Well, here's the end! I hope it didn't get too soapy. The last segment was personally my favorite to write, as I'm very much into exploring Maddie's process through all of this. Thanks for all the kind reviews! (Also… I couldn't resist some Teddy/Deacon nonsense. As old as it can get, it's still fun to write.)
Rayna looked around the table, shifting uncomfortably. There were far too many people, she thought, and the nervous stares being exchanged among everyone were not making her feel any more at ease. She hated the idea of this many people knowing her business. She tried not to think about the fact that shortly after they all left the room at city hall, the entire world would know.
She counted herself, Deacon, and Teddy. Then she added Bucky, Deacon's lawyer, Teddy's lawyer, her own lawyer, her publicist, Teddy's press liaison, and his speech writer. Tandy was also there for good measure, expressing that she was there on Maddie's behalf when Teddy's team eyed her suspiciously.
That made eleven; eleven people that she had to sit in front of and spill her guts to.
She was nauseous.
She cleared her throat, trying incredibly hard not to vomit all over the front of her black Chanel dress.
"So are we just going to stare at each other's beautiful faces all day or are we going to have a discussion?" She asked, biting her words at all the outsider suits in the room.
Sure, she was still bitter about this whole mess. Just two days ago, her world was calm. Or at least as calm as it could be, she reminded herself. While she had feared this, she hadn't really seen it coming.
"I still don't understand why he has to be here," Teddy muttered audibly to his lawyer, eyeing Deacon.
Deacon scoffed, unfolding his hands and turning them up palms up on the table in confusion.
"Seriously? You're kidding, right?"
"Teddy," Rayna shook her head and rubbed her temples. "Please?"
"Sorry," he nodded to Rayna, then to the rest of the table. "I'm sorry, everyone. Let's proceed. Apparently, as a few of you may know, there is a story floating around amongst the press that my daughter Maddie is Deacon Claybourne's biological child. I've called everyone here today to discuss appropriate measures in addressing this rumor."
Deacon smirked to himself, staring at his fidgeting hands to fight the urge to look at Teddy and say, "It can't be a rumor if it's true, douchebag."
Teddy's press lady, whom Rayna remembered to be named Lauren, looked the most confused. She also looked like she was young enough to be an intern, not an actual member of the mayor's cabinet. Where did he find these people?
"I'm confused," she spoke up. Rayna tried not to roll her eyes. "I haven't heard anything about this. No one's called me."
Rayne closed her eyes and placed her hands on her temples once more; growing impatient with how slow this process was moving. "That's because it hasn't leaked yet. The press is sitting on it for God knows why."
"Okay," Lauren started. "So then why are we all here for a rumor that hasn't been started yet?"
Teddy cleared his throat and looked down at the papers in front of him, pretending to look them over. He would try anything to avoid the gazes that were going to come next.
"Because it's true."
Teddy's team gasped, while Deacon's lawyer simply stared at him in shock. Rayna took that to mean he hadn't casually mentioned it to him in the elevator. Apparently, she was the only one who had thought to brief her people.
After allowing everyone to get their reactions out of the way, Teddy continued.
"It's true and Maddie knows. I've raised her as my own since before she was born and I am still her father, but this coming out explosively in the tabloids could really hurt her. As her parents, Rayna and I—"
Deacon cleared his throat loudly, reaching obnoxiously for the glass of water in front of him. Teddy fumed; Rayna did finally roll her eyes.
"As I was saying, we've decided to beat the tabloids to the punch. We're going to come clean, completely, no holds barred. Before anyone says anything, I'm aware of the potential effect this could have on any future campaign I may choose to run. Rayna has also discussed with me her awareness of how this could affect her current professional situation. It simply doesn't matter. Our only concerns at this point are protecting our daughters and their wellbeing, so…"
Teddy trailed off, clearly embarrassed and beaten by the admission.
His team whispered amongst themselves, as did Bucky and Rayna's publicist. Deacon's lawyer simply jotted down some sort of note, while Deacon himself smiled weakly across the table at Rayna.
She glared at him, shaking her head. She couldn't believe that he'd fallen for Teddy's nonsense again, on today of all days.
He frowned at her expression, glancing back downward.
She rested her head in her hands. She couldn't wait for this meeting to be over with. Truth be told, the longer it dragged on, the more she found herself wanting everything to just be out in the open once and for all.
Maddie sat cross legged on the couch, strumming her guitar almost aimlessly. She'd be fascinated by the instrument for as long as she could remember. Her mom had told her stories of being on tour when she was a baby and nothing in the world would make her stop crying but the sound of a guitar. Then, as soon as she was old enough to begin recognizing shapes and everything more vividly, she would run her pudgy little hands over every inch of it from headstock to body. She studied it so carefully, she had been told.
She got her first for her 3rd birthday. It was child sized and purple, she remembered. She played and learned on it until her 8th, when, on Deacon's advice, Rayna had pitched she was old enough for something a little more "mature."
She'd never stopped honing her craft. Every day, whether it was out of ecstasy, frustration, sorrow, or just plain boredom, she picked up her guitar and played. Sometimes she picked, sometimes she strummed, and other times she actually tried to piece things together to write her own music.
It didn't matter how she was doing it, though. Holding the instrument in her hands had become so natural to her that if she didn't have it there during any sort of confusion or crisis, she became anxious.
Grasping the frets steadied her in a way that nothing else ever could.
She'd wondered once or twice how she was able to garner such a connection to this blessing. Her mom, while incredibly gifted vocally and with the pen, was somewhat pitiful when she tried to play and Teddy could barely clap on beat.
It was all clear to her, finally. Whether she had noticed it or not, everything about her that never made sense had suddenly become vividly on point. She had been connecting all of the dots since she found out Deacon was her father and more than anything, she was proud of it.
Sure, he'd had his issues. She couldn't fully understand the depths of the darkness he'd driven himself to, but her instinct believed he was a good man with the best intentions for those he loved. She wanted to be there for him. Not so much to pick up the pieces behind him, but to hopefully stop him from shattering in the first place.
She wanted to claim him; she wanted to be his daughter.
She grinned at the thought, knowing full well what was coming in the next few hours. She was ready to embrace it.
Maddie stirred as Rayna kissed her cheek softly. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, guitar in hand.
"What happened?" She looked around groggily, hearing Deacon's muffled voice coming from the kitchen. He seemed to be on the phone. "Where is everyone?"
Rayna smiled and sat down on the couch, pulling her hair out of the high ponytail she'd kept for the meeting. She rubbed Maddie's knee.
"Tandy and Daphne still aren't back from gymnastics. Deacon's here. He'll be in here shortly."
"Is dad coming over?"
Rayna shook her head. "Not yet, honey. He'll be over later tonight."
Maddie nodded.
"So it's just the three of us?"
"For now, yeah."
Maddie grinned ever so slightly, bringing her sleepy gaze up to meet her mother's.
"Good. I like it when it's just the three of us sometimes."
Rayna smiled at her daughter. She really did seem calm.
"So your dad and I wrote a joint statement. Everything's in it. It should be going to press any time. You feel okay?"
Maddie shrugged her shoulders before nodding.
"I am. I'm really not embarrassed, mom. Or hurt. It was confusing at first and everything but really I feel lucky. I have three parents who love me when so many kids have none. And I've been thinking about it and what makes me who I am and I think I got the best parts of you and Deacon and even some of the best parts of dad. I mean I know he hates this whole thing, but I've told him over and over he's my daddy. I still love him more than anything in the world, but I love Deacon too. And you, of course."
Rayna felt her eyes well up.
It seemed like only yesterday she cradled this little 7 pound butterball in her arms every night, rocking and singing her to sleep. She held and rocked her as a 5 year old when she had a nightmare and now she had no idea who this mature, almost grown teenager was sitting in front her.
Her optimism and grace since they'd told her of the leak was leaps and bounds beyond what Rayna thought would happen. She had never been more proud of her daughter than she was today.
"Excuse me, hey," Deacon walked towards the couch slowly. Maddie smiled at him. "Hey sweetheart. I've got someone on the phone here who'd like to talk to you, if you want to talk."
He extended his iPhone out to her, smiling nervously.
"Who is it?"
He chuckled, still obviously nervous, and shot Rayna a quick glance. She smiled, nodding at him in encouragement.
"It's, uh, it's my mama. Your grandma."
Maddie's face didn't change, but her eyes lit up in a thousand different ways. With everything going on with her parents, she had barely been able to consider a whole new extended family. She knew this could be really special, though. She'd only ever known one grandmother, so it kind of felt like a new chance for her.
"Is she gonna like me?" she repeated over and over in her head, before finally taking a deep breath and anxiously taking the phone from Deacon's shaking hand.
She looked at it for a couple of seconds before looking to both Rayna and Deacon, almost asking for their approval.
"Go ahead, sweet girl. It's okay." Rayna smiled at her daughter, giving her the same encouraging nod she had given Deacon just a minute before.
Maddie nodded, inhaling deeply again.
"Hello?"