Tandy walked out to the small private plane sitting outside the small general aviation terminal. The ride in the car down to Silicon Valley had felt like it took forever, but she would get to Rayna faster on Zach's plane than any of the connecting flights from San Francisco.

She looked down at her phone buzzing in her hands. It was Scarlett. She took a deep breath and answered the call.

"Yes," she said, her voice hesitant.

She expected to hear Deacon's niece, but it was a man.

"Uh...Ms Hampton, it's Gunnar Scott. I...I have very bad news. I'm so very, very sorry."

Tandy took in a deep breath, her voice catching. No. It wasn't possible. She had talked to Rayna earlier, after surgery. Everything was fine. She was fine. Tandy was going to fly out and be there as she recovered and she was fine.

Fine.

"What?" she asked again, needing Gunnar to say it again.

"I'm so very sorry," Gunnar said. "It just...it just went so fast."

"But I talked to her...I talked to her this afternoon and she was fine. She was fine," Tandy said, her voice breaking.

"I'm sure they can explain it better when you get here, but it was a complication. It...it just, it just happened so fast."

Tandy listened silently as Gunnar offered to pick her up when the flight landed.

In four hours.

In Nashville.

Where her sister was dead.

Deacon was the one who called about the accident, after Rayna had gone into surgery. She had offered to come right away, but it was the middle of the night and at that point, it didn't seem feasible. She had been making plans the next day when Rayna called, loopy on drugs after surgery.

"You sure you're okay?" Tandy asked.

"Oh, I'm beat up and all, but I'm fine," Rayna had said. "I did have a weird dream, though."

"What kinda dream, honey?" she'd asked her sister.

Rayna had paused. "I'm not sure I should tell you-it scared Deacon."

"You can tell me anything," Tandy replied. "What was it?"

"I saw Mom," Rayna said. "She was right there-right in the chair next to me. I talked to her about this song I wrote with Deacon last night. She helped me figure out it was already finished."

Tandy felt a cold wash over her, but made her voice upbeat. "Honey, they are giving you some good drugs, then. How'd she look?"

"Beautiful," Rayna had replied.

She should have gotten on a plane that moment. Of course, based on what Gunnar had said, it still would have been too late.

"Can I get you anything?"

Tandy looked up at the flight attendant standing in front of her. She shook her head. She couldn't think of eating or drinking anything. She knew it was shock, she remembered it when her mom died, when her dad died, her husband...everyone around her. Everyone was dead. All of them.

She choked on the tears as they started again. At this point in her life, she would have thought she didn't have any left.

The attendant was back, this time with a glass of water. Tandy took it from her, nodding her thanks.

"I'm so very sorry," the woman said. "We...your sister flew with us last fall. She was a very nice person."

"Thank you," Tandy replied as she took a sip from the glass.

"We should be there in about an hour," the attendant added. "Please let me know if there is anything...anything at all that I can do for you."

"Thank you," Tandy replied. This would just be the beginning of it...the expressions of sympathy, and all the people who thought they knew Rayna because they'd seen her all their lives.

But she was Tandy's sister. Her only one.

The plane touched down and taxied to the terminal. Tandy reached down for her purse. There was no way to put this off now-she was in Nashville and Rayna wouldn't be, ever.

She stepped down off the plane to find a tall, young man waiting for her. It took her moment, then she recognized Gunnar. He crossed over to her, taking her suitcase from the flight attendant.

"Scarlett asked me to come pick you up," Gunnar explained as they walked to his car. "She took Deacon and the girls back to Deacon's house for the night."

"They didn't go home?" Tandy asked, confused. "Is everything okay?"

"Best as can be expected, of course," Gunnar replied. "There's been a lot of media, and Deacon...well, they're all taking it pretty hard."

He lifted the back gate to his car and put her suitcase in, closing the door before he turned to her.

"If it's okay, I was going to take you to my house for the night," Gunnar explained. "I've got a guest room. I'll take you...I can take you to Rayna's in the morning. Scarlett will bring the girls and Deacon over then. She was just hoping they might sleep a little bit tonight."

Tandy sighed. "That's fine...I...it's...thank you, Gunnar." Honestly, she wasn't sure what to say. She just wanted to see the girls, hold them in her arms, but it was late and it would be best to do it all in the morning.

As she got into the passenger seat, her phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at it. The number was blocked. She paused, then answered the call.

A recording announcing a call from an inmate at a federal prison began. She listened, then connected to the call. Teddy.

"Is it true?"

She sat in the car as Gunnar drove down the dark streets toward his house, not sure what to say to her former brother in law.

"I saw it on the news and I didn't want to call the girls...is it true?"

She choked on a sob. She hadn't actually had to say the words yet.

"Yes, it's true. She's dead, Teddy. She died."

There wasn't much more to discuss with Teddy. He would call his lawyer in the morning and see if he could get a furlough to come home for the funeral, but Tandy didn't have any details, so after a minute she ended the call.

"I hated having to talk about it with people," Gunnar said after a minute. "I mean, I didn't so much care if they knew my brother had died, but I hated having to talk about how and what and where and how it was all making me feel."

"You lost a brother?" she asked, looking over at him as Gunnar's eyes stayed fixed on the road ahead.

"A couple of years ago," Gunnar replied. "It's a very hard thing to live through."

Tandy reached over to touch his arm. Gunnar dropped his right hand from the wheel and took her hand in his.

"The room's just there at the top of the steps," Gunnar said as he opened the kitchen door and let her into the house. "Can I get you something? Something to eat? Drink?"

Tandy walked into the house and dropped her bag on the floor near the couch.

"You have any bourbon?" she asked.

Gunnar closed the door behind him and crossed to the kitchen, opened one of the cupboards and pulled out two glasses. "Absolutely."

"Our father hated everything thing about Deacon Claybourne," Tandy said as she finished another glass of bourbon. "I mean, I'm not totally sure he would have kicked her out of the house if it hadn't been for Deacon."

She looked over at Gunnar whose eyes were at half mast. "I'm sorry, you don't need to listen to me going on about this."

"No, but to be fair, I am more a fan of Deacon," Gunnar responded.

"Oh, I know...believe me, the Deacon of now is nothing like that kid or the drunk later...but she loved him. She always loved him." Tandy choked on the last words. "He's going to be destroyed without her. And the girls…"

Gunnar reached over and took the empty glass from her hand. "Maybe it's time for us to think about getting some sleep. We'll have lots of time to talk about this tomorrow."

Tandy looked over at him and nodded. "You're probably right. Sorry if I got a little too…"

"There are no wrong things tonight," Gunnar responded. "But let's go to bed. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day for all of us."

Tandy woke up the next morning, her mouth dry, the slight ache of a headache behind her left eye. She slid out from the comforter and headed toward the bathroom. They had all put it off long enough...she needed to see the girls.

She needed to see Deacon.

She needed to do it for her sister.