Withholding Secrets by Diana Fisher

the old boys.
    Tipping back the ice cold beer, I looked across the table at my mom. Dressed in her gray blouse with her black and gray pinstriped pants, her honey blonde hair was, as usual, wrapped up in a neat twist without a single hair out of place. Perfect, as I always thought of her being.
    Her slender fingers curled around the crystal wine glass as she pressed her ruby red lips together, contemplating whether she wanted to ask the questions that were written all over that beautifully aging face. She was a lot more of a ‘ let’s look at the whole picture before making decisions ’ type of person. Dad … he was make the decision now and think about it later. That was what I liked so much about her the instant I was papered into the family.
    Since my adoption, they put a lot of money into charities for abused kids, and they never batted an eye at doing so. For as much trouble as I caused them in the beginning, they never regretted taking me in. These people were a blessing to my life, and I knew that I wouldn’t be even close to the person that I was today if someone else took their place, or if I was handed over to the state.
    “How’s the season for the juniors coming along?” And there it was. Sidestepping to get where she wanted with her interrogations. When something was off or bothering me, she always had a way to ease those bugs. It wasn’t that she told me what to do about it, but she always gave me some options to think about.
    “Not too bad. I had to cut the goalie because he just wasn’t into it this year and after talking with his parents, we felt it was the best option.” With a strong team, I still needed an even stronger goalie; one who’s mind and heart was in it. This year, something wormed its way into our goalie’s mind and took him to other places.
    “You always had a knack for seeing the hearts of people.” Sipping her wine, her eyes stayed on mine. She knew there was something else, but she was waiting for me to offer the information first.
    That was the one thing I really loved about her. If we didn’t want to talk about something, she never pressured any of us kids. She could make us feel guilty about it; so guilty, that we eventually broke down and told her anyway. Not so much of the blood related kids, but as for me, I broke down every damn time.
    “I caught a kid in the locker room trying to steal some gear to sell.” Why not? She wasn’t going to stop looking at me until I caved and fed her the information. Besides, I needed some help with this situation. Since seeing how Keri reacted when I suggested some places for her to send the kids, my gut hadn’t released the knots.
    “You can’t fix everyone who’s had a bad life, Kane.” Jumping right onto the banister of getting to the point that Mom was also famous for.
    But, there was just something more about Keri and those two kids that I couldn’t get out of my mind. I just needed some options on what I should do, and my mom was the best one to talk about this with. 
    Maybe I shouldn’t talk to her about this. Maybe I should just try to break Keri down and get the whole scoop of their situation. The woman had her mind set on raising those two kids, regardless of what anyone else thought. And that was the type of woman who was sitting across from the table eyeing me down right now, too. Independent. Strong. Courageous.
    “I know that your heart is in the right place. It always is, and I can’t be more proud of you. But, you still have to watch out, Kane. It’s a hard world and it is only getting harder. These kids think that because they don’t get the most expensive phone on the market that they are being abused. Parents just don’t have the authority today and the kids are out of control.” Her eyes softened as she pulled back a touch with the gnash of bitter truth fangs.
    “Mom, these kids are… They aren’t mad because they aren’t getting spoiled.” The weight of the vision of Keri’s face, the