Rayna came into the house to find Deacon in the kitchen with Daphne.
"What's this?" she asked as she came around to kiss Deacon and hug Daphne.
"We're making dinner," Daphne said. "Deacon is showing me how to make lasagna without boiling noodles."
"Ah, the short cut way," she said, laughing.
"No, the smart way," Deacon replied as he laid the dry noodles in the bottom of the baking pan.
"Where's your sister?" Rayna asked Daphne. "We expecting her for dinner?"
Daphne shrugged. "Who knows...seems like she's got something going on every night."
Rayna shot Deacon a look, but he shrugged.
"Okay, let's have your mom work on the salad and you can do the bread," Deacon replied, pulling a loaf of French bread from the grocery sack on the counter. "And if Maddie gets here in time, we can put her on clean-up."
"So, how did you meet my mom?" Daphne asked as they sat at the table eating dinner.
"Ah, that is a good story," Deacon said as he held his fork with a bite of salad on it. "The first time I saw her was at the Bluebird, when she sang at an open mike. But the first time I met her was when she showed up to take guitar lessons from me."
"You played the guitar?" Daphne asked, looking over at her mom.
Rayna laughed. "Well, I tried, for a little bit. But then I asked Deacon to help me with a song. He was a lot better at figuring out the music than I was."
Deacon reached over for Rayna's hand. "But your mom always had the words to go with it."
Daphne looked at them. "How old were you?"
Rayna sighed. "Now remember, do as I say, not as I do."
"Mom!" Daphne exclaimed.
"I was sixteen. Deacon was nineteen. Pretty young for some of that stuff, but old enough," Rayna replied.
"Why did you break up?" Daphne asked, her voice serious.
"That's a pretty big question," Rayna replied. "And maybe something we can talk about when you're older."
Deacon looked at both of them. "You're a lot like your sister. Lots of questions. Some that are hard for adults to answer sometimes, but we broke up because I have a disease. I'm an alcoholic. And even though I've been sober for a long time, I wasn't then. Which made it pretty hard to live with me and be with me."
"But you always loved her?" Daphne asked.
"I did. But she was married to your dad and had her family, so me loving her was something I needed to keep inside my heart," Deacon replied. He looked over at Rayna and smiled. "For better or worse, I knew I would love her until the day I died."
Daphne looked like she was going to ask something else when the kitchen door opened and Maddie walked in.
"Hey, honey, come join us?" Rayna asked. "Your dad and Daphne made lasagna."
Maddie stopped near the kitchen island and looked over at the three of them seated at the table. "I already ate at Chloe's. I'm going up to my room to work on my math."
"Sit with us a minute," Deacon invited her.
"Yeah, Deacon and Mom are just getting to the good stuff about how they started dating," Daphne added.
Maddie shook her head. "Can't." She hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and headed for the steps.
"Sorry, babe," Rayna said, tightening her hand around Deacon's.
"Everything in its own time," he replied. "Okay, who's ready for dessert?"
Rayna finished drying the last pot and laid the towel down on the counter. "Well, that was a full interrogation at dinner tonight."
Deacon took a sip of the cup of tea he was drinking and chuckled. "She definitely asks a lot of interesting questions."
"A lot of personal questions," Rayna replied. "I'm just not quite sure what to tell them."
Deacon set his cup down. "I think we tell them the truth, Ray. It's our story, our truth. I don't want to share anything that hurts Teddy, but we have a lot of history. Lots of water under the bridge."
Rayna crossed to him and slipped into his arms. "And lots more water to come." She leaned in and kissed him. "You ready to go to bed?"
Deacon shook his head. "I'm gonna head home. I think Maddie might need some time with her momma tonight and besides, Daphne might have more questions."
"Coward," she teased, swatting at his arm. "But, you're probably right. Will you come for breakfast tomorrow?"
He leaned in and kissed her. "Of course. I'll bring donuts."
Rayna watched as Deacon pulled away from the house, then turned off the lights and went upstairs. She paused at Maddie's bedroom door and knocked. After hearing Maddie's voice, she opened the door.
Maddie was on the phone. "Hey, I have to go," she said and ended her call.
"Did you have a good night, sweetie?" Rayna asked as she came to sit on the edge of Maddie's bed.
Maddie nodded.
"We missed you at dinner," Rayna replied. "It was a really fun evening."
"Sorry," Maddie responded, her voice low.
Rayna reached over and took Maddie's hand. "Please try to spend some time with Deacon. He's keeping his spirits up, but I know he wishes you were here more."
Maddie nodded. "I will, Mom. I promise."
"Okay, well, sleep well," Rayna said as she stood up. "I love you, honey."
She walked out of Maddie's room, closing the door behind her. She paused a moment later at Daphne's door, which was open slightly, her bedside lamp still on.
"Time to turn in, honey," she said as she walked into Daphne's room. "Thanks again for that great dinner."
Daphne smiled at her. Rayna came over and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Is Deacon your true love?" Daphne asked.
Rayna looked down at the book Daphne was reading, The Fault in Our Stars, and smiled. She remembered some of the same questions when Maddie read it a couple of years earlier, just after she found out Deacon was her father.
"Love is pretty complicated," Rayna started. "Deacon was my first love and I love him now, but I also loved your father for many years, that's why we were a family, why we had you."
"Do you still love him?" Daphne asked.
Rayna nodded. "It's different-I love that he is your dad, that we were a family. I know it's hard to understand, but it'll make more sense when you get a little bit older."
"Deacon's life is kind of tragic, isn't it?" Daphne asked.
Rayna chuckled internally at Daphne's choice of words, she was clearly influenced by her reading material. "Well, Deacon's had a lot of hard things happen in his life, but I'm not sure that I would call tragic-I'd try to not use that word with him, perhaps."
Daphne nodded.
"But I do want to thank you for being a good friend to him right now. It's really important for us to make sure Deacon knows that we love him and want him here."
"Why is Maddie acting like she is?" Daphne asked. "Like she doesn't want him to be here."
Rayna smiled at her youngest daughter. "We all handle things like this differently. I think that Maddie is feeling really scared about what might happen and it's making her protect her heart in a way that's different than you and me. Deacon did the same thing when he first found out. He stayed away from us, didn't tell us. But he opened up and your sister will too-she just needs to take her time."
"She's a lot like him, isn't she?" Daphne asked. "Am I like my dad?"
"You are, honey," Rayna replied as she slipped her arm around Daphne. "You're open and loving and generous, all things that made me love your dad.
"Lights out, now, okay?"
"Okay," Daphne answered. She snuggled down into her bed, Rayna kissed her on the forehead and turned out the light.
"Sleep well, my beautiful girl," she said as she left Daphne's room.
Deacon was sitting on the couch when Scarlett came in.
"You're not at Rayna's tonight?" she asked as she set her purse down.
"No, I thought she might need some time with the girls, tonight," Deacon explained as he set his journal down on the couch next to him and slid his glasses off.
Scarlett came over and sat down in the living room. "You thinkin' about makin' that a more permanent arrangement with Rayna? Y'all gonna get married?"
Deacon shook his head. "Not until we know what's gonna happen."
"That you talkin' or Rayna?" Scarlett asked.
"Me," Deacon replied. "I'm not gonna make her my widow before she ever gets to be my wife."
"They're gonna find a liver," Scarlett stated. "I refuse to believe anything else."
"Better do it soon," Deacon replied. "Cause the tumor grew again last week, gets much bigger and it won't be an option."
"Then, I'm gonna ask again, what are you doin' here?" Scarlett said.
Deacon shrugged. And to be honest, he wasn't sure either. But if he was going to make a change, move in with Rayna, it had to be okay with all of them and right now, it didn't feel like Maddie would welcome him being there and that was just too hard to deal with right now.
Rayna walked into her room and turned on the light. She looked over at the table on Deacon's side of the bed where there were signs of his presence...a pair of his readers, the book he'd been reading, the water glass he'd used the night before.
It felt empty without him. It no longer felt odd for him to be here, but with him gone, it felt like something was missing.
Her throat caught as she thought about what it would mean, if he didn't survive the cancer, if this is what lay in front of her every night.
She would talk to him in the morning. This needed to be Deacon's home. Now. For as long as they had.
FIN
So, that's it for this story! Thank you to all who have been reading and following and especially to those who have taken time to leave a review. I am most grateful...
Stay tuned, I'm planning to continue this in some fashion to cover the time between seasons 3 and 4. And for those reading at the end of May 2017...go watch new Nashville this week!