Chapter 3:
"This is so much fun, being on tour all together," Daphne commented as the four of them sat around the table eating dinner in Rayna's suite.
"I remember when dad used to be in mom's band, it was so much fun," Maddie added.
"You remember that?" Deacon asked.
"Yeah, I remember the time we went to Disney World and Uncle Bucky made the entire band wear Mickey ears." Everyone laughed thinking of the serious musicians in Rayna's band donning ridiculous hats.
"I am pretty sure I have a picture of that somewhere. Gosh, that was before Daphne was born." Rayna said.
"I also remember that you and dad would come in before shows and sing me to sleep."
"Not fair! Mom and Dad never sang me to sleep."
"Oh yes we did!" Rayna objected.
"Not together," Daphne corrected.
"Sure we did, you were just too little to remember," Deacon added ruffling Daphne's hair.
"Maddie got all the good memories! I wish I was born first." Daphne was in a huff and it broke Rayna's heart just a little bit that Daphne didn't have memories of her parents together.
"Baby, if we would have had you first there wouldn't have been any other kids. Ray, you remember the teething nightmare of 2006. I think Maddie was the only one of us that actually slept for four weeks."
"Oh, I remember, still have nightmares," she said giving an exaggerated shiver for good measure. The girls laughed but Rayna's head went another direction. The truth was the neither Maddie nor Daphne were exactly planned. She wouldn't trade her girls for anything in the world, but teething didn't play a factor into more children or children at all. However, she was grateful for Deacon's natural ability to steer a conversation with the girls from any topic that might be slightly uncomfortable. She knew that wouldn't last forever, sooner or later the girls where going to start asking some pretty heavy questions and a funny or flip answer weren't going to suffice.
"Was I really that bad?" Daphne asked concerned.
"They thought about trading you in for a dog," Maddie deadpanned.
"Hey!" Daphne looked from Maddie to Deacon then to Rayna. "You didn't really, did you?"
"No baby, we wouldn't have traded you for the world," Rayna stated as she leaned over and gave Daphne a kiss on the forehead. Deacon leaned closer to Maddie giving her a stern look.
"You on the other hand, we did trade for a platinum record, it's just that Edgehill gave you back, said you drooled too much."
They all laughed at that and Maddie added proudly "I am mom's platinum baby".
"Well, I hate to break up this beautiful meal with our family, but Dad is on stage in about an hour and we know it's gonna take my glam squad a lot longer than that to make me look presentable."
"I think you are beautiful momma, just the way you are," Daphne said as she climbed off her chair to sit on Rayna's lap. Even though she was nine she still had her days when she was clingy with her momma. Maddie never was that way; she was always a little more independent than Rayna preferred but Daphne was her baby.
"Thank you baby," she kissed Daphne's cheek and when she looked up, she found Deacon staring at her. She knew that look, he was silently appreciating her, letting her know that he himself felt the same. She gave him a coy smile and tried unsuccessfully to hide her blush.
"Well momma's right, I have to get over to the arena, my glam squad is waiting on me as well."
"Yeah? What they going to do, brush your hair for you?" Rayna asked laughing.
"Well mom, you know wardrobe has to make sure his boots are polished just right," Maddie said laughing harder.
"And let's not forget making sure his flannel shirt has just the right number of wrinkles," Rayna added in with a snort.
"Hey! Just cause y'all don't have any style there's no reason to make fun of me." He gave the girls a very firm look, but his eyes were sparkling.
For all the fun Rayna had during the day, show time was a disaster. During Juliette's set they started to have issues with some the mics on stage. Not enough for the audience to notice at first but enough to frazzle the young star who wasn't as experienced. She ended her set ten minutes early throwing a tantrum when she got backstage. She was yelling at just about everyone in earshot and as Rayna made it out of her dressing room, she caught the lashing she was giving Deacon as he was trying to calm her down. She made eye contact with Deacon and when Juliette caught it, she whirled around training her wrath on Rayna who just stood in amazement.
"And what the hell are you looking at, this is none of your damn business!" Juliette railed at the star.
"Just take a breath sweetheart, that much anger will make you age prematurely," Rayna shoot back as she continued down the hall toward the stage, a smile on her face.
Unfortunately for Rayna, the electrical problems only got worse on the switch over. From the start of her set her ears weren't working properly and she had to ditch them by the second song. Then the background singer's mics went out completely halfway through. She switched up the set list the best she could to cover the problems but with fifteen minutes left to go her mic also began to cut in and out. By that time there wasn't much left she could do. She did her best to belt out Already Gone to the point of hurting her voice, hoping the acoustics in the arena where enough to carry it to the cheap seats. She hated to have to end the set early and disappoint her fans.
When she came off the stage, she was in about the same mood Juliette had been earlier, though she handled it completely different. She called a meeting with Bucky and the stage manager to figure out what was going on. They also needed a game plan should the issue not be fixed by show time tomorrow. She was still mad though and it didn't help that Juliette had apparently canceled an interview and backstage tour with CMT the next morning and the label was demanding that Rayna do it in her place. Now she was going to have to cancel plans she already had with the girls, which pissed her off further. The last thing she wanted to do was attend the after party but apparently 'Miss Sparkly Pants' canceled on that as well, leaving her to soothe over the VIP guests. She was irritable and it was one of those nights where she really didn't like her job.
She was talking to a local radio host when she noticed Deacon whispering to Bucky who was nodding his head. A minute later he came over to Rayna. "Hi John, thanks for coming out, mind if I steal Rayna for a few minutes?" Rayna made her apologies and followed Bucky out of the room and into the hall. "She's all yours," he said to Deacon.
"Deacon what's going on, the girls okay?" she asked impatiently.
"Let's go," he said as he pulled her down the hall and out of the arena. She wasn't in the mood for this, but she wasn't in the mood to argue with him either. She figured at least this was better than having to shake hands and make small talk with a roomful of people she didn't know or care about.
She still had no idea what was going on when they got to her suite. Deacon opened the door and grabbed his guitar laying against the couch, before dragging her over to the girl's room. He knocked lightly then pulled her through the door. The girls were laying in the big king size bed watching TV and they were shocked to see their parents.
"What's going on?" Maddie asked concerned.
"That's what I want to know!" Rayna said exasperated.
Deacon grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, then he went over to the bed and lifted the comforter.
"Scoot over Daph," Daphne complied. "Get in Ray."
"Deacon what in the world?"
"Just get in Ray," he said more forcefully holding up the blanket. When Rayna finally kicked off her shoes and snuggled next to her girls, they all watched in fascination as Deacon grabbed the chair from the desk and pulled it over to sit beside Rayna but facing all three of them. He then cleared his throat and strummed his guitar. In his best impersonation of a radio voice he bellowed "Tonight's bedtime is brought to you by Stetson, every cowboy's favorite hat".
"Ugh dad," Maddie groaned but Deacon continued.
"We had a special request today from Miss Daphne James and even though Miss Maddie James thinks she is too old to have her parents sing her to sleep, she will just have to grin and bear it." Rayna smiled at him, finally getting on the same page and Daphne giggled while Maddie just rolled her eyes, but Deacon noticed she was smiling at him as well. "Joining us on tonight's program is the great Ryan James, Queen of Country Music herself. Miss James thank you for joining us."
"It's my pleasure," Rayne responded putting on her show smile and voice.
"Miss James, tonight you had some technical issues with your show, and I have to say you handled it like a seasoned pro."
"Well thank you for saying that Mr. Claybourne. You know I hate to disappoint my fans, especially when they paid for tickets and come all the way here to see us play."
"Well, I'm sure the fans listening tonight understand and were just happy to be able to spend some time with you. Now Miss James, I understand you are going to be singing a few standard bedtime songs with me tonight."
"Yes, I believe that is correct."
"And what song will we be starting with?"
Rayna thought for a minute. It had been years since she sang the girls to sleep and she was a little rusty. "Ummm… Twinkle Twinkle?"
Deacon switched out of his radio voice and into his own. "Twinkle Twinkle Ray? Come on, she's nine not nine months, hell I don't even think we sang that song then!" Maddie and Daphne were laughing at their parents' banter.
"Well I don't know! This is your show," she said a little frazzled.
Deacon shook his head and transitioned back into his radio persona. "Tonight, we will be starting with You Are My Sunshine, as sung by the great Johnny Cash. Miss James would you like to start us off?" Rayna nodded her head and, on his cue, began to sing.
Maddie snuggled closer to Daphne watching her mom as she serenaded them. It was just like she remembered it. Her mom was snuggled in bed and her dad sat beside them playing the guitar and adding in backup vocals and harmonies. She felt like a little kid again, safe and protected. Daphne had a smile on her face a mile wide. She sometimes felt left out when Maddie would talk about things she remembered from when she was younger. She was two when her parents split apart for good and they didn't often spend quality time like this as a family. She loved her dad so much for doing this, giving her a perfect memory.
After the second song Deacon opened it up for requests. Daphne requested Smile, she loved how her mom sang that song so softly and gently. Then she requested If I Needed You as that was her favorite song for Deacon to sing to her.
"Alright y'all, time to get some sleep, mom needs to cover for Juliette tomorrow with CMT so we should call it a night."
"Can you…," Maddie started but felt a little shy, for some reason having her parents sing to them like this tonight made he feel a little vulnerable.
"What baby?" Rayna encouraged gently.
"Can you sing mom's song before you go?" she asked biting her lip.
"What's mom's song?" Daphne asked looking up at her parents.
Deacon looked over at Rayna. He hadn't played that song in a very long time and he hadn't played it with Rayna present in over seven years. He didn't want to disappoint his daughter, especially looking as fragile as she did but he also didn't want to put Rayna on the spot. She swallowed hard and when he looked at her for permission, she let out a deep breath.
"For our last song tonight, we will be seeing a classic country song, written by the great Deacon Claybourne." She said in a soft voice looking at the girls. She took one more deep breath before turning to Deacon. "Mr. Claybourne will you count us off?"
Deacon smiled at her and nodded. They sang A Life That's Good in perfect harmony and watched as the girls began to close their eyes and drift off to sleep. Rayna sang through the end of the song watching them sleep, not daring to look at Deacon whose eyes she could feel on her. When she finished, she reached down placing a kiss on each girl's forehead. As she shimmed out from under the covers, Deacon leaned over and did the same.
"Night sweet girls," he said softly then followed Rayna out of the room. He closed the door behind him and followed her to the front door of her suite. She then turned around and launched herself at him throwing her arms around his neck and holding him tightly.
"Thank you Deacon Claybourne. You are the sweetest man in the world," she uttered against his chest.
He laughed softly putting one arm around her waist, holding his guitar in the other. They stood like that for what seemed like hours. They hadn't been this close emotionally or physically in a very long time and he wanted to savor the moment. "It was my pleasure Miss James, your welcome here anytime," he said dropping back into the voice he was using earlier. It was her turn to laugh still holding him close. She held him another minute before squeezing him and then letting go. "Seriously Ray, I'm sorry about the show, I know those things drive you crazy, but you did the best you could."
"Thanks Deacon that means a lot coming from you."
"I'll take the girls shopping tomorrow. I know it won't be the same, but I'll make sure they have a good time and I reminded Glen that Juliette owes you one, so you just say the word. Night Ray." He said as he opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
"Night Deacon," she echoed before shutting the door.
She stood leaning against the door for a few minutes. She didn't know when the shift began but all the sudden everything between her and Deacon felt different. It was like she had been going about her life perfectly content and all the sudden she opened the curtains and she realized she has been living in semi-darkness. She felt light all the sudden. She didn't allow herself to think about why she was in the darkness to begin with or where he was going after he shut the door. For the first time in a long time Rayna felt whole and happy and she knew that when she laid her head on her pillow tonight, it wouldn't take long to drift off to very sweet dreams.