A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers.
Chapter 3
Deacon stared in amazement at the woman lying in bed next to him. She could have left him to sleep on the couch all night or she could have continued on with her charade of a relationship with Teddy, but she hadn't. She'd given him yet another second chance and for that he'd always be grateful. They hadn't had sex last night she'd just wanted him to hold her and he'd been ok with that. This was progress a couple of weeks ago he hadn't thought that she'd ever have anything to do with him again.
He smiled at the adorable little faces she made when she slept. She'd slept that way since he'd known her. Even though it had been a decade since they'd first gotten together she still looked like the sixteen-year-old that had stolen his heart. He'd broken her and made her wise beyond her almost twenty-seven years. He'd taken her innocence in more ways than one. If he had his way about it though he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her.
"Hi, beautiful, did you sleep well?" He asked when he saw those gorgeous eyes of hers open.
"Hi, handsome, I did. I slept better than I have slept in months. I missed you in the bed next to me." She ran her hand along the stubble on his jaw and kissed him.
"What do you and Baby Claybourne want for breakfast? I will make you anythin' you want." He offered.
"We want you to lay here and hold us for a little while. Because in your arms right here right now everything feels like it's gonna be alright. I really need to feel that right now." She replied.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She still in that groove of his body like she was meant to be there. "I thought you weren't gettin' back together with me."
"Oh, darlin', I'm not back together with you. You have to prove yourself to me. So far so good. Keep up the good work." She kissed him again.
"What 'bout Conrad?" He asked her.
"I know enough to know that I don't wanna be with Teddy. I'm gonna try to talk to him again. I did the math in my head after my last appointment and there is really no way that he's the father. I just have to make him see that." She wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I'm sorry that I put you in that position. It should have never come to this." He apologized.
"I made the choice though, Deacon. I was the one who wasn't going to tell you and now I have to live with the consequences of that choice. I promise you that this is your baby though." She swore to him.
"If you say this is my baby then I don't doubt that at all. I just wish I knew how it was possible." He rubbed her back.
"We were together up at the cabin. You got really drunk and didn't remember any of it the next morning." She informed him. She left out the part where he proposed.
"Ray, I'm so sorry." He wasn't sure what else to say.
"You don't have to be sorry. What I need you to do is stay committed to your sobriety. We can't change the past, but we can build a better future." She ran her hands through his hair.
"I can do that. I don't ever wanna go back to the way I was before. That wasn't livin'." He agreed to her terms.
"Do you think that you could get up and make me some of your famous scrambled eggs? I really, really miss your cooking." She kissed along his jawline.
"Yeah, I can do that. I have time for breakfast, but then I need to get goin'. I have counselin' today." He kissed her forehead and got out of bed.
After his counseling session Deacon returned to his house in East Nashville to find Teddy sitting on his front steps waiting for him. He took his sunglasses off and got out of his truck. He didn't know what Teddy wanted, but it couldn't be good. He walked up to his house.
"Well, I guess you're gonna tell me what you're doin' here whether I wanna hear it or not." Deacon leaned against a pillar.
"We both know that you're no good for Rayna or this baby. If you love them as much as you say you do you'll walk away and let me provide for them. I can give them a loving and stable home. I will be the guy that they can always depend on." Teddy made his pitch.
"I can't do that. I'm not 'bout to walk away from my own child. I've messed up more times than I should, but I have a disease. I'm gonna have to fight it every day for the rest of my life, but that doesn't mean that I'm not worthy to be a part of my own child's life. You damn sure don't get to decide whether I'm involved or not." Deacon retorted.
"If you love them let them go. You just said it's something that you have to fight. Don't drag them through that with you. Let Rayna have a chance to be happy without you. You are all she has ever known. How is she supposed to know if you are the one for her if she doesn't know any different?" Teddy reasoned with him.
"Conrad, you're testin' my patience. I'm tryin' real hard not to react how I normally would in this situation, but you're makin' that extremely difficult. Let me ask you this. Would you wanna win by default just 'cause I walked away or would you rather win her heart and know that she truly loves you?" Deacon arched his eyebrow.
Teddy didn't know how to reply to that. He took a moment to collect his thoughts while he got to his feet. "I just know that you aren't good for her and you're only gonna end up breaking her heart again."
"Let me tell you somethin' this ain't a game to me. She isn't some prize to be won she is the love of my life and we are havin' a baby together. There's nothin' that you can say or do to change the fact that we are gonna be a family." Deacon told him.
"Don't get comfortable thinking that you have this all sewn up. I don't intend to lose her without a fight." Teddy warned him.
"Well, I ain't walkin' away. I guess we will just have to let her decide what it is she wants. Now, get the hell off my property and don't come back." Deacon walked into his house without another word to the other man.
One Month Later
"Babe, this is more than just a little ridiculous I want you to know that." Tandy looked over at her sister in the passenger seat.
"You don't get to complain you agreed to come along for the ride." Rayna wore a ball cap and sunglasses. She was also eating onion rings. Her cravings were all over the place the further along she got in her pregnancy.
"Because I didn't want you to hurt yourself or the baby by eating and driving. It doesn't mean I think that this is a good idea. We have been following Deacon all day and I still don't know way." Tandy rolled her eyes at her.
"We are following Deacon because he tells me that he's busy and has things to do, but he won't tell me what those things are. I think he may be seeing another woman on the side." Rayna explained to her.
"So far the only things we have seen him do is go to the bank, go to the hospital for his counseling, and come here to practice with the band. It's not like you can even say anything if he had someone else you're still dating Teddy." Tandy pointed out.
"He knows that I'm dating Teddy it's not like I'm keeping that from him. If he weren't so seriously about his sobriety I would swear that he fell off the wagon and was drinking again with as secretive as he's being." Rayna replied.
"How about you just eat your onion rings and let me do the thinking here?" Tandy suggested.
"There's no need for you to be so mean to me. I'm just trying to make sure that my baby's father isn't cheating on me." Rayna's bottom lip quivered.
"Rayna, I can say a lot of things about Deacon, but I can't say that he doesn't love you. He loves you so much and he would never cheat on you. He's too dead set on building a family with you and your baby he wouldn't do anything to mess that up." Tandy put her hand on her sister's knee to comfort her.
"I don't understand what he's tryin' to hide from me then. We haven't seen him do anythin' wrong. I just don't get it." Rayna stuffed another onion ring in her mouth.
"Wait, who is that he just came out talking to?" Tandy pointed at Deacon.
"That's Riff Bell and the guy on the other side of Deacon is Luke Wheeler. Maybe I was wrong maybe he has fallen off the wagon again. He used to get into a lot of trouble with these two." Rayna looked at her sister worriedly.
"I'm sure that you have nothing to worry about." Tandy tried to reassure her.
That only worked until Luke produced a flask. He took a drink and then passed it to Riff. Deacon held his hand up when Riff tried to pass it to him.
"He didn't take a drink, Tandy. He had the opportunity to, but he didn't. I don't think I've ever seen him turn down a drink before." Rayna's eyes teared up.
"Rayna, get down he's looking this way." Tandy fumbled with the car keys.
"Shit," Rayna cussed when Deacon started to walk over to them.
"We are so busted." Tandy groaned when Deacon knocked on her window. She rolled it down.
Deacon stuck his head into the car. "What are you ladies up to?"
"We just saw your truck in the parking lot and we thought we would stop by." Tandy covered quickly.
"You just saw my truck in the bank parkin' lot too? I really hope ya'll have had a good time wastin' your afternoon. Why exactly are you followin' me?" Deacon sounded amused.
"If you would just tell me where you were goin' I wouldn't have to resort to this. What are you doin' with Luke and Riff?" Rayna turned it around on him.
"If you must know the thing I didn't tell you until it was a done deal was Luke and Riff are both gettin' ready to put out albums. They wanted me to do some guitar work for them. We have a baby on the way. Every little bit of money helps." Deacon explained to her.
"If you had just told me that I wouldn't have followed you around like a crazy person. I thought you were cheating on me." Rayna admitted.
"Ray, you're the only woman that I want. There is no way that I would cheat on you. And obviously if I have you I don't need to try to juggle any other women. Point in case you're followin' me." Deacon arched his eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, babe, these pregnancy hormones make me a crazy person. You're doin' so well and I'm so proud of you. I just don't wanna see you backslide." Rayna apologized.
"It's alright. I guess it's what I get for not bein' up front with you. Part of me was holdin' back cause you're still seein' Teddy and I wanted you to know what it was like to be out of the loop. We both need to learn to trust each other." Deacon replied.
"We do and Teddy he's more of a bad rash that won't go away no matter what I do to get rid of him." Rayna shrugged her shoulders.
"Let me get one of those onion rings. As you know I haven't stopped for food since I left the house." Deacon reached over Tandy to grab Rayna's food.
"Deacon, I wouldn't do that." Tandy cautioned him.
Rayna smacked his hand. "Those are Baby Claybourne's onion rings. You need to go get your own food. What's wrong with you? You don't take a pregnant woman's food."
Deacon pulled his hand back. "Sorry, I thought that we could share. I can see how wrong I was about that now."
"Babe, do you want me to let you out of the car so you can ride around with him for the rest of the day? Now that he knows that you've been following him you don't really need me." Tandy asked. She wanted to get out of the middle of this mess.
"Tandy, honestly I expected better than this from you. I thought at the very least I could count on you to talk her out of this. Just like you talked her outta tellin' me that I'm gonna be a daddy." Deacon zinged her.
"Deacon, I happen to think that you're the worst thing in the world for my sister and this baby. That being said I promised her that I would be on her side when it came to this. Even I can admit that you have been very sincere in your efforts to change. It doesn't mean I like you it just means that I can see how much you love her." Tandy shot back.
"You know what? Thanks for the ride, Tandy, but I'm just gonna get outta the car now. I would rather that you two didn't do this so publically. That's what holidays and family gatherings are for. You can air your contempt for each other out there where the general public can't see it." Rayna grabbed her onion rings and got out of the car. The small bump in her midsection was the only evidence that she was pregnant.
"Be careful and call me when you get home so I know you are ok." Tandy said before she drove off.
Deacon wrapped his arm around Rayna's shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Come on, you can help me run the rest of my errands."
"We will have to stop for more food." Rayna told him.
"That's a plan I need to eat too." Deacon chuckled.
Teddy pulled out a chair for Rayna to sit down when they entered the Bluebird Café. "So, this is the place that you musicians are so crazy about?"
"Yeah, this is the mecca for us. Thanks for agreeing to come here tonight. I couldn't take another stuffy dinner. I'm more myself in places like this." Rayna took a seat.
"I'm more than willing to do whatever it takes to make you comfortable. I really just wanted to talk to you about your last doctor's appointment." Teddy sat down.
"The doctor says that everything is fine and the baby is healthy." Rayna smiled.
"That's really good. I also did a little bit of reading. There's a test you can have when you're far enough along that can determine paternity. That's just if that's something you're interested in." Teddy mentioned in passing.
"Teddy, I asked the doctor about the test too. There is very minimal risk to the baby, but that's still more risk than I'm willing to take. I promise you that Deacon is the father. We can do a DNA test when the baby is born, but it's not gonna change what I already know to be true." Rayna tried to let him down gently he just insisted on pushing harder.
"We can wait. That's no problem at all. I know you said that you wanted to wait to get married, but you're not going to be able to put that off for much longer. You're already showing a little bit." Teddy pointed out to her.
"Teddy, just stop and let's have a nice time together ok? I don't wanna stress about this." Rayna replied patiently.
"I can go along with that." Teddy picked up a menu. "What's good to eat here?"
"Anything as long as I'm not your waitress. I worked here for a little bit and I have to be the worst waitress in the world." Rayna laughed.
"I'll keep that in mind then." Teddy smiled at her.
They had been there for about an hour talking and having a good time when Deacon walked in the front door carrying his guitar case.
"Did you know that he was going to be here tonight?" Teddy asked her.
"I had no clue that he was gonna be here. Had I known I wouldn't have brought you here. I don't like to wave you two in front of each other's faces like a red flag. I can only tempt fate so many times before one of you loses your cool." Rayna assured him.
"Did you want to go?" Teddy questioned.
"No, he won't do anything as long as he isn't actively provoked. He's probably here to play for an open mic thing or something like that. It's not uncommon for bandleaders to do things like that while they aren't out on tour." Rayna explained to him.
Deacon strapped on his guitar and took the stage. He sat down on a stool and spoke into the mic. "Hey ya'll, for those of you who don't know me I'm Deacon Claybourne and I'm gonna play a few songs for you tonight. I know a lot of you ain't used to seein' me by myself, it's new for me too. We will just struggle through this together and hope for the best. This first song is called A Man Holdin' on to a Woman Lettin' Go."
He strummed his guitar. "Two young lovers with their bodies on fire. Achin' to swim that river of desire. Leavin' innocence there on the bank by their clothes a man holdin' on to a woman lettin' go."
"There's a man with a bottle on the other side of town swimmin' with a memory that he can't drown. Lord it ain't sunk in that she ain't comin' home. Oh, a man holdin' on to a woman lettin' go." He'd written this song while he was in rehab. It was obviously about Rayna.
It took everything that Rayna had in her to stay present in her conversation with Teddy. She so badly wanted to look over at Deacon, but she kept herself from it.
"His heart is tellin' him to hang on for dear life. Cause deep down he knows she's lettin' go for good this time." He felt like maybe he was holding on to something that was already gone.
"There's a daddy walkin' his daughter down the aisle fightin' back tears and forcin' a smile. Oh, for twenty-two years he's watched her grow. A man holdin' on to a woman lettin' go." He poured all of his feelings into this song.
"In the hill valley home there's a feeble old man and he's holdin' on to a fragile old hand. And the angels comin' to carry her home. Now, he's a man holdin' on to a woman lettin' go. His heart is tellin' him to hang on for dear life. Cause deep down he knows she's lettin' go for good this time. Two young lovers with their bodies on fire achin' to swim that river of desire. Leavin' innocence there on the bank by their clothes. Oh a man holdin' on to a woman lettin' go. A man holdin' on to a woman, a woman lettin' go." He closed his eyes and finished softly. He didn't know it, but that song described Teddy's relationship with Rayna more than it did his.
Teddy checked his watch. "I need to get going I have an early morning. Are you ready?"
"Teddy, you can go on without me. I assure you that I know plenty of people here tonight and I can get a ride from one of them. If not I can always call my sister or Bucky to come pick me up." Rayna smiled at him.
"I had a nice time tonight." Teddy kissed her cheek.
"I did too." Rayna kept the smile plastered on her face. She waited until Teddy left and she moved closer to the stage where she could catch Deacon's eye.
Deacon happened to look up and see her standing there. He acknowledged her with a nod of his head. He played through the rest of his set before he went over to her. "Hey, what are you doin' here? I didn't tell you I was playin' tonight in case I sucked or somethin'."
"You definitely didn't suck. I was actually on one of my forced dates with Teddy. I hope it'll be my last. He just can't seem to take the hint." Rayna rolled his eyes.
"You wanna get out of here and take a walk?" Deacon asked her.
"I'd love that. I'd love that a lot as a matter of fact." Rayna looped her arm through his.
Deacon grabbed his guitar case and put it in the backseat of his truck. They walked together until they reach the pedestrian bridge. "I always did love the view up here at night."
"Me too," Rayna leaned against the railing.
Deacon had an internal debate with himself before he made up his mind. If she could make rash decisions so could he. He dropped down to one knee and took her hand in his. "Baby, I love you so much, marry me. I know I ain't got no ring to give you. I bought one though I just don't know what I did with it. I'll get you another one though. If you can't say yes I'll understand, but I will ask again. I want our baby to be born to parents that are married and I don't want your image to suffer 'cause of me. Let's face it if I hadn't screwed up you woulda told me and we woulda been married months ago." He just poured his heart out to her. The worst she could do was say no.
Rayna closed her eyes and fought back her tears. She was happy, sad, and scared. Could she do this with him? Could she trust him to stay sober? What was to say that all the hard work he'd done wouldn't be for nothing? She put her free hand on her belly and that's when she knew what she wanted her answer to be and what it had to be for all of their sakes. She pulled her hand away from him and took a diamond band off the third finger on her right hand. "You're gonna need that. Now ask me again." She handed the ring to him.
Deacon ran his fingers over the ring and somehow he knew this was the one he had bought for her. "Rayna Alisia Jaymes, will you marry me?" He slipped the ring on her finger.
"Yes, Deacon John Claybourne, I would love to marry you." Rayna put her hands on his cheeks and bent down to kiss his lips softly.
"I didn't think you'd say yes." Deacon laughed when she broke the kiss.
"For a minute there I didn't think I'd say yes either." Rayna pulled him to his feet and hugged him tight.
"I take it that I proposed to you the night we made this baby and I don't remember that either." Deacon hugged her a little tighter.
"You did, but this time was so much better." Rayna kissed him again to let him know it was ok.
"I promise you that I am gonna spend the rest of our lives together bein' the man that you deserve." Deacon swore to her.
"I know you will. You don't have another choice. We want this baby to have the best of everything and that includes two loving parents who are married. You work your steps and I'll help you as much as I can. If you feel yourself slipping you tell me and I will be there for you. You just have to let me in." She laid her head on his shoulder.
"It's a promise baby." He kissed the top of her head.
"You know I wanna get married before I really start showing right?" Rayna asked him.
"I kinda figured on that." Deacon replied.
"So, we will be getting married as soon as possible. I just need to pick out a dress that will fit me and you will need a suit. But before any of that I'm gonna have to talk to my sister and my father. They are not gonna be happy about this." Rayna groaned.
"They don't have to be happy 'bout it they just have to respect your choices." Deacon reasoned with her.
"That brings us to one more thing. I'm not having sex with you again until we are married." Rayna grinned at him.
"Ok, I suppose I can live with that." Deacon agreed in mock resignation.
"Rayna, look at you. You are positively glowing." Lamar stood up and pulled out a chair for his daughter.
"Hi, daddy," Rayna gave him a tight smile. She'd asked to meet with him and her sister at the country club because they would both be on their best behavior out in public.
"Daddy, I'd say that your good mood is probably gonna go south judging from the look on her face." Tandy took a sip of her martini.
Lamar gave his oldest a reproachful look. "Rayna, what is it that you had to tell us? I know that the country club isn't your scene."
"Daddy, I'm getting married. I came to ask you to arrange something as quickly as humanly possible." Rayna replied.
"I have the justice of the peace on standby the only thing you need is a location." Lamar assured her. "It's about time that you settled down with a nice boy like Teddy Conrad." He added.
"Daddy, please don't be so dense. Do you think she would have arranged to meet us here if she had chosen Teddy?" Tandy snorted.
"I'm marrying Deacon neither of you has to like it that is just the way that things are gonna be. He's the father of my child and he is the man that I want to spend the rest of my life with. If neither of you can accept that then you don't have to be in my life or in this baby's life. I won't have my husband and the father of my child talked down to or treated like dirt though." Rayna laid down the law.
"I already know it would be a waste of my breath to try to talk you out of this foolishness. The last time I gave you an ultimatum where he was involved you barely spoke to me for five years. Just make sure that you get an ironclad prenup in case things don't turn out as rosy as you hope they will." Lamar drained his glass of scotch in one gulp.
"I love him and he loves me. It's just somethin' that you're gonna have to deal with." Rayna shrugged her shoulders.
"I've already learned to live with it. I just go along for the ride." Tandy more or less jumped on board.
"There's just one more thing. You two are gonna have to play nice with him sooner rather than later." Rayna warned them.
Deacon walked in wearing a suit and tie. "Sorry 'bout that I had to find a place to park. I hope I didn't keep you waitin' long." He sat down next to Rayna.
"Deacon, you're partially responsible for giving me my first grandchild, so for now I will tolerate you. You have the potential to gain ground in my good books, but if you hurt my daughter or my grandchild I can promise you that they will never find your body." Lamar leveled him with a cold stare.
"I can respect that. I can tolerate you in return." Deacon glared back at him.
"Rayna, let me see the ring." Tandy said.
Rayna put her hand in her sister's and let her inspect her engagement ring. "That's it."
"He did good." Tandy observed. She was just trying to break up the fight that was bound to start between Lamar and Deacon.
"Thank you," Rayna mouthed to her silently. They could pull off one lunch without any bloodshed.
A/N: Here's the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Until next time please review.