Luke had spent the morning working out and riding his favorite horse at his ranch. Around 2:00 he headed over to his managers office to go over the plans for the upcoming leg of his tour that was supposed to start once he and Rayna came back from their honeymoon. When he arrived everyone in the office seemed to be in DEFCON 1 mode.

"Oh, thank god you're here," his manager said. "We have to figure out how we're going to spin this."

"Spin what?" Luke was confused as to what all the fuss was about.

"What do you mean spin what? The goddamn Rolling Stone article. That's what."

"Rayna's article?" The quizzical look that was plastered all over his face keyed the manager in to the fact he hadn't seen it yet.

"Oh man, you haven't seen it?"

"What? Did she take all the credit or something for Ball and Chain? Reveal how much we're spending on the wedding? Whatever it is I'm sure it'll be fine."

The manager raised his eyebrows a minute then grabbed a copy of the magazine and threw it on the table in front of Luke. He watched as Luke's face turned first green, then a shade of crimson he was sure wasn't supposed to be seen in the human body.

Luke stood up grabbing the magazine with greater force than necessary. "For fuck sake! I'll be back. I'm going to handle this."

##

Deacon pulled his truck up in front of his house. He was glad to be home, it had been a strange day and he wasn't entirely sure why. He entered through the kitchen and threw his keys on the counter before beginning to unpack some groceries he'd just picked up at the market. Scarlett wandered in holding a magazine curled up in her hands.

"Hey Scarlett. I've had the strangest day. Everywhere I went people kept pointing at me and whispering. I mean I know I'm kind of famous, but usually people just ignore me unless they want to come up and ask for an autograph or tell me how my guitar playing inspired them. The staring and the pointing, that's new."

"Have you read Rayna's article yet in Rolling Stone?"

"Nope, and I'm not going to. I really don't need to read about what type of centerpieces she and Luke are going to have at their 500 person monstrosity of a wedding."

Scarlett inched forward holding the magazine out to him. "I think you should read it. Might solve the mystery about what was going on today."

"Are you kidding me? Did she say something nasty about me in that article? I didn't think Rayna would stoop that low."

Scarlett shook her head. "No, not nasty. More of an…open love letter per se."

"What?" Confusion hit Deacon full force. "Let me see that thing." He grabbed for it and it uncurled in his hand revealing the cover photo and headline. Scarlett watched as he rubbed his face a minute before sitting down on the couch.

"I'll be in my bedroom if you need me." Scarlett said, then headed off to her room.

Deacon held the magazine unopened for a few minutes, just staring at the cover in disbelief, then he took a deep breath and opened up to the article. That's when he saw the quote. "I have loved Deacon Claybourne since I was 16 years old, and no matter what happens, that will always be true." – Rayna Jaymes. He ran his fingers over the words a minute just to make sure they were real. The words weren't a surprise to him. He knew they were true, he'd even heard her say almost the same thing to him that day in his house when she'd tried to tell him they were over and she was going to marry Luke. But this, telling it to millions of strangers in bold type face, this was something he didn't expect. Rayna had always been so private, so unwilling to share her feelings with anyone but him, and here she was broadcasting them for the whole world to read, or at least anyone with a subscription to Rolling Stone. He wasn't sure why she was willing to tarnish her perfect image of the madly in love country queen who was going to marry the country king, but he was sure as hell going to find out. He leaned back and started into the article.

Johnny, John, Sid. Men's names that mean nothing without their companions: June, Yoko, and Nancy. These musical love stories were about the women behind the men, but for country legend and Highway 65 owner Rayna Jaymes, it's about the man behind the woman. For nearly thirty years the names Rayna Jaymes and Deacon Claybourne have been linked together whether as lovers, band mates, or parents, these two people have been inexorably joined through good and bad. We've seen the photos, heard the love songs, and read the unauthorized biographies, but for the first time ever Rayna opened up to this reporter, sharing the private details of their love, loss, and a bond that no matter how hard it's been shaken, can never be broken.

Deacon put the magazine down for a second and rubbed his face again. He reached for his phone then thought better of it and put it back down on the table. He picked up the article again and kept reading.

Ms. Jaymes has had an eventful year from her nearly tragic accident which left her in a coma, to her divorce from the mayor who she'd been married to for 13 years, the big public reveal that Claybourne was her eldest daughter's biological father, a hit record, and finally an engagement to country superstar Luke Wheeler. At 43, it's been a long road from her first CMA nomination at 21; and most of it has been paved with Deacon Claybourne.

I've been reporting on the country music scene for nearly 18 years now and have been lucky enough to interview the pair at various stages in their careers. The one thing that had always struck me was the way they looked at each other. When they were in a room together, no matter who else was there, it was always clear that they saw no one else. Just a look, a touch of the hand, a raise of the eyebrow and you knew that they had shared something personal and private that you had no hope of being let in on.

Over the past two weeks I was invited to spend time with Rayna as she prepared for her upcoming nuptials to Wheeler. Wheeler was rarely around, and when he was it was clear that this relationship lacks the passion she shared with her prior beau. During a cake tasting I watched Luke walk out of the room not to return, and it was a full ten minutes before Rayna noticed he was gone. No secret language there, no private looks, or furtive glances, just cake and a Rolling Stone reporter that seemed to have more say in the decision than the groom.

I sat down with Rayna in her Highway 65 offices. What was once buzzing with activity during the day with talks of arena tours and record drops, had faded away to solemn silence except for the sound of the country queen's mellifluous voice. She and Claybourne had always been very private about their relationship, especially during the 13 years she was married to Nashville mayor Teddy Conrad. Despite the whispers that they had maintained their physical closeness throughout the course of her marriage, Rayna denies that they were more than friends in those years. "Oh no, I wouldn't have done that to Teddy. Marriage is important to me. I'm not saying it wasn't hard, but we managed to toe the line physically during my marriage."

I wanted to know if the rumors were true, and if she really had been back together with Claybourne once she'd filed for divorce. As she paused to think of her answer, I could tell right away that her private life, especially where Claybourne is concerned, is something she isn't used to discussing with anyone. "Yes, we had found each other again. We'd always been friends, and it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time…to give us another chance to make it work. There were other men who popped up after the divorce, but really no one that was a serious consideration other than Deacon." I asked her how that was after all that time apart, being back together. The dreamy look in her eye revealed even more than her words. "It was wonderful, we were happy. I was happy. Maybe happier than I've ever been, and then in a moment, it was all gone."

When she says in a moment it was all gone, Rayna was referring to the accident she and Claybourne were both in last year. Coming home from The Bluebird one night the day after the CMAs their car flipped, leaving Rayna in a coma for nearly two weeks. Claybourne, a recovering alcoholic, was arrested at first for drunk driving, but later it came to light that she was the one behind the wheel. "That was an awful time. I mean, I felt grateful that we were both alive after all that, but it just tore my life apart."

I didn't want to push, but I asked if that's when Claybourne found out that Rayna's eldest daughter Maddie was really his, was that why he briefly fell off the wagon after 13 years of sobriety? A hint of tears sprung up in the corner of her eyes and they got that misty sheen. "Yes, I should have told him earlier, the way he found out, which I won't go into, it's just not the way I wanted it to be revealed. He was very shocked on many levels, and he didn't handle it very well. Maybe I didn't either. That night at The Bluebird, I thought I was saving him by getting in that car with him, but I guess that's what ended up destroying us."

She said it was she who decided they couldn't go on after that. That he wanted to try to mend things with them, but she just couldn't face what had happened at the time." I asked her if that seemed harsh to her, dropping huge news on someone you loved, then walking away, and she had to excuse herself for a moment as she struggled to hold back the tears. When she returned a few minutes later she had collected herself, but her eyes were clearly red from crying. I decided to leave that question for another time.

I did press her to tell me if the accident hadn't happened, if he hadn't relapsed, would they still be together now? At first she was cautious, explaining that you can never really know what would have happened if you'd taken a different path, but she hoped that they would have been. She turned the conversation to Highway 65 saying that "it was something that the two of them had always talked about back in the day, having their own record label, and how without [Claybourne], it sometimes felt a little like a hollow victory."

Deacon skimmed through a few paragraphs on Highway 65, Rayna's new artists as well as the direction she wants to take both her own career and Juliette's. Then picked it back up in the last couple of paragraphs.

Rayna talks of her fiancé fondly. "Luke is a wonderful man, he's sweet and caring, and rock solid and stable." Unlike Claybourne? I ask. "Well, Deacon and I have always had a tumultuous relationship. Even when it was at it's best it could be a bit of a roller coaster. We loved each other so much, and there was always a lot of passion there, but sometimes that passion could go either way. Big love and big fights is what we used to call it. I attributed a lot of it to the drinking when we were together, but he's just as pig headed when he's sober so…the band heard many years of "discussing" things loudly." This makes Rayna smile in an authentic way I hadn't seen since I'd first started profiling her two weeks earlier. As the sun set over downtown Nashville, and the conversation wound down, there was really only one question left to ask. Do you still love him? This may be the only thing she answered without hesitation. "I have loved Deacon Claybourne since I was 16, and no matter what happens, that will always be true." And I guess that's all there is to know.