Thanks, Tandy. See you tomorrow."

"What?" Deacon asked as soon as she'd hung up.

"Maddie skipped school to go to Sadie Stone's show this afternoon."

He was surprised. It didn't sound like his daughter. "Seriously?"

"Pretended to be sick, and sneaked out while Tandy was at work."

"Well... we'll deal with that when we'll get back tomorrow."

"Yeah."

They started moving again and finished their food on the way back to the hotel, only stopping to throw the paper trays and napkins away as they walked past a trash can. Deacon noticed Rayna seemed preoccupied. "What's going on in that brain of yours?"

"It's just... I know we're her parents, and that's our role to set boundaries, but sometimes when I remember how I was when I was her age, I just can't help but feel a little like..."

"A hypocrite?"

Rayna winced. "Yeah, I mean, how many times did I sneak out to see you."

He chuckled at that. "You were older, and things were... different."

"Not that much older." Her face turned serious, and she looked like she had given this thought before. "What if in a year or two, she'll be just like me. How are we going to deal with that? Aren't you worried?"

Deacon let out a long sigh. "Baby, I've been worried since the day she was born. I mean, I was scared I wouldn't be a good dad. I was scared I would let her down, let you down. I was scared something would happen to her because of me."

Rayna reached out for his hand, squeezing his fingers. "Babe," she whispered.

"But with time," he went on, "I've learned to let go of that fear. It would have been unbearable not to." Rayna nodded. "We've got two great kids, Ray. We've done a good job raising them until now, and we'll keep doing the best we can. Not everything is in our control."

He watched Rayna struggle with the last part of his speech. He knew how much she hated not being in control.

"You're right," she said anyway.

They'd reached the hotel's door, and Deacon let Rayna go first. They'd barely made their way into the lobby when a group of young women approached them asking for a pic with them. Deacon wondered if they'd been waiting for them. They signed autographs and chatted a bit before they headed off to the elevator.

Once inside, Deacon caught Rayna biting the nail on her thumb as she usually did when she was nervous. "You're thinking about calling Maddie, right?"

"Yeah," she admitted.

"Baby, we'll deal with this tomorrow, okay? Tonight," he said, and he stood facing her, sliding his arms around her waist, "we're going to enjoy our last night here just the two of us." He walked her backwards until she was pressed against the elevator's wall, and he leaned to kiss her. She relaxed under his touch, smiling against his lips. "And," he whispered in her ear, "we're going to work on this 'not being in control' thing."

She shivered at the tone of his voice. "Oh, is that right?" She'd already forgotten about anything other than his lips on her neck and his hands sliding down to her ass.

—

TBC

A/N: Thanks to all of you who are still reading and/or posting reviews. This chapter revolved mostly around Maddie, and I plan to do one that will revolve mostly around Daphne. I'm thinking about sending Deacon and Daphne fishing together, so they can talk about life, ukulele and glow-in-the-dark bowling.