London, England

December 23 1991

Assisting her with the clasp on her dress, Don seemed only to notice her appearance when she reached for her jewellery.

"You look lovely. Something special happening today?"

Taking his comment as a compliment, she noted the interested tone in which he asked the question.

"Just the usual; Monday lunch with Susan, maybe a little shopping afterwards."

She'd done most of her Christmas shopping as the holiday was fast approaching, but she knew herself better than to rule out doing a little extra, there were always more things one could find a purpose for.

"No JR?"

Clarifying what he'd actually meant, that it wasn't Susan or her shopping excursion he was interested in, his question made her laugh. He hadn't said it, but his tone did; his hospitality as far as hosting JR went was beginning to wear thin.

"No JR."

"When's he leaving?"

"You know as much as I do."

Shrugging, she was sure her answer gave him no confidence in JR's departure.

"I feel like that becomes less every day. The man has a look in his eye; he's not telling us everything."

Suspicious, Don had good reason to be. John Ross had invited JR to visit for the holidays and he'd taken him up on the offer, arriving 10 days before the big day with a return ticket sometime before the new year, however having spent time with him recently it was painfully obvious that he didn't feel there was much waiting for him back home in Dallas.

"JR never reveals everything he has going on."

"That's what worries me." A hand on her waist as they walked out of the bedroom towards the staircase, he expressed further concern about her ex-husband.

"Jealous?"

He was nothing like JR on a normal day, but the feelings she was beginning to sense between them were eerily familiar. Men were men after all, and in fact, women were women too; monogamous couples didn't enjoy threats to that monogamy.

"Not unless I have reason to be."

Stopping as they reached the landing, he looked at her as if to ask again whether she was being completely transparent about things. She had admitted that she found it difficult to be around JR for reasons other than her dislike for him, which had to be hard for Don to forget. She and JR had had a volatile relationship, they were terrible for each other, but she'd never experienced the level of passion they had with each other with any other man, not even Don. The intimate details of her marriage to JR weren't something she would have shared with a future lover had she thought of Don that way when they'd first introduced, but by the time their relationship reached the next level there were very few secrets between them.

"You don't."

"Good." Resuming their journey downstairs, he continued, "I don't want to stop the man from seeing his son, but I could do without him making eyes at you."

Understanding exactly where he was coming from, she agreed with his point; JR wasn't all that discreet about his continued attraction to her and seeing as she was married to Don that wasn't particularly helpful or appropriate.

"He'll be gone soon enough." She didn't know whether it was true but she had to assume that he intended to use his return ticket, whether he had nothing to fly home to or not, to suggest the other option was not something she wanted to do at present.

Arriving downstairs, they headed towards the dining room however the sound coming from across the hall distracted her before she got there.

Finding John Ross sitting cross-legged on the sofa, a bowl of cereal in one hand and the television remote in the other, she wasn't upset, just confused.

"John Ross, shouldn't you be ready by now?"

She'd been under the impression JR was going to collect him first thing, but John Ross' behaviour indicated otherwise.

"Daddy has a meeting this morning, he'll be over later."

"A meeting?"

At a time in his life it wouldn't have been difficult to believe JR had a morning meeting to attend, but not at this time in his life. He didn't have a company, a job, or any connection to London other than through his family, so who he was meeting with was a mystery to her.

"Yeah, something about the future."

"Did he offer you anything more specific than that?"

Quiet as he thought about it, John Ross came back with the sort of ambiguous answer JR would give.

"No. All he said was he has plans for the future."

"Here?"

Getting the feeling that if he was planning something new it would be with his family's location in mind, she asked the question anyway, not really expecting any answer other than the one she got.

"I think so."

Squeezing her hand, Don's feelings on the subject were clear.

"Wouldn't that be great?"

Appearing quite delighted by the possibility of having JR around all the time, John Ross was surely the only one, because if the look that passed between her and Don meant what she thought it did, trouble was brewing. It was one thing having JR visit on vacation but it was quite another to have him around permanently.