Sorry I haven't worked on this story in a while, and I know it's a short chapter, but I promise I'll focus a little harder on it.
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Deacon was laying on the couch in the living room when he heard the doorbell ring. "Can someone get that?" he yelled, but no one seemed to come running. He gently lifted himself off of the sofa and walked to the door, opening it to reveal Juliette standing there with her eight-month old daughter.
"Hey, you shouldn't be out of bed. Don't these people take care of you here? What kind of family are they?"
"They're my family Juliette, and I love 'em. Not sure where they went. I heard something about a science project disaster and they needed more marshmallows, so I'm guessing at the supermarket. It's alright. The doctor said I should be moving around as long as it's not too much."
Juliette walked in placing the baby carrier on the counter. "Well it has been two months, so I guess it's okay."
"How's this little one?" Deacon asked peering into the carrier at the sleeping baby.
"Wonderful, horrible, a screamer like her mother."
Deacon smiled and brushed the little bit of hair off of her forehead. "Well she looks like a little angel to me."
"That's because she's not yours. Do you think you and Rayna are going to have another one?"
Deacon stood up straight and coughed into his hand. "I'm not even cleared for active duty yet, so let's just say a baby is the farthest thing from our minds at the moment."
"Really? Two months and you guys haven't…?"
"It's not that we haven't wanted to, but the doctor says I need a few more weeks. I did just have a liver transplant if you didn't realize that."
Juliette threw up her hands. "I'm just saying, I never thought you two could keep your hands off each other for long."
"Believe me, when I'm cleared you will not see us for a solid week. It's a good thing the girls have another father to live with."
As both Juliette and Deacon laughed the women in his life came rushing into the kitchen with a large bag of marshmallows spilling out of the satchel. "Juliette!" Maddie yelled. "Can I see the baby?"
"I want to see her too!" Daphne joined in as she tried to push Maddie out of the way of the carrier.
"There's plenty of baby to go around girls. Just wait until I'm asking them to babysit every weekend. Then they won't be fighting over her."
"No, we'd love to have her here Juliette," Rayna chimed in. "Whenever you need a break. It would be just lovely to have a little baby girl in this house again."
Rayna leaned down to make googly sounds with the now waking baby, and Juliette gave Deacon a look that said "see, look how she's cooing over her."
Deacon chose to ignore her. "This might just be a little too much excitement for me. I'm going to go lay down if it's okay with you ladies? Juliette, it was great seeing you and little Kaya as always. Can't wait to teach her guitar."
"Well I'm just glad you're going to be around to teach her. I'm holding you to that."
Deacon bid his farewells and went upstairs to lie down. In the meantime the girls lost interest in the baby and went back to their science project leaving Juliette and Rayna alone in the kitchen.
"So how's he doing? Really." Juliette asked.
Rayna sat down on one of the stools by the counter. "Some days are better than others. It's a slow improvement, but at least it's an improvement. Before the transplant it was like watching a permanent slow slide downhill. I was so scared I would lose him. Now I know he's getting better, things will return to normal. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him Juliette. Without Deacon, things in my life just don't make sense."
Juliette reached out putting her hand on top of Rayna's. "Hey, he got the transplant. It's going to be okay." Juliette squeezed Rayna's hand and she looked up at her through slightly teary eyes. "Thanks Juliette. I know he would never say it but it means a lot to him that you come to visit every week."
"Hey, don't think I'm not doing it for selfish reasons, my new album needs some help in the guitar area on some of my tracks. I'm just waiting for him to be ready to pick one up again." Juliette and Rayna smiled at each other.
"I'll tell him you said that. He'll grumble about being more than a guitar player, but he'll love it."
"I should really be going, but I'll be seeing you guys next week." Juliette picked up her daughter, pulling the little baby hat down to cover her shock of hair before heading out the door.
Rayna climbed the stairs to her bedroom looking in on Maddie and Daphne who were hard at work on Daphne's project before heading in to her own room. When she opened the door Deacon was in his pajamas lying in bed. Rayna started getting ready for bed herself. She slipped out of her clothing and removed her makeup as Deacon watched. "Juliette said you better get well fast cause she needs a guitarist on some of her tracks."
"That's funny she told me I should get better fast so I could take care of your womanly needs."
"Well I'm all in favor of that." Rayna said raising an eyebrow while scanning her eyes down Deacon's body.
"She also asked me if we're thinking about having any more children."
"Really?" Rayna turned around stopping what she was doing to face Deacon. "More children? How old does she think I am?"
"You're not that old Ray."
"I'm almost 44 Deacon, that is definitely pushing the limit of baby making. Does it even matter? Do you want more kids?"
"I don't know. It wasn't a top priority, but now that she mentioned it, having another little baby around here might be kind of nice. I mean, I missed out on it the first time round."
Rayna got quiet. She knew she was to blame for Deacon missing out on Maddie's childhood, and it hurt her that she could never give that back to him. Rayna walked over sitting on the bed next to Deacon. She picked up his hand caressing it. "If you want to have another baby, we can certainly try, but I'm not promising anything. It's not so easy for women my age to get pregnant, and there can often be complications."
"I know, and I'm not saying that's what I want, but I just think we should keep it on the table as an option."
Rayna leaned down kissing Deacon. "Well, there's one thing we're going to have to start doing again before it can even be an option."
Deacon smiled up at her. "Doctor said two to three weeks and it should be fine."
"Mmm," Rayna purred as she kissed him again. "I miss you so much babe. I just want to be close to you."
Deacon took Rayna's face in his hands. "I want that too baby. More than anything. Soon, I promise. In the meantime, I can hold you."
Rayna lay down snuggling into Deacon. "I like that idea."
"We have our whole life ahead of us Rayna, something a couple of months ago I didn't think was possible. The possibilities are endless."
Rayna snuggled deeper into Deacon squeezing him a little as she ran her hand up and down his body. "As long as we're together babe, that's all that matters."
As Rayna and Deacon drifted off to sleep, both dreamed of all the possibilities that now lay ahead of them, and they were going to make sure they weren't going to waste a minute of it.