Deacon came out from his bedroom with a stack of papers and gestured toward the dining room table. Coleman got up and moved over to sit down across from him.

"What I could really use is someone to help me make sure I've got all of this stuff in order," Deacon said as he set the stack of papers down.

"Sure, I can do that Deac," Coleman said. "You got some paper so I can make some notes?"

Deacon got up and found a blank legal pad that he handed to the other man. He sat down in the dining room chair and sighed. "I've gotten a little bit better keeping track of this stuff and I've got a good accountant, but there's stuff from when Rayna and I was together, stuff we wrote together later on, stuff we recorded together, some other stuff I wrote for other people and sold, some of my own stuff...it's pretty well documented, but I want to make sure that if...well, if things don't work out that Maddie is taken care of and Scarlett, too."

"Okay," Coleman said, reaching for Deacon's pile of papers. "You have a will?"

Deacon shook his head. "I made some notes and stuff a few weeks ago, about some personal stuff, this house, the cabin, but I kind of forgot about the royalties and my rights, those things."

Coleman looked down at the pile, scanning the pages. "So, you're not making your living playing at the Bluebird?" He looked up at Deacon and smiled.

Deacon shook his head. "No, that's just kinda for fun to be honest."

Coleman made a couple more notes. "Well, the best thing would be to set up a trust for Maddie. I can do it, or I can find you a lawyer here in town who does estate work."

"Is it hard? I mean I know you're just here for a day or so," Deacon asked.

Coleman shrugged. "It's pretty straightforward. I think I can work something up from what you've shown me and send it over for your approval and signature. You'll need an executor, both for the estate and the trust."

"Are they the same person?" Deacon asked, leaning forward. "I've never done anything like this."

"They can be, don't have to be," Coleman replied. "For instance, you might want to make Rayna the executor of the trust, to look after things for Maddie and have someone else all together to handle the estate."

"Is it a lot of work?" Deacon asked. "I think I'd want her to handle the trust, but I don't want to leave her with a lot of other stuff to handle."

"I can handle the estate, if you want," Coleman offered. "Just let me know what goes in the trust, what goes directly to anyone else. You mentioned Scarlett. Anyone else?"

Deacon sat for a minute. "I have some life insurance. I think that should go to my sister."

Coleman nodded. "Okay, I'll need her address."

Deacon got up and went into the other room.

"When's the last time you saw her?" Coleman asked when he came back. "Seems like it's been a long time since I've heard anything about her."

"Last month," Deacon replied. "Scarlett got her to come down here, didn't tell her I was sick or nothin'. She...she took the test to see about donating part of her liver, but it didn't work out."

"Not a match?" Coleman asked, looking up from the page where he was making his notes.

Deacon shook his head. "Nah, she was a match, but it didn't work out. Just the same as always with me and her."

Coleman set his pen down. "She wouldn't do it or she couldn't?"

"At this point it's kind of the same thing," Deacon replied. "I get it...I did this to myself and why should she have to pay the price for it?"

"I'm sorry, man," Coleman responded. "That's a tough break."

"Yep," Deacon answered. "Just another one in a long, long lines of tough breaks for ole Deacon Claybourne."

"That's true, but there's been some good breaks, too, right?" Coleman asked.

Deacon smiled and nodded. "True. Findin' out about Maddie was a good break."

"And what about now," Coleman said. "Where were you before you got home?"

Deacon smiled again let out a quick laugh. "I was at Rayna's."

"Were you now…" Coleman started. "How's that going?"

Deacon shrugged. "In spite of all of this, it's pretty great. I think we're finally in the same place at the same time."

"You coming back tonight?" Rayna asked over the phone.

Deacon laid back in his bed, looking up at the ceiling. "I think I'm gonna just stay here tonight, okay?"

"Of course," Rayna replied. "I wish I could come over there with you, but Daphne has a friend here tonight."

"I guess I will just have to miss you in my bed," Deacon replied.

"As long as we don't make a habit of it," she answered. "You get the stuff done that you needed to do?"

"Yep," Deacon replied. "Need to talk with you about it tomorrow."

"Okay," Rayna answered. "You have a scan tomorrow, too, right?"

Deacon sighed. "Yeah, uh, 9 am and then the follow up tomorrow afternoon."

"Can I meet you there?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah, Ray. I'd like that."

"And maybe a picnic in Percy Warner before the appointment?" she asked. "It's supposed to be real nice tomorrow, more like summer than spring."

"I'd like that a lot, Ray," he answered.

"Sleep well babe," she replied. "I love you, Deacon."

"Love you, too, Rayna," he answered, then ended that call.

Rayna sat on a chair in the waiting room while Deacon slipped the hospital gown on. She found herself giggling before she could help herself.

"You find this funny?" he said, trying to look serious, but then a smile crept across his face.

"It's not your best look, babe," she admitted, pointing to his feet. "The boots kind of ruin that whole ensemble."

"My feet get cold walking down the hall," Deacon explained. "I asked, I can wear them until I have to get into the machine."

"Is it scary?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's one of those open kinds, so at least it's not like being stuffed in some tube. But yeah, it's scary. It's all kinda scary."

"I wish I could be there with you," Rayna said, taking his hand.

"Well, then it would be really cozy," Deacon teased. He squeezed her hand in his. "You're here with me, that helps, babe."

She leaned in and kissed him. "Okay, go do this and then I've got something nice planned for the park."

"See you soon," he said as he got up, opened the door and headed down the hall toward the CT Scan suite.

"How long have we been coming here?" Deacon said as he held Rayna's hand as they walked toward their regular spot in Percy Warner Park.

"I don't know," Rayna said. "Maddie's almost 16...15 years, I guess."

Deacon looked over at her and smiled. "This is where I finally got to meet her."

Rayna sat down on the picnic table and looked over at him, a sad smile on her face. "I'm sorry we missed all of those years."

Deacon looked at her and nodded. "Me too, Ray, but I won't spend any time now regretting that and feeling bad about it. I'm so lucky to have my beautiful daughter and to have you here with me now. We both did a lot of stuff that didn't let that happen until it did."

Rayna nodded. She pulled open the bag she'd carried from the car. "I brought turkey sandwiches. I hope that's okay."

"You know I love your sandwiches," Deacon said, winking at her.

She smacked him lightly on the arm. "I knew you were just using them as an excuse to get me down to this park."

"Seemed like a safe enough excuse at the time," Deacon said, shaking his head. "Man, I know we were trying to do the best we could with the situation we had, but now I'm not sure how we made it work all of those years."

Rayna looked over at him and smiled. "I can't remember never loving you."

Deacon leaned in and kissed her. "Me either, Ray. You were always a part of me. Okay, give me that sandwich. For old times sake."

After they finished their lunch, Deacon opened his shoulder bag and pulled out a few pages. "I do need to talk to you about somethin'."

Rayna looked at the papers in his hand. "What is that, Deacon?"

He handed them to her. "I saw Cole last night, that's where I went. I...I asked him to help me write up my will, get some of my stuff straightened out."

She looked down at the papers, then back up at him, tears in her eyes. "You don't need to do this."

"Ray, we have a daughter, we should both have our affairs in order. We never know what could happen to us. So, Coleman is setting up a trust for Maddie. I want her to have my rights, the royalties and stuff. It's not millions of dollars, but it's a steady income. And you'll manage that for her until she's 21. I'm leaving my house to Scarlett, my guitars to Maddie and I want you to have the cabin. It was always yours, anyway."

Rayna scanned the page, then looked at him. "Okay, you're right. We should have these things in writing."

He reached in his bag and pulled out one more sheet. "And I want us to get this signed today, when we're at the hospital. I want you to make any medical decisions for me, if I can't. I don't want that to be on Scarlett."

Rayna nodded again, her tears coming harder now. "I'll do it, but I don't want to talk about it," she choked out. "I...I refuse to think this thing is going to take you from me. I refuse, Deacon."

"Good," he replied. "Cause I don't plan on lettin' it."

Thanks to all who have been reading along. Just one or two more chapters for this story, but I'm enjoying this "missing moments" genre, so I've got a couple others that I'm thinking about working on next.