Katherine served dinner somewhat nervously. She hadn't cooked in a while, her circumstances in Dallas forcing her to eat out or order room service. The skills she had been taught as part of a proper young lady's upbringing were now rather rusty, she reflected, although there was something quite satisfying about preparing a meal from scratch. JR smiled at her expectantly, sipping champagne and staring idly from time to time out of the window at the busy street below.
She gestured for him to sit down at the table which she had decorated with a pretty arrangement from one of the city's finest florists and a scattering of tea lights in variously different coloured Venetian glass holders.
"I hope it's alright" she announced anxiously. "It's been a while since I entertained here." JR didn't respond. The truth was he didn't care whether Katherine could cook or not. Domestic skills had always been an irrelevance when it came to the women in his life and that certainly wasn't what had attracted him to this particular woman. He lifted the crystal decanter and poured them a glass of red wine, certain that she would have selected a decent vintage. Holding his glass aloft he made a toast. "Here's to us and the next three nights together!" She clinked her glass gently against his, feeling a mixture of exhilaration and trepidation. How had they come to this, she wondered as she watched him take his first bite.
"Delicious" he announced as his knife cut through the roast lamb she had made as if slicing through butter. She breathed a sigh of relief and began to tuck in herself, recalling that she hadn't eaten anything that day, too wound up with nervous anticipation to succumb to hunger.
As she relaxed conversation between them began to flow. It started where it usually started- business- but then descended into other more profound topics. "Did you feel loved as a child, Katherine?" JR asked. She sighed. "Very much so. My father doted on me and my mother was caring and affectionate too. There was always something about her though that I couldn't quite figure out, a secret that she was keeping, something missing from her life that caused her inner turmoil. It's only been recently that I came to understand that, no matter how much she loved me, I couldn't replace the two children that she had lost."
"Walked away from you mean?" JR interjected bluntly. Katherine nodded sadly. "Yes, that's true." "Did your father know about Cliff and Pam?" he asked, keen to know more. "I imagine so. My father didn't get where he was without knowing everything that was going on around him." "Do you think he would have stopped your mother from trying to trace them?" Katherine shook her head firmly. "Never. My mother meant the world to him. He wouldn't have done anything to make her unhappy. No, I firmly believe that it was her choice. I've also wondered if Pam hadn't turned up on her doorstep that day whether she would ever have decided to find them?"
"You've been through a lot, Katherine" JR eventually responded "but you've come through it even stronger than you were before. You should be proud of yourself." "I couldn't have done it without you" she told him. "Nonsense! You would have found the way all by yourself in the end. All I did was help you to accelerate the process."
She smiled at him shyly, unconvinced but flattered by his compliments. "So, what about you? Why did your daddy not just leave the company to you? You were the Vice-President and the one responsible for all its recent successes. Why did he put you in competition with Bobby?"
JR smiled ruefully. "Bobby was always daddy's favourite. There was a time when he placed him in charge, while I was recovering from having been shot. Bobby started off well but then he lost his grip and started to make rash and ill-considered decisions. I reckon it almost killed daddy to have to hand the reins back to me. I guess this was him affording my little brother a second chance to show what he's made of."
Katherine shook her head. "Were you responsible for Bobby's failure at running Ewing Oil?" she asked, already knowing the answer deep down. JR chuckled wickedly. "I might have been…You see, honey, that company means so much to me, just like your daddy's means to you, and I was never going to give it up without a fight." "Bobby can't beat you, though, can he? It's about the most uneven contest one could imagine." JR laughed. "I hope so, Katherine, because I'll take the company down before I let my little brother become President. Ewing Oil is my boy's birth-right."
Katherine got up and began wordlessly to clear their plates away. The vociferous way that JR had spoken about his son had been sobering in the extreme. It wasn't Sue Ellen that she had to be afraid of, it was the prospect of JR losing his little boy that was the real threat to them having a life together. She had known that all along, deep down, but his words just then and the way he had spoken them confirmed it for her.
"Katherine?" he asked. "Are you alright, honey?" "Yes, of course" she answered, fighting back the tears and attempting to sound cheerful. "Dessert?" JR entered the kitchen and put his arms around her. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked anxiously. "It's not your fault, JR, but what you just said, about John Ross. It hit home. I mean, what are we really doing here?"
JR stared into her eyes. "I don't know, Katherine. All I know is that I want to be with you, to get to know you properly. I'm not going to lie. There will be difficult decisions to be taken if things go the way that I anticipate between us. I can't give you any guarantees but I want to try to make things work."
"You won't risk losing your son, though. I get that. I'm in too deep already, JR, and it scares me." He took hold of her hand. "Let's worry about that another day. You know me. I always come up with a plan. Now, I do want dessert but not that pie that you've taken from the refrigerator, although it does look very tasty. I want you. Come on, sugar. Let's forget about our problems just for a little while and have some fun?"
She knew she should show him the door and tell him to go back home, to his wife and child, but she couldn't. She was under his spell, in his thrall, powerless to resist as she let him lead her to the bedroom.
Tbc