Dallas, Texas

Listening to his father as he began ranting, JR's frustration and anger with the present situation grew. Sue Ellen was right, his father liked to control things, even things that weren't his business or responsibility, and while that worked ok when it didn't involve him, he didn't like it when it did involve him and his family. If his and Sue Ellen's sessions with Doctor Williams had taught him anything it was that communication was key and holding things in didn't work long-term, it only allowed small frustrations to grow and eventually explode in the worst way. What he understood too was that if his father was getting this worked up about what he called women's business, then something must have struck chord with him. He knew his father didn't like being wrong or looking weak or not in control, and with Sue Ellen and his mother discussing and agreeing on things that could be better, he didn't hold all the power. What really got to JR though was the hypocrisy of everything, even his own behaviour now. It made no sense for his father to tell him what to do in one way and then get angry when he did it, improved his life and his marriage, and he and Sue Ellen took it a step further, strengthening their marriage considerably. At the same time too though, was he just as bad getting annoyed about his father's beliefs and actions? If he was allowed to believe and act the way he wanted to, wasn't his father allowed to act that way too? He didn't know and he didn't have a lot of time to think about it, because as his father shouted, he felt his own anger rising and at the first opportunity to interrupt, he did.

"Now hold on a damn minute daddy. Firstly, Sue Ellen isn't sticking her nose into anything she's not entitled to know about. She's my wife and she wants the best for me and our family, and part of creating the best life for us requires her to understand the past, and the mistakes of the past, both hers and mine, so we don't repeat those mistakes ourselves. I think she was perfectly entitled to ask mama about my childhood and how parenting me was different to how we are parenting John Ross. Secondly, if you're going to have an opinion and tell me about it, then at least make it a consistent one; I don't think it's fair for you to send such mixed messages about how I act in my marriage. First in your eyes I don't understand women and don't treat Sue Ellen with the respect she deserves, and now I give her too much freedom and too much respect? Which one is it? You can't have it both ways, it doesn't work. Now that Sue Ellen and I have improved our lives and our marriage, we can't go back, and we don't want to go back, we like the way things are now. Thirdly, if mama is distressed about her conversation with Sue Ellen then perhaps she needs to come and speak to Sue Ellen or me about that rather than worrying herself sick but staying silent like you want her to be. Quite frankly, I'd enjoy never having to speak about any of this again, but I'm not going to silence my wife and with the things I keep hearing about mama, it's not going to be easy to just pretend none of this ever happened, so might as well talk about it, whether you like it or not. By all accounts though, it sounds like all of this came about because of you anyway; mama and Sue Ellen were impressed with how much you had changed this weekend when it came to John Ross, and then Sue Ellen asked why I never had a childhood like that. That's it, everything else was mama and her memories; I don't have a clue what she's remembering and I have no interest in asking her either, I don't think it's my problem to fix, but I won't stop her if she wants to say something to me. I don't know what's going on with you and mama at Southfork, but I don't think it's fair to solely blame me or Sue Ellen. Sue Ellen wasn't there when I was a child and I wasn't there when all of this recent talk was happening, so as far as I'm concerned, it's not my problem to deal with. If you want to talk about it, then we'll talk about all of it, but not just you and me, it has to involve all of us; and if you don't want to talk about it, then you have to stop blaming me for problems in your marriage".

Raising his voice to match his father's volume, JR found himself shouting his response, and although he did feel a little ashamed that he had just been so disrespectful to his father, it wasn't long before he was reminded why he also felt rage, frustration, and hurt. Meeting his father's eye, he could almost feel his response before he actually started speaking, and that response was not good. "No boy, you hold on just a damn minute! Who the hell do you think you are? Have some respect! There was nothing wrong with your childhood and I see no reason why you would need to follow any different parenting style with John Ross; he's the Ewing heir, his future is set and the plan that worked with you will surely work with him too. I don't know what kind of crap you've been telling that wife of yours but despite what she says, I didn't work you to the bone. I took all three of you boys out to spend time away from the oil business and I never had any complaints, you all enjoyed it, so if you had a terrible childhood don't blame me. Secondly, this has nothing to do with the talk I gave you last year about marriage; that talk was about the sanctity of marriage and growing up and moving on from the life of a single man. I said respect your wife and be faithful to your marriage vows, you know, keep your woman happy and satisfied; what I absolutely did not tell you to do was forget everything you know about being a man and about the roles of a husband and wife in a marriage. A wife is perfectly capable of being happy, satisfied, and staying in her place, quietly raising the children and tending to her husband's needs when he's home. A husband's needs don't have to extend as far as you two seem to push them though; I don't know where all of this crap about working through old feelings is coming from but I'm telling you now, keep me and your mother out of it if you're going to insist on doing it".

"As for my relationship with John Ross, I don't know why everyone is making such a big fuss; I'm better with children who walk and talk, everyone knows that. John Ross is smart though, and Lucy is persistent, so yes, I had a good time this weekend, but it was hardly something to spend this amount of time and energy dissecting. To your final point, you don't think any of this is your responsibility? I think you need to think about that again. Where do you think Sue Ellen got the idea that your mama was to blame for your faults? Your mama would never have verbally attacked me if it hadn't been for her, and no one would be so damn focused on any of this if it weren't for you moaning about the supposed hard life you endured. I don't want to have this discussion again with the women, they'll only get emotional and I don't have time for that, so hear me now, go home to your wife, tell her to back off, and I'll make sure your mother does the same. We're all having dinner at Southfork on Thursday and I'd like to keep it argument free, so it's best for us to put all of this behind us now, even if you seem to want to keep going in circles arguing about it. We both know I'm the head of this family and it's going to stay that way until I'm gone, so let's not waste time arguing about stupid things like the past, and instead, let's focus on the future, the future where this company thrives and so does our family. I don't want to hear any more about this and I trust that you'll ensure I don't have to…"

Understanding exactly why he had been so angry a few moments ago, JR opened his mouth to respond to his father's continued rant, however, before he could, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the intercom buzzing and the minute his father answered the notification, he knew their conversation was over for now. His father was an important man and while their conversation was important and in JR's eyes, not over yet, it was also personal and as they were at the office, it had to come second to professional work. "I'll see you later daddy", not making any commitment to tell Sue Ellen to back off or any guarantee that their conversation was truly over, JR turned slowly and walked out of his father's office, and when he reached his own office, he closed the door behind him, closed his eyes, and swore to himself, "damn". He didn't like it, things weren't going as planned, even if he didn't really have a plan; he wanted to be in control, or living in ignorance again, but neither of those seemed like they were likely to happen any time soon and that bothered him. Opening his eyes as his own intercom buzzed, he quickly swallowed his feelings and walked over to his desk, and hearing Diane's voice, he compartmentalized and closed off his thoughts and moved on; he had work to do and that work didn't care whether he was distracted by his personal life or not.

To be continued…