Sitting there in a silence that spoke of their years of companionship, they would occasionally grab food off each other's plate and give a grunt of thanks. Rubbing her stomach, Rayna fell back against the tree and exclaimed,

"Deacon, if I don't fit into that damn wedding dress, I am going to kill you!"

Laughing at her, Deacon stated,

"Darling, you could be wearing a hessian sack and I wouldn't care. You would still be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I would be the luckiest son of a bitch because you are marrying me."

"Oh god, Deacon"

His earnest words struck deep in her heart, causing her eyes to fill with unshed tears.

"Oh Ray…. Come on, I didn't mean to make you cry"

Shaking her head, she gave him a weepy smile, as she brushed a couple of tears that careened down her face.

"No Deacon. I just love you so much, that sometimes knowing that we are finally going to be married just overwhelms me."

Caressing his face, she lent in and gently kissed him. Pulling back, her fingers toying with his beard, their blue eyes wordlessly assured each other that they were fine.

She punctuated her words with soft kisses,

"You really are the bee's knees, you know! You are the only man who doesn't give a damn about how I look, you know that, right?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Obviously, Daddy, was always about me looking like a Belle Meade princess" screwing her nose up in disgust at the thought, she continued "Teddy, well lets just say, he met me as the great Rayna Jaymes, and that came with a whole lot of sparkle. With Luke, it was always about appearances. That should have tipped me off that that relationship wasn't going to last"

Deacon's fingers traced her lips, causing shivers of lust to careen through her.

"Well, luckily for you, seeing you at your worse didn't turn me off…. Plus, I have notoriously low standards"

Rayna punched his arm, as she shoved him backwards. He grabbed at her as he fell back against the tree. She landed against him with an oomph. His arms held her tight against him as she tried to escape his embrace.

"I'll have you know, every one of those rock bottom moments was all your fault!"

"Oh really? Hmmm, I seem to recall several moments when Ms High and Mighty Rayna Jaymes had to be bailed out by yours truly, due to someone's temper…. Does that sound familiar?'

Rayna shook her head,

"Nope, doesn't sound right at all"

No longer able to control it, she burst out laughing. He was right. They had bailed each other out more times that she could keep track. While his drinking usually got him into trouble, her temper would just as often cause Deacon to end up with a black eye as he stood in to prevent an angry guy from coming after Rayna.

Laying on top of him, her fingers absent mindlessly brushing over his face, her eyes conveyed her thanks for always being there for her. Nuzzling her face into the space between his jaw and his neck, she sighed as she breathed in his scent and felt her body relax against his. His fingers trailed patterns of nonsense over her back as their breathing found the others rhythm and synchronised.

The sounds of the forest provided background music as they whispered to each other, not willing to break the feeling of being the only ones in the world. Rayna listened as he told her about the bar and the worries he had. She had no idea of the depth of worry he had about failing; about letting everyone down. He really was a good man. He wasn't so much worried about losing the money, it was the idea of people losing their jobs and musicians not having a safe and supportive place to play.

Smothering a yawn, the result of laying in his arms and the warm sun kissing her skin, she sleepily regaled what had been happening at Highway 65. Marcus' tour had given his album the boost they had hoped it would, while it was selling no where as much as it would have if Marcus had been the one out there promoting it. But as Rayna explained, at least he hadn't been bad mouthing the album or Highway 65. For that she was grateful.

They stayed like that, wrapping in each other's arms as they bought the other up on the various coming and going on in their lives. Rayna softly laughed as Deacon told her about all the times, he had been forced to taxi the girls around and sit in on various dance rehearsals. Listening to the exasperation in his voice, as he regaled the time, he was trapped at a birthday party for one of Daphne's friend. Rayna knew that he was probably the only man there, and as a result had to fend off the advances of the bored Belle Meade housewives who had only stayed when they saw him there. She had been to enough of those parties to know how persistent they could be when they spied fresh blood.

Rayna hadn't realised how much she had needed this. She had gone from being away on tour, where she only heard the condensed version of events from home over video calls, to being at home but forced to arrive home late at night after the girls had gone to bed. She would be forever in his debt, knowing how she had asked a lot of him over the last few weeks. He not only had managed The Beverley, but he had made sure their girls received the attention they needed and lavished them with his love. He had also taken care of her. He would put her to bed without admonishing her, making sure that her alarm was set for the next day. He would quite often get up with her so that they could have breakfast together. It was only much later, when she worked out that he had done that to ensure she ate at least one meal for the day.

Her heart swelled with love for him. He showed her in a thousand different ways how much he loved her. She knew that she would spend the rest of her days basking in his love and returning it equally.

Stretching up she kissed him softly. He tasted like the most alluring elixir, fuelling her addiction to the loving warmth of his love. His lips were warm and moist, inviting her to plunge deeper into him. Resisting the pull of her lust for him, her lips tingled as they brushed against his as she whispered,

"Thank you, Deacon. Thank you for being your wonderful self, for always loving me even when I am acting crazy, for loving the girls…. and thank you for finally marrying me."

"Ray…" his voice cracked with emotion, as his lips kissed her with such tenderness that she thought she would cry.