Austin, Texas

Sue Ellen spent her days moving from hobby to hobby, and her nights with JR, the Ewings or her own family. It was enjoyable, but she still felt unfulfilled; it was difficult to make friends with people when she was in her position. Her friends from college were all married, had jobs or still in college; the gap in their lives was getting bigger and bigger and it was becoming harder for her to relate to their lives at all. She had no money problems or work stories to tell, she didn't even have any real relationship drama to complain about; her life was at a standstill, just progressing through time, but never actually developing. She tried to distract herself from the distance between her and her old friends by making new friends, but the ladies she met at her activities were different. They were nice, but they also had completely different life circumstances to her; she was just JR Ewing's girlfriend and a former Miss Texas, but she wasn't Mrs JR Ewing, she wasn't even engaged to be Mrs JR Ewing. It was beginning to get very frustrating for her, how was she supposed to keep explaining their relationship situation? There was absolutely no reason for JR to not have proposed already unless he was getting cold feet about their relationship; it seemed that everyone was ready for an engagement, everyone except for JR.

Dallas, Texas

"JR? Are you busy?" Miss Ellie knocked on his bedroom door and he was surprised, "no mama, please come in", he opened the door and Miss Ellie entered the room, "how are you JR?" he was a little bit confused, his mother didn't usually seek him out for conversation and hardly ever just asked him how he was. "I'm fine mama. Why do you ask?" she was either going to ask him for a favour or want to know details about his private life that were private for a reason. Miss Ellie felt a little strange, she hadn't been in JR's bedroom for a long time and she hadn't seen the small changes that had occurred over the past year. "That's a lovely picture", she pointed at the framed photograph of he and Sue Ellen, the first personal photograph he'd ever placed in his room by himself, not because a decorator or his mother put it there. "Thank you" he looked at the picture and remembered the day it had been taken, it was when he and Sue Ellen were first dating and every date was an opportunity to impress her. He'd surprised Sue Ellen with a romantic sunset dinner on a yacht on Lake Buchanan and he had been almost certain that the romantic atmosphere and location would allow him to get her into bed; remembering the date now, he realised exactly how much he'd underestimated her willpower. "You and Sue Ellen look very happy together", she admired the photograph, they were a photogenic couple and as far as she could tell, they were very well suited to each other; "thank you, we are", JR was still unsure of where this conversation was heading.

Taking a deep breath and hoping that her words weren't misinterpreted, she began to speak, "JR, forgive me if this isn't my place, but I'm curious"; as soon as she started to speak, JR knew exactly where this was heading, "mama…". "No JR, please, just hear me out", she had been waiting too long to ask and wasn't going to be deterred by his unwillingness to even discuss the subject, "Sue Ellen is a lovely girl, she's charming, polite, beautiful and she loves you. However, I'm afraid that she'll start to have doubts about your seriousness if you wait much longer. I know you've said that you want it to happen at the right time, but when exactly is the right time? Because Sue Ellen has graduated, she's no longer Miss Texas and she's not even modelling anymore; now seems like the perfect time. If you're not serious about her then I don't think it's very fair to keep her hoping and waiting; there is only so long a woman will wait for a man to make a decision before she has to make it herself. You've met Mrs Shepard; I don't doubt her seriousness when it comes to her daughters lives. I'm not trying to tell you to exactly what to do and I know that even if I did, it would be difficult to make it happen, you and your father are two very stubborn men. But please, consider everything that's at stake here, you are not the only person affected by this", she finished speaking and hoped that he didn't take it the wrong way, he was lucky that it was her giving him this speech though, Jock would have been a lot tougher on his eldest son.

JR took everything in; he was conflicted, he loved Sue Ellen and couldn't wait to make her his wife, but he also realised that marriage was a big commitment and he wasn't sure that he was ready to make that kind of commitment and actually stick to it. He had been a bachelor for so long and he enjoyed the variety that came with that; even though he wasn't married yet, it was already more difficult to satisfy his deepest desires and keep his girlfriend happy. Having to be so secretive about his meetings was irritating, he'd never before had to hide a whole part of his life and it was exhausting to have to work around a schedule to stop Sue Ellen from knowing. He wasn't sure if he was ready to commit to having only one woman for the rest of his life; it was a mental challenge as well as an emotional one, he had his own hang-ups involving the physical side of their relationship and it was difficult for him to think any differently. Sue Ellen was a lady, he most definitely wasn't a compete gentleman; they may be compatible in life, but he wasn't sure about in the bedroom. Of course, he wanted to have her in that way, but husbands and wives were supposed to be proper, a majority of things that turned him on were anything but proper; it scared him that he could possibly be locking himself into a lifetime of unhappiness. He always felt bad when he treated Sue Ellen in any way that wasn't suited for the lady that she was; she was fragile and there were times when he thought that he was too rough with her, it shouldn't happen and it wasn't something he could control. He often ended up regretting treating her like that afterwards but he failed to realise that Sue Ellen wanted him any way that he wanted her; it didn't upset her when he kissed her out of anger or frustration. It had confused her at first, but then accepted that it was just another part of his personality and she enjoyed how passionate it made him. She wasn't as fragile and proper as he imagined her to be, she didn't need him to always act romantically; sometimes she just wanted him to act on his desires without considering the ladylike side of her as the dominant side. In JR's mind, there was a distinct line between the kind of things husbands did with their wives and what they did with their mistresses; he didn't want to marry her only to make her upset because he had to seek other women for satisfaction; that would just hurt them both and their families. He didn't really know what he was waiting for, nothing looked like it would change in the near future and he didn't want Sue Ellen to change for him, he wanted to marry the lady that he fell in love with. It was a problem that he'd been going over and over but had yet to come up with a solution. Neither of them realised it, but they had a huge communication issue that was affecting their relationship; if they just talked it out then they probably wouldn't have had as many questions for each other.

"Mama, I love Sue Ellen and I am very serious about her, but as I've said before, I want us to get engaged at the right time. I can't explain when that will be, because if it had happened then I would already have proposed, but I promise, it will happen", he didn't know how to explain without going into all the details, they weren't something his mother needed to know. Miss Ellie wasn't surprised at his words, they were the same ones he'd been saying for months, but she was beginning to understand that even JR himself didn't quite know what he was waiting for. "Look, I am serious", he walked to his dresser and found the small box in the back of his drawer. His actions surprised her, he wasn't just saying that he wanted to marry Sue Ellen, he physically had a ring and was waiting for the right time; "it's beautiful" she admired the huge diamond, "it will look lovely on Sue Ellen's finger…whenever you decide". She smiled and took his revelation as a cue to end their conversation, she had gotten a small piece of new information and that's all she really needed or wanted, as long as he was serious about Sue Ellen, she was satisfied for now. JR stood and looked at the photograph again, the conversation with his mother had just revived all of his confusion; he didn't know when the right time was and he wasn't sure that he ever would.

To be continued…