Mother Dearest

Kalvin drove to Santa Monica alone to go visit his mother at Berkley East Convalescent Hospital nursing care to check on how she was doing.

About 9 months ago, Sandra Sinclair, 48, developed a brain tumor that grew rapidly quick. Kalvin admitted her into the nursing care hospital as soon as he found out the tumor begin to grow. Kalv was too busy to take care of her on his own because of his crazy work schedule.

When he was 19, his father passed away, leaving just his mother in the house they lived in for some time. She had lived in the Santa Barbra house by herself until she became extremely ill.



Kalvin had arrived to the facility and headed up to his mother's room. He gently knocked on the door, slowly creaking it open.

"Come in." A deep strong voice said.

Kalvin slid in and smiled, looking at his mother lying down on her bed.

"Hey baby." She grinned slowly as she reached her arms out to hold him in a tight hug.

"Hey ma." He kissed her cheeks and her forehead before grabbing a chair to sit next to her.

"How've you been, son?"

"Gooood, good. I uh, been busy you know? Just working hard." He chuckled, holding her hand.

"You've always been a busy body," she laughed, tapping his hand that held hers. "You betta start gettin some REST soon, boy. Let ya body take a break."

"Ahhh naw naw. I can't stop now. Staying humble with winning all of these cases, I gotta stay focus. No slowing down for me soon."

She rolled her eyes and poked her lips out. "Well, if you insist."

"How you feelin'?"

"I'm uh...doing fine. Feeling pretty good today." She took a deep breath and nodded.

"Anything hurting you right now?" Kalv looked over her carefully.

"Just my BACK from laying down all day!" She exclaimed laughing. Sandra pulled herself up with the help of her bed bars on the sides of her and sat up. Kalvin laughed as he fixed her pillows to support her back.

"So how's that wife of yours? Is she treating you right?" Sandra joked.

"She's...she's doing okay. You know it's hard to keep her as grounded as I am. She doesn't know what break means either." He chuckled. "I know I work hard but ohhh nooo Mel...Mel over-works herself. It scares me sometime." Kalv looked off to the floor shaking his head.

Sandra rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Ah now you know how she is. I love her to death but that child got her head in the clouds. Too...driven. Too headstrong. Too....bitchy."

"Aww come on, Ma!"

"I mean well you know....it's just stressful trying to balance a woman like that. I need you two to bring it down a notch and just relax. You guys aren't having any trouble huh?"

"No, Ma. We're FINE. She loves her job and she definitely loves ME."

"Think she might love that job a little more than you?" Sandra side-eyeded him carefully with a worried look on her face.

Kalvin took a deep breath and clinched his jaw at his mother's raised eyebrow. He ran his tongue across his teeth. "No."

"No?" She smirked.

"Nah. No. NO. Seriously? Who loves their job more than they love their spouse? That's ridiculous!"

"Son, you have to realize that woman is hard-working. She has no boundaries between her own relationship with her husband and the relationship with her job. Now the two are mixing and she hasn't noticed just yet. Sit her down. Talk to her. Make her understand. And most importantly—COMPROMISE."

"I hear ya, Ma. And I will try. I love her to death but some things are just gonna have to wait. Thank you." He kissed her forehead once again. He checked his watch and realized he had to be somewhere, which had to cut his visit with his mother short. "Ah, it's ten til. I gotta go, Ma. Love you." Kalv removed the chair he sat in, back to the corner of the room and held his mother's hands for her goodbyes.

"Kalvin, remember what I told you. Go home and talk to her. Trust me, she'll need it." Sandra placed a finger on his chest firmly to show how serious she was about her words. "Call me later after you've talked to her. And I love you too, son."

"Yes ma'am. Now get you some rest and I'll be checking on you later on."

"Alright, now don't come worrying about me, child. Worry about that WIFE of yours..."

"Yes, ma'am. I will." Kalvin nodded to her with  determination in his voice.

Kalvin left the facility and hopped into his car, checking his watch once more for the time. He had to go home and freshen up before meeting Melanie, Dmitri and Alicia for an afternoon lunch date.