Dallas, Texas

"Oh that's wonderful, congratulations", squeezing JR's hand, but directing her words at Bobby, Sue Ellen smiled genuinely and listened intently as the rest of the family began to speak. It all made sense now, no wonder JR had been excited, he was now one step closer to getting his wish and what he was entitled to. Jock had always promised him that Ewing Oil would be his one day, but until recently he hadn't done a whole lot to actually make that promise a guarantee and there hadn't been any huge changes at the office to indicate what the future held. Now though, JR would no longer have to deal with Jock's unfair attitude toward his and Bobby's roles at Ewing Oil and in a year or two when Jock retired, he wouldn't have to worry about having a conversation with his little brother regarding it being time for him to move on and begin ranching fulltime. On the other side, from what she could tell, Bobby's news was what was best for everyone; Bobby himself looked happier than he had in months, Jock seemed excited and proud to have two sons set to continue the two Ewing businesses, Miss Ellie looked relieved that everyone was taking the news well, and even Lucy appeared to be excited.

"Your granddaddy would be proud", smiling and relaxing as she watched her youngest son from across the table, Miss Ellie's thoughts moved through the past and into the future. Her father, Aaron Southworth, had been a man of the land and she knew he would be very proud to know that one of his grandsons was willingly and lovingly committing his life to maintaining the land and everything it provided their family and greater society with. Bobby's attitude toward ranching was more pure than Jock's, even she could admit that; her husband enjoyed ranching, he enjoyed the outdoors, the physical work and the income they could generate from raising animals, however, he also viewed land as potentially oil rich first, and worth cultivating, ranching or building on second. If Jock had had his way, section 40 of Southfork would have been turned into another one of Ewing Oil's fields years ago. Luckily, they had never needed the money so desperately that they had had to resort to that, and Jock loved her enough to respect her and her father's wishes to maintain Southfork's environment for generations to come. She hoped that with Bobby around at the ranch in the future, she would never have to worry about losing precious, beautiful Southworth land to the temptation of making a quick dollar from the other natural resources the land contained. Bobby liked money, but he wasn't driven by money the same way Jock and JR were, so she hoped that while he was motivated to keep building the ranch business, he wouldn't become so consumed with being the biggest, best, and wealthiest that he forgot what was really important. "Thank you mama; that really means a lot", receiving a shy, boyish smile from Bobby in response to her compliment, her positive feelings about the future grew. Just like any good family man, Bobby liked it when he felt like he was really doing something worthy of praise from his elders, and she sensed that after struggling to find his place at Ewing Oil, he was finally happy with what he had chosen to pursue and was grateful to have the support of his family.

"You know son, your granddaddy isn't the only one who's proud of you, or would be proud of you if he were here with us today. I'm proud of you too. It took a lot of guts to decide to step out on your own and it takes a real man to know when to admit that things aren't working without just giving up and deciding life is too hard. We're Ewings and Ewings do, we don't just say we're going to do and we don't just try; we all have our talents and I'm proud of you for making the decision to work on developing yours. Just you wait, by the time you have your own sons and little John Ross is all grown up, the Ewing family businesses are going to be twice, if not triple the size they are now, and you will be able to look at your sons and tell them honestly that you built that legacy. That's pride, being able to say it, mean it, and have it all be true. Isn't that right JR? Having a son changes everything". Watching JR intently as his father gave a speech that started off praising Bobby for simply making a decision, Sue Ellen was surprised, but relieved when it took a turn and Jock managed to remember that he didn't just have one son and he had enough pride to share around. She wasn't thrilled that Jock managed to make everything he said revolve around Ewing men when there were also women in the family, and she wasn't exactly pleased to hear that despite trying to make it clear a long time ago, Jock didn't seem to understand that John Ross wasn't going to be forced into following any one path. As long as JR didn't seem to be upset by his father's lack of impassioned speeches toward his efforts though, she would wait until a later, less public moment to inform his father of her feelings. She couldn't stay quiet forever, she knew that, but they were at the Oil Baron's Club celebrating Bobby's achievement tonight and it was not the time nor the place to air her grievances, especially if no one else seemed to have noticed that Jock's proud speech wasn't entirely unifying.

A couple of hours later, after a surprisingly pleasant family dinner out, as Sue Ellen readied herself for bed, an unexpected thought popped into her mind, and walking out of the bathroom and into the bedroom so she could see JR's facial expression, she asked what no one else had. "JR? Who is going to do Bobby's job after he leaves?" She trusted her husband, she really did, but there was trust and then there was stupidity; Bobby's job wasn't just promotional in the sense that he handed out season tickets to ballgames or gave good speeches about what Ewing Oil actually did. She would have to be completely stupid to want JR to take responsibility for the tasks Bobby currently did and he had done in the past, and JR would have to be very naïve not to realise that that lifestyle didn't suit his current life position. He didn't have time in his work schedule to be leaving the office for out-of-town trips multiple times a month, and he wasn't a young, single man anymore, he had his own family now and they needed and wanted him in Dallas. Watching him as she asked the question, she hoped that the surprised look on his face meant more that he was surprised that she was interested rather than surprised at why she was interested; she didn't want to have to explain to him why she didn't think it was a good idea, she wanted him to understand that himself already.

To be continued…