Thank you for your kind words of encouragement.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Mothers

"Have a seat; I'll be done shortly," Casey said as Charlie entered the diner Monday, October second after practice. She motioned to the end of the counter away from the door and Charlie sighed. His mom only sent him down there when she wanted him out of the way and to keep his mouth shut. That probably meant the hearing hadn't gone well and she didn't want to talk about it until they got home.

Charlie dropped his backpack with a loud thud and plopped down on the barstool. He glanced to his left and saw a brunette girl drawing on the back of a placemat. He looked closer and saw it was a picture of a little boy no older than three or four sitting on a tricycle. Then Charlie thought that striking up a conversation with this girl could keep his mind off his conversation–or lack thereof–with his mother and the disappointment that his coach may have failed at something. "Hi, I'm Charlie," he said.

The artist gave no indication that she cared or even that she had heard him. She just continued to draw her picture.

"My cousin's an artist too. She usually draws ducks, cartoon ones, but I've seen her draw people too."

Again no response.

"So you come here often?" Charlie asked, trying a different tack.

This time the girl's pencil stopped for a full 30 seconds before she went back to coloring in the tires on the bike.

Charlie sighed, defeated, and finally turned to fully face the girl. "What do I have to get you to talk to me?"

The girl looked at her picture and seeing that it was finished she titled it "Boy on Trike" then signed her name in the bottom right corner. After that she slid the drawing in front of Charlie.

Charlie looked at the drawing, marveling at how real the picture looked then looked at the signature when the girl pointed to it. The only letters Charlie could make out were the E-l from the first name and the J from the last name. Then he recognized the signature. He carefully set the drawing down, turned back to the girl, and wrapped her in a hug.

"Why didn't Mom say anything?" Charlie asked.

"Because she's busy?" Lizzy suggested, pulling away from the hug.

"Right," Charlie said. He and Lizzy turned to watch his mom float around the diner quickly, stopping to talk to customers here, picking up checks there, and delivering plates of food. She had been doing this job so long it was almost as if she had it down to an art form. Charlie hated seeing his mom work so much but knew it was only because she loved him so much and wanted him to have the best she could give him. "She is really good at that," Charlie said.

"You ever tell her thank you?" Lizzy asked.

"Not often enough."

"Maybe you should."

"I know," Charlie sighed as he turned to look back at his cousin. "So how did Bombay get you out?"

"One grand and a promise I wouldn't leave the state," Lizzy said softly.

"A grand? $1,000? Where did you get that kind of money?" Charlie snapped. Several patrons and Casey turned to look at them and Lizzy looked down.

Once they turned away Lizzy spoke softly. "Nonna," she said.

"Nonna? As in your maternal grandmother?"

"My mom was American, born in the state of Georgia, my father is Italian."

"Can we please save this conversation until we get home?" Casey asked softly but firmly.

Both kids jumped, having not heard her approach. "Yes, ma'am," they answered.

"So, Boy on Trike," Charlie prompted looking at the drawing. Casey walked away and Lizzy stuck with the subject change.

"Seth was four years old when my dad took that picture. I drew it last year for my school's art show. Won second place with it."

"So it's a drawing of a photo?"

"Yeah. The photo is in color but I only had the pencil so black and white was the only option here."

"Seth?"

"Yup."

"Have you done any others?"

"One called practically twins of two similar looking babies lying on a blanket."

"Who is it of?"

"No idea." Lizzy found out later that the photo had been of her and Charlie, take a few days after they had come home from the hospital. She noticed he was staring down at her drawing again.

He looked up shyly and nervously asked, "When are you coming to school?"

"Don't know." Lizzy shook her head really not knowing the answer to that. "Bombay says he wants the proceeding done before I go back. Hopefully in a week but it may not be in Minnesota."

Charlie's heart suddenly broke. His cousin couldn't leave. Even with all the Ducks he needed her there. He had become too used to having her around. "What if you have to do community service?"

"I don't know, Charlie. All I know is I go back on Wednesday," Lizzy said. She wasn't looking forward to her next court date. Especially with no deal in place. No deal meant telling the judge her story and though it might help her she didn't know that she wanted to actually put out the reason she didn't go back to school or go home to Ohio.

Charlie nodded.

Finally Casey's shift ended and she took Lizzy and Charlie back to the apartment. As Casey changed her clothes Lizzy and Charlie threw a dinner together.

"So tell me, one grand, where'd you get it from?" Charlie asked.

"My ... our Nonna," Lizzy sad.

"Our?" Charlie asked.

"Yes Charlie, our. You see Aunt Casey and her mom don't get along. They haven't since we were tots. Nonna likes to spoil her grandkids, Aunt Casey believes it's better to not be handed everything."

"Why didn't she ever try to ...?"

"Reach out? She did."

"I didn't want her spoiling you too. Ever since I was a little kid I watched my parents push Rob away." Casey swallowed and entered the kitchen. "Dad played baseball until I was six. The last two years were pro. They expected Rob to know that his dad was busy and accept that. After that Dad became a sports trainer for a major league team. He was still gone about but their attitude changed. They were real gentle about it and wanted us to know they loved us very much. As we grew older they tried to dote on both of us but Rob was too jaded. He was angry teenager who resented his dad working so much when he was a kid and trying to buy him off as a teen. Rob is seven years older than me. He had to put up with a lot more than I ever did."

"I can understand that making you mad at them but this whole spoiling thing," Charlie said.

"My mom and to a lesser extent my dad thought the best way to show their love and affection was to spoil their kids and grandkids. I saw what that did to Matt and to an extent what it's currently happening with Lizzy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lizzy spat.

"Lizzy honey, I love you. I always have, I always will, and I will always be here and go through whatever you're going through with you but one day it's going to hit you hard that money can't fix everything and sometimes it makes things worse."

"Do you really believe that's what I think?"

"Gordon said your first thought was to call her and have her pay."

"Of course I did. That wasn't about making this go away. Calling her was about getting out of that jail cell so I could make sure Charlie had his priorities straight. So I could convince him to make sure that the Ducks were focused on the game against Varsity and not worried about what I was going through. I know how to work the system to get what I want but most of the time it's to benefit the Ducks. To make sure the Ducks do what they need to do. I cannot believe you think I am a spoiled brat. I've never once thrown money at anything to make it go away. If I could leave and had somewhere to go I'd go, but since I don't I'm going to bed." Lizzy stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the bedroom door.

"Mom, please," Charlie sighed.

"What do you want me to say, Charlie?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I get the feeling that Lizzy feels like she's playing human chess on a minefield. Almost like she feels like taking care of the Ducks falls solely on her shoulders. I think maybe there are more problems going on with her than anyone realizes."

"I never meant for her to feel like she couldn't come to me or like I didn't love and support her."

"I know Mom, and I know she knows too. She just feels alone right now and something's bothering her. I'll get to the bottom of it, I promise," Charlie said. Casey nodded. As Charlie went to bed that night he found Lizzy lying on a pile of blankets on the floor next to his bed. "You know I would have taken the floor so you could have had the bed," Charlie said as he leaned against the doorway.

"You know that's not how this works; your house, you get the bed," Lizzy answered.

"You don't always have to do everything on your own."

"I know that; that's why I had a long talk with Nat. She told me that your father left your mom for money and it hurt Aunt Casey. Her mom offered to help her out but Aunt Casey didn't want any handouts or to be dependent on anyone."

"I thought Mom and I left him?"

"Technically yes but that's not the whole story. When your parents met, Aunt Casey was a waitress at the Minnesota Club downtown. She made pretty good tips from those country clubbers. Your father was a college student at the University of Minnesota. He worked afternoons as a bus boy at the club and weekends as a bagger at a local grocery store. He came from a blue collar family. They fell in love pretty quick but one thing that always stood between them was money. Not long after they moved in together your father found out your mom was from a well-off family. Things were never quite the same between them. He didn't understand why she didn't use her trust fund to fulfill her dreams and she didn't get why he couldn't understand that she wanted to make her own way in this world."

"Why'd they get married?" Charlie asked sitting down on his bed.

"They loved each other and for them that was more important than anything else. It seemed to work for a couple years. Then you were born and Aunt Casey couldn't work and that really put a strain on the marriage. He wanted her to use her trust fund to supplement her income but she said they'd be fine if they just cut back a little. It became too much when you were about three or four. Aunt Casey filed for divorce and sole custody. The divorce was no problem but your father never hurt you and he had a job and your mom didn't. My dad got involved and the deal came down to Aunt Casey got full custody and your father got a hundred grand. He just had to walk away and never contest the custody arrangement as well as give up his rights to you. Aunt Casey got angry that my dad threw money at it and made the problem disappear. I don't think she's ever gotten over it."

"The fact that my father could be paid off?"

"The fact that someone used money to get rid of her problem."

"Then why does she think money can't fix everything? She got the better end of the deal–me," Charlie said.

"Because it can't. There are going to be problems that money cannot fix and problems that it shouldn't fix."

"You know that though."

"I do. Just like I know your mom only meant half of what she said. Even just talking about her mother gets her worked up and she's bound to lash out."

"So you don't blame her?"

"No, not a bit. She wants me to have a good head on my shoulders like you do."

"You do. You never hate anyone without reason, not even Portman; you know, for the most part, that you're not always going to get your way; and you really do care about us."

"Yeah," Lizzy agreed. It was true. Even with everything Portman had done to get under her skin and drive her crazy, she had never actually hated him.

"I think your one downfall is you don't express how you're feeling with words. You let things bottle up until you can't take it then you get angry or you suffer. I don't like seeing you suffer."

"And I don't like seeing you have to deal with my problems. Let's just go to sleep, Charlie."

The boy agreed and they went to bed.

When Lizzy woke up Tuesday morning it took her a few moments to realize she wasn't in a 6' by 8' cell but rather an 8 1/2 by 10 1/2 bedroom. Then she realized it was her cousin's bedroom. She got up and stretched then padded barefoot to the kitchen. First she made coffee for her aunt and then she pulled out the pancake mix and whipped up a batch. Nearly as soon as they were done her aunt entered the kitchen and the shower turned on. Lizzy swallowed as Casey poured herself a cup of coffee then sat down at the table. Lizzy grabbed three plates, the plate of pancakes, and the maple and chocolate syrup and followed her aunt into the dining room. Lizzy put everything down on the table then fixed herself a plate of pancakes.

"Do you always put chocolate syrup on pancakes?" Casey asked.

"I don't like plain pancakes and maple syrup isn't sweet enough," Lizzy shrugged.

Casey nodded and went back to her coffee. Soon Casey looked up at her niece. "About what I said last night–I don't think you are spoiled and I know that you don't expect money to fix everything."

"Aunt Casey, it's okay. I know where you're coming from and I don't blame you for what you said."

"What I said last night—"

"Aunt Casey, really. It's okay. I'm not going to hold how you feel about your mother against you."

"Hold what against her?" Charlie asked, sitting down at the table.

"Nothing sweetheart," Casey answered.

"You know what you're going to say when you see the Ducks today, right?" Lizzy asked.

"Lizzy, we're not Ducks anymore," Charlie said.

"You can take the duck off the jersey but you can't take the Duck out of the player."

Charlie and his mom both laughed.

"Make sure you tell them I'm ok," Lizzy insisted. "That this week is about the showdown and not about my problems." Charlie nodded.

"Charlie, make sure the dishes are in the dishwasher before you leave and run it and as long as you leave within 20 minutes you should catch the bus on time. Come on Lizzy, I'll run you up to Stillwater before I go to work so you can get your clothes," Casey said. Casey and Lizzy left as Charlie finished the pancakes then cleared the table. As Casey turned into the driveway and stopped she looked up at Lizzy. "Be at the diner no later than 1:30. That's four hours from now. I mean it Lizzy."

"I'll be there," Lizzy promised. She went inside the house and straight up to her room to get most of her stuff together.

So anyone wonder what's going to happen at the courthouse on Wednesday? Or how Portman is going to turn up again? Stay tuned to find out. I would still like more reviews but I'll be content with any. Thanks for reading.