Dallas, Texas

Parking his car in the driveway after work on Thursday, JR's happiness and good mood increased tenfold as he saw Sue Ellen and John Ross walking out onto the patio to greet him. Finally, after weeks and months of misalignment, his business and personal life were back in sync again and as a result, his entire outlook on life seemed brighter. Stepping out of his car, he walked over toward his wife and son, grinning to himself and to Sue Ellen as he neared; "good afternoon darlin'", moving closer to her, keeping in mind that they were not alone, he gave her a short but meaningful kiss before turning his attention to John Ross. Scooping his son into his arms and bouncing him in the air a few times, his happiness only increased as he heard the delighted squeals and witnessed the genuine excitement on the little boy's face; "that's my boy. Daddy's excited to see you too", letting out a small laugh, he kissed his son on the forehead and spoke again, though this time, he wasn't really speaking to John Ross, "daddy's excited about a lot of things actually". Turning so that he was directly facing Sue Ellen, he confirmed what she'd already guessed from his excitement, "daddy and I signed the new contract today. Ewing Oil is now legally set to be mine, no strings attached, as it should be. Thank you for supporting me", pausing to let his words sink in, he was thrilled when her smile widened too.

"Congratulations, and you're welcome", leaning forward, Sue Ellen placed a light kiss on his lips; she really was happy for him and happy that the Ewing family drama appeared to be dissipating and that their marriage was improving again; she was one-step closer to having the life she'd wanted all along and she couldn't wait to experience their new normal. It was a huge relief to know that JR would not be battling Bobby for control of Ewing Oil; it felt wonderful to have received an apology and promise from Jock about his behaviour and attitude, and it was nice to know that if he so wished to follow JR's path, John Ross' future at Ewing Oil was secure. "Thank you darlin'. I love you and I promise, I won't let you down. This is a new beginning, you, me and John Ross, we're a family and I don't intend for anything to interfere with that anymore". Of all the things she was happy about, hearing JR reaffirm his commitment and love for her was what made Sue Ellen the happiest, and coupled with feeling him hooking his arm around her waist before ushering them into the house, she truly did feel like they were starting over again, on a much happier note this time. They would continue their marriage counselling and although it wouldn't be easy or painless, they would find the underlying cause of JR's past issues with infidelity and truthfulness, resolve those issues and move on from them once and for all; dishonesty and infidelity had no place in their marriage anymore.

Walking into the house, JR's internal happiness grew; it felt good to love and be loved and it felt good to know that he no longer had to fight for what was rightfully his. If the events of the past few days were to be taken as indicators of the future, the future was looking pretty good for him and his family and this time, he knew not to mess it up. He had a wife, a son, parents, a company, health, money and social standing; his life was good.

Although the new contract didn't really change anything about what he was entitled to when his father retired and eventually when he died, it was a huge relief to finally be able to know it was now guaranteed, it wasn't dependent on his father's approval of his behaviour. Getting rid of the morality clause was also a wonderful thing for his marriage, because although he didn't really think his faithfulness to Sue Ellen was influenced by the promise of Ewing Oil, he could now guarantee it. He was committed to being a good husband because he wanted to be and because it's what Sue Ellen deserved, and hopefully, one day, she would be able to completely trust him again.

The new contract wasn't the only positive thing to come out of the past few days though. Equally as important was the apology and commitment his father had made to Sue Ellen. The previous evening had been a night of miracles and in a way, he was still shocked that the conversation with his father had turned out the way it did, he had expected it to be much worse. At the end of their marriage counselling session earlier in the week, Doctor Williams had advised him and Sue Ellen to run-through potential scenarios and come up with a few different reactions and counterarguments that could help them make the most out of what they assumed would be a tense conversation with his father. Surprisingly though, they hadn't had to approach the topic of discussion themselves and they hadn't really had to argue their position, just affirm it. After calling them into a private meeting after dinner, his father had made the first move toward opening a dialogue between them and although it was clear that many of the things he was saying were not his ideas, it did sound as if he'd thought about the situation, understood it and was really prepared to try to improve things. Miss Ellie had obviously warned him that his actions and attitude were doing nothing to promote unity in the family and if he continued to act in an unfriendly and divisive manner, then he'd have no one but himself to blame when the situation reached breaking point and the family split apart. In addition, although he had already made the commitment to change JR's contract, he had to learn that in the future, he couldn't get angry or upset about Sue Ellen having a say in things that affected her marriage or her life with her family, even if he considered those things to be Ewing Oil business, not personal issues. Essentially, he needed to learn that he had to be kind, considerate and respectful toward other people if he wanted to receive the same treatment. After their discussion the previous evening though, JR felt more positive and confident about the situation; his father seemed to understand the whole situation better and his agreement and apology to Sue Ellen seemed to have been genuine in the end, even if the initial ideas weren't his own. Now, with both a verbal commitment and apology from his father, and the new contract, he hoped that they could finally settle into a calm, happy state, because although the old JR Ewing never would have really understood it, the new JR Ewing truly valued time with his family and didn't want to waste any more of it.

To be continued…