Dallas, Texas

"I don't care what you do, just don't let her move up here. For some insane reason, I do love my mother and I want to believe that she's had a change of personality and truly wants to be an involved grandmother, but you know what? I'm not stupid, I don't believe it. I know her and this isn't who she is, not really", she didn't quite know what her mother's motivation was at this point in time, but she knew it wasn't nearly as pure as wanting to be closer to her grandson. "Please JR", going from frustrated to helpless and needy in just a few seconds, she practically begged him to use his power to do something, fast. "Darlin', I promise, I will not allow your mother to make a mess of our lives, however, we cannot just jump and make a quick, irrational, reckless decision; we need to be as smart about this as she is, because no matter how much her comments tonight appeared to be spur of the moment honest thoughts, they were anything but. I imagine your mother decided quite some time ago that she wasn't satisfied with what Austin has to offer and saw an opportunity to improve her life by cosying up to the Ewing family. I can't really blame her for trying, I do admire a good scheme and opportunistic mindset, however, I stand by what you're saying; I do not want your mother any closer to Dallas than she currently is", looking his wife in the eye as he confirmed that he was on her side, he was relieved when she smiled a little. "Now, ordinarily, I would either renegotiate our deal or simply cut her out of our lives, depending on how our interaction went down, however, it's not that simple this time. Your mother is smart; she purposely made her feelings known in front of my parents in order to set up an expectation, primarily that she'll be around John Ross more often, but secondarily that she'll be able to do so because she and Kristin will be relocating from Austin to Dallas. By planting the seed for the idea but allowing daddy to suggest it, she also removed herself from any future accusations that she somehow masterminded the whole plan and manipulated her way back into our lives. The way it appears to Lucy, Bobby, mama and daddy is that your mother was overcome by regret and longing for closeness to her grandson and that she wasn't planning anything until daddy suggested it; that's how it is, we can't change that. We have to be careful about how we approach her now though, because if I know Patricia as well as I think I do, I'm sure she already has a long list of reasons why Austin is no longer the place for she and Kristin and even better, a list of reasons why I should help finance their move".

Sighing, he considered his options; in general, he didn't really have a problem with paying a little money to Sue Ellen's family each month, it increased Patricia's opinion of him, allowed him to assert a little control in their lives if necessary and boosted his ego when he considered that he could comfortably support so many people. In this instance though, Patricia's presumptuousness, entitled attitude and manipulation irritated him; he didn't like being played and he didn't like when people assumed they were smarter than him, so instinctively, he wanted to shut down her plan and teach her a lesson, but logically, he knew she had him between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't do anything too harsh, not with his parents watching, however, he also didn't want to do anything to give Patricia the idea that she'd won, so he knew that instead of going for his instinctual approach, he had to think and act more cunningly. Instead of automatically cutting-off her current line of credit and have a hard, semi-threatening conversation with her, he had to be smarter, he had to beat her at her own game and whatever way he thought about it, that involved him spending an exorbitant amount of money. Luckily for him though, he was a very wealthy man and that wasn't a real world issue as much as it was a personal one; it almost felt like extortion, despite the fact that she hadn't asked him for a dime.

"So what do we do?" looking at him expectantly, Sue Ellen was unaware of just how deeply JR felt about the issue. For him, he didn't care so much about what happened to Patricia as he did about the damage to his ego if she successfully got exactly what she wanted; he couldn't and wouldn't allow himself to be seen as weak, but he also had to maintain a good image with his family. "We give her what she wants, but on our terms", snapping up from looking at the ground, he looked her in the eye as the idea hit him. He could do to Patricia what his father had done to him; he could force her hand by giving her exactly what she was asking for, as long as she followed his rules. "We draw up a contract, lay out ground rules, expectations and consequences if the rules are broken, and in return your mother gets what she wants, a bigger home, closer to Southfork, and if she plays her cards right, she can have access to more money. If we offer enough incentive, I'm sure we can get her to sign a legally binding contract, outlining what she can and cannot do, and if that means that we no longer have to deal with the drama that inevitably follows contact with her, then so be it, I don't care how much it costs, it'll be worth it".

Looking at him as if he were insane, Sue Ellen shook her head lightly; it wasn't a totally crazy idea, her mother was heavily motivated by money, however, the idea that someone would sign away their right to say or do certain things seemed foolish to her. Sighing, she spoke quietly, "it's worth a try. For the right price, my mother will probably agree to anything", not knowing that the same could be said for her husband and his fidelity, she spoke freely, without awkwardness or anger; money was important to her mother and Ewing Oil was important to her husband, but she wasn't equating them to each other right now. As she spoke, something in her tone triggered a thought in JR; she had no idea that along with his father's commitment to handing the company over to him came a contract with many small details and one big catch. He had to remain faithful to her in order to gain control of the company and although he was now a better man, in times of possible temptation, it was both the image of his wife and the thought of the contract that stopped him from doing anything that would jeopardize his future. Realising that she probably wouldn't take too kindly to hearing that his love for her wasn't the only reason why he was acting like a better man now, even if it were the main reason, he knew that if he wanted their marriage to stay good, he had to make sure she remained clueless about his contract. He was a good husband and father, but he hadn't been in the past and the scars were still there, so he needed to make sure that he didn't do anything to open up old wounds; he didn't want to hurt her. If she was on board with the plan to make Patricia conform though, he didn't have any problem involving her, he just had to be careful to not speak of his own experience with contracts of that nature. "I'll call Harve in the morning", nodding and giving her a commiserative but strong smile, he hoped that he hadn't lost his negotiation skills, because getting Patricia to sign anything binding probably wouldn't be as easy as he hoped and he would need to be on top of his game if he were to get what he wanted.

To be continued…