I really meant to take a long break from writing, but, like many of you, I'm anxious to see how the finale gets resolved. And so this story came into my head. I've been staying away from the other fics that are based on what happens after the finale so that I don't unconsciously "borrow" from someone else. Any similarities to any other story are purely coincidental.

Rayna woke with a start, wide awake but disoriented. The covers were wrapped around her, the fan making a slight whirring sound overhead. The light coming in through the sheer curtains lit up the room. She blinked a few times and then remembered where she was.

Tarifa, Spain. The southernmost part of Spain, less than an hour's ferry ride from Morocco. Off the grid. Tandy had recommended it. Rayna smiled to herself. Tandy was right. It was definitely off the grid. It had been a long flight. Nashville to Atlanta, then Paris, then Malaga. One night there, then a couple hours' drive along the Mediterranean to this small beach town. It was day two in Tarifa and it had been amazing. This place was exotic yet simple, with amazing beaches and simple but delicious food. She was completely turned off from the world. Bucky had been a little apprehensive about that – she would be gone for two weeks – but it was the perfect time to be away. Her tour was wasn't starting for a month, Juliette was in the studio working on her album, Bucky and Avery Barkley were listening to demo tapes so that she could listen to only the best when she got back.

Rayna sat up, moving the pillows behind her back. She was still wrapped in the covers. She was alone. She was actually okay with that. A lot had happened since that crazy night at LP Field, not so long ago. She hadn't really taken the time to reflect back on all that had happened. She'd been too busy living it. It was good to have some quiet time to reflect. Finally.

She wanted to sit out on the balcony in the sun, she decided, so she got up and padded over to the closet. She hoped no one walked in on her while she was standing there naked. She poked around quickly and found a pretty caftan that Tandy had given her and slid it over her head. She thought about slipping on a pair of panties but the caftan was floor length and she decided she didn't need them.

She heated up water in the coffee carafe and made herself a cup of tea, then opened the door to the balcony. The sun was bright so she put on a pair of sunglasses. She walked to the edge of the balcony and watched the windsurfers in the distance for a moment. She smiled to herself and then sat on the small covered balcony with a view of the sea, propping her feet on the chair across from her.

This is heaven, she thought. She felt enveloped in her own little soft cocoon of privacy. She sipped her tea and thought back to standing on the stage at LP Field, still floating on the high of the crowd noise and basking in the glow of a successful show, finishing it with the duet with Luke. And then it had all turned surreal, when Luke had taken off his hat, gotten down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. It was a big gesture and she was overwhelmed. For a second, she wasn't sure what to do.

But he was her future. She'd told him that and she'd believed it. He was who she wanted in her life. He understood her and he was stable and safe. She had told him she loved him. And so she said yes, without a second thought. This was everything she wanted. Even though it was all a little fast, why not? It was right.

After she got home that night, she was still caught up in the magic of it. She hadn't really registered how subdued Maddie and Daphne were as they hurried off with Teddy. Tandy had given her a quick hug and then rushed off with Bucky, without saying much to her. She would talk to all of them the next day.

The knock on her door had surprised her. That it was Deacon had somehow not. But by the time he'd left, her head was spinning. She had felt like her whole world had shifted. He had told her he was ready now, to be a husband and a father, that they were meant to be together, that they could be a family – Maddie, Daphne, and the two of them. And he'd put the ring back in her hand. The one he'd given her the night he'd asked her to marry him all those years ago, when he really hadn't been ready. The night that had started them inevitably on this path. The night they had made Maddie.

She had walked back to her bedroom and sat at her vanity. She laid her left hand on the cool granite and looked down at it, at the enormous ring that, if she was honest, was almost gaudy. It was beautiful, no doubt about it, stunning actually. It was so Luke. Big, over the top, grand. That was Luke, for sure. She wiggled her fingers and the diamond glittered and took her breath away. It was a promise of a happy life and it was all she could have hoped for.

Then she opened her right hand, clasped tightly around Deacon's ring. He had put it in her left hand, probably by design, when he'd told her he should never have taken it back from her, that it was hers. She turned her hand and dropped the ring on the counter, then picked it up between her thumb and index finger. It was certainly not as glamorous as the ring Luke had given her. It was a silver band, with swirls of tiny diamonds around it. She had thrown it on the floor at the cabin after finding Deacon passed out on the couch. Before she'd left that day, she'd seen it glittering on the floor and picked it up, almost mindlessly dropping it in her purse as she ran out the door. She'd put it in a small velvet drawstring bag and hid it in her underwear drawer, someplace Teddy would never look. She pulled it out every day for a long time, until she decided that she was done crying over what she'd lost.

When she'd given the ring to Deacon that night at the crash site, she'd meant the gesture as a symbol that they were done. She had kept it all those years, wondering if maybe they would have a chance to use it, but after all that had happened after their confrontation at the CMA's, she was determined never to be hurt by him again.

What she'd forgotten, though, was that at some point either he or Maddie would want to explore their relationship. And when that happened, everything changed. Deacon changed. He had worked hard to be a good father to Maddie. She saw what she'd always hoped for and thought she never would. But she had not wanted to risk her heart again, so she'd turned to Luke. Things had been turned upside down after Maddie had posted her video and they'd had to face the media over her paternity. That's when she found herself wondering. But she tamped it down. It would do no good to go backwards. She needed to move forward with her life.

She had scarcely slept that night. Every time she tried closing her eyes, she saw the bright lights inside the stadium and Luke down on one knee and that ring. That ring! It was enormous and flashy and…so not her. But there it was. And he was putting it on her finger and she felt giddy in that moment. She knew things had moved pretty fast, but she was forty-two now, she wasn't a twenty-something. And when things felt good, you didn't have to wait around, you just jumped all in. And that's what she'd done. And she'd felt good about it. Well, until Deacon came to the house.

She could still hear his words. Something changed. Me. You and me, Ray. That's how it's s'posed to be. It's Maddie and Daphne and you…and me. She felt an ache deep in her heart. I can be a husband now. And I can be a father. She could still see his face, his eyes, the yearning, the confidence, the emotion. She'd felt it too. She couldn't deny it. There had been times since the accident when they had seemed so close to letting each other back in. But there would be a phone call or Megan would walk in or there would be an unkind remark from Scarlett and she'd pull back into her protective shell. Every time he'd ever told her he had changed or he was better or things were different, she'd always been disappointed. He'd broken her heart so many times that she didn't think she could let him do it again.

He had kissed her. She had felt the longing, the sweetness, the possessiveness, the knowing, all in one kiss. He wanted her back, he wanted to woo her, he knew he owned her, although not in an overbearing way, but in a soul-to-soul way, and he knew her, better than anyone knew her. Thinking about that kiss reminded her of the way she'd felt when he'd done it. Her own yearning, in spite of herself, her own need, that she thought she'd extinguished forever. When he'd pulled back, she had reached back for him, but he'd given her the ring instead. And left, to let her decide.

She had laid there, her eyes wide open, knowing that the flashy 7-carat diamond lay on the bedside table next to her. And the simple silver band with its swirls of tiny diamonds was back in its little drawstring bag, lying on top of her stack of underwear, where she would see it every day. She had no idea what she was going to do. Actually, that wasn't completely true. She was probably going to marry Luke. What she didn't know was how she was going to tell Deacon.

Rayna took another sip of tea and sighed. What was supposed to be easy had turned complicated. But she couldn't put all the blame on Deacon. The rest of the fallout started the next day, first with a phone call from Teddy.

"Hey, Rayna."

"Hey. What time are you bringing the girls home?"

"We're leaving soon. But I wanted to give you a heads up."

Rayna frowned. "About what?"

Teddy sighed. Rayna thought she heard the hint of annoyance. "They're not happy, Rayna."

Rayna took a breath. "Because we didn't talk to them about getting engaged first? Well, that's because I didn't know that was happening. If I'd known that's what Luke wanted to do, I would have talked to them first."

"That's part of it. A big part of it, actually. But they're just not happy, period."

She rolled her eyes. "I understand about Maddie, I guess. But Daphne loves Luke."

"Maybe as a boyfriend, Rayna, but this is all too much, too soon. They were really taken off guard by this."

"Teddy…."

"Rayna, they've been through hell this year. Everything with Deacon, your accident, that you almost died, the divorce, Peggy and Lamar dying. And now this. It's just too much for them."

"We'll work through it." Rayna felt a ripple of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. Yes, it was all very sudden, but she had thought the girls liked Luke. Daphne, anyway. It made her nervous to know that Daphne was unhappy too. She kind of understood about Maddie; after all, she was really developing a close relationship with Deacon and she'd been asking questions. It was a big move for all of them and it pained her to realize she had not paid attention to their feelings.

"How could he have thought this was the right way to do this? In front of the girls like that?" Rayna could hear Teddy's anger through the phone.

"I don't know, Teddy. I guess he got caught up in the moment." She knew she was making excuses for Luke. It really was on both of them to have prepared the girls for this possibility. She wondered if he'd even talked to his own kids about his plans.

Teddy laughed unkindly. "I seriously doubt that, Rayna. That was an awfully big ring to just pull out of his hat because he was 'in the moment'. Doesn't he have kids too? Didn't he think that it might not be a bad idea to get everyone on board first?"

"Teddy, we'll work it out. I get it. The girls were surprised. I'm sorry. I'll talk to them when you bring them home."

"Just know they're pretty upset."

Rayna felt her own annoyance flare up. "I get it, Teddy," she firmly. "I'll see you soon." And she hung up. She sat down at the counter and rubbed her temples. Everything that seemed so magical the night before, now looked troubling in the light of day. Her phone buzzed again. She picked it up and saw that it was Luke. "Hey, babe," she said with a smile.

"How's my little woman this morning?" he said cheerfully. "All set to be Mrs. Luke Wheeler? We've got a lot of planning to do."

Rayna winced a little at the 'little woman' comment, but let it go. "We don't have to do everything right now. Teddy just called and he's bringing the girls home. They're a little out of sorts about everything and I think they need some time to get used to things."

"Aw, they'll get over it. All little girls like planning parties and weddings. They'll be right as rain in no time once they start helping you plan things."

Rayna frowned. "Well, it's more than just a wedding, babe. It's a new life and a new family.

"And we'll start getting that Brady Bunch thing going now. So, anyway, Sage and Colt are still asleep, so I was thinking maybe we'd all come over after lunch and everyone can get to know each other and we'll start to form this big old happy family by setting the date. Whaddaya say?"

Rayna tried to smile. She was worried about Luke pushing the wedding date thing. "Okay. I'm looking forward to meeting Sage finally."

Luke chuckled. "She's quite the diva, but don't let that scare you. She'll love you to death, I know. Just like Colt."

Rayna wasn't sure Colt 'loved her to death', but she was willing to wait and see. It would be good for all the kids to get to know each other better and maybe this would help to mend some of the fences for Maddie and Daphne about the engagement, if they were really as upset as Teddy claimed. "We'll look forward to it," she said, her voice positive, although she didn't feel as confident as she made herself sound.

"Be thinking about dates," Luke said as he hung up.

Rayna put the phone down. She wasn't sure what the rush was to set a date. She thought they needed to take some time to start bonding as a family first, then they could plan the wedding. She didn't really think they needed to be in such a hurry.

Rayna was sitting in the den drinking tea when the back door opened and then slammed shut. "Mom!" Maddie shouted, her voice brittle with anger. "Mom, where are you?"

Rayna stood up to see her daughters, both their faces screwed up fiercely. She watched Maddie slam her overnight bag on the floor and Daphne followed, copying everything her older sister was doing. "Hey, girls," she said, putting her performance face on, hoping she could soothe them.

Maddie stomped over. "How could you do that? How could you agree to marry someone else?"

"Yeah," Daphne piped up, rushing up to stand with her sister. "Without even telling us. That was wrong."

Rayna raised her eyebrows. "I know it was a surprise, but it was for me too." She gestured towards the couch. "Why don't we sit down and we can talk about it?"

Maddie gave her an incredulous look. "Talk about it? Seriously? I hate this, Mom. I totally hate this."

Rayna frowned. "Maddie, that's not fair. Let's talk about it first."

"No. If you marry him, I'm going to live with Dad." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her mother.

Daphne looked up at Maddie with a mix of surprise and fear. "Wait a minute," she said. "Which dad?"

Maddie looked down at her sister and took a deep breath. "I don't know. Deacon, I guess."

Daphne's eyes filled with tears. "Don't leave me here," she whispered.

Rayna watched the exchange with a mix of horror and dread. "Hey!" she said firmly. "There's not going to be any talk of going somewhere else to live. We're a family. No one's going anywhere."

Daphne looked up at her, sadness all over her face. "Everything is all messed up," she cried. "I don't want things to change."

Maddie reached out and pulled Daphne into a hug. She gave Rayna an angry look that took her breath away. Rayna walked over and put her arms around her girls. "That's enough of this kind of talk. I know you weren't expecting this, and I'm sorry for that, but Luke and I are going to get married and we need to talk about that and what's next."

Maddie shook her head firmly and pulled away. "I don't want to talk about it. This is all wrong. He's not our family." Her face turned to one of pleading. "Please don't do this, Mom. Please." Then she turned, picked up her bag, and stalked off to her room.

Rayna stood watching her, her heart hurting. Daphne looked up at her, tears running down her face. "Don't let her go, Mom," she said.

Rayna pulled her younger daughter close. "It's going to be okay, Daphne. We'll work everything out. I promise." But she wondered if that was really possible. With everything else going on, how were they going to find time to fix their family? And then she thought about the fact that the girls didn't know about Deacon's visit and his proposal. This was all such a mess. She sighed and, taking Daphne's hand, walked upstairs to Maddie's room.

She had not been able to soothe Maddie and Daphne's anger before Luke and his kids came over. They were both stubbornly opposed to any changes in their lives. Rayna felt at a loss as to what to do next. She hadn't expected them to be so entrenched in their feelings about her and Luke. Her stomach was in knots wondering what to do.

Meeting Sage and seeing Colt again had been a disaster. Rayna had been a little shocked when she saw Luke's daughter. She was tall and rail thin, her hair an obviously dyed inky black, shaved on the left side with a hot pink stripe. She wore goth makeup and painted her nails black. She was dressed all in black and looked both sad and angry. Rayna wasn't sure if the makeup was having that effect or if she was just a typical teenager. She prayed silently to herself that her girls would not be intrigued by that. She needn't have worried.

Sage had ended up pissing off all of them. She'd asked Maddie if she'd bought her clothes at Goodwill and called Daphne a munchkin. Rayna had been stunned speechless at her rudeness and was even more shocked that Luke laughed it off as Sage being her "diva self" and told them all to go get acquainted. Colt had looked annoyed to even be there and had sulkily followed the girls, his headphones not leaving his head.

Rayna had turned to Luke, her eyes flashing. "Babe, that didn't start off well at all," she started.

Luke grabbed her in his arms. "Come on, sweetheart, that's just how girls talk to each other. Let's let them get to know each other and it'll all be good." He pulled her close and kissed her. "I want to spend some time with my brand new fiancée." He nuzzled her neck and kissed her again. "I hated leaving you last night. I missed you."

Rayna let herself relax a bit. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him back. "I missed you too, babe," she said, pushing away the memory of Deacon's visit.

"I want to set a date for this big old shindig of a wedding," Luke said, a big smile on his face.

Rayna smiled a little. "Babe, we really don't have to do this right away. The kids need to get to know each other and we have plenty of time to do this. Besides, I'm going to be going out on tour soon, so why don't we wait until after that."

"I don't want to wait, Rayna. I'm going out on tour too and I really want you to go with me."

"You mean for us to tour together?"

"Well, sort of. I want you to come with me and you can come out and sing a couple numbers and we can do our theme song 'Ball and Chain' for our fans." He smiled broadly.

"That sounds nice, Luke, but I really need to tour myself to promote my album. Why don't we wait until after that?"

"We can still go ahead and get married. And I guess we could blend our tours somehow." He didn't sound enthusiastic. "Anyway, I've already got a wedding planner working on possible locations big enough for the country music wedding of the century. All we need to tell her is a date."

Rayna took a step back. "Wait. You've already got a wedding planner?"

"Sure. I hired her a couple weeks ago when I dreamed up this idea to surprise you. Course, I didn't know then you'd have that big concert, so that just worked out even better."

Rayna didn't have time to respond because right then Daphne stormed into the kitchen, her face an uncharacteristic storm cloud of anger. She frowned. "What's wrong, baby girl?" she asked.

Daphne stomped her foot. "I can't do it! I won't do it!" she shouted. "I can't spend one more minute with that…that Sage!" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked angrily back and forth between her mother and Luke.

Rayna looked horrified but Luke burst out laughing. "What's that diva girl done now, little lady?" he asked jovially.

"She thought our song was awful and she laughed at Maddie's guitar," Daphne said, glowering at the two adults. "She's not nice. At all."

Luke walked over to her and mussed her hair a little. "Ah, she's just being cranky, Daphne. She tells me she hates my music all the time. And my boots and my guitar too." He smiled and whispered loudly. "She's a teenager!"

Daphne's face softened a little. "Well, maybe," she said. Then she frowned again. "But she still isn't nice." She looked over at Rayna. "And, Mom, Maddie's locked up in her room now. She won't let me in."

It had been a disaster of an afternoon, Rayna remembered. It had gotten increasingly worse until finally Luke took Sage and Colt home. He had apologized profusely and told her later that his ex-wife was trying to ruin his relationship with them. He had seemed so unhappy and miserable about it, that she had softened her opinion of the two sulky teenagers. And she had gotten past being annoyed with Luke for having tried to excuse it. Unfortunately, Maddie and Daphne did not change their opinions, which didn't help the situation.

Rayna and Tandy had had lunch the next day on the patio overlooking the pool. It had been a crazy morning, complete with a testy meeting about Juliette's song choices for her album and a call from Luke's wedding planner to ask about wedding venues.

"Actually, she's pushing me to make a decision," Rayna complained to her sister.

"Do you even have a date set?" Tandy asked.

Rayna shook her head. "Luke's been pushing me to do that, too, but I don't know why it's so important to decide that right this second. We just got engaged, for crying out loud, and I'd like to just settle into that for a little while." She sighed as she picked at her salad. "You'll never believe the choices that woman gave me." She gave Tandy a knowing look.

Tandy raised her eyebrows. "Oh, babe, not the country club." Rayna nodded solemnly and Tandy burst out laughing. "Oh, my. Mom would be rolling over in her grave."

Rayna smirked. "I know. The other places she mentioned are equally over the top. Fontanel. Belle Meade Plantation. The Ryman."

"The Ryman?!" Tandy looked surprised. "I didn't know you could get married there."

"Well, it is the Mother Church of Country Music." She rolled her eyes. "And Luke says we're country music royalty so we should consider it." She shook her head. "I'd rather just go to the county courthouse. I don't want a big to do."

"Why is he making such a big deal about it? It's not like he hasn't been married before."

Rayna's eyes flitted away and then back at her sister. "I think it has to do with Deacon."

Tandy sat back in her chair. "Deacon? Why in the world would he care about Deacon?"

"Well, I guess he had a crush on me when we were all just starting out. But, you know, I was with Deacon then. And I guess all I ever talked about then was Deacon."

Tandy let out a sharp laugh. "Well, that is definitely true."

Rayna made a face. "Anyway, I guess it's just a big deal to him for us to be together now. Like, I don't know, like he won or something." She laid her fork down and put her hands in her lap.

Tandy frowned at the sad look on her sister's face. "Was this a contest? I thought Deacon was seeing someone else anyway."

Rayna shrugged. "He was. But it didn't work out." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at her hands. "And then things got…complicated."

"Rayna, don't tell me…."

"No." Rayna looked up. "Nothing happened, really. I mean, like we didn't get together or anything. But Deacon came by that night after the show. And he kind of proposed too.

Tandy gasped. "What do you mean, 'kind of proposed'? What does that even mean?"

Rayna looked up at the sky with a tortured look on her face. "He said he was ready to be a husband. And a father. That he could love me now the way I had always wanted him to."

Tandy grabbed Rayna's hand. "What did you say?" she whispered.

"Nothing. He gave me back the ring and told me to think about it."

"How do you feel?"

Rayna's face was a mix of confusion and pain. "I don't know. I mean, I love Luke. I do. I think that being with him is a good thing. But he's pushing me to get married so quickly and I'm not comfortable with that."

"What about Deacon?"

Rayna shook her head sadly. "I don't know. I want to believe him. He's been so good with Maddie, so he has changed. But it scares me. If something happens and he goes back in the cycle, it will destroy all of us. He thinks he's ready. But he's thought that before. And he wasn't. So…."

Tandy gave her a look of compassion and squeezed her hand. "Don't make any big decisions, sweetheart. Not right now. You're right to want to take a little time and not rush a wedding. Any wedding."

It ended up being several days before Rayna talked to Deacon again. She had called him and asked him to meet her. As she drove over, she considered the fact that they knew each other so well, so intimately, that she hadn't even had to name the place.

When she got there, he was waiting. Neither of them said a word as she climbed up on the table to sit beside him. He had looked down and then taken her left hand, ring-less. He had looked up into her eyes, his eyebrows raised, both a question and hope reflected there. She had smiled then, a smile tinged with sadness, and thought about how they could speak to each other without words.

"I'm just not sure, Deacon," she said, watching the slight dip of her shoulders at her words. "But it's not fair for me to wear that…with you." She looked away.

Deacon frowned. "I don't understand. Why are we here?"

She looked back at him. "I'm scared, Deacon. How many times have you told me you had changed, that things were different? I want to believe you, truly I do, but it's not just me that could be hurt and disappointed this time if it's not real. There's Maddie and Daphne too."

Deacon looked down, hitching his shoulders. Then he looked off in the distance. "What do I have to do to prove to you this time is different? That it's the real deal?"

Rayna sighed. "I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe it's not anything you need to do. Maybe it's me." She clasped her hands and looked down at them, a lump forming in her throat that made it hard to talk. "Maybe I need to have faith in you," she choked out. "But I'm just really scared."

They were silent for long minutes. Finally Deacon said, quietly, "What do you want to do, Ray?"

Rayna took a deep breath. "I want to believe in you," she whispered.

Deacon sighed. "What makes you not want to let go of…him?"

She shrugged. "There isn't that history. There's nothing to overcome. It's easy."

He looked at her sharply. "Like Teddy?"

She looked away. That hit close to home. "Maybe. But it's different. My feelings for Teddy were different than my feelings for Luke. And, you know, the circumstances are different."

Deacon worked his lip before he finally spoke again. "Do you love him?"

Rayna took a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess."

Deacon sucked in his breath. "Do you love me?"

Rayna sat up straight and blinked, her eyes tearing. Her chest hurt. "I'll always love you, Deacon," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "I'm just wondering if that's enough."

He took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "So you're picking the big, flashy ring? Is that really what you want, Ray? For the rest of your life? For you and the girls?" His voice was a mix of hurt and anger.

She felt so confused, so torn. "It's not that simple," she said, trying not to cry. "There's a lot to consider. A lot to still consider." She looked at him, her eyes filled with hurt. "Please don't say anything to Maddie right now. This is all so complicated, for me and for the girls. I need to deal with this one piece at a time."

Deacon nodded, his own eyes filling with tears. "I won't tell her." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he stopped. Then he leaned over to her, put his hand on her cheek, and kissed her. He lightly tugged on her lip and she opened her mouth to his and returned the kiss. Then he pulled away. "Don't give up on us, Ray," he whispered, and then he got up off the table, turned, and walked back up to his truck.

Rayna turned to watch him walk away, her hand covering her mouth, tears rolling down her cheeks.