Chapter 29

Brody was an adult. He'd had to grow up fast when Ally was born and stop being a wild Duke. Mostly, he'd succeeded and focused on being the best father he could be for her. But there were just sometimes, like with Henry, when he wanted to go back to the way he used to be and give in to the impulse to hit someone. Right then, it was Beau Keller.

"You have steam coming out of your ears, bro."

"Fuck off," he said to Ryder, who was seated beside him while they watched Jed walk up to bat.

"Beau's messing with you, Brody, and you're letting him."

"I know, and I don't care. I still want to hurt him."

"Because as hard as you want to fight it, you still care about Phoebe?"

He grunted in reply to those words but kept his eyes on her. She still knew what she was doing out there and moved with her usual grace and elegance. Phoebe had always been like that and always drawn his eyes. He wanted her, and that want was growing, not waning .

He watched Beau jog up to Phoebe again and place his hand on her shoulder, and then he leaned in and said something in her ear. It looked like he was kissing her. Brody got out of his seat, but then Phoebe placed both of her hands on Beau's chest and pushed hard. Beau was caught off guard and stumbled back, falling on his ass. The crowd roared with laughter, and Brody sat back down, smiling.

"She can take care of herself," Ryder said.

"Seems like."

"You talked to Ally yet about Melanie, Brody?"

"No. The time hasn't been right yet, but I will," he told his brother.

"You need to do it, bro, before they return," Ryder said.

He knew his brother was right, and he was putting it off because Brody wasn't sure how Ally was going to react. He didn't want her hurt, so he needed to tread carefully.

"Tonight," Brody vowed.

"Good. So, what's gonna happen now between you and Phoebe?" Ryder asked as Jed swung and missed the ball.

"Honestly, hell if I know," he found himself saying, which told him just what Phoebe meant to him. He never talked about a woman like that. Hadn't, if he were honest, since she left Lyntacky. "But the problem is, I want something to."

"She's changed, and that's good. It's not going to be easy for you this time. She's not who she was."

"You make it sound like she was the only one who had to work at our relationship," Brody said.

"She was, and you know it."

Ryder got up then and went to collect his bat as Jed struck out. Brody's eyes returned to Phoebe. Looking at her standing out there, bent at the waist, hands braced on her thighs, he let the emotion in. She was the missing piece in his life, but right then wasn't the time to do something about that. Right now, he needed to beat her team.

He heard the thwack of a ball hitting a bat, and Ryder was running. He made it to second. Climbing to his feet, Brody went up to bat. Beau was pitching, and they glared at each other. Two strikes later, and Beau's glare had turned to a smirk.

"Bring Ry home, Brody!" Zoe shrieked.

He swung at the next ball and connected. Brody was running seconds later. He rounded first and reached second as the ball came in. Phoebe jumped to catch it, and he slid, placing one hand on the base. She landed on his back with a loud oomph.

The crowd cheered. Some yelled out to get a room.

"You okay?" Brody wheezed as she climbed off him.

"Yeah. You?"

Brody got to his feet. "All good here, and I didn't get out," he said, looking smug.

She rolled her eyes. "You're not reaching home plate."

"Says who?" He leaned into her space and gave her his meanest look.

"Oh please, we both know who's the better team, and it's not you Lavender Losers."

"I think you have that wrong, pretty lady. It's Lemon Losers."

"Get ready to run, Brody."

"Beau's a player," he said before he could stop himself.

"And you're not?" She scoffed, which just pissed him off.

"I'm not," he growled.

"Whatever." She dismissed his words .

He grabbed her, pulling her close, and kissed her hard right there in front of the town of Lyntacky.

"For fuck's sake, run, Brody! Stop making out and run!" Zoe shrieked. He looked left just as Phoebe shoved at him, cursing several colorful words. His sister was heading to second base.

"Shit!" He sprinted away from second and rounded third, running for home.

"Get him out, Caleb!" Phoebe shrieked. "Do not let him in!"

Brody dived and felt the touch on his shoulder.

"Out!" Caleb roared.

"Safe!" Bart Matilda, the umpire, called.

"What?" Caleb pulled off his helmet. "He was out!"

"Tsk-tsk, Caleb. Ump's word is final," Brody said.

"You"—Caleb jabbed a finger his way—"are an asshole."

"But a winning one." He then walked back to his teammates. Once there, he looked at Phoebe. She raised her middle finger at him. Brody smiled back.

"What was that?" Sawyer asked.

"What?"

"The very public kiss."

"A very public display of intention," Brody said.

His brother smiled. "Nice work."

"You two are Neanderthals," Zoe added.

Coming into the final inning, the Leaders were up by one, and they were in the field. Brody looked to where the women covered in body paint stood beside the field, as they did every game. Who was there changed each time, except SJ, who was a constant. Usually dressed in a bra on the top half and painted entirely in the color of their team or whatever body paint was on special, they cheered loudly .

Today there were SJ, Betsy Regal, and Dr. Hannah.

"I have to take my kids in for vaccinations next week. Not sure I'll be able to look Dr. Hannah in the eyes after seeing her in that bra," Jed said.

Brody had seen Melanie's nursing bras and thought that Dr. Hannah's was close to that. Lots of support.

Checking on Ally, he found her next to his mom, Uncle Asher, and Ms. Jonas. Running his eyes along the row she sat in, he saw an elderly couple that looked out of place. The man wore a button-down white shirt and paisley waistcoat with no jacket, and the woman was in a pale gray dress. Her hair was styled in a short, sleek cut to just below her ears. He wasn't sure why the hair on the back of his neck just rose, but it did—especially when the man turned to look along the row. Brody couldn't be sure he was staring at Ally, but to him, it seemed that way.

Shaking his head, he looked back to see who was up to bat next. Why would they be looking at Ally? Because they could be related to Melanie. He was now suspicious of anyone who looked out of place in his town.

Ally was protected. His uncle sat on one side of her, and his mother on the other. Whoever those people were, they couldn't get close to his kid.

Phoebe walked up to the plate and raised her bat. Her hat now had the peak at the back, and she looked cute. She'd been fiercely competitive every time he'd played against her. She also had a good eye, far better than her brother's, a fact she'd never failed to tell him.

"Come on, Phoebe, honey, you've got this," Beau said. Brody gritted his teeth and ignored the red-hot surge of jealousy.

A chant in the crowd went up, and he saw some of the Levelers, including Phoebe and Caleb's father, cheering. Tugging on his cap, Brody watched. She swung and fouled. The next ball was a strike, and the next.

"Awww, it's too much pressure for her," SJ yelled in a mocking tone.

Brody watched Phoebe's shoulders rise and fall, but she kept her eyes on the pitcher. The next ball, she connected with. It went high, and Brody knew it was coming his way. He tracked back, then to the left as it started down. Holding up his glove, he caught it. The Leaders in the bleachers roared; the Levelers booed.

"Clearly it's love," Dan said, slapping Brody on the back when he jogged in. "If you were just wanting a night with a woman, you'd have dropped that." He then dodged Brody's fist as he swung at him.

The teams shook hands, and he slapped Beau Keller harder than necessary. Sawyer bypassed him completely.

"No hard feelings," he said to Phoebe.

She gave him a cool, steady look and said, "Of course not. After all, it's just a game. But if you ever kiss me in public like that again, you'll be sorry." He wanted to grab her, throw her over his shoulder, and run to the nearest bed… or wall, car, anything. Instead, he smiled, which annoyed her enough to hiss out a breath. Brody liked penetrating her cool facade and getting a reaction.

"Dad!"

"Hey, baby." Brody caught Ally as she launched herself at him.

"Great catch!"

"Thanks."

"Ms. Stanway is a pretty good player too," Ally said as he lowered her to the ground.

"She is."

"Brody Duke?"

He turned to find the man and woman he'd seen in the stands approaching. Something made him grab Ally and pull her back against him.

"That's me."

The man stuck out his hand. Brody just looked at it, so he lowered it to his side again.

"Who are you?"

"We are Ally's grandparents," he said, looking at her. "Your mother is our daughter, Ally. I'm Maxwell Stephenson, and this is my wife, Belinda."

He felt Ally's body tense as she looked at the man. She then turned to look up at Brody. "Dad, what is he talking about?"

"You know you have a mother, sweetheart. These are clearly her parents. I don't know them, and I didn't know that they were coming?—"

"We are here because you didn't let my granddaughter meet her mother when she and my son-in-law came to town last week," the man said.

"My mother was here in Lyntacky?" Ally grabbed the front of his Leaders shirt. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You have no right to come here and do this." Brody's words were a growl.

"We have every right. You wouldn't listen when my daughter spoke to you, so I came to make sure you did," the man said in cool, well-modulated tones that sounded like he was used to getting exactly what he wanted. The woman, his wife, hadn't spoken. She just stood there expressionless, watching them.

"What's going on?" Zoe and JD were the first to arrive.

"This man says he's my grandfather, Aunt Zoe." Ally sounded close to tears. "And that my mother was here, and Dad didn't tell me."

"Take her to Circle Left, please, Zoe."

Brody bent and talked in his daughter's ear. "Ally, I promise I'm just looking out for you, but I will tell you everything, okay? Let me deal with this, and then I'll come to you at the Circle Left. But go now with Aunt Zoe and JD."

"Dad—"

"Please, Ally. Go with them. I promise I'll come soon and see you. I'll explain everything then." He kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

She nodded, and then, without looking at the couple again, she let Zoe and JD take her hands and walk away.

"Well played, Brody. Even if you beat my family's team," Jonathan said, arriving.

Brody didn't look at him, nor his mother, who now stood to his left. He could feel Robyn Duke's arm brushing his. Support. He had truckloads of it, he reminded himself.

"These are Melanie's parents, and they just told Ally they were her grandparents, which upset her. Plus, they told her Melanie came to Lyntacky before I had a chance to."

"How dare you upset my granddaughter like that," Robyn Duke said, now in full momma-bear battle mode. "Your daughter walked away from her child a month after she was born. We've not had a single word from her, and now you turn up as if you have a right to ten years later!" She stepped closer to the man and was pointing her finger at him.

To his mom, finger pointing was one of the rudest gestures known to man.

"She's our grandchild. We have a right to see her," Maxwell said, his tone snooty.

"You take that tone with me again, sir, and you will be very sorry!" his mother said in a low, deep voice that would have had every one of her children running for cover. Melanie's parents were made of sterner stuff .

"I'm a powerful and extremely wealthy man!" he roared back at his mom. Brody was just about to step in and tell him that if he used that tone on her again, he'd end up on his ass when Sawyer and Ryder arrived and beat him to it.

"No one talks to our mom like that," Ryder said.

"How much you got?" Sawyer asked. He then gently urged his mother back a few steps so she was behind her sons. Brody stepped up to his left.

"I beg your pardon?" Maxwell's brows rose further as he attempted to look down at Sawyer, which wasn't easy, as Sawyer topped him by a few inches.

Thankfully, most of the locals had headed to the Circle Left for after-match celebrations or commiserations, but a few still hung around, watching and listening.

"You Dukes need a hand?"

"All good, thanks, Dee. See you soon," Ryder said.

"You holler if you need anyone's face broken and you don't have enough fists. I'll send you Red," she added before sauntering away.

Maxwell Stephenson's face turned to a sneer. "My granddaughter shouldn't be growing up around the likes of her."

"Step very carefully," Brody said, leaning in. "These people are friends."

"Friends." The man laughed.

"Clearly an alien concept to an asshole like you, but we have them," Sawyer said.

"You won't win any battle, legal or otherwise," Brody said.

The man snorted. "I have millions."

"How many of them?" Sawyer asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Millions?" Sawyer said .

Maxwell actually spluttered.

"Because in my family, Max, we have bucketloads of cash, business opportunities, and my sister is married into money, so you can't scare us by throwing six zeros around."

"I'll take this from here. I'm Mr. Duke's lawyer, and I have a great deal to say on this matter too." Jonathan had stepped in front of the wall of Dukes now.

"That's right. You don't intimidate us, Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson," his mom said, trying to get around Brody. His arm held her back. "And shame on you for using my beautiful, sweet little granddaughter as a pawn in an ugly game, especially considering you haven't bothered to see her in ten years!"

Maxwell's face was beet red, and his wife's wasn't much better. Clearly they weren't used to small-town folk not kissing their asses.

"Man, she's pissed," Dan said, now joining the wall. "She used the ‘shame' word."

"Need a chief of police?" Uncle Asher said, dropping an arm around his sister to hold her at his side. "Because I can run you out of town just for that ugly waistcoat." His uncle never drawled, but he was now.

Brody looked into the narrow-eyed, hard gaze of Maxwell Stephenson and thought, This guy is not giving up.

He felt her then and looked left. Phoebe was walking to her car. Strange how he'd known she was there. Strange how, in that moment, all he wanted was to go to her and Ally, hold them, and tell himself everything was going to be okay.

"Just to clarify what I told your daughter, Mr. Stephenson," Jonathan said after leveling a glare at everyone who carried Duke blood, which Brody loosely interpreted to mean, "shut the hell up." "Your daughter had a child with Mr. Duke." He pointed to Brody. "That one. She then left not long after and gave no forwarding address or contact details. She then stayed away for ten years. The number of legal options open to my client at this point is staggering, but we'll possibly go for abandonment. So I'll reiterate what I told your daughter and son-in-law. If you think coming here, throwing around your money and what you think is power in that frankly hideous waistcoat, is going to get you anywhere, think again. You will not win, and I will bring in every legal expert I know to ensure that. My recommendation to you is that instead of behaving like a dictator, you ask to sit down and converse with your granddaughter's father and see if there is any mutual way forward," Jonathan said.

"Is it any wonder I love that man?" Brody heard Caleb say.

"None at all," Dan replied.