Dallas, Texas
'A baby for Miss Texas?', JR read and reread the newspaper headline, of course it was in the gossip section which was notoriously unreliable, but it was still published and it had comments from a woman who was claiming the story was absolutely true. Even if it wasn't true, the damage was already done, it would have everyone talking and that kind of talk was not what he needed right now, not for her, not for him and not for Ewing Oil. He was fairly certain that it wasn't true, if he couldn't even get that far, no other man was that lucky either; or so he reasoned, he had doubts in the back of his mind. She had lied to him about her whereabouts the previous weekend and she had complained about feeling ill last month, the article quoted a woman who saw her buying vitamins and spotted a leaflet about motherhood; what if she was expecting? There was no other explanation for why she would need vitamins, she was young and healthy. JR was glad he was the first Ewing at the breakfast table; he couldn't deal with questions he didn't have answers to, he hated not being in control. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to talk to Sue Ellen, then she'd have to explain it to him; but he was angry, if this was true then she wasn't the girl he thought she was and they couldn't be together, he wouldn't have it. JR quickly ate his breakfast, folded the newspaper and left the house.
"Harry, I want to speak to that detective you had following Sue Ellen" JR sat in his office and impatiently waited for his call to be answered. "How can I help you Mr Ewing?" the detective finally answered and JR launched into his request, asking whether Miss Shepard did anything remotely related to motherhood. "Yes sir, when she was shopping at The Store, she shopped in three sections, ladies clothes, home and kitchenware and nursery. She purchased a photo frame, baby clothes and a blanket as well as her other items, but the other things weren't related to motherhood". JR was angry, how did this happen? She would freeze up if he even made a slightly suggestive move, but she gave in to some other man and was now having his baby. "I don't know why you didn't tell me these details when you were here, I told you I wanted to know everything" JR wouldn't be using this detective again, he obviously couldn't follow instructions. "I'm sorry Mr Ewing" the man apologised and JR hung up.
Austin, Texas
"Sue Ellen Shepard! Open this door right now!" Patricia had bypassed the common room waiting area of the sorority house and gone directly to find her daughter, this news report had to be false, but the damage was already done to her reputation. Sue Ellen was still sleeping, her class wasn't until eleven in the morning and she'd spent the night finishing an essay, she was tired. The sound of banging combined with her mother's voice screaming her full name startled her out of her slumber; nothing that had her mother acting like this could be good. Groggily she opened the door, Paula was still sleeping but Patricia barged her way into the room anyway. "What is the meaning of this?" the newspaper was in her face and Sue Ellen's eyes widened, this was worse than she thought, she couldn't tell her mother the real reason why she had been shopping for vitamins, Paula hadn't made her pregnancy public yet and she wasn't going to throw her friend under the bus just to protect herself. "It's a huge misunderstanding mama, I promise you, I am not with child. The newspaper is wrong, they made an assumption and that assumption is completely untrue", she pleaded with her mother to believe her. Paula sat up in her bed, the sound of the argument had woken her; "how am I supposed to believe you, you haven't given me much to trust you about lately. I knew I shouldn't have started to let you be alone with JR Ewing again". "It's not her fault, it's mine" she decided that she'd have to go public sometime, and she was a married woman now; the two women looked over toward her, "excuse me?" Paula took a deep breath and began to speak, "the items weren't for Sue Ellen, they were for me. She was going into town and asked whether I needed anything, she was just fulfilling my request". The three women talked, Patricia was upset that Sue Ellen's reputation was being dragged through the mud because her roommate was a scarlet woman; she had tried to warn Sue Ellen against mixing with girls like that for this very reason.
Dallas, Texas
"JR!" Jock burst into JR's office, he'd picked up a newspaper on his way to work, the one they had delivered to Southfork every morning was gone. He didn't usually read the gossip column, but the headline had caught his eye as he flicked through to the business section. JR jumped as Jock entered the room, he had been in deep thought since his phone call ended. "Is this true?" his words were forceful and demanding; he wanted a grandson and Sue Ellen would be the perfect woman to provide his grandson, but the two weren't married and the baby be an illegitimate child. The Ewing heir was supposed to be of good breeding and born in wedlock, this was not the plan, JR had once again messed up a good thing. "I don't know Daddy, I haven't spoken to her. I can't imagine that there is any truth in these claims though, Sue Ellen is a lady and ladies don't do things like that" he tried his best to sound reassuring to his father and the hint of bitterness in his voice was apparent, Jock quickly ascertained that the hypothetical child was not a Ewing. "I think you need to control your girlfriend, go and find out what the hell is going on. If this is a blatant lie, then we'll make sure that everyone knows it, nobody talks about the Ewings like that and get away with it" Jock was a tough man and he wouldn't have his family name besmirched.
Austin, Texas
Sue Ellen skipped her classes for the day, gathering a few of her books she drove over to her mother's house to study, she didn't want to be answering questions all day and Patricia wouldn't have anyone misinterpreting her words and printing them in a newspaper, that would only add fuel to the fire. Patricia wanted to call the newspaper herself and get a retraction printed, but that would only call more attention to the whole thing; ladies did not dignify insults by answering them. Sue Ellen would say nothing and wait for the scandal to go away, people would quickly grow tired of debating a non-issue with no solid evidence.
JR mentally checked her schedule; she had class earlier in the day, but nothing this afternoon. She was either holding her head high and braving the world, or she was at her mother's house. He told the driver to take him from the airport to Patricia's house first, it was closer than driving to the college and then to her mother's house if she wasn't at college. Politely knocking on the door, he made sure that he was calm; the last thing he needed was an angry Patricia on the attack from the minute he arrived. "Good afternoon Mrs Shepard, is Sue Ellen available?" he did his best to act courteously, addressing her formally even though he usually called her by her first name. Patricia was surprised when JR knocked on the door, she hadn't expected him to make a trip to Austin just to discuss a silly little gossip column; she'd mentally downplayed the whole thing after talking it through with her daughter, JR didn't need to be here, he would mess with Sue Ellen's mind and convince her to change the plan. Sue Ellen was in her bedroom and didn't hear the knock at the door, she did however hear JR attempting to schmooze her mother; she knew Patricia was volatile right now, JR didn't have a chance if he said one word out of place. "Mama, why didn't you tell me JR was here?" she walked down the stairs and into the living room; JR looked her up and down and put the two pieces of evidence before him together, Patricia was being friendly and Sue Ellen looked apologetic and physically she was as willowy as the day they met. "Sue Ellen" he greeted her coldly, he needed to hear it from her before he expressed anything; Sue Ellen was taken aback by his tone, he'd been so cordial toward her mother but the same warmth was absent in the way he spoke to her. "JR, firstly, I'm sorry, I never intended for anything like this to happen, and secondly, the story is completely untrue, the newspaper misinterpreted everything" she spoke quickly and looked at him, he still didn't show any emotion.
"So, we'll sue. Nobody spreads lies like that about the Ewings and by association this reflects badly on me", JR couldn't think of any other option, he couldn't just let them get away with it. Sue Ellen looked across the room at Patricia, her mother quietly leaving her alone to deal with JR, she would normally be confrontational, but she chose today to allow Sue Ellen to deal with her own problems, something Sue Ellen did not appreciate, "no, that will only make things worse. We will leave this in today's newspaper. There will be no response and no reaction; everyone will forget about it in a few days" Sue Ellen tried to persuade him to see it their way, but he was not happy. "Just ignore it? That is your plan? No, we need to make sure no one ever spreads gossip like this again and the only way to do that is to make an example of the people who made these malicious lies up" JR had calmed down as she explained the situation, but her choice in retaliation was making him angry again. "JR Ewing is not passive, JR Ewing does not let people spread lies and get away with it" Sue Ellen listened, he was in a vengeful mindset, he wouldn't listen to what should be done, he had his own ideas. "JR, they barely mentioned you, please, just leave it alone", she pleaded but it was no use, "barely mentioned me? They basically claimed that you were a common whore and I was one of several possible fathers, how are you not upset about this? As long as you and I are together, what you do reflects on me. If we do nothing and let people believe these lies then that opens the door for all sorts of people to start fabricating stories. There are people who will take advantage of that weakness; I do not need to be paying blackmailers because they are threatening to leak false stories. I don't think you understand, I am a wealthy, powerful man and by association, the way people see you, impacts on me. We have to fight this, we cannot do nothing" his voice rose as he spoke, he was angry that she let this happen and angry that she was fighting him on his decision. Sue Ellen was annoyed, he clearly only cared about his own reputation and whether she made him look bad. "But…" JR cut her off before she even started to speak, if she just agreed to what he had suggested then they wouldn't have a problem, he was an expert in dealing with unpleasant people. "Sue Ellen" he growled, "stop acting like a child and listen to me. We will deal with this in my way and that is final" he was angry, she was frustrating him and they were getting nowhere, he wasn't going to do it her way so they may as well stop the argument now. "But why…" she whined before realising she really was acting like a child, "fine, if I'm such a bad associate, maybe we shouldn't be together anymore" she blurted the words out before she thought, almost immediately regretting opening her mouth. JR was shocked, both that she had spoken to him that way and that she'd suggested separating, he wouldn't let it show though, he was stubborn and full of pride, letting a woman get to him was a sign of weakness, he wasn't going to let it show that she had disturbed him. "If that's the way you want it then fine. Call me when you decide to see things my way", he got up, collected his hat and walked out the front door. Sue Ellen was left sitting in shock, everything had happened so fast and she wasn't sure exactly how they'd gotten to this point. Who was supposed to apologise in this situation? She didn't even know what the state of their relationship was. Did they just break up or was this just a silly little fight?
To be continued…