Joey Feek worried about Rory becoming a single parent again

Joey Feek "couldn’t bear the idea" her death would leave her husband Rory a single parent again.

The 40-year-old musician – who gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Indiana, in 2014 – said it was "unfair" Rory would be left to raise their child on his own following her passing, having also done so for his two daughters from a previous relationship.

He shared: "[Joey] just couldn’t bear the idea that she was going to leave me a single parent again because I’d already been through it. She told me right on the porch out there.

"She said, ‘It’s not fair. You’re not supposed to have to do this again.’ I said, ‘But on the other hand, I’m perfect. I already know how.’"

Rory revealed his two eldest children – Heidi, 29, and Hopie, 27 – are playing an active role in helping to raise Indiana, who was born with Down Syndrome shortly before Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Rory reflected: "God just keeps showing up and magically making what are our worst fears beautiful."

However, he admitted it has been especially hard raising their daughter on the farm he once shared with Joey in Pottsville, Tennessee, because it brings back so many memories.

Rory told People magazine: "When the time came that we realised that Joey was most likely not going to make it through this cancer … one of the hardest things was coming to realise that I was going to be back here again where I was before, but this time raising Indiana."

Earlier this month, Rory admitted he cannot bring himself to order a headstone for his late wife, who passed away in March.

He explained: "I don’t know why, I just can’t.

"I don’t know if it’s that she’s so simple, and a wooden cross is part of what she would like. It probably has something to do with permanence. So, for now, I can sit out here and feel like it’s – it’s maybe just temporary. Although I know it’s not."