Dallas, Texas

"Will she be there?" Sue Ellen and JR tied their horses to a tree and walked around the pond as Sue Ellen listened to JR talk about all of the former Ewing barbecues. It was a tradition that almost everyone the Ewing family had ever met was invited and Sue Ellen was nervous that this year was going to have some nasty surprise in store for her again. JR didn't take too long to realise what she was referring to, "well yes darlin', it's not my choice, her father and husband are Ewing Oil business associates, we can't just uninvited them", Sue Ellen nodded, the barbecue was just as much about having fun as it was about networking and making business deals. "I understand, but she had better stay away from me. I don't like that woman, she's never once said a kind word to me and I don't even know why; I'd never even met her until last year", she was still a little scarred from the experience of having a drink thrown at her; "didn't I tell you last year? Marilee is a spiteful woman, she doesn't like many people, it's not really personal toward you, she's that way with everyone", he held back a grin, her feisty attitude made her one hell of an exciting woman in the bedroom, but outside of that, he didn't care too much for her. "Besides, mama said she's joined the DOA now and she's very much into focusing her energy on their charity events, maybe she's different now", he doubted it, but Sue Ellen didn't need to know that. "Mhm, maybe", she was dreading seeing that woman and hearing that she'd joined the DOA didn't make her too pleased; she thought the DOA ladies liked her, but if Marilee were there, she may not be able to continue being the charming young lady she usually was. "Good. Now, let's get back to the house; I don't want to be caught out by the sun setting on us, I'll be damned if I'm stuck out here all night"; Sue Ellen laughed to herself, the sun wasn't setting for at least an hour and they still had plenty of time to get back to Southfork. It was extremely obvious that he hated riding horses and couldn't wait to shower and change back into his regular clothes.

It was the Saturday after Labor Day weekend and Southfork was bustling with activity, the annual Ewing Barbecue was being held and no one of importance in Dallas would willingly miss the event. "Miss Ellie, you put all of this together yourself? It's wonderful", Sue Ellen admired the amount of work that went into planning the party, "thank you Sue Ellen. But it's a Ewing tradition now, once you do it so many times, it becomes somewhat of a habit. The caterers know what food we like and the staff are very good at their jobs, I just oversee the whole project", Miss Ellie was never too comfortable with accepting all the compliments, she hadn't done it alone and everyone who helped deserved to be recognized. "Well, it's a lovely party", she looked around and imagined herself as a Ewing, hoping that one day she would be one, one day soon hopefully. "Sue Ellen!" Lucy ran down the stairs dressed in her barbecue outfit, "help me pick out a pair of boots". Lucy was fairly independent but she still looked to Sue Ellen for guidance and approval; Sue Ellen was everything she'd been missing in her life, a young, female influence; she never really knew her own mother and she liked having Sue Ellen around. Sue Ellen followed Lucy upstairs to her room and helped her before they joined the rest of the family to welcome the arriving guests.

"Seth is such a good husband; he's always buying me gifts and taking me to new places, and when he works late at the office with my daddy, he always apologises and makes up for it", Marilee bragged about her marriage and the DOA ladies politely listened and conversed with her. Sue Ellen sighed; polite, friendly and courteous Marilee was almost as bad as catty, spiteful Marilee. "What about you Sue Ellen? I thought that you and JR would be engaged by now", Marilee asked the question, knowing that JR was never really the kind of man that liked to make a commitment, and if anything, he was the sole reason why they weren't yet engaged. The other ladies made comments in agreement with Marilee's question, they were all eager to hear exactly why JR was taking so long to make Sue Ellen his wife. "Well, we're taking our relationship slowly; there isn't any real rush to get married, we'll do it when it's the right time", she weakly explained, but she knew that she wasn't even convincing herself with that response. "Really? But what about the Ewing heir? I know that Jock Ewing can't wait to have a grandson. I would have thought that was reason enough for JR to propose; I know how much he wants to please his daddy", Marilee goaded Sue Ellen, she was pleased that Miss Ellie wasn't at the table, it gave her more freedom to say whatever she wanted. Sue Ellen was surprised, she didn't expect Marilee to be so upfront in inferring that JR would only marry her to please his father by providing the future Ewing heir. The other ladies were hooked into the conversation now, Marilee was speaking the words that they were all too polite to say out loud; Sue Ellen didn't know how to respond, "there's plenty of time for that. The difference between getting married now or sometime in the future isn't great. Everyone will have what they want, but at the moment JR and I are happy with the way things are and I'm sure that when the time is right, he'll propose. But it isn't up to me to decide when he will ask. So, if you really wish to know, you'd be better off asking him, because I don't have an answer for you", she started off trying to be polite and diplomatic, but her frustration with the situation and the continual questions affected the way the rest of her reply was phrased. Marilee smirked, "hm, if he doesn't act fast, Bobby may beat him to it. Even Gary's already been married once, though I'm not sure that counts; that girl wasn't exactly Ewing material"; Sue Ellen was shocked, how could Marilee speak so openly in such a harsh and judgemental way? She didn't even try and disguise her feelings behind kind words. "As I said, it's JR's decision, not mine. But right now, we're happy with the way things are", she smiled politely and the other ladies took it as a signal to change the topic of conversation before this turned nasty.

"JR! IS IT TRUE?" Bobby screamed at his brother and immediately had the attention of every guest at the barbecue. Sue Ellen turned around and watched from her seat, she wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but Marilee sure looked amused. "It's not what you think Bob", JR tried to reason with his brother, someone had blabbed, he didn't know who, but he would find out. "So you did", Bobby was angry, he couldn't believe that JR would go to such lengths to keep him out of the business; before anyone really knew what was happening, Bobby hit JR. One of the ranch hands that Sue Ellen recognized as Ray ran toward them and tried to break up the pathetic fist fight, it was better he intervene sooner rather than later, Bobby was always much more of a physical fighter and it wouldn't have taken much to defeat JR. As quickly as the whole thing had started, all three men were in the swimming pool and Sue Ellen was left standing watching the whole thing in confusion; "every year" Marilee chuckled to herself, this was not the first and would definitely not be the last time someone ended up in the Southfork swimming pool.

To be continued…