"Alright, be good girls and I'll see you in a week," Rayna said, kissing them each on the cheek. "Call if you need anything."
"Bye, Mom. Love you." Daphne hugged her and bounded off to where Teddy waited in the car.
Maddie had a frown on her face. "Couldn't I just stay here tonight and go to Dad's in the morning? Deacon's coming back this afternoon, isn't he? I have a new song I wanted to play for him."
"Maddie…." Rayna said with a sigh. "We've talked about this lots of times. I know this is hard but you should still go. You don't want to hurt…Teddy's feelings. You know how much he loves you."
Maddie looked unconvinced. "Well, give Dad a hug from me, okay? A big one."
"Will do, sweetheart."
She walked slowly out the door with her shoulders slumped a little.
Lucy watched the scene with a keen observer's eye from her spot on the sofa as they left.
Rayna sunk onto the sofa next to her with a sigh. "Gosh, that's still hard every time."
"She calls them both Dad," Lucy noted.
"Now, she does," Rayna said with a smile. "It took awhile to get to that."
"Do you think Teddy treats her any differently now?"
Rayna shook her head slowly. "I think there's been a natural progression that she's gotten closer to Deacon. They're a lot alike. Her and Teddy do battle a lot. He doesn't understand her. He tries, and he's loved her since the day she was born, but Maddie is a thinker. And when she's got something to say, it's usually something with a deeper meaning behind it."
"Sounds like someone else I know."
"At first," Rayna said. "When I found out I was having Maddie, I thought I could just do it myself. You know me, always have to be independent. Tandy and my father were the ones who convinced me marrying Teddy was the right thing to do, and it was right at the time. I wanted my child to have a family. And Teddy, he never treated Maddie as anything but his own. He was there since the day she was born."
"Do you regret that? That you didn't tell Deacon right away?"
Rayna shook her head slowly. "I regret that I hurt him and Maddie. But it was the right choice at the time. And we've all come to peace with that. And Teddy and I…we did have a good marriage for a long time. I like to think there's a difference between loving someone and being in love. And I did love him, for a little while. We had a good marriage, and a good family."
"You must have. You had Daphne."
Her smile widened at the memory. "Yes we did. I believe in the natural order of things, everything happened the way it was supposed to for a reason."
Deacon walked in the door that moment, and dropped his bags on the floor. His eyes were only for Rayna, though he did acknowledge that Lucy was there.
Lucy chuckled and excused herself to get something from her car.
10 minutes later when she returned, they were snuggled on the sofa, both looking content and happy.
"Lucy was asking me about when Daphne was born," Rayna told him. "And I was about to tell her about your mad race to the hospital."
Lucy raised her eyebrows. "I might need more coffee. This is going to be a legendary story, I suspect."
He laughed at the memory. "That'll be one to tell our grandchildren some day, huh? How Daphne was almost born in the front seat of a Chevy truck."
"Oh nonsense," Rayna said airily. "We had plenty of time…."
##############################
Rayna always secretly thought it was some act of god that Deacon had missed being there when his daughter was born, but he'd been pretty darn close to being there when Daphne made her entrance into the world. Karma had a way of coming back around.
They were in the studio that afternoon listening to a stack of demos a mile high. Well, what Rayna was doing was hiding in the air conditioning because it was hot as hell outside for September.
"You look miserable," Deacon said. "Why don't you just go home and crawl into bed, Ray."
She was 9 months pregnant, her belly sticking way out in front of her. He thought she looked cute as hell, even in the throes of misery.
It had taken a few years, but they were in a good place now. He was back in her band. He was sober. Watching her make a life with someone else hurt like hell, but he knew she deserved someone who could keep all the promises you made on your wedding day.
It still hurt every day, and he knew he'd never love anyone else. But she seemed happy. And that was all he really wanted. She must love the guy, he figured, if she was having another baby with him. Probably another girl, he guessed. That wouldn't be so bad. Sweet little Maddie would have a playmate. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of Maddie. She lit up his world every time he saw her.
Now, at the current moment, Rayna didn't look too happy. He didn't know too much about having babies, but she was making a face something awful like she was in pain. And she seemed to be doing it about every five minutes.
"I just have to finish these," she said, wincing again, and rubbing a spot on her belly. "Or I won't get them done. Man, this one must really like the music. Doing somersaults in there."
He grinned. "Maybe that one's another musician."
"Maybe," she said. "Right now I wish it would just settle down a little."
He reached over and touched her stomach. It was hard as a rock.
"Jesus, Ray! That can't be right. Are you in labor?"
"I don't know….maybe?" she hedged.
"Well hell, we're going to the hospital. Why didn't you say something two hours ago!"
"No," she said firmly. "I'm fine. Maddie's labor took hours. I just want to finish listening to these….." She made that face again and hissed out a breath.
Deacon gave her a Look, and hoisted her out of the chair. "We're going to the goddamn hospital. Now, Rayna!"
She was hurting too much to protest.
He took the side streets to Vanderbilt. 5 miles wasn't much but it could be made into 2 hours in afternoon traffic.
This was never how he'd imagined it would be. Driving her to the hospital to go have another man's child. Having to make the awkward call her husband to meet them. Sometimes he thought the Man Upstairs must really have it in for torturing him.
"I think," Rayna said on the seat next to him, trying to breathe through the pain. "That we really need to hurry."
"I'm tryin, darlin. I thought you said this took hours!"
"Well it did," she protested. "Last time."
"This one's gonna be a little girl like you, Ray," Deacon said. "Demanding as hell and she ain't even seen the light of day yet. I bet she'll be singing country songs before she's walking."
She laughed despite of her pain. And then started to cry.
Damn. She never cried. Even all those years ago when he made her watch Old Yeller, he'd sit there bawling like a damn baby and she would just roll her eyes and say "he didn't really die. It's a movie, Deacon."
"Don't you cry that baby out in the front seat of my truck," he tried to make a joke. "Really. How would we explain that one to Teddy?"
She couldn't answer, she was gripping his door handle so hard that her knuckles were turning white.
He screeched the truck to a stop in the Emergency Room entrance, and there was a bunch of nurses and doctor's waiting there. And Teddy. Teddy was there with Maddie clinging to his hand.
Maddie saw him, and she flew into his arms. She was four now, a big girl going to school this fall, and a pretty little thing with straight golden-brown hair and big curious eyes. He'd fell in love with that kid since the first time he saw her. She was always singing songs, and asking to strum his guitars, asking questions about everything. Up until last winter when Rayna had gotten pregnant again, she'd been out on the road with them every tour since she was six months old, his constant shadow.
"Can you stay with her?" Teddy asked begrudgingly as they were quickly putting Rayna in a wheelchair. "Until Tandy can get here?"
"No problem," Deacon said. "Just go."
So that's what he did. He watched them wheel Rayna away with Teddy to go off and have a baby, and he sat with Maddie and waited. Walked around the hospital with her. Let her eat a whole bunch of candy out of the vending machine.
Finally she seemed to be losing steam and slumped into a plastic chair.
He didn't know how kids had so much energy. Chasing her around for a mere hour had him wiped out.
"You excited that you're going to be a big sister?" He asked her.
Maddie frowned.
Uh oh he took that as a no.
"They're gonna like that dumb old baby better than me," she said flatly.
Deacon tried real hard not to laugh. "How could they like anything better than you? You're the best little girl in the world."
Maddie gave him a hilariously skeptical look that was far too mature for a four year old as if to say I'm not buying that crap.
"Can we play your guitar?"
"Well, they're all at home right now. Maybe I can come pick you up next week when you're mama's busy with the baby, and we can play."
This seemed to hold her for a few minutes. But she was thinking. He could tell. He'd always been trying to figure out who Maddie was like. She sure had Rayna's stubborn streak, but she was a quiet thinker, an observer. She was her own kind of person already.
She jumped on his lap for a hug, and he let those tiny arms choke the life out of him for a minute.
"Uncle Deacon, if they like that baby better," she said with complete seriousness. "Can I be your little girl instead?"
Oh, she got him with that one. Just melted his heart. "Well darlin' I can guarantee that's not going to happen, because you have a mama and daddy that love you very much. But if you ever need something, I'll always be here, okay?"
She looked satisfied with that. "You promise?"
"Promise."
Tandy rushed through the ER doors then, just as the doctor came back out from the other direction.
Maddie had a new little sister. Daphne Faye Conrad was born on an early fall day when the leaves were just starting to turn colors, barely two hours after he'd demanded Rayna go to the hospital.
#################################
"Well, that IS quite a tale to tell your grandchildren some day," Lucy said with a smile. "Next time you go to the hospital three days early." She stood up and stretched her old bones. "I think that's enough for me for today. And the two of you have been making eyes at each other for the last 30 minutes. It's time for this old lady to get lost."
"Well..." Rayna said. "I mean, you could stay for dinner if you want. We love having you here."
"Another night," Lucy said. She patted Deacon's arm as she walked towards the door. "Good to see you home again, sonny."
"You too, Lucy," he said. "Always a pleasure."
Rayna walked her to the door, and she looked back to find him watching her with this intense look. "What?"
His eyes crinkled into the smile she loved so much. "Just thinkin, that's all."
"About what?"
"Oh, you know," he said, casually, pulling her down onto his lap on the sofa and kissing her senseless. "About next time."
"Next time, huh?" She said softly. "You think we should try to make that happen?"
He nodded. "I do."
"Guess we can leave it up to fate, right? See what happens?"
"Darlin, everything in our lives has been fate up to this point. I wouldn't have it any other way."