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Chapter 22

Belle Meade

Deacon walked through the backdoor and took in Teddy's appearance. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes carried a blank stare. He looked lost for lack of a better word. He was facing prison for six months, divorcing his wife, having her move on with her ex, all while the media documented every word.

Deacon walked slowly into the kitchen, unsure of the situation and still uncomfortable in Teddy's house, especially with Teddy standing right there.

Deacon asked where Rayna was. The other man answered back that she was upstairs with Maddie but didn't invite Deacon to go upstairs. Deacon nodded as if that was an answer to all his questions and took a seat at the bar. Teddy opened the fridge and uncapped a beer. The silence engulfed the two before Teddy offered that Daphne was upstairs packing.

Deacon furrowed his brow. Packing for what? Surely Teddy would want to the girls to spend as much time with him as possible until he went to jail. A moment later, Teddy walked out of the kitchen without a word.

Deacon sat there at the kitchen bar looking around for a moment before he saw a mop of blonde hair walking with a small pink suitcase rolling behind her. Her face looked concerned and she sniffled to stop herself from crying. Just like Ray does.

He smiled and greeted Daphne warmly. In response, the little girl frowned. Seriously what in the hell is going on?

The little girl bit her lip and seemed to have some kind of internal struggle before walking over to him. Daphne's eyes were curios as she asked if Maddie was going to go live with him. Deacon looked at her for a moment, not really sure what she meant.

Then her eyes widened, as though she'd come to some kind of realization. "So are you my Daddy too?"

Before Deacon could answer back he caught a flash of dark hair running through across the threshold. As the door slam loudly behind Maddie, he heard Rayna yelling Maddie's name.

2 Hours Later

The Living Room

"GEEEE TEDDY I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE BECAUSE THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!," shouted Deacon.

Teddy yelled back calling Deacon several names before Tandy shouted for them both to "shut up." Both men took a deep breath as Tandy reminded them that right now they needed to "find out where Maddie went and be there for her."

Deacon looked over at Rayna who was standing at the window, staring out into the black night. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back. She instinctively leaned back against him while her arms rested on top of his. He'd felt a bit uncomfortable holding her like this, with Teddy thirty feet away but Ray needed him. He whispered into her ear that they'd find Maddie soon. Rayna's voice was deep from crying when she answered back. "Wow I'm some kind of mother. I keep calling the police because my daughter keeps running away."

Deacon held on tighter for a moment before Tandy yelled, "She's at Daddy's. He's got her." Rayna let out a relived cry but Deacon somehow felt worse. God Lamar hates me. The Maddie would rather be with Lamar than Ray or Teddy or Tandy or me is….terrifying.

Lamar's House

The Next Morning

Deacon thanked Lamar for opening the door and walked inside. He fought the urge to throw up as Lamar led him towards one of the sitting rooms. If there was one house he hated more than Teddy's, it was Lamar's. The house was stuffy and seemingly unlived in. Every piece of furniture, every picture, and every plaque, were placed to show off the Wyatt's wealth and power. Lamar gestured up the main stairwell, "She's in Rayna's old room. I trust you remember it."

Deacon swallowed harshly. How the hell did he know about that? He'd never gone upstairs when Lamar was home. Wait why am I worried about sex that happened like two decades ago? He met Lamar's gaze for a second before slowly turning and walking up the stairs. He took two stairs at a time only slowing down when he approached the third door on the left. He knocked softly, the louder. He pushed the door open when Maddie said "come in."

"Hi," Deacon said weakly. Maddie was sitting at the bay window clutching a pillow that matched the bedspread. Okay, you got the door open. Now what the hell do I say?

Maddie's expression did not change but her lips curved upwards as though she was trying to smile but it didn't reach her eyes. He walked over to the bed and sat down, facing Maddie. He asked how she was doing and she shrugged, not bothering to respond.

An odd silence filled the room as Maddie looked down at her pillow and Deacon looked down at his shoes. Neither knew exactly what to say.

Maddie broke the silence, "Mom told me last night that you didn't know about me til a while ago. But how is that even possible?"

Deacon felt his head swim. This feels like an out of body experience. I find out I have a teenage daughter and the first conversation we have about It involves talking about sex with her mother. Sex that I can't remember.

Deacon let out a deep breath. The truth, okay the censored truth is best. "Your mom and I were together for a long time."

Maddie seemed unimpressed, "Yeah I know. You two were boyfriend and girlfriend for as long as my dad and my mom have been married."

"Um yeah….But the last few years of our relationship were hard."

Maddie let her grip on the pillow go as she met his eye, "Because you couldn't stop drinking?" Her words had a slight edge to them. She's baiting me, testing me.

"Yes. How do you know about that?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow, "It's in the papers. And Grandpa sometimes calls you Mom's drunken guitar player." God I should have let Rayna just run over Lamar in his driveway that time when he nearly ruined that gig.

"Okay. Well back when you were…um…conceived. Your Mom and I weren't living together anymore. We'd broken up and she was living with your Aunt Tandy. But…."

Maddie interrupted, "So you two lived together without being married?"

Deacon stopped mid-thought. Damn, I really just walked into that one didn't I? "Well we'd broken up. But adult relationships are complicated and…your mother and I still loved each other very much."

"Not enough to stay together."

Deacon exhaled loudly. This conversation is going even worse than I thought possible. Ray warned me but I knew I could handle this. Yep… "So we um… we ….we were together but I was drinking and sometimes when I drink I black out or..ummm have trouble remembering what happened."Maddie's eyes flashed with anger like Rayna's did. That's something I've never noticed before.

"So for all you know she's lying about you being my father? I mean maybe she slept with another guy too."

Deacon couldn't stop his jaw tightening. Maddie must have noticed his reaction because then she smirked. "You know the tabloids said she had sex with Liam too? I bet she did. I bet I'm not even your daughter."

Deacon heard his voice before realizing he was speaking. "You are not going to talk about your Mother like that."

Maddie seemed taken aback and her slumped over, clutching her pillow again.

Deacon took it as opportunity, "Maddie, I know right now you are scared and confused. You feel like everybody you trust and love has lied to you. I know how you feel…." Maddie looked up, clearly ready to keep fighting but Deacon continued. "Maddie, when I found out you were my daughter, I felt the same thing." He watched as her fingers traced the seam of the pillow.

"In my life, I've trusted and loved two people that weren't my kin. Your mom and Coleman. And they both knew about you and me and didn't tell me."

"Coleman knows?"

Deacon nodded, "He um…figured it out. He didn't tell me or your Mom or anybody else he knew."

Maddie asked who else knew. Okay this kind of conversation I can deal with. "Your Grandpa, Tandy, Your parents, Coleman, and I told a friend of mine."

"What friend?"

"Juliette." Maddie's eyes grew wide. Is she actually excited about that?

The Cabin

6 hours later

Deacon fell down on the couch completely exhausted as Rayna sat beside him. She was wearing a pair of shorts and one of his t-shirts and had managed to smile as Deacon went on and on.

"Then she asked why we didn't get married."

Rayna's eyes sparkled, "And what did you tell her?"

"That I was stupid and didn't propose to you properly. She asked a lot of what-if questions and she apparently had no idea why you named her Maddie."

Rayna smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder and snuggled closer into Deacon's body. "So you told her?"

Deacon nodded and apologized, hoping she wasn't mad about that. Rayna smiled, "No not at all, that is weird though, I guess I just thought she knew. My mom use to read me those books all the time. And then I had all the Madeline books when she was little, I use to read them to her. I still have them somewhere in a box."

Deacon smiled, "I told her that you'd always planned on naming your first daughter Madeline and if you ever had a son, you would name him Wyatt."

Rayna smacked him with a "ha ha." Deacon grinned and admitted Maddie thought that was funny too. Rayna watched as Deacon's eyes lit up talking about their daughter. Their daughter. Eventually Deacon admitted that although he made some headway, she still seemed furious at both she and Teddy.

Rayna nodded, "Yeah, I talked to Tandy on the phone earlier and Maddie refused to come to the phone. Tandy said Teddy stopped by but Maddie refused to see him."

"I'm sorry."

Rayna shrugged, "I did this to myself. I lied to you and I lied to her and now I just have to hope she'll forgive me soon."

Deacon asked how Daphne was. Rayna sighed, "Confused. But Teddy and she were going to order out Chinese food and talk. It will be good for both of them."

He wrapped his arm tighter around her and whispered that he loved her. She repeated the sentiment and kissed him before snuggling in closer.

4 days later

Her daughter screamed out, asking why she should listen to her. "ALL YOU DO IS LIE TO ME AND I HATE YOU!"

Rayna pressed her lips together, trying to choose her words carefully. "Maddie I know right now you are angry and hurt and confused and scared but I need you to know that I love you, and your father loves you and Deacon loves you."

The little girl called her mother a 'bitch' again before screaming that she hated her over and over again. As Rayna watched her daughter run up the stairs, she heard her father's voice.

"Give her time Rayna. She's got your stubbornness and has inherited Deacon's propensity for her use of foul language and acting without thinking." Rayna turned around and gave her father a warning look. "Daddy, you are doing me a favor by making sure Maddie is safe here but don't overstep and put ideas in Maddie's head about Deacon or Teddy or me."

Lamar put his hands up in mock surrender. "I am not interfering but you should know the next few days I'm going to busy."

"Doing what?" Rayna asked suspiciously. Lamar gave a wide smile, the kind that made Rayna nervous.

"Teddy is doing the good and proper thing and turning in his official resignation during tomorrow's nights closed council meeting."

"I see," answered Rayna. "And who are you planning on putting forward as your suggested nominee?"

Lamar grinned, "Darlin' you should know me better than this by now. I don't make suggestions. I make the rules."

Rayna stifled an annoyed groan. No matter what else changes, he doesn't. As frustrating and horrible as he could be, it was oddly comforting. Daddy would never change.

As her thoughts drifted to Teddy resigning his mayoral position, her cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw it was Deacon.

"Hey," she greeted in a soft voice. She could tell something was wrong the way Deacon said 'hey' back. Rayna asked what was going.

"It's Jolene."

"Juliette's mom?"

"Yeah, its an overdose and it isn't good."