Dallas, Texas

"Mama? Where's daddy?" entering the living room for pre-dinner cocktails, Bobby's frustration only grew at the sight of his mother, his niece and one of her friends. It wasn't that he had any issues with those present in the room, he was just irritated by the fact that his father was usually a stickler for timekeeping, but for some reason, the one time he actually needed to speak to him, he was nowhere to be found. He had been waiting all afternoon for his father to return from ranching with Ray and as of right now, he still hadn't seen him, and the longer he had to think about the information he'd found, the more offended he felt by it. It just wasn't fair and he needed to make his feelings known. "Oh, he won't be joining us tonight. Ray and the boys are doing a cattle drive and you know how much he enjoys that sort of thing. He'll be home tomorrow afternoon sometime. You can probably join them tomorrow if you're interested, I'm sure they'd be happy to have another man to help". Not noticing the disappointment and frustration her youngest son was feeling, because he was trying hard to maintain a neutral façade and because out of her three sons, he was the one she worried the least about, Miss Ellie explained her husband's absence and then moved on to answering a question posed to her by her granddaughter. Disappointed and frustrated, Bobby sighed and then resigned himself to the fact that his conversation with his father was going to have to wait until tomorrow.

Denison, Texas

Quietly entering the bedroom that she had been sharing with John Ross the previous night, Sue Ellen smiled to herself as she felt a mixture of excitement and happiness. Having spent the afternoon and evening switching between family time and couple time and then focused a lot more on couple time after putting John Ross down for the night, she and JR were now very well reacquainted with each other physically, and on an emotional level, she once again felt wonderfully close and connected to him. Things weren't completely perfect and they probably never would be, but they felt pretty close to perfect and it was a wonderful change from what had become the norm in their relationship recently. As long as they continued to see Doctor Williams, continued to work on communicating openly and honestly with each other, continued to be committed to their marriage and remained strong and united in their current disagreement with Jock and did work to seek closure in that disagreement, she truly felt that things would work out.

Removing her robe and sliding into bed, she then held back a giggle at the thought that popped into her mind as JR joined her. Naturally, since John Ross was asleep in her bedroom, they'd used JR's bedroom for their intimate activities earlier, however, although John Ross had slept through the night the previous night, she still didn't quite feel comfortable leaving him all alone, so she'd convinced JR to move back across the hall for the sleeping portion of the night. What amused her about the situation though was the fact that she felt a certain type of nervousness about making noise and being caught that she hadn't felt in years; it just seemed like such a silly reaction to be having, especially since the situation they were in now couldn't have been further from the situations of the past. She'd been a controlled, proper young lady when she and JR were dating, she'd withheld a certain amount of intimacy from him until after they were married, though she'd still given him more than what her mother approved of, however, despite the fact that they were married now, some of her old cautious thoughts still remained. Logically, she knew that she and JR were adults and they were the only people in the house, apart from their infant son who had no idea what was going on anyway, but despite those facts, there was still a tiny part of her mind that worried her mother was going to call and check-up on her any minute now. Her amusement came from the absurdity of the whole situation; it was ridiculous how much control she'd allowed her mother to have over her thoughts and actions, but somehow, her mother had justified all of it and in the end, it had all worked out in her favour. The past didn't particularly matter anymore though, she was a different person now to who she had been back then, so the way she saw things now and the strength she had now were irrelevant when considering her past self, but still, analysing the situation now, she could see the funny side. Mentally acknowledging that her mother had scarred her, but also acknowledging that that was in the past and she'd moved on from that part of her life, she then turned her thoughts toward the present, she was on vacation with her husband and son and their future together was looking bright; she was happy, very, very happy.

Awaking early on Sunday morning at the sound of John Ross' small coos and gurgles, JR slowly and quietly got out of bed and put his robe on, trying his hardest not to wake Sue Ellen but knowing he'd failed at that task when he saw her turn over and sleepily open her eyes. Kneeling back down on the bed, he kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, "it's ok, I've got him. You sleep for as long as you want", and then walking over, he picked his son up out of his tiny bed. Receiving a small smile from his wife and then a larger smile and a soft coo of happiness from his son, he felt like the happiest and luckiest man alive. It may have been early in the morning and since John Ross didn't exactly smell fresh anymore, there was certainly a little bit of unpleasantness waiting for him to deal with in a few minutes, but knowing that he had a wife and son that loved him and truly wanted to be around him made it all worth it.

To be continued…