Maddie walked in the house to a buzz of activity. Since her mom had started her own label, the house had turned into her office. Maddie hated it. It was too noisy, there were always people everywhere and her mom was always busy. She looked around and sighed.

Rayna turned and saw her daughter. "Hey, Maddie," she said happily, and walked away from someone Maddie had never seen before. Rayna hugged her. "How was your day, sweet girl?"

Maddie shrugged. "It was okay." She looked annoyed. "I'm going to go outside."

"Well, everyone will be gone in an hour or so. Then we'll decide what to do for dinner."

"Sure," Maddie said unenthusiastically and walked out through the mud room and over to the pool. The pool itself was still covered since it wasn't warm enough yet to swim, but all the outdoor furniture was out and it was a sunny day, so sitting outside felt nice. She threw her book bag on an adjacent chair and then opened it to retrieve her iPad. She found the picture she had shown her mom the night before and looked at it again, getting the now familiar warm feeling she didn't understand, looking at her dad leaning into her mom, his hand against the skin of her thigh. She closed her iPad and then leaned back against the chair back and closed her eyes as well.

She thought back over the weekend she'd just spent at Deacon's. It had been great spending time with him. Now that they had taken that step, she found herself wanting more. As grateful as she was to finally have this opportunity, when she really thought about it, she found herself angry again with her mom for keeping them apart. This was what she really wanted to know – why her mom had made the decision she had – but at the same time she was a little afraid of what the answer would be. Would she be hurt? Would she feel disappointed? Would it change how she felt?

At the sound of footsteps approaching, she frowned. The steps were quick and didn't sound like her mom. She opened her eyes as she heard them approach her. When she looked up, she smiled. "Juliette!" she cried. "I didn't know you were here."

Juliette had a pinched smile on her face. "I had a meeting with your aunt," she said, her voice indicating her annoyance. "I swear that woman doesn't know anything about what it takes to be successful in this business." She sat down and rearranged her face to one of genuine pleasure at seeing Maddie. "But enough of that. How are you?"

Maddie grinned at her. "Don't let Aunt Tandy bother you. She's trying to get back into Mom's good graces." She sat up and turned to face Juliette. The singer had been her idol ever since she'd burst on the scene as the newest country music darling and, when she had gone on tour with her mom, Maddie had been thrilled. It had given her and Daphne a chance to meet her and move into her orbit a bit. But when Rayna had been in the hospital after the accident, Juliette had been the one to give her comfort and they had bonded over Maddie's confusion and anger over finding out the truth about her real father. "So, I spent the weekend with my dad," she said.

Juliette looked surprised. "With Deacon? That's great, Maddie. How did it go?"

"It was amazing. So much better than just spending some afternoons with him. We got to really talk and everything. And he took me up to his cabin. The one he bought for my mom."

"Really." Juliette wondered how this latest development might change the dynamic between Rayna and Deacon. When Maddie had told her that Deacon was her dad, she'd initially been surprised, but then not. What did surprise her was that Rayna had kept it a secret for all those years. She had always seen Rayna as this perfect person and it was shocking to find out that she'd done something so calculated. "I'm glad you're getting to do this. It's good that you're getting to spend time with Deacon like that."

"I still have to spend time with my other dad," she said, rolling her eyes, "but only half a week. The other half I get to stay with Deacon." She had a dreamy-eyed look on her face. "I want to know everything I can about their relationship. And about him. And how I'm like him."

Juliette reached out and grabbed her hands, a concerned look on her face. "Sweetie, I know you want to know everything. But just be careful. There might be stuff you don't want to know." She couldn't even imagine what the truth was behind Rayna's decision to lie to Deacon about Maddie or why Deacon hadn't known in the first place. Maddie was smart in many ways, but Juliette knew Rayna had sheltered her all her life and she worried that Maddie would get hurt. Whatever that story was, she was certain it was painful and would be traumatic for everyone involved.

Maddie frowned. "Juliette, I've been lied to my whole life. I want to know the truth. I want to know my real father and where I came from. I don't understand why no one gets that."

"I understand it. I totally get you." She smiled encouragingly. "Just be patient. You don't have to know it all right away. Just relax and get to know Deacon better. The rest of it will come."

"You really think so?" Maddie asked.

"I know so," Juliette responded firmly.

"So when do you go back out on tour?"

Juliette rolled her eyes. "That's part of what I was here for. Now that I'm with Highway 65, I want to start fixing my reputation. Or what's left of it. So we were talking about Scarlett and me going out together."

"That's great! When do you start?"

"I've got some tour dates from my old tour that weren't cancelled, so we'll do those. That's a couple of weeks from now."

"I wish I could be there."

Juliette gave her a sly look. "Ask your mama. I know she's coming. Maybe she'll bring you too."

Just then Rayna walked up on the two of them. "Maybe I'll bring her to what?" she asked with a small smile on her face.

Maddie turned to look up at her, a hopeful smile on her face. "To Juliette's tour opening. Could I go? Please?"

Rayna took a moment. Then she gave the two of them her best performance smile and said, looking at Maddie, "We'll talk about it. You do have spring break coming up, so maybe we can arrange that."

Maddie jumped up and hugged her mom. "Oh, thanks, Mom! That would be awesome!" she cried.

Rayna looked down at Juliette with a slight frown, while Juliette looked back and smirked. "Yeah," she said flatly. "Awesome."

Rayna was fixing dinner in the kitchen after everyone had left. Tandy had stayed behind and was sitting at the counter drinking a glass of wine. Things were still strained between the sisters in the aftermath of Tandy's confession that she had been prepared to testify against their father. The fact that Lamar Wyatt had died of a heart attack mere days after being released from prison, after Tandy recanted, had done little to heal the wounds. But they were trying and Rayna had decided to hold out an olive branch by including her sister in their dinner plans. Maddie and Daphne were sitting in the den, practicing a song.

Tandy looked over at the girls and smiled, then looked back at her sister. "How's Maddie doing? How did the weekend go with Deacon?"

Rayna shrugged and looked over at her daughters. "She's okay, I guess. Having her spend time over there scares me a little. She's been asking a lot of questions about my relationship with Deacon. And he said she's done the same with him."

Tandy scrunched up her face. "But there's nothing really wrong with answering a few questions about when you met and how long you were together, is there?"

Rayna gave her sister a look. "Well, if that's all she were asking, probably not. But she's asking stuff like why I stayed with him and why we didn't get married. And she's been looking for pictures and she found one that was pretty risqué."

Tandy frowned. "Risqué? How do you mean?"

Rayna rolled her eyes and blushed. "Deacon practically had his hand in my panties, if you have to know."

Tandy gasped. "Oh, my! What did she say about it?"

"Luckily, it hadn't gone that far, but it just made her ask about why we were so private about our relationship." She sighed. "She's fourteen years old, Tandy. I'm not ready for her to know about sex and all that goes along with that. My relationship with Deacon was pretty…intense, and I don't feel comfortable talking about that to her." She looked at Tandy pointedly. "Or you."

Just then Daphne called out, "Mom! Aunt Tandy! Want to hear our song?"

Rayna smiled at them. "Of course we do." Tandy turned around and Rayna stopped what she was doing to listen.

Maddie started playing the melody and then they started singing the song she and Deacon had written together. I don't remember how I got here / When my rose colored glasses disappeared / Sometimes my fingers, they can lose touch / Start letting go of everything I love / When I get the feeling that my prayers have hit the ceiling / And those darker days when my faith has lost all meaning / You keep me believing.

Rayna found her thoughts drifting as she listened to her daughters' sweet voices. She felt like things were moving too fast. She had a sense of foreboding that gave her an uneasy feeling. She watched Maddie, her fingers moving over the guitar strings, looking up at Daphne and smiling as they sang together. All she'd ever wanted was to protect her. And now she had a terrifying sense that they were on a collision course with disaster. She closed her eyes and, leaning on her elbows, she rubbed her temples. She'd never wanted this to happen.

"That was beautiful, girls," Tandy said, turning to Rayna. She frowned. "Babe, are you okay?"

Rayna shook her head and opened her eyes, staring at her sister. Then she smiled, the smile she smiled onstage or to important people she didn't want to talk to at an after party or to a radio DJ who was annoying her. "Just feeling a little headache, but it's all good," she said. "Salad's ready and I've got Bucky's lasagna cooked. Let's eat!"

The next day, Rayna dropped Maddie off at Deacon's for her guitar lesson and then headed for Sound Check to meet with Tandy and Bucky about details for Juliette and Scarlett's tour. Once they had hammered out all the plans, Bucky left to take care of some legal business, leaving Rayna and Tandy sitting together awkwardly. When it was just the two of them, Rayna found it hard to talk to Tandy. Tandy hated awkward silences though, and always tried to find something to discuss, much to Rayna's annoyance. Today Tandy decided that that something was going to be Deacon and Maddie.

As she absentmindedly doodled on the piece of paper sitting in front of her, Tandy asked, "So you mentioned last night that Maddie was getting into personal stuff about you and Deacon. Have you thought at all about what you do want to tell her?"

Rayna frowned at her. She really didn't want to talk to Tandy about this, but at the same time she really needed to talk through what was next, and she didn't have a lot of options. She sighed. "No, I really haven't. What am I supposed to tell her? That I was young and stupid and in love and I couldn't stay away from him? That I actually thought he had things together, because that's what I wanted to believe, and I let him talk me into going with him to the cabin? And that he asked me to marry him and then totally forgot he did it because he got so drunk he couldn't remember? How does that sound? How would you feel if Mom had told you that story about the night you were conceived?" She rolled her eyes.

Tandy sighed. "No, I don't think you can tell her any of those things. I know those were all the things you wanted to protect her from. Well, along with the fact that you weren't even sure Deacon would ever get sober."

Rayna closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "I don't think either one of them has any idea how much I've tried to protect them."

"Well, that's because you haven't told either one of them the whole story." She reached out and rubbed Rayna's arm. "Do you think you'll tell Deacon, at least? So that he'll understand what's at stake?"

Rayna stopped rubbing her temples and opened her eyes to look at her sister. Tears started to form in her eyes. "I don't know." She sat back in her chair and looked away. "He took her to the cabin, Tandy."

Tandy gasped. "Oh, God, babe, really? But he doesn't know…"

Rayna shook her head. "No, he doesn't." The tears started to trickle down her face and her voice got shaky. "Just thinking about her being there, where it all started, just kills me." She lowered her head. "You know, I try not to think about that anymore." Her voice was nearly a whisper. "You and I never talked about this, because you were so set on me marrying Teddy and covering all this up."

Tandy reached towards her, a lump in her throat, feeling sad about her part in all that went on back then. "Rayna, I'm sorry about all that. But just like you were trying to protect Maddie, I was trying to protect you."

Rayna waved her off. "I know that." She turned to look at Tandy, her eyes full of pain. "The whole time I was pregnant with Maddie, I was so torn. I think when it really hit me what I was doing was when I first started feeling her move. I went off by myself and cried. Cried for myself, for Deacon, for my baby who wouldn't know her real father. Every time I felt her move, I thought about the fact that she was Deacon's, that we'd made her, no matter what the circumstances were. I would dream about him, about telling him, about the two of us raising her together. I didn't want Teddy to touch me then. Not while Deacon's baby was inside me. Because that was all I had of him. All I thought I'd ever have of him. And it felt sacred somehow." Her eyes flashed with anger. "I loved Deacon so much. I always loved him. I hated what I was doing to him, even though he didn't know I was doing it. I hated myself."

"Oh, babe, no…"

Rayna slammed her palm down on the table. "Stop it! Tandy, I lied every day for thirteen years." She laughed bitterly. "Obviously it was part of my DNA. Our DNA. Our mother lied for years. About Watty. Our father lied about killing her. About where he was that night. We lied about my baby girl. And now I'm asking her to lie about Deacon being her father. At least to not tell people. Because we could all get hurt. She thinks I'm being selfish – and I am – but it will hurt her and it will hurt Deacon." She started crying again. "And I don't know if I can prevent it."

Tandy moved over to sit next to her sister and reached out to put her arms around her. After a moment of resistance, Rayna relaxed into her arms and, her head on Tandy's shoulder, she sobbed.

When Rayna was ready to leave to pick up Maddie, she had recovered her composure. But she felt like she needed to talk to Deacon about her fears. She walked up the steps to his front door, filled with apprehension. When he opened the door, she put on her performance face.

"Hey, Ray," he said with a smile as he opened the door. "Come on in."

She walked in to see Maddie putting her guitar away. "How was the lesson?" she asked.

Maddie turned and smiled. "It was good. We're working on something new."

Rayna smiled back with a joy she didn't really feel. "That's awesome!" she said. "I can't wait to hear it when you're finished with it." She glanced at Deacon and smiled. "I told you that he's the best songwriting partner."

Deacon smiled, looking a little embarrassed by the praise. "It's mostly her. I'm just along for the ride," he said.

Rayna turned back to Maddie. "Maddie, can you wait for me in the car? I want to talk to Deacon about something."

Maddie nodded, her smiled fading. "Sure." She walked over and hugged Deacon. "Bye, Dad. Thanks. I'll see you Thursday."

Deacon hugged her back. "See you then, Maddie."

Rayna watched the two of them and felt her heart clench. All she had ever wanted, when she'd found out she was pregnant, was for the three of them to have a chance to be a family. But seeing him completely wasted that day she'd gone to the cabin with the idea of telling him had sent her down the path that led them to this awful place. She felt a lump in her throat and swallowed hard.

When Deacon closed the door after Maddie left, he turned back and walked towards Rayna. He stopped and put his hands in his pockets, hunching up his shoulders, his expression guarded. "What's up, Ray?" he asked.

Rayna wasn't sure how to start. She fidgeted with her hands and looked away, taking a deep breath. When she looked back at him, she was close to the edge and her voice was shaky with her emotions. "Maddie told me that you took her to the cabin," she said, finally.

He nodded. "I did. Is there a problem with that?"

"I…I…it's just…it's just so personal. For us. And to take her there…"

Deacon frowned. "That was the whole reason I did it. Damn it, Ray, she's asking so many questions. Personal questions. I thought taking her someplace that was special for us would help her…understand more. I guess."

"You know she wants to be more…public. With you."

He nodded. "Yeah."

"It worries me, Deacon. I don't want her to be hurt. People will say things, hurtful things."

Deacon raised his eyebrows. "So we help her with it," he said, annoyance in his voice.

"But it's private. For her. For both of you."

Deacon felt himself getting angry. "You know, Ray, if we're both okay with it, I'm not sure I understand why it's an issue." He looked hard at her. "Unless it's that it's an issue for you. That you're the one that's worried about being hurt with the publicity." He smiled unkindly. "That's what this is. You don't want to have to say that you lied about this. For thirteen years. You want to hide this away, the same way you tried to hide me away all those years."

Rayna shook her head. "No! No, Deacon. That was never what I was trying to do."

Deacon huffed and started rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Isn't this just about your reputation? God forbid that the world know that the great Rayna Jaymes hid the fact that she passed another man's daughter off as the daughter of her husband. Especially since it's the man that she didn't quite want everyone to know was her lover."

Rayna gasped. "That's not true! None of that," she choked out. "I'm trying to protect Maddie. And you."

Deacon shook his head. "Me? How are you protecting me? You hid her from me for thirteen years and now you want me to keep on pretending that she's not mine? I can't even claim her now? When I want to. And she wants me to. We're just supposed to have this relationship behind closed doors? Is there ever a time when we can be truthful or do we just go on pretending?"

"No," Rayna whispered, shaking her head. "That's not what I want. But there's so much you don't know. That I don't want Maddie to know. Or anyone else."

Deacon raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What else have you lied to me about?"

Rayna got angry then. She stomped her foot and threw her hands out, angry tears starting to form in her eyes. "Do you really want to know why I don't want you taking her to the cabin? Because that's where she was conceived, Deacon. And the next morning you were so wasted you didn't even remember. And that's what I want to protect both of you from. I don't want Maddie to know that. I don't want you to have to face that publicly." She clenched her fists. "Goddamnit, Deacon, I loved you so much. I don't ever want to do that to you again. Don't you understand that?"

Deacon turned away and covered his mouth with his hand, tears pricking at his eyes. He felt angry, he felt hurt, he felt sad. He looked back at Rayna. She looked devastated. His anger slowly began to subside. He reminded himself that he'd put her in the position she was in thirteen years ago. It didn't make what she'd done right, but he did know she hadn't meant to hurt him. "I won't take her back," he whispered brokenly.

She nodded. She wiped her face and took several deep breaths to calm herself. "I'm going to do everything I can to protect the two of you. No matter what happens," she said quietly.

Deacon nodded, not saying anything. Rayna looked at him once last time, then turned and let herself out.

Maddie had a bad feeling as she walked out to the car and got in. She turned and looked out the window at Deacon's house, wondering what was going on in there. Her mom had been so weird the last couple days since she'd come home from Deacon's and it worried her that she would try to change the rules of the game. She frowned at that and promised herself that she wouldn't let it happen.

She and Deacon had worked on a song today. She'd been writing about things that were lost being found, which was really about finding her real dad and what it meant to go through all that discovery. They had talked before about the songwriting process and how sometimes you wanted your words to say exactly what they meant and other times you wanted to create a story that just hinted at the truth, so as not to hurt someone or be obvious.

As they worked on the melody and altered a few of the words, Deacon had stopped and looked at her intently. "Maddie, is this about you and me?" He had felt a surge of love for her as she nodded shyly. "Do you want to talk about what you mean with this? It might help with how we create the melody."

She had put her guitar down and Deacon had done the same. She took a deep breath as she thought about all her feelings. "I guess it's that there's so much to know and it feels like there's not enough time. I feel like I'm figuring things out about myself now that seemed all messed up before. And now I know why." She smiled a little. "I think I'm like you and just never really knew it. Now I see things more clearly and it makes sense." She tilted her head and scrunched up her face. "Do you know what I mean?"

He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "I know exactly what you mean." He cleared his throat. "I always thought I knew you pretty well, but now I realize I didn't know half of who you are." He grinned at her. "And I really like what I'm learning. In fact, I love it. I'm really proud you're my daughter, Maddie."

She had teared up when he said that. "Thanks," she said shyly. "I'm glad you're my dad."

They worked a little more on the song, but hit a place where the words didn't feel just right. They decided to table it for the day and come back to it. Deacon explained how sometimes that happened for him too, especially when the words hit so close to the heart. "It'll come," he said. "You don't want to force it or the song won't be right."

Maddie nodded. She was learning so much from writing with him. She decided to take the opportunity to get his side of the story on some of what she'd talked to her mom about. "You know, I've tried to find stuff online about you and Mom, but there really isn't much. How come?"

Deacon hunched over and took a deep breath. "Well, I think there were a couple reasons. First of all, your mama grew up in a pretty important family that was in the public eye a lot. And she hated it. So she wanted to protect her privacy. People knew we were together. I mean, we lived together, so it was kinda obvious we were together. We just didn't really want people in our business all the time." He ran a hand over his mouth. "Plus, I had a lot of, uh, problems and it just was better to kind of stay low key."

Maddie thought about that. "You mean, because you were drinking?"

Deacon choked out a cough. He looked away. "Yeah, I guess."

Maddie smiled shyly. "It's okay. We've talked about it and I know you don't drink anymore. I'm proud of you."

Deacon smiled a little. "Thanks." He did not like talking about his alcohol problem with her. She was too young for that and he didn't want her saddled with it. It was a grown-up issue that hopefully she would never have to deal with.

"Did you ever want to marry my mom?"

Deacon nodded. "I thought about it a lot. And I did. But I was not really the marrying kind, I don't think. We talked about it once or twice, but we just didn't think we had to." He thought about what he was saying. "But I think marriage is a good thing. When you find the right person – and I hope that's a very long time off," which made Maddie laugh, "I hope you don't do what your mama and I did. I hope you would get married and make a life together."

"But you and Mom had a life together," Maddie protested.

"Yeah, we did. But I want more for you. And I know your mama does too."

"What was it like being out on the road together?"

Deacon smiled. "It was hard. But it was amazing. We were doing what we loved." He thought back on the early days. "Watty bought us a bus. I mean, we had to pay him back for it, but it was someplace for all of us to stay while we were on the road. Your mama had a little room in the back and the rest of us had bunks."

Maddie smiled playfully. "Did you sleep in her room?"

Deacon turned red. "Uh, sometimes. Anyway, we would be on the road most of the time, playing every night or every couple nights. Just bars and clubs and stuff. Nothing big, nothing high class. It took a long time and a lot of work for your mama to finally get noticed. But when she did, there was nothing stopping her."

Maddie loved hearing about the early days. She wanted so badly to be able to do the same thing herself one day. Just then her mom got back to the car and got in, slamming the door. She sat for a moment, her head back and her eyes closed. Maddie frowned. "So are you going to tell me I can't see Deacon anymore?"

Rayna sat up and gave her daughter a perplexed look. "What?"

"Aren't you?"

"Maddie, no, of course not. Why would you think that?"

She shrugged. "Just checking, I guess." She turned and looked out the passenger side window.

Rayna frowned, but then started the car and headed towards home.