Thanks to those of you who are reading this – would love to know what you think so far!

The next morning, I woke up to the sun softly peeking through the curtains. I could tell it was still early. I must have gotten hot during the night because the sheets were down around my feet. I maneuvered myself over onto my other side and was surprised not to see Deacon there. Even after four years, the rare time that he wasn't in bed next to me always caused my heart to skip a beat. I rolled myself back over to my other side and lay there quietly, listening for any sound, any noise, that would tell me he was in the house. My heart felt like it was in my throat. Then, thankfully, I heard his footsteps. I let a breath out.

When he walked in the room, he was carrying a tray, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. He stopped at the doorway when he saw that I was awake, then shook his head as his eyes told me that he was enjoying seeing me naked and exposed. "Baby, this is the best sight on a beautiful morning," he said.

I felt my face get warm, but I didn't try to cover myself. Instead, I lifted my arms over my head and stretched slowly. I smiled at him. "Is that breakfast?" I asked, winking at him. God, did he look gorgeous standing there, his hair messy and his eyes roaming over me.

He set the tray down, pulled off his jeans and crawled into bed with me, pulling me into his arms. "Breakfast can wait," he said gruffly, and then proceeded to give me a lovely morning wake up.

We finally were headed for Tandy's to pick up Maddie. Deacon had decided that we would go up to the cabin for a few days, so we'd packed a few things and thrown them in the truck before heading out. When we got to Tandy's, she greeted me with a big hug. "Hey, babe. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Good," I said. "Good enough to get up on stage." I was teasing, but when I turned to look at Deacon he was scowling. "Just kidding, babe," I said to him with a smile. He shook his head at me, but the softened look on his face told me he wasn't angry. I looked back at my sister. "So where's my girl?"

"She's in the den, watching some video she talked me into buying."

"You spoil her, Tandy."

Tandy grinned. "Of course I do. That's what aunts are supposed to do!" She linked her arm in mine as we headed towards the den, Deacon trailing behind. She leaned into me and whispered, "I can see why you were running late. You have that 'just been fucked' look." She winked at me.

I gasped and felt heat on my face. "Tandy!" I whispered back.

She laughed. "What? I think it's sweet. Even all knocked up and y'all still can't keep your hands off each other. I love it."

I opened my mouth to say something, then shut it. She was right. Deacon and I were passionate people – about our performances, our music…and sex. After all these years, I still couldn't get enough of him. And it was the same for him. I felt like I couldn't get enough of him touching me, of our skin rubbing against each other. Of his lips on mine, our tongues entwined. We could both drive each other crazy just with our fingers and hands. The touches, the strokes. And then the way he filled me up, stretching me out, the glorious tightness was…well, it was magic. I felt the heat from my face spread through my body and settle between my legs. I had to breathe in slowly to calm the quivers of excitement. It was hard to believe that after fifteen years together, it was still like it was in the beginning. Only better, since now we knew each other so well. I shook my head to get those thoughts out. We were several hours away from being able to act on them and I needed to concentrate on my daughter.

When I got to the den, I saw that Maddie was sitting in Tandy's chair and a half, her favorite place to sit. She looked up as I walked in and her face broke out into a huge smile. She jumped up on the chair and yelled, "Mama!"

I walked over to her with a smile. "Hey, baby girl," I said. Then I picked her up and put her on my hip, as she wrapped her little arms around my neck and kissed me. I kissed her back.

"Rayna." Deacon's voice was gruff and I turned to look at him. He frowned and shook his head.

"What?" I responded, a little annoyed. "Dr. Norris said I could pick her up."

Deacon sighed and walked over to me. Maddie turned and held her arms out for him to take her, which he did. "Humor me. Please," he said to me, then turned to nuzzle Maddie's neck, causing her to squeal with delight and him to grin broadly at her.

I pouted and Tandy walked up to me and put her hand on the small of my back. Leaning into me, she said, "Let him pamper you, sweetheart. Just enjoy it."

"I guess I have no choice." I wasn't sure whether to be annoyed that he was still treating me like an invalid or to just enjoy the fact that he wanted to take care of me. It had been a long time since Deacon had truly taken care of me. Probably as far back as when Daddy had kicked me out of the house and he had taken me in. For so many years, he wasn't capable of taking care of himself, let alone me, and I guess old habits were hard to break. These last few days, he had taken charge and I had found that I liked it when he did.

We spent a week at the cabin. It was early July and that meant that it was hot and humid, but being along the lake helped. We were there for the Fourth of July and enjoyed the local fireworks over the lake. I spent a lot of time watching Deacon with Maddie, enjoying seeing the two of them together. I felt my heart swell as I realized how happy Deacon was now. We even did some writing. We ended up with three hit singles out of all our writing – "American Beauty", "Sweet Summertime", and "Stomping Ground."

After dinner our last night at the cabin, Deacon and I walked out to the dock with Maddie. I thought about her sad face when I had served spaghetti for dinner. From a can. Again. I guess even when kids love something, they don't want it every other day. Poor kid. She suffered from her parents' poor cooking skills. Deacon had gotten marshmallows when he'd picked up groceries, so we were going to surprise her by roasting marshmallows later.

"So is everybody ready to go home tomorrow?" Deacon asked.

"No," Maddie said firmly, crossing her hands over her chest and frowning.

"You don't want to go home to your bed and your toys?" he asked.

She considered that. We'd brought most of her favorites. Then she shook her head. "No. Wanna swim more." Deacon had taken her out in the lake every day. Most days I would sit on the dock in shorts and a tank top, dangling my feet in the water, but today I had gotten in with them and Maddie had been super excited. She had played her kiss game with us. She would tell Deacon and me to kiss, then she would say "Kiss Maddie!" and we would each kiss her on the cheek. Over and over. She had squealed with laughter and we would laugh along with her. It was always one of her favorite things to do. And, truthfully, because there was kissing involved, it was one of our favorites too.

"Well, Maddie," I said, "Daddy and I have to go back to work." Deacon looked at me and raised his eyebrows with a warning look in his eye.

"On the bus?" Maddie asked, as she looked up at me.

I shook my head and gave Deacon a look of my own. "No, not on the bus. But we need to meet with Uncle Watty and Uncle Bucky about some songs." Even though I couldn't do much else, I wanted to go ahead and start planning my next album. I smirked at Deacon and he gave me a small smile.

Maddie smiled. "Songs! I like to sing!" she cried.

I smiled at her. "I know you do, baby girl. And you're a good singer."

She beamed. "I wanna be a singer like you, Mama. I wanna wear a sparkle dress like you."

I widened my eyes at her and Deacon tried to hide a smile. "No, sweetheart, you need to go to college," I said, even though I knew she didn't understand what that even meant. There were times when I felt at such a disadvantage because I'd never finished high school. Watty had been a great teacher about the business, for both Deacon and me. And Bucky never talked down to me, even though he had a college degree. But I really wanted Maddie to go to college, not go into the music business. It could be so tough and it could eat you alive if you weren't careful. Deacon always said we weren't going to have a choice, that both our girls would probably follow in our footsteps, but I didn't want to think that way.

Maddie frowned darkly and shook her head hard, swinging her hair back and forth. "No. Daddy will teach me the string box." When she was younger, she'd had a hard time saying guitar, so Deacon told her it was a string box. And she still called it that.

I looked up at Deacon. He opened his eyes wide and shrugged. "Did Daddy tell you that?" I asked Maddie, keeping my eyes on Deacon.

Maddie nodded her head. Deacon looked up and away from me. I frowned. "We all play together," Maddie said. "Baby sister too." She smiled up at me. "In a sparkle dress and cowboy boots."

Deacon looked at me then. I frowned at him. He smiled. "We can be the travelin' Claybournes," he said with a laugh. "Starring the Queen of Country Music and her princesses, with your trusty leader of the band making sure it's all good."

"Yes! Yes!" Maddie squealed, clapping her hands.

I rolled my eyes at Deacon and he just smiled at me. I looked back at Maddie, her little face all happy and excited. "Well, that all sounds really nice, Maddie, but we'll have to see how you feel when you get older," I told her.

She looked grief-stricken. "We can't do it now?"

I shook my head and gave Deacon a look that said 'don't say a word'. He shook his head, smiling. "No, we can't," I said. "You're still too little and, well, baby sister hasn't even gotten here yet. We'll talk about it when you're a little older."

Maddie crossed her arms and fumed. "How long is older?"

"I'll let you know."

Maddie looked pleadingly at Deacon. "Daddy, make her let me."

He shook his head at her, smiling. "No, ma'am. Mama's in charge. She makes the rules."

"They're dumb rules," Maddie said, pouting.

I glared at Deacon, then turned back to Maddie. "Tell you what, sweetheart, Daddy got marshmallows. Want to go roast marshmallows?"

Her singing career was forgotten as she jumped up and started for the cabin. "Yes!" she cried.

Deacon stood up, then leaned down and put his hand out for me. If I could have gotten up without looking ridiculous, I would have, so I took his hand and let him help me up. As soon as I was standing, I snatched my hand away. I leaned in to him and shook my finger. "You are in big trouble," I hissed.

He threw his head back and laughed out loud. "Well, I'm looking forward to that," he said and winked at me.

I swatted his arm, then followed him to the cabin, knowing that the only kind of trouble he'd be getting into would be the kind that involved him satisfying that quiver of desire that had just started its way through me. I could really never be mad at him for long.

After we roasted marshmallows with Maddie, I sat on the porch while she and Deacon chased fireflies. The baby started what felt like somersaults, almost as though she wanted to be playing with them. I felt very lucky that our lives had turned out this way. I was so very proud of Deacon and how he was doing. I had never thought he'd be able to lick his addiction to alcohol and pills. I remember how desperate I'd felt and how worn out I'd been all those years. I thought again about how scared I had been to give him this one last chance. I had wondered if I was being a fool all over again. He had learned to be a wonderful father, though, far better than he had imagined he could be. Seems I'd made the right choice after all.

When we got back to Nashville from the cabin, I let Deacon talk me into at least considering a new house. A new pile of stuffed animals and notes were there when we got back, although a little worse for wear. Maddie wanted to scoop up all the toys and shrieked her displeasure when we told her no. It was, I decided, something to at least think about, this living somewhere where people couldn't reach us so easily.

We talked about where to look. Franklin, south of Nashville, was popular with a lot of people we knew, but it made me sad to think of leaving Nashville proper. Neither one of us wanted to consider Belle Meade. Too close to Daddy and too much of what I'd left behind. We had decided that we would only look at houses with some land that were in gated communities. So Deacon found a realtor and we ended up looking at a handful of homes.

The one we liked the best was in a small gated community still in Nashville, a little closer to Belle Meade than either of us liked, but with a lot of what we were looking for. We rode out with the realtor, who let us roam the house freely while she waited in the main living room. The house had a very Mediterranean look to it from the outside, with lots of balconies. It was majestic and gorgeous, quite a showplace. Walking into the two-story main living area was breathtaking. I loved how open it was.

We wandered in to the kitchen, which was a showplace with obviously top of the line everything. I cut my eyes over to Deacon. "I think we're out of our league in this kitchen, babe," I said. Neither one of us was much for cooking, although we tried.

He smiled, then I gasped as he lifted me up on the counter. He pushed my legs apart slightly and stood between them, leaning in for a kiss. "Perfect height for a little extra-curricular fun though," he whispered.

I laughed, pulling him a little closer. "We'd have to wait a couple months before we could try it out for real," I said.

He smiled. "True." Then he helped me down and we continued our stroll, although now it was harder for me to concentrate on what I was looking at. The next room we walked into was one of two smaller den type rooms. Deacon looked at me excitedly. "This could be the music room." We'd always wanted a music room. Someplace to put my piano and to display his guitars. And where we could write. With all that went along with that.

I gasped when we walked into the master bedroom. I had never been in a bedroom so large. "Oh, Deacon, look at this," I said. "The fireplace! How romantic!"

He winked at me. "Plenty of room to cuddle on the floor in front of it, too." He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around me, leaning in to whisper in my ear, "I can see you naked, lying on a bear skin rug, just waiting for me to join you."

I smiled, feeling hot quivers of need running up and down my body. "I like how that sounds," I murmured. There were his and hers bathrooms. The 'her' bathroom had a deep soaking tub, which looked like sheer heaven to me. The 'his' bathroom had a large shower with multiple showerheads. Deacon grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shower with him. He pressed against my back and I could feel him hard against my ass.

"I think we could have a lot of fun in here," he said into my ear, his voice low and sexy. Neither one of us could go in any room without thinking about having sex there. If it wasn't such a turn on, it would have been just funny.

By the time we had toured the house and headed for home, we were so hot for each other that we actually found a secluded area in nearby Percy Warner Park where we could relieve our tension. We hadn't had sex in the front seat of Deacon's truck in a very long time and, despite having to work our way around my stomach, we finally were successful. I wondered what someone would think if they had come up on Rayna Jaymes, country music star and nearly eight months pregnant, having sex with her husband in the front seat of a truck. It would certainly have been embarrassing, but it sure wasn't the first time that we'd had risky sex. And maybe because it was a little risky, it was even more explosive.

"Well," Deacon breathed when we were done. "That was something."

I laughed softly. "Yes, it certainly was." I kissed him. "It's been a while since we've done something quite like that. Although I don't think anyone could accuse us of being a couple of boring old married people."

He smiled. "Then I think we make a promise to do that more often. 'Cause we are definitely not a couple of boring old married people."

Late that night, curled up in each other's arms with the sheet wrapped around us, we talked a little about whether we really wanted to move. The label had come by again and removed all the mementos that fans had left and that finally seemed to be easing up. But Deacon was still concerned. "I think we really should consider it," he said.

"But where? I don't really want to live so far out."

"What about that place we looked at today? I liked it. It was big, plenty of room. A great place for Maddie to play. And the baby, when she's older. Quiet."

I thought about that. It was all of those things. But would it feel like home the way this place did? Everywhere I went in this house was full of us. I shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think it's 'us'."

Deacon was silent for a moment. "I think it's you," he said finally.

I turned my head to look at him. "You do? Why?"

"That's the kind of place you grew up in. It just feels like you. Beautiful and classy."

I frowned. "But, Deacon, I ran away from Belle Meade. Why would I want to go back?"

"It's not Belle Meade." He was being stubborn.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, not technically, but it's the same kind of place. And it's close, it might as well be." I looked at him closely. "Why do you want to do this? Even if, as you say, it's 'me', it's certainly not you."

He shrugged. "I have a family now. I want to take care of you. All of you." He pulled me closer to him. "I love this house, Ray, you know that. It's our house. I feel you in this house, even when you're not here. I like how it kind of, I don't know, keeps us all close. But Maddie's growing up. And we have a new baby coming. It would be good, I think, if they could have their own space and we not all be on top of each other." He smirked at me then and leaned down to kiss me, fondling one of my breasts as he did so. "I need space for you and me too."

I smiled. "Well, we could certainly get creative in that house, couldn't we?"

Deacon nodded and went on. "Plus when the girls get older, it'll give them more space for friends and maybe parties and stuff."

I raised my eyebrows. "I thought you weren't going to let them get involved with boys."

He gave me a stern look. "Oh, they will never date. Not as long as they're living in my house. No boy will get near them."

I laughed. Then I took a deep breath. "I just don't know if I'm ready, babe. I need to think about it more."

"Okay," he said. Then he slid his hand under the sheet and trailed it down my side, sending a thrill of anticipation running though me. He leaned into my ear and whispered, "But I think you're exactly ready, Ray," as I opened my legs and he slid his fingers into me, making me moan with pleasure.

You can Google the house I used in this chapter – 170 Chickering Meadow in Nashville.