Katherine felt a growing sense of nervousness and dread as everyone at the dinner table continued to stare at her. Ever since she had arrived at Southfork a few hours earlier in the day, Katherine had found herself feeling slightly confused. The way the whole family had seemed to be waiting to greet her in the living room all at once. All of their greetings and questions had seemed a bit too…formal. Now, Katherine knew why. She felt stupid for overlooking the obvious. JR had been the one who had asked Miss Ellie if Katherine could come over. Since the Ewings were an old-fashioned family, it would be normal for them to jump to the conclusion that JR had invited Katherine over because he wanted everyone to meet his future bride to-be. While it was true that JR had made it clear to Katherine that he did want to marry her, she knew that he had only invited her to Southfork today with the intention of making her happy. But it looked like everyone else had a very different idea about things.
Before Katherine could find the courage to say anything, JR spoke up. "Lucy. We're friends. Okay?" He said in a quiet yet firm voice.
Lucy looked a bit surprised by JR's reaction. But when she saw the anxiety in Katherine's expression, Lucy seemed to realize what was going on. "Okay. Sorry about that, Katherine. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions like that." Lucy apologized.
"It's okay, Lucy. I'm not mad." Katherine said somewhat awkwardly.
After dinner had ended, JR approached Katherine. "Why don't we go for a walk?" He suggested.
"Oh, that's right! I still haven't seen all of Southfork yet!" Katherine said excitedly.
JR laughed softly at Katherine's reaction. "Well, I'm afraid that we don't have time to see everything. We do own quite a bit of land after all. But we still have enough time to see all of the best places." He said.
"Well, I'm all for that! Let's go!" Katherine said enthusiastically.
"Do you guys mind if go with you part of the way? I need to head over to the stables." Bobby said.
JR looked slightly annoyed, but he recovered quickly. "Sure thing, Bob!" He replied with a smile.
On the way to the stables, Bobby chattered excitedly about the horses. "Just wait till you see them! The horses are great with people! Even if they've never met them before!" He said.
"That sounds…nice." Katherine said somewhat apprehensively. She didn't want to admit it to Bobby, but Katherine hadn't particularly been excited about seeing the horses. Or any other animal, for that matter. This was the part of Southfork that she had been hoping to avoid. Katherine noticed that JR didn't seem very happy about this part of the walk, either. He kept checking the ground before each step that he took.
Once they arrived at the stables, Bobby wasted no time in showing his horse to Katherine. Katherine tried to appear interested, but her heart just wasn't in it. She was starting to see that she didn't really have that much in common with Bobby.
"JR, you should show Katherine your horse while we're here!" Bobby said.
"Oh. Is he still alive?" JR asked. Katherine couldn't help laughing at JR's question. He didn't seem overly thrilled. Bobby gave her an odd look.
"Yes, he is. But I'm not surprised that you would forget about him since you hardly ever come out here." Bobby said.
"You know me. I'll take the office any day over this!" JR said.
"I couldn't agree with you more!" Katherine said.
Bobby looked a bit hurt by Katherine's response. "You don't like the horses?" He asked.
"It's not that I don't like them! I've always just been more of a city person, I guess. I've only been on a horse once, and I didn't really enjoy the experience." Katherine explained apologetically. She could still recall that awful sensation of being jolted upward as the horse trotted forward. Katherine did not understand how anyone could enjoy it.
"It's not for everybody, I guess. You really do have a lot in common with JR." Bobby said thoughtfully.
Katherine blushed. "I guess you're right." She said.
"Well, I have some work to do here, so why don't you show Katherine some of the more animal- free places around here, JR?" Bobby said with a grin. Katherine couldn't help feeling that Bobby was intentionally trying to set her up with JR.
"I won't say no to that! Shall we?" JR asked Katherine with his most charming smile.
"Um, sure." Katherine replied awkwardly.
Once they were a safe distance away from the stables, JR started to talk. "So, it looks like we have even more in common than I thought." He said with a smile.
"That's right. I don't like animals, JR." Katherine said firmly.
"And I assume that you're not just referring to your brother." JR said jokingly.
Katherine and JR walked in silence for a bit. But it was a comfortable silence, not an awkward one.
After JR had finished showing Katherine the old treehouse were Bobby and Gary had played in during their childhood, he led her over to a large willow tree. Katherine couldn't help marveling at the beauty of the spot. It was the perfect place to spend some quiet time with a good book.
"This is beautiful…" Katherine said. She and JR both sat down under the tree.
"Well, since I already showed you the treehouse, I thought you might like to see my special place." JR said.
"I'm not surprised that you would like spending time here, but didn't you ever go to the treehouse?" Katherine asked curiously.
JR looked pained. "The treehouse wasn't built until after Gary was born. I guess I still could've gone there too, but…" He trailed off.
Katherine's heart ached. She knew enough about JR's painful past to get an idea about where this was going. "But what?" She pressed gently.
"I was never exactly included in that. I could tell by the way mama and daddy always brought it up. It was always, "Gary, why don't you and Bobby go play in your treehouse?" I knew that it wasn't for me. I've always got on Gary and Ray's case about being a Ewing. But the truth is that they have always fit in just fine. I've never told anyone this before, but I've always felt like the real outsider… is me." JR said sadly.
Katherine instinctively took JR's hand in hers. JR looked at her in surprise.
"JR, you have to understand that none of that is your fault. You can't help it that you are different from everyone else in your family. But for what it's worth I think that it just makes you more special…" Katherine said softly.
JR looked lost for words. Katherine continued to talk. "And even though we both had very different childhoods, I do know how you feel. When I first came here to be with mama again, everything was different. She was always so happy with Cliff and Pam. She would talk with them for hours about things I didn't even know that she liked. They all related to each other in a way I couldn't. I felt like I was just in the background. It just seemed like they were the kind of children that she had really wanted, and I hated it. I know what it's like to be the odd one out in the family, JR. It makes you feel just so damn… lonely!" She said. Before she could stop it, Katherine started to sob.
"Oh, no… Please don't cry, Katherine." JR said softly. He gently brushed Katherine's tears out of her eyes. Touched by this sudden act of tenderness, Katherine stopped crying and looked directly at JR.
"You are far more special than you could ever know, Katherine…" JR said quietly.
Before Katherine even realized what was happening, she found herself in JR's arms; wrapped in a tight embrace. "JR…" Katherine said softly.
"I love you…" JR whispered softly to Katherine. Then, without warning he started kissing her.
Katherine couldn't believe what was happening. What was even more surprising to her was that she was doing nothing to stop JR. In fact, she was kissing him back. It was more amazing than anything she had ever experienced before. JR was gentle, yet passionate, all at once. In this moment, it seemed impossible that JR could ever hurt her. The softness of his lips. The protective feeling of his arms around her. All of it made Katherine feel safer than she ever had with anyone else before.
Katherine wasn't sure how long she and JR kissed. It was as if time had frozen for them both. But eventually, they both broke apart; gasping for air.
"I'm sorry! I swear that I wasn't trying to push you into that!" JR said frantically.
"Believe me, I'm not complaining! I just don't know what to think right now…" Katherine said honestly.
"It's okay. You don't have to think about it right away if you don't want to. It's getting late. Why don't we head back?" JR said.
"Okay." Katherine answered. She was still feeling a bit dazed.
Later that night after saying goodbye to everyone, Katherine was sitting in the front seat of her car. She had the window rolled down so that she could say goodbye to JR before she drove back home.
"Thank you for inviting me over today, JR. I really did have a wonderful time." Katherine said sincerely.
"So did I. Today was special, and I'll never forget it." JR said softly.
"Neither will I…" Katherine agreed.
"You are free to come back whenever you want. Oh, and you should know that they all are crazy about you!" JR said with a brief glance towards the house.
Katherine laughed. "I'll keep that in mind! I'll talk to you tomorrow, JR. Good night…" She said quietly.
"Good night, Katherine. I love you…" JR said softly.
As Katherine drove away, she couldn't help feeling that it might be time for her to start really thinking about giving JR a chance…
Author's note: I did it! After twenty-seven chapters, JR and Katherine have finally kissed! I'm sorry to say that I probably won't be able to update for the next two weeks. I might be able to, but it depends on how far ahead I can get with my schoolwork. So you might have to wait a while to see anything new. Thanks for reading!
