Chapter 25

"Melanie? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I want to talk to you about Ally, Brody."

"She's ten years old, and now you want to talk?"

She wore tailored blue trousers and a blue-and-white striped shirt. On her feet were heels that would give him a nosebleed. Melanie had been beautiful ten years ago, and that hadn't changed with age, but he was no longer that boy desperate and lonely enough to take her to bed.

"I have to go, Brody," Phoebe said from behind him.

"No. You stay. She goes."

"Brody, I know she has no right to ask you to hear her out," Phoebe said, far too reasonably when he was seething with emotion. "But she's Ally's mother, and something brought her here."

He felt the touch of her fingers on his forearm, and then she was walking away from him again. Not again. Back straight, shoulders back, he let her, but this time he'd be following soon, and they'd be talking again.

"Sit," he said and dropped back into his seat, wondering what Melanie could say to him that he'd want to hear.

She sat and nervously linked her hands together before her on the table.

"Okay, so I have ten minutes before I need to get back to Ally, who has been sick with a fever. Talk."

"Is she all right?" Melanie's face showed no emotion as she asked the question. She could be asking him if he needed milk, which, of course, she wouldn't be, but still. A little emotion wouldn't have hurt.

"You haven't so much as sent me a text or tried to get in touch in ten years, and now you're worried about her?"

He saw the flash of guilt but didn't care. Melanie deserved everything he threw at her and more. Yes, she'd walked away, and he'd understood some of her reasons, but now, seeing her and knowing Ally, he felt his anger climb over what she'd done. What she'd given up.

"I left because I was scared, lonely, and missing my life. You know I wanted to be a lawyer for as long as I could remember," she began. "I thought walking away from you and Ally was the best thing for all of us, and for a while, I could push Lyntacky and what I'd left here aside."

"Just to clarify, you pushed it away for ten years." His kid was the light of his life, and never, not once, had he thought of leaving her. Not through the sleepless nights or tantrums.

"I don't expect you to understand what I did, Brody, and I'm not asking you to let me back into Ally's life immediately?—"

"What does that mean… immediately?"

She exhaled slowly, hands now clenched into fists.

"I'm married now?—"

"Congratulations," Brody said with zero sincerity .

"Henry, my husband, felt it was time that Ally came back into our lives."

"Back in your life? You only knew her for a few weeks."

"Henry was the one to encourage me to come here today," she said, ignoring the disbelief in his words. "He's with me, actually." Brody's eyes went to the door, but he couldn't see anyone he didn't know or someone that could be a Henry. He had an image of suits or tailored trousers and button-down shirts even on casual days. "Not here, but at the Circle Left."

"So, what is it you want, Melanie? Because you'll forgive me for saying this, but from where I'm sitting, you don't have a maternal bone in your body and no claim to my kid. The one you walked away from without looking back."

"Does she know about me?"

"Her name's Ally, not she, and of course. When she was old enough to ask questions, I told her a version of the truth," Brody said.

"That I'd left her?"

"That you'd gone back to live with your family and become a lawyer. I kept it brief because the truth would hurt her."

Her smile was tight. "Thank you for not telling her what actually happened, Brody."

"That you left and never made contact again?"

"Look, it doesn't have to be like this, Brody." Melanie's lips thinned. "I want my daughter in my life, as does Henry."

He picked up his coffee and sipped as he looked at her. To his shame, he couldn't remember much of the night they'd shared. With Phoebe, however, he remembered every detail of their night .

"She's my daughter, just so we're clear. You may have given birth to her, but I raised her. Why now, Melanie?"

Looking at her brought back the memories of their short time as a couple. Melanie had been high-maintenance. Nothing had been right in the short time they'd lived together. She'd moaned about the food, the bed she'd slept in, and even the house. He'd put it down to fear… terror, actually, about their situation. Now he was wondering if, in fact, she was exactly like that on any day. His mother had certainly thought so, but she'd kept that to herself until Melanie left.

"I want to see her, Brody." It was a demand, and he didn't respond well to those, especially from this woman. He battled down his anger.

"You want to walk up to my kid and say what, exactly? ‘I'm your mom. Sorry I abandoned you, but we can push that aside and start again'?"

"I don't want this to turn?—"

"If the next word to come out of your mouth is ugly or you threaten me with anything legal by throwing around a whole lot of money, you better think again, Melanie." The words came out as a low growl.

"I don't want it to come to that, but my parents would like to meet their only grandchild," she said. "I have a right to see Ally, as do they, and we can give her a great deal. My family has money."

He inhaled slowly, then exhaled through his nose before speaking. Anger clenched every muscle in his body.

"Let's talk about rights, shall we, because I have plenty to say on that, but before I do, why do your parents want to meet their grandchild now?" Melanie opened her mouth, but Brody cut her off. "Didn't they want you to get an abortion?"

He saw the two men walking in his periphery and sighed silently. They then took the booth across from where Brody sat. His money was on someone in here seeing Melanie walk in and overhearing part of their conversation. Likely Linda, who was everyone's grandmother. They would then have called Sawyer, who was clearly somewhere close with Ryder. They were both now seated and listening to the entire conversation in case they needed to step in. Sawyer looked at him, and Brody gave him a hard glare, which his brother interpreted to mean, "do not step in," because he nodded.

"I—we needed time to adjust," Melanie said.

"Clearly it takes you a while," Brody drawled. "How did you find me?"

"I was picking up a coffee before I went to your house," Melanie said. "Henry would like to meet you. He wanted to come, but I said it would be better if I met with you first. I'll return in an hour with him."

"An hour doesn't suit me, as I have a child to consider, in case you've forgotten. I can't just drop everything to meet your rich husband, Melanie."

"I didn't want this to turn nasty, Brody."

"What do you want?"

"To see my child. It's my right to do so, and you should want that. Want what my family can give her."

Brody actually shook his head at her words. "You can't be serious? You think you can give her more than the loving home I've created here with my family?"

"Look, Henry is?—"

"If you think bringing him in to intimidate me is going to help your cause, think again." She looked down at her hands briefly, which told him that was exactly what she was about. "I may live in a small town, Melanie, but I'm not someone who will be pushed around because I lack the city smarts you and yours have. If you want to fight dirty and think my family doesn't have the means or funds to fight back, think again. You didn't want Ally and walked away from her for ten years. I think the odds will be in my favor if it comes to a legal battle."

Aware that two of his brothers were listening and, in all probability, recording the entire conversation, he kept his voice calm. No need to have them stepping in, or all hell would break loose.

"Look," she said, rising. "There is no need for it to be like this. I'll go and get Henry and?—"

"I'll be at Circle Left at 7:00 p.m. this evening. I will meet you in the bar, and don't try to come at me hard, or you'll regret it, Melanie," Brody said. "Ally is mine, and any court will confirm that. You walked away, not me."

She left without another word, and he took a large swallow of lukewarm coffee to ease the tightness in his throat as his brothers joined him.

"You are not going on your own," Sawyer said as he sat across from Brody.

"I can take care of myself."

"That may be, but we're not taking any chances. Those big-city sharks will make life difficult for a simple country boy like you," Ryder said, smiling at Linda as she arrived with her coffeepot.

Brody held his hand so Linda couldn't see and gave his brother the middle finger.

"I know who can give us some advice about this," Sawyer said, getting to his feet. "You're not going to like it, but it's for the best. Let's go. We need to drop off Ry and make a few stops, and then we'll go there."

"Where?" Brody demanded.

"You'll see."

"I'll get you some coffee to go," Linda said bustling away .

Life was already complicated with Phoebe and what was between them, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, but Brody had a feeling it just got a whole fuckload more so.

Leaving his vehicle outside the Do-Si-Do, he jumped into Sawyer's.

"What?" Sawyer shot him a look.

"Nothing."

"Something. You just did that big sigh you do when shit's going down. Spill," Ryder demanded.

"Melanie is in town. Surely that's enough reason to sigh."

"What else is going on?" Sawyer said.

"Nothing."

"Something, and my money's on Phoebe Stanway riling you up. You back to caring for her again, Brody?"

"Maybe."

"Nice."

"I'm not sure nice is what she'd call it."