Dallas, Texas

"What about this one?" wandering around the large car dealership, stopping to examine each vehicle, JR let out a loud sigh as his wife shook her head yet again. As much as he enjoyed looking at brand new, good, solid, American cars, she was a hard woman to please and nothing seemed to appeal to her. She still seemed to be of the opinion that if she had to trade her 'fun' car for a more suitable 'family' car, then it was to be one that she loved and unfortunately for his wallet, that meant one that was of similar ilk to his own car, a lovely, but very expensive Mercedes-Benz. "Do you like anything here?" blushing as she shook her head and quietly muttered the word no, Sue Ellen then grinned to herself as her husband let out another loud sigh as he resigned himself to the fact that she'd been corrupted by his introduction to a more lavish lifestyle than she'd had growing up. "Shall we head over to the European car dealership then? See if they have anything that's to your liking?" nodding, Sue Ellen's smile widened, she had him wrapped around her little finger and she loved it.

Almost a week later, and still on top of the world thanks to JR's generosity and increased attention, Sue Ellen's stomach dropped as she heard her husband's car pulling into the driveway in the early afternoon; it was a work day and he never just randomly came home early on work days, something was different, something was wrong. "JR?" standing from her seat under an umbrella by the pool and walking out onto the driveway, she greeted him as he opened his car door, "oh good, you're home. I was going to call, but I was coming home anyway so there didn't seem much point", closing his car door and taking her hand, he walked toward the house, his wife in tow, just as confused about why he was home as she had been a moment ago. Following his lead, walking into the house toward the stairs, Sue Ellen felt ill as JR called out to Raoul to bring his suitcase upstairs, "JR?" her voice was shaky and scared as she realised that her husband was going somewhere, probably out of town and if experience was anything to go by, probably for more than just the night. "I have to go to Washington darlin', I'm sorry", pausing outside their bedroom as he heard the vulnerability in her voice, he temporarily stopped himself from thinking about his duty to Ewing Oil and instead, focused on his duty to his wife. "Bobby is in Odessa and daddy needs to be here to meet with some bankers tomorrow, so I am the only one available to go. If there were any other way, I would take it, but there isn't and I truly am sorry about that, I know it's not good timing. I'm going to be the president of Ewing Oil very soon though and with the way things are going right now, not with Ewing Oil specifically, but with the whole economy of oil, I need to make sure that our livelihood isn't put at risk. I need to go to Washington, please understand that". He empathised with her position, because he knew how much she hated him leaving Dallas even before she knew about his tendency to be with other women when he was away on business, and now, even though their relationship was in a much better place, she probably still had lingering memories of his former infidelity. He imagined that she was probably feeling a little wary of what the time and distance would do to them, however, he honestly didn't intend on this being anything more than a business trip and he really did need to go.

"Can I come with you? Please", looking at him through watery eyes, Sue Ellen didn't even think about what she was asking before she spoke, she simply wanted to be with her husband, not just for her own peace of mind about his whereabouts and actions, but because she really loved spending time with him and didn't want to give him up. "Darlin', as much as I'd love for you to come with me, I don't think it's a good idea. You're almost eight months pregnant, I'm not convinced that it's safe or right for you to be so far away from our hospital and besides, I'll be in meetings all day, you'd only be bored sitting around the hotel waiting for me to return". Hooking his arm around her waist and bringing her closer to him, he looked her in the eye as he spoke, "I love you and I don't intend on doing anything that would endanger our relationship. I'll be back on Friday evening and we can go out to dinner and spend the whole weekend together, I promise". Smiling at the fact that her husband seemed to be able to read her mind and reassure her before she started to really get worked up about potential problems, Sue Ellen leaned into his arms. As much as she disliked what he had to do, she understood it and knew that it was her responsibility to offer an equal amount of empathy for his position; he wasn't doing this to hurt her, in fact, he was trying his hardest to not hurt her and she needed to acknowledge and be thankful for that. "Can you at least call me when you get back to your hotel? Even if it's before you're about to go to bed. I like hearing about your day and I like knowing that you're safe", fighting the urge to really push him into allowing her to go with him, she decided to request the next best thing. She really did love him and enjoy being involved in his life and she didn't want the physical distance between Washington and Dallas to affect anything too dramatically. "Sure darlin', I'll call you", knowing that it was a fairly small request, one he was fully capable of fulfilling, JR agreed without argument. He was trying to be a better husband and sometimes that meant following orders his wife gave him, and honestly, he didn't mind that so much, he enjoyed speaking to her and it was the least he could do to make her happy.

To be continued…