Megan waved at Deacon and Maddie as they walked into the Pharmacy Burger. Deacon waved back and pointed Maddie in that direction. When they got to the table, Maddie sat across from Megan. Deacon leaned in and awkwardly gave Megan a peck on the cheek, then sat next to Maddie.

"Maddie, this is Megan Vanoy," he said, looking at her. Then he looked at Megan. "Maddie Conrad."

Megan smiled at Maddie. "Hi, Maddie. I'm so glad to meet you."

"Hey," Maddie said shyly.

"Have you had a good weekend so far?"

"Yeah," Maddie responded with a smile. "We just got back from Deacon's cabin."

Megan raised her eyebrows and looked at Deacon. "You have a cabin?"

Deacon cleared his throat and let out a short laugh. "Yeah," he said with a crooked smile. "I do. Up along the state border." He gestured towards Maddie. "Maddie's been asking a lot about stuff and I thought I'd take her up there. I've had it for a long time."

"Really. Wow. How long have you had it?"

"Almost twenty years." Just then a server came up. "Hey, what do y'all want to drink?"

After they ordered – Maddie got a root beer float, Megan got a Diet Coke, and Deacon ordered a Mexican Coca-Cola – Megan turned her attention back to Maddie. "So Deacon tells me that you are a really good guitar player and singer."

Maddie smiled shyly, looking at Deacon, then back at Megan. "My sister and I like to sing together and my mom gave me her old guitar, so I like to play that. It's actually her mom's guitar. Anyway, Deacon is teaching me so that I can get better."

Deacon smiled at her proudly. "She's really amazing, especially at her age. I think if she wants to do this professionally one day, she's going to be a huge success. Plus she has a voice as sweet as her mama's."

Megan smiled at Maddie, as she blushed. "You definitely come from talented musical stock, that's for sure. I'd love to hear you sometime."

Maddie smiled. "So what do you do?" she asked.

"I'm a lawyer."

"How did you meet Deacon?"

Megan looked over at Deacon. It was a sensitive subject, so she didn't want to say the wrong thing. Deacon cleared his throat. "Uh, she was my lawyer after the accident," he said quietly.

Maddie's face was carefully neutral and she just nodded. She looked down and focused on the menu. This is awkward, she thought. The silence stretched out until the server came back with their drinks and took their food order. After that the conversation seemed forced and, when Maddie claimed to not feel well after picking at her food, Deacon paid the bill and they left.

Maddie didn't say anything on the ride home. Deacon wasn't sure what to say to her. That had not gone well and he felt bad for Megan. It wasn't her fault, but it did bring up a lot of difficult memories, clearly, for Maddie and he was sensitive to that as well. When he parked and turned off the car, Maddie turned to him. "When did you and Mom decide to start dating?" she asked.

Deacon rubbed his hand over his mouth and took a deep breath, then let out a short laugh. He definitely felt out of his league with how teenagers could change course on a dime. "Wow, Maddie. That's kind of a loaded question." He paused to think about how to answer. "The thing is, I don't know that I could say that we ever 'dated', like 'pick her up at the front door, go to a movie' dating. She was still living at home when I first met her and we worked together and wrote together. I guess it just kind of went from us being performing partners to us being…together. It just sorta happened."

Maddie smiled. "Did you both know at the same time?"

"Well, it's funny. I really liked her at first but she was really bossy and so I wasn't sure. But then one day something happened and she kinda needed me and it just happened then." This was hard, he thought. He was mindful of the fact that Maddie was fourteen and, he hoped, kind of naïve about relationships. She didn't need to know how immediately intimate their relationship had been, particularly at Rayna's young age. He also wasn't so sure he wanted her to do what they had done, even though it had worked out for them, at least for a long time.

Maddie was pensive for a moment as she took that in. Then she looked back at Deacon. "So when did she move in with you?"

Deacon laughed self-consciously. "Huh. Let's see, well, first she moved in to my apartment when she didn't have anywhere to go." Not completely true, but not false.

Maddie frowned. "Why didn't she have anywhere to go? I thought you said she lived with Grandpa."

Deacon shifted uncomfortably. "Well, she did, but then, you know, your grandpa didn't really want her to perform. He wanted her to stay in school, kind of like your mama wants you to stay in school. But he got mad and they fought about it, so she left. And she came and stayed with me."

"When she was sixteen…" Deacon could see the wheels turning in her head.

"Maddie, I know you're going to think I'm a hypocrite, but I want you to really take your time. What happened with your mama and me, well, that almost never happens when you're that young. You should go out in the world and get a bunch of experiences before you settle down with someone."

Maddie's voice was small. "Do you ever wish you'd done that? Waited?"

Deacon took a deep breath. He shook his head. "No. I don't." He shifted in his seat. Maddie was dredging up all the old feelings and emotions with all her questions and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. "Maddie, I loved your mama. More than anyone in the world. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. And I messed it up. Those were the best years of my life. Still are."

Maddie's chest hurt. She wanted to cry, but she didn't want to do it here. "Do you…still miss her?" she choked out.

Deacon ran his hand over his mouth. He looked straight out the front window. "Yeah. Sometimes," he said quietly. He closed his eyes, thinking about Rayna now, missing her. He would always miss her, even if he couldn't be with her.

Maddie was silent. She wondered if her mom knew that Deacon missed her. And if she did, why didn't she care? Or did she still miss him too? There still was a lot to know, but it seemed to her that they were meant to be together. So why couldn't they try again? Meeting Megan had felt weird, just like meeting Luke had, like there was no way for her parents to find each other again because of them. She felt incredibly sad. She sighed. "Megan is nice," she said, finally.

Deacon nodded. "Yeah, she is." But he wondered if nice was enough.

When Deacon pulled into Rayna's driveway to drop off Maddie, he felt an inexplicable sadness. He'd been nervous about the prospect of being a full-time father to Maddie for the first time. But it had gone so much better than he had expected, even with all her hard questions that brought up so many emotions, and now he was sorry it had reached an end. For this time, anyway.

"Thanks, Dad," Maddie said with a smile. Calling him 'Dad' was getting more comfortable all the time and she liked how it sounded. Things had gone better than she had imagined, even including the awkward dinner with Megan, and she had enjoyed getting to know her cousin Scarlett better. "I had the best time."

Deacon smiled back at her. "Me too. Can I tell you I was a little scared at first? I'm not used to dealing with teenage girls."

Maddie raised her eyebrows. "What about Mom? She was a teenager when you first met her, right?"

Deacon nearly choked. "Um, well, yeah, but she was older. And it was…different." So different.

Maddie smiled broadly. "But she was still a teenager," she said teasingly.

Deacon turned red. "Well, to be fair, so was I."

Maddie laughed. "Anyway, I had fun. I'm glad we're doing this."

Deacon smiled. "Me too."

Maddie leaned over and hugged him. He hugged her back, holding her close. "Bye, Dad," she said.

"Bye, Maddie. I'll see you Tuesday."

She beamed. "Can't wait!" She grabbed her overnight bag and got out of the truck.

Rayna had walked out and Maddie rushed up to hug her. "Hey, sweet girl," Rayna said with a smile. "Did you have a good time?"

"I did, yeah," Maddie answered. She waved at Deacon and then rushed up to the house.

Rayna walked over and surprised Deacon by getting in the passenger seat Maddie had just vacated. She picked at her sweater for a moment, then looked up and asked, "How did it go?"

Deacon nodded. "It went good. I think Maddie had fun." He ran his hand over his face. "Thanks for letting her do this, Ray. I appreciate it."

Rayna smiled softly. "I'm glad it went well. And I'm glad she seems so happy." She paused. "I'm sorry I was rude on the phone the other night."

Deacon shook his head. "It's okay." He smiled and let out a chuckle, shaking his head. "She's so smart, Ray, she amazes me. I looked at her homework one night and I was glad she knew how to do it, because I couldn't have helped her."

Rayna's smile broadened. "Yeah, things have changed since we were in school."

Deacon frowned. "One thing, though. She asked a lot of questions about you and me. About when we were younger. Hard questions."

Rayna looked down and played with her sweater again. "Yeah, I think she's trying to figure things out. She's really never seen us together so she's trying to put the pieces together."

Deacon took a deep breath. "There's a lot of history there, Ray. And I don't want to say anything wrong."

Rayna looked up. "I'm trying to be careful. But she thinks I'm just putting her off." She sighed. "I want to be as honest as I can be with her." She smiled slightly. "We were in love then. I try to be honest about that."

Deacon breathed in and nodded. "Okay. I'm trying to be honest too."

Rayna reached out and laid her hand on his arm, squeezing lightly. "I'm glad everything went well. That's all I hoped for." She opened the door. "We'll see you on Tuesday then." She got out and headed for the house.

Deacon sat for a moment, watching her. Maddie was definitely stirring the pot with all her questions. He'd been successful up to now, for the most part, at keeping those feelings at bay, but having to relive it all was testing his resolve. He wondered if it was testing Rayna's as well.

When Maddie got in the house, she threw her things into her room and then ran down to Daphne's. Daphne was sitting on her bed and Maddie ran and jumped up to sit beside her. "Maddie, you're home!" Daphne cried happily. She threw her arms around her sister. "I missed you!"

Maddie smiled at her. "I missed you too, munchkin."

"Did you have fun at Deacon's?"

"I did. He took me to his cabin. And I met his girlfriend."

Daphne's eyes were round. "Ooh. Did you like her?"

Maddie shrugged. "She was okay. I didn't hate her."

"I bet she's not as cool as Luke. He has horses!"

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Luke is not that cool. He's just okay too." She didn't really want to talk about Megan and Luke. "So did you and Dad have a good time?"

Daphne sighed. "He was in a bad mood after you left. He was really cranky. He even got a babysitter one night and went out." She pouted. "I hope you're not going to do this again."

"Daphne, I'm going to do it every time. Duh. I told you that before."

Daphne scrunched up her face. "Nooo. I don't like this. Why do you have to do this?" she wailed.

"He's my dad, Daph. My real dad. And I want to get to know him."

"I wish you'd never found out he was your dad," Daphne said sadly.

Maddie sighed. "You know, I thought the same thing for a while. I felt really bad about everything that happened. I still feel like the accident was my fault. Like if I hadn't found out, then everything would have gone on like it was. But it's good for me to know now."

Rayna had walked up to Daphne's room just then. Her heart hurt that Maddie felt responsible for what had happened. She was going to have to help her daughter understand it wasn't her fault, but she'd have to deal with that later. Right now, she had both her girls home and she was looking forward to spending some time with them together. She peeked around the door with a big smile on her face, "Girls, how about pizza, then popcorn and a movie?"

"Yes!" Daphne cried, jumping off her bed and dancing around the room.

Maddie smiled at her sister and shook her head. "You're so silly," she said to Daphne. Then they walked over to their mom, put their arms around her waist and the three of them walked downstairs.

After she had tucked Daphne into bed, Rayna walked down to Maddie's room. She was sitting on her bed, listening to some music. Rayna sat down next to her and Maddie looked up. "Can I listen too?" she asked and Maddie nodded, handing her an ear bud. Rayna smiled as she listened to the song that Maddie and Deacon had written together a few weeks ago. Maddie was definitely talented and it worried her a little, because she didn't want her to get caught up in the business, especially so young. But she was beginning to realize that she wouldn't be able to keep her away forever. When the song was over, Maddie shut off her iPod and they both removed the ear buds.

Rayna smiled. "That's a really pretty song, Maddie. You amaze me."

Maddie smiled and blushed. "Thanks, Mom. But it was mostly Deacon."

"Well, y'all write pretty songs together. You couldn't do any better for a songwriting partner. I sure know that. He made everything I ever wrote sound so much better."

"What was it like writing songs together?"

Rayna sat back and pulled Maddie back against her. She smiled as she thought about that. "It was amazing. We would start with just the smallest idea and it wouldn't take long to come up with a whole story. The words just came so easy."

"Were your songs about the two of you? And loving each other?"

"When we were together, yeah, they were. But, you know, we still wrote songs together after I married your dad. Those were different."

Maddie turned her face up to look at her mom. "Why were you so secretive about your relationship?"

Rayna scrunched up her face. "I don't know that we were secretive, but we were private. I didn't want people to take pictures of us all the time and get into our business. It just wasn't their business. Being in a relationship is a lot of work and there are hard times as well as good times and I just wanted to keep it between us. It was that way after I got married too."

Maddie reached for her iPad and pulled up the candid shot of her mom and Deacon backstage. She showed it to Rayna. "Is this what you didn't want them to see?"

Rayna's eyes got wide as she looked at that shot. She wasn't sure she'd seen it before. Somebody must have caught the photographer right after he'd taken that shot, because she was pretty sure that within seconds Deacon's hand had ended up under her dress. As she looked at it, she felt a little twinge of heat that she tried to tamp down. "Maddie, where did you find that?" she asked, a little breathlessly.

"On the Internet. I looked for pictures or stories about the two of you and found that. Do you remember when that was?"

"Not exactly. It would have been after a show." After any show, actually. The heat between the two of them after a show was always at a fever pitch. They were never on time to an after party because they'd have to find someplace to work off the sexual tension that had built up during the show. Rayna had a hard time tearing her eyes away from the picture. Thankfully Maddie shut the iPad.

"When did you know that you liked him? Like a boyfriend?"

Rayna's heart was still racing and she took a deep breath to calm herself and focused on answering Maddie's question. "Well, I liked him right away. I thought he was so good looking. But when I got to know him, I realized he was a really good person. He was talented and kind and he treated me like I was special. I think I really always knew I wanted to be with him." She thought about that for a moment. She had fallen in love with him almost as soon as she'd met him. And it had only gotten stronger and more intense as she got to know him better. They'd had such passion once. But after the accident, she hadn't trusted him. She didn't want to be hurt anymore. Now she was letting him back in a little and it scared her.

Maddie looked at her with a serious expression. "Why did you stay with him all those years? When you knew he was an alcoholic?"

Rayna couldn't look at her daughter. What was she supposed to say to her about that? She knew how it looked to the outside, but she didn't know how exactly to explain to her fourteen year-old daughter about how Deacon was a part of her and how she couldn't abandon him, even when it was destroying her bit by bit. How did you explain that kind of love and passion and need for another person, that you would live with the anger and the uncertainty and the fear and the pain because living without that person would have been worse? Finally she put her arms around her daughter and held her close and told her the truth. "Because I loved him. And because he needed me," she said softly.

Maddie didn't say anything for a long time. Finally she took a deep breath. "He took me to his cabin yesterday," she said quietly.

Rayna's eyes widened and she felt a twinge of anxiety. The last time she'd been inside the cabin had been the night Deacon had asked her to marry him. The next morning she'd found him passed out in the living room, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey beside him. And he hadn't remembered any of the night before. Not the proposal, not making love to her, not any of it. And thirteen years later, when he'd found out Maddie was his, that was why he'd never suspected. Because he couldn't remember. The last time she had even been there was the day Tandy drove her up there, when she'd been out of her mind with fear after he'd left rehab early, when she'd known she was pregnant and wanted to tell him. When she'd made the fateful choice to let Tandy take her away without letting him know. She felt a pit of anguish in her stomach. "It's a beautiful place," she finally managed to choke out.

"He said he bought it for you. That it was your dream house."

Rayna knew those statements were really questions. It had been her dream house. And they had spent some wonderful times there. She felt tears course down her cheeks. Oh, Deacon, what have you done? She leaned into Maddie. "He did. And it was," she said softly.

"Why didn't you two ever get married, Mom?" Maddie asked.

Rayna wiped at the tears on her cheeks. "There were a lot of reasons, Maddie. Mostly it just never seemed like we needed to."

"Did you want to marry him?"

Rayna thought about that night at the cabin, when he had asked her and she'd said yes. She had absolutely wanted to marry him then. If only he hadn't gotten drunk that night. "You know what, Maddie? I think if we were going to, we'd have done it back when we were a lot younger."

Maddie sighed. "But you married Dad," she said.

"Yeah, I did." She was grateful then that Maddie stopped asking questions and turned into her side, just like when she was a little girl. She held her daughter until she felt her breathing slow and then she gently laid her down on her pillow and covered her with a blanket. She turned out the light and quietly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She stood in the hall, leaning against Maddie's door and let the tears flow. If only things had been different. If only Deacon hadn't gotten drunk that night. If only she'd done what she'd wanted to do when Tandy had taken her to the cabin. If only she'd had faith in him, if only she could have helped him. If only she'd done what she knew was the right thing.

The clean cut thirty-something man walked briskly across Public Square Park just after one on Monday, his phone against his ear. "I'm not exactly sure what I have, but I am 99% sure it's the mayor's daughter. And she's not with the mayor." He listened. "Totally random. I was out the other night at dinner and they were sitting a couple tables over. Could be nothing." Another pause. "Okay, I'll forward you the picture. Check ya later." He looked down at his watch and realized he was running a bit late, so he stuck his phone in his pocket and started to jog towards the building. He took the stairs instead of the elevator, which was notoriously slow.

He had just sat down at his desk, when his boss stuck her head into his office. "Hey, Jack! Where've you been? I need those numbers pronto. The mayor needs them for a meeting in an hour."

Jack nodded. "Right on it," he said. And then forgot about the phone conversation he'd just had.

A/N: I know I'm not the only one writing about the paternity reveal. I always plot my stories out in advance, so this has been planned since I started this story. I have a different take on it though.