Dallas, Texas

"JR? What is it? You're distracted", pulling away from their passionate embrace, because something just felt wrong, Sue Ellen looked into her husband's eyes for a moment before shifting position and moving so she was sitting next to him on the couch rather than on his lap. From the way he was looking at her it seemed her initial thoughts were correct, something was off. That information alone made her want to comfort him by holding him close and delicately drawing the answer from him; based on prior experience though, she knew that she would have a better chance of finding out what the problem was if they had a bit of physical distance between them. That was because oftentimes if she was too delicate, things turned intimate before they spoke at any depth and extracted any real answers or solutions to problems, and while in the moment that was nice, it never really fixed anything.

"How much did you and mama talk about me that day you had lunch together?" Hearing JR's question, she made a conscious effort not to physically pull back any further than she already had, even if their conversation had taken a completely unromantic turn; she knew making any drastic moves at a time like this would only confuse and upset him more than he already was, and she didn't want to do that. She wasn't entirely surprised by the direction things were going though, she'd had a feeling that since she'd had to prompt Miss Ellie to tell her son how she felt, she would probably be faced with questions from JR about what she meant by what she said.

Staying relatively still, she silently held eye contact with JR before speaking, "we spoke about a lot of things, but I suspect you mean in regard to you, your daddy, and Jack, don't you? Your mama expressed how displeased she was to see how easily your daddy adopted Jack as another son when he's still yet to make any real effort with you. She said she really saw where you were coming from with your resistance to Jack too, because you had made it very clear how you felt in your session with Doctor Williams. In that too though, she said she couldn't quite agree that Jack was completely one way or another; she didn't think he was nearly as calculating as you made him out to be, but she also didn't understand how Jock could be so chummy with him when he barely even knew him".

"She made a reasonable point in regard to Jack being here in Dallas though, which I think you might understand now after spending some time with him. She said she would like to think that if any of her sons were in Jack's position, the rest of the family would be friendly and accommodating, and I happen to agree. I'm very supportive of you, Jack, and Bobby forming some kind of friendship, because you are all related and it would be lovely for you to all get along with each other. With that being said though, that doesn't mean you have to give him everything he asks for; you've decided to employ him now and that's wonderful, but you didn't have to do that just because he's family, which I know you didn't, you did it because he's the best man for the job. The point there was though that Jock doesn't have to treat him like some long lost son in order to welcome him to Dallas and show him he likes him. There is a balance to be struck, Jack could have found another job if Ewing Oil wasn't the place for him; he could have found a place where he could be a nephew to Jock and a cousin to you and Bobby without stepping on anyone's toes".

"Bear in mind we talked a few days ago, before the decision to employ Jack had been made, so at that point there was a lot of hostility and resistance in the air, as well as a lot of uncertainty regarding Jack's relationship with the family and your daddy. I don't want to speak for you, but from my perspective, things are different now, aren't they? You and Jack have come to an understanding in relation to Ewing Oil and in relation to the kind of relationship you want to have with each other, so to dwell on a time in the past before that had happened is almost a step backwards. Tonight was a wonderful success and I think it would be best remembered that way, I imagine your mama wants to remember it that way too, which is why she said whatever she said to you. I was speaking to her earlier and she told me she was proud of you and very pleased with the effort you're making, she told me it means everything to her that the family is harmonious again".

Leaving out the parts of her conversation with Miss Ellie that had annoyed her and would be more upsetting than helpful for JR to hear, she hoped that what she had told him was enough to fix whatever was bothering him, because they had had such a good evening that it seemed like a shame to start feeling down now. She wanted to enjoy their time alone together before they went to sleep and then repeated their lives again the next day, like they always did. Mid-week events like their dinner party, especially ones that went well and were enjoyable, really livened up their week, socially and intimately, and she wasn't prepared to give in to sadness and moping without first trying to fix the situation. With JR, sometimes he just needed a moment to sulk, for whatever reason, before he returned to his brighter mood. It could be frustrating, because sometimes she didn't know how to help him and she felt his moods did control the temperature of their relationship, but she empathised with him and knew that if he was brooding over something, it was usually because it genuinely affected him, not just because he was trying to cool things down or annoy her.

"She said all of that on her own? Or you said it and she agreed?" Hearing JR's comments, it suddenly became clear to her what was bothering him; he wasn't sure how genuine his mother's comments were, because she hadn't just naturally come to him with them, and he always had doubts about the love and care shown to him from his parents. "Those were all her thoughts and feelings, prompted and unprompted. During our lunch I did ask her directly how she felt about the entire Jack situation, she answered me, and that led to a conversation, a conversation in which we both said things, but I didn't have to put words in her mouth, she had enough of her own. As for tonight, she spoke first, without me saying anything; her comments were directly in response to what you said in your toast at the beginning of dinner. She's proud of you and she loves you, so very much, and I know she would have said what she wanted to earlier if she'd had the chance but you were engaged in some pretty involved conversations all throughout dinner and she didn't get the chance. I did encourage her to make sure she didn't wait though, that she said something today rather than whenever you next see each other, because as I think you'll agree, it's always nice to hear nice things as they are thought, otherwise they get put away on a shelf somewhere in your mind and never get said".

"Like now, I want to tell you how much I love you and how proud I am of you, for everything. I know this wasn't easy, from Jack's arrival to everyone's response to him, to your conflicted feelings in discovering things yourself; I know it's been a process for you and not an easy one, but I am so proud and pleased, for you and for the family. I want you to be happy, and I know that it's a challenge to find the right balance between being protective and being open; Ewing Oil is yours and always will be, but you can also have friends, and allow Jack to find his place in the family, all without compromising your position or happiness. I know you know that, but I just want to remind you of that; your happiness is just as important as anything else we're discussing here".

Touching his hand, but not making any moves to hug or kiss him, in case he wanted to talk more, which was always harder once physical affection was introduced, she waited patiently to see what he had to say. "Thank you darlin', that's all I wanted to know". Saying very little in response, she couldn't exactly say she was surprised, because JR often thought a lot of things and said only a small percentage of them; in this case though she was a little confused, but perhaps he really did just need to know that his mother hadn't been ordered to tell him what he wanted to hear.

Watching him continue to frown to himself, as if he were still distracted, she was honestly surprised though when he stopped doing anything for a moment, sitting quietly still, like a statue, before touching her hand delicately, as if it were a precious object that he'd just discovered he was in possession of. Her husband had a range of odd, but understandable emotional moods he cycled through and this silent broodiness was one of them, his tenderness was another, she was used to it and she knew he'd say whatever came next when he felt like it. "I love you too", almost whispering, the moment she knew he had changed moods again was really when he looked up at her, meeting her eye and smiling, not grinning confidently like he often did, but smiling, smiling like he had at times when they'd first started dating, as if he was seeing her for the first time. If she'd been in a different frame of mind herself, she might have wondered why now he was choosing to look at her as if she were the young, inexperienced girl he'd first met, because she wasn't that girl anymore; the way she was actually thinking somewhat mirrored his thoughts though, so she asked no questions.

Sensing their talk was over, before it had really even become a conversation, she responded easily and freely to his light tug of her hand, pulling her back toward him, first just for a short, sweet kiss, then slowly back to where they had been before she had pulled away earlier. Clearly, he was feeling better, whether it was because he was remembering the early days of their relationship or whether it was because she'd answered his questions to his satisfaction, she didn't really know, however, either way, she liked the outcome. She had fallen in love with the man who looked at her as he had just done and as long as he understood that she had developed as a person over the past few years and she wasn't exactly as she had been back in college, she could certainly go along with remembering their past. She had enjoyed their past, well, the good times, which there were a lot of; they had dated in a different way to any man she had dated before him and she had loved it, and him. If she was completely misreading the situation too and he wasn't remembering the past, it had to be that she had at least satisfied his curiosity though, and that was also nice to know. Whatever it was that had been bothering him prior to their physical separation earlier was now gone, or he was hiding it well, because from the way things were going, they were on track to end the evening where she had expected to rather than somewhere else entirely. She hoped that his return to his earlier mood was indicative that things really had changed and he was feeling better, she knew though that with JR, nothing was ever certain, and that there was a lot that could be learned from his comments summarising an event the next day, or even a week later. She could enjoy their time together now, but forgetting that there had ever been an issue was not a good idea.

To be continued…