NB: Thank you each and every person who has taken the time to read and review! I so, so appreciate it..I have fought with time all week to upload this chapter so I am so happy that y'all finally get to read it. The song in this chapter is 'Hell on Heels - The Pistol Annies' and all copyright to them. PLEASE KEEP your LOVES/HATES/COMMENTS/FAVORITE MOMENTS OR LINES/FAVORITES/FOLLOWS/PMS and WHATEVER ELSE coming...Enjoy chapter three...
CHAPTER THREE
Leaning against his car, Deacon crossed his arms in an attempt to stop himself from fidgeting. He looked down at his feet and swore when he realized he was shaking. When he had offered to pick the girls up from school for Rayna he hadn't anticipated feeling so completely out of his depth. It wasn't that he didn't think he could handle an afternoon with these two little ladies, he'd looked after them many times before. It was the fact that one of these girls was his own flesh and blood, his daughter.
Maddie was his daughter.
That thought alone was enough to send his insides into a spin, twisting and tangling him into a mess. Deacon didn't know the first thing about being a dad. If he was really honest, he didn't think he had it in him to start with. What on earth did he have to offer? What if he failed Maddie? Hell, he didn't even know if Rayna wanted or expected him to be a father figure in Maddie's life in the first place.
Deep down, he had always thought about having a family of his own. He would've had the house, a wife, three children and maybe even a dog. That was the life he and Rayna were supposed to have together. The life they had talked about so many times. But over the years the chaos and turmoil that had spun itself around his life had killed that dream, spinning him out of control and into a dark place. Eventually, he stopped fantisizing and he convinced himself that he didn't want a family. He was better off without one. Instead, he'd settled for the responsibility of being an uncle. First to Scarlett, then to Maddie, and then Daphne. He loved everything about being an uncle to those girls and they loved him back. Deacon felt like he finally had a firm grip on everything and then Rayna had told him the truth about Maddie's paternity. It had taken weeks for it all to sink in. It was still sinking in.
The responsibility and reality of it all was overwhelming. Deacon had spent most of his life trying to forget the four walls that held the terrors of his own childhood and the angry drunk of man who he refused to call a father. If his father hadn't been able to raise him, how could he be responsible for raising a child of his own? The more Deacon thought about it, the less sure of himself he became. Maybe he'd been right to think that he'd be better off without a family of his own.
His thoughts pestered and tormented him, undoing the quiet resolve he'd held on to since Rayna had told him the truth about Maddie's paternity. Maybe he couldn't do this. Talking about it with Rayna when they were alone had been one thing, but feeling the reality of it all was something else entirely.
Deacon swallowed hard, shaking his thoughts as he recrossed his arms. He couldn't afford to feel like this. At least not now, not here. He could do this. He would do this.
The school bell rang and Deacon's eyes shot up to meet the front gates. Within seconds the air was filled with the chattering and laughing of children walking and running past him with their parents. School buses and cars honked horns, all set on hurrying off into the afternoon. Deacon lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and smiled when he caught sight of a little blonde girl skipping down the steps. Without thinking, Deacon bolted across the busy road to greet her.
"Deacon!" Daphne yelled, jumping into his arms as he stretched them out to her.
"Hey, little lady…" Deacon smiled, holding her in his arms as they swayed a little. He looked around, his eyes searching through the crowds.
"Maddie's coming. At least I think she is. She was right behind me like two seconds ago." Daphne stood on her tiptoes.
"It's alright, I guess we'll just wait for her. How was your day?"
"Um, it was ok,"
"Just ok?"
"Well, Noah told Annie that he liked her, but Annie likes Ethan…and Ethan has a girlfriend already so Annie can't really like him back anyway," Daphne explained, adjusting the school bag on her back.
Deacon's eyebrows shot up.
"Miss Davis really wasn't happy abou-"
"Hi guys," Maddie greeted, interrupting Daphne as she walked over to them.
"Hey darlin'," Deacon smiled, nodding in her direction. He looked over her shoulder and noticed that she wasn't alone.
"Oh," Maddie smiled awkwardly, gesturing to a girl that stood behind her. "Sorry…Um, this is my friend Tahlia. Tahlia, this is Deacon."
Deacon smiled and extended his hand to the girl. "Nice to meet you."
"He's not just Deacon, he's our uncle Deacon. He's known us since like before we could walk and stuff," Daphne beamed, nudging Deacon as she spoke. She furrowed her brow and cocked her head. "Actually, I don't know how that works anymore because you can't be our uncle if you're mom's boy-"
"Best friend," Maddie interjected, glaring at her little sister. If Maddie had learnt anything over the last nine years, she had learnt that Daphne's mouth had a way of getting them both into trouble.
Deacon shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
Daphne frowned. "That's actually not what I-"
"Yes, it was," Maddie smiled at Thalia and shot Daphne a look that told her to shut her mouth. "He's good friends with mom and with our family just like Daph said…but you already know that anyways."
"I know who he is,"
"You do?" Deacon asked straight.
Thalia nodded, gesturing to him as she spoke. "You used to sing with their mom like all the time, and now you play guitar for Juliette Barnes, right? You even sang on a couple of songs off of her new album. That's so cool."
"How'd you know that?" Deacon raised an eyebrow.
"It was all over Twitter," Thalia shrugged.
Deacon nodded slowly, pretending that he knew what she was talking about.
"Deacon has no idea what that is," Daphne rolled her eyes. "Maddie had to teach him how to text ages ago and he's still really slow."
Everyone laughed.
"It's true," Maddie grinned, holding up her cell phone. "He's slower than Mom…and that's saying something.."
"Alright, alright," Deacon exhaled, holding his hands up in the air in defeat. "Y'all are gonna give away all my secrets if you keep talkin'…So I'm gonna try and save myself by suggestin' that we get goin', hey?"
Both girls nodded and they all said their goodbyes before they walked across the road.
Daphne broke into a run and slammed herself against the front passenger door. "I call shotgun!"
"No, I'm in the front!" Maddie exclaimed, bumping into Daphne.
"I called it…"
"I'm oldest!"
Deacon froze, car keys in hand as he watched them in amazement. He couldn't believe that all hell had broken lose over front seat privileges in a few short seconds.
"I called it!"
"I'm older than you!" Maddie shook her head, opening the door to jump in before Daphne could.
Deacon tried his best not to laugh. This was going to be an interesting afternoon.
- NASHVILLE -
"So much for a break…" Rayna muttered under her breath as she hit the button for the elevator.
"You have to admit though," Bucky hesitated, looking in the direction of Jeff's office. "…He's not really wrong about this. Now is a real good time to be finishin' that album."
"I'm not sayin' he's wrong. He just gets on my nerves."
Bucky smirked. "I think that's an understatement."
"Oh, come on!"
"Ok, so tellin' him he could stick it if he wouldn't give you control over who was producin', playin', and writin' on your album was completely rational, was it?"
"Well, there was that…" Rayna chuckled, stepping into the elevator. "How was I supposed to react? I've, we've worked real hard on this album and all I'm doin' is protectin' it...In some weird way I think Jeff sees that, I hope he sees that. Time will tell I guess."
"Mmhmm," Bucky nodded, his eyes glued to his cell phone. "You want me to call Liam and let him know you're headed his way?"
"I can do it,"
"Alright-"
Rayna exhaled and rubbed her forehead. "Actually, I've gotta call Deacon first."
"Deacon?"
"Yeah," Rayna nodded, thinking she was stating the obvious. Bucky looked at her vacantly. "He's got the girls this afternoon,"
"Ohhh," Bucky said knowingly, glancing up at Rayna.
Rayna's eyes shot up. "What is it with y'all and ohhhin'?! There's no ohhh, no ohhhs."
Bucky chuckled and Rayna was sure he said something wildly inappropriate but she couldn't make it out. Instead of pursing it, she scrolled through her cell phone till she found Deacon's number and hit call.
NASHVILLE
"Seriously?" Maddie smiled, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear. "I do that too."
"Really?" Deacon's eyes lit up.
"All the time…I always want to read the lyrics before choosing a song that I wanna learn-"
"Maddie Maddie!" Daphne exclaimed, interrupting the conversation between Deacon and Maddie in the front of the car. "Turn it up! It's our song!"
Maddie smiled when she recognised the song. She quickly turned the volume control on the radio up and turned around to look at her sister.
"I'm hell on heels, say what you will. I've done made the devil a deal." Both girls sang, swaying in time to the slow and sassy tune.
Deacon's eyes widened as he focused on the lyrics. Had he just heard right? Something about hells and the devil. What on earth were they singing?
"He made me pretty," Daphne sang, pouting her lips as she pointed to Maddie.
Maddie grinned, jerking a thumb at her chest. "He made me smart,"
"And I'm gonna break me a million hearts." Daphne nodded, pointing at herself.
Maddie giggled and joined her to sing. "I'm hell on heels…Baby I'm coming for you-"
Deacon quickly hit a button on the radio, promptly changing the station.
"Hey?!"
"Deacon!?"
"We were listening to that,"
"Come on?!" both girls complained, arms crossed as they stared at him.
Deacon cleared his throat and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. He didn't need to look at either of the girls to know the look they were giving him. He knew that look all too well. It was the same one Rayna gave him when she was about to blow a gasket. The one that told him he was in for it if he didn't choose his words wisely.
"I may not know too much about lookin' after little ladies like yourselves…" Deacon started, daring to catch a glimpse of Daphne in the rear-view mirror. She raised an eyebrow. "But I know enough to know that that ain't a song your Momma is gonna want you listenin' to."
"But-"
"Just because it says hell?" Maddie asked.
"Well, that and a few other colorful words and stuff that you shouldn't even know about, yeah…" Deacon shrugged, indicating into another lane as he spoke. There was no way that he was going to get in to trouble for letting them listen to some song like that. Rayna would be horrified, he was sure of it.
"I'm thirteen."
"I'm nine."
"What other songs are on the radio now?" Deacon tried, flipping through channels as he looked at Maddie. "I've got a Juliette Barnes album in the back pocket of your seat if y'all wanna listen to that?"
"You say those words…so does Mom." Daphne argued, running her fingers along the windowsill.
"I-" Deacon started, quickly closing his mouth to think for a second. He was losing this argument. He could feel it. "Well, sometimes grownups say things…It's not the same-"
Daphne rolled her eyes and met his gaze. "Yes, it is."
"Darlin', I don't-"
"I don't see why we can't listen to that...We know them, you know them...and mom listens to that song!" Daphne said exasperatedly, her arms flailing. Maddie nodded. "Like all the time.."
"Wh-? She does?" Deacon looked at Maddie, his expression amused.
"It's her favorite song." Daphne continued.
Maddie frowned. "Not her favorite,"
"Well, one of them."
Deacon let out a low laugh, his mind painting a vivid image of Rayna singing a song like that. He could see her strutting around all sexy and pretty, smiling that smile she kept only for him as she sang soft and low. She'd give him that look that told him she needed him and he'd come completely undone.
"You should know," Daphne piped up. "I mean, you're her boyfriend, right?"
Deacon pursed his lips, trying his best to conceal his shock. Maybe Rayna had been right to warn him about her daughters earlier. They sure weren't ones for light car-ride chitchat.
"We already know-"
Deacon's cell phone rang and he let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. Maddie promptly picked up the cell phone and answered it, putting it on speaker.
"Hey Ray, you're on speaker," Deacon greeted, hoping to give her a heads up that there were two other pairs of ears listening in.
"Oh, hey…How are y'all doin'?"
"Hi, Mom!"
"I hope y'all are behavin' for Deacon…They're behavin', right?"
"We are," Maddie replied, shooting Deacon a cheeky grin. Deacon returned the smile, his heart warming at the sight of the joy on the girl's face.
"Oh, good…I'm glad about that." Rayna replied, pausing briefly. "Listen, I was wantin' to call to tell you that I had that meetin' with Jeff,"
"Yeah, how'd it go?" Deacon asked, leaning towards Maddie a little to hear Rayna's voice better as she held the phone to his ear.
"We can talk about that later, but right now I need to go to the studio with Liam-"
"You do?"
"Mmhmm, I shouldn't be more than an hour, two at the most." Rayna spoke reluctantly, already feeling like she'd burdened Deacon with enough when he'd picked the girls up from school.
"Ok, so…" Deacon replied slowly, smile wide as both girls turned their attention to him.
"Babe, you know I hate even askin'-"
"Ray, it's fine. We'll probably go grab a bite to eat or somethin'. Y'all hungry?"
"I'm starvin'!" Daphne over exaggerated, letting out a huge sigh.
"That sounds like a great idea." Rayna agreed. Her tone became serious. "Daphne, do not go trickin' Deacon into buyin' you red drink, you hear?"
Everyone laughed.
"Fine." Daphne grumbled.
"If y'all need me, just call, ok?" Rayna added.
"We'll be fine, won't we girls?"
"Just call.."
"Darlin', are you ok?"
"I'm fine.." Rayna replied unconvincingly. "Nothin' a good cup of coffee can't fix."
"Ok," Deacon nodded, knowing full well she was cranky and agitated. " Well, you need to get to that studio…and we need to get us some food...so we'll talk to you later."
Everyone said their goodbyes and Maddie hung up the phone.
"Do you know what'd be fun?" Maddie asked unexpectedly, breaking the silence in the car.
"What?" Deacon asked curiously.
"Going to the studio."
"Yeah! That'd be awesome!" Daphne cried, grabbing onto the headrest of Deacon's seat.
"I know, right? Seeing mom singing and recording songs for the new album…"
"I don't know. Your Momma's real busy right now." Deacon hesitated.
"Please…" Daphne begged, her face clearly pained as she spoke. Deacon tried not to laugh. "We've been before, mom let's us go with her."
Maddie nodded incessantly, her gaze moving from Daphne to Deacon.
Deacon sighed. He knew they were both lying. Their smiles and giggling were a dead giveaway. The last thing Rayna liked was distractions when she was focusing on a new record. Over twenty years of first hand experience had taught him that. The only kind of distraction she seemed to pay any mind to in the recording studio were the times he used to grab her by the hand and pull her into a storeroom so he could go on distracting her with his wandering kisses and hands. Deacon laughed. There was no way something like that would happen today.
"Please, please..." Daphne pleaded. "I'll stop saying please if we can go."
Something inside him was pulling him towards the studio, pulling him towards her. If he really thought about it, he didn't want to go to please the girls. He wanted to go because he wanted to be there if Rayna needed someone. There was no way in hell he was going to let Liam be the one Rayna turned to for comfort if she was weary and dejected. Deacon had seen where that could lead to a good few months ago. He thought back to the time he'd walked in on Liam and Rayna kissing in a dressing room and cringed. That was something he didn't care to see again.
"Maybe we could buy her a coffee?" Maddie suggested. "She said a coffee would help her..."
Deacon debated with his thoughts, weighing up the options. The chatter from the girls didn't help. It only fuelled his desire to go. Before he could say or reason any further, he was flicking the indicator and heading towards the studio.