Dallas, Texas

Downstairs, Miss Ellie's mood was much like Pam's, she was hesitant, especially now that the initial shock was beginning to subside and the reality of the situation was sinking in. Her son, Bobby Ewing, had married the daughter of her former lover, her husband's former business partner and self-proclaimed enemy of their family, Digger Barnes.

In general, marriage was usually to be celebrated, but this situation had her rethinking that position; Jock wasn't going to be happy, Digger was unlikely to be happy, and knowing fathers and sons like she did, she didn't imagine either JR or Cliff were going to be happy either. It shouldn't matter what anyone thought about a marriage as long as the two people who had made that commitment to each other were happy, but that didn't mean it didn't matter; shouldn't and didn't were two quite different things, especially in a situation like this.

Dialling the lake house first, considering JR and Sue Ellen were just over an hour away from Southfork and would take longer to return home than the rest of the family, she waited, listening to the ringback tone for a while before it became apparent that they either weren't home or were choosing to ignore the phone. In her right mind she knew they wouldn't choose to ignore a call at the house where the only people who knew they were there were their family and they wouldn't call unless it was important, but still, in the moment, her mind was far from clear.

Hanging up as she gave up on her eldest son and his wife for the moment, she then picked up the phone again and dialled down to the stables to contact Lucy, relieved when this time one of the ranch hands picked up and was able to call Lucy to the phone without any trouble. Explaining quickly that she needed her grandchildren to return to the house, her tone of voice must have made it obvious that she was quite serious, because there was no whining or complaining in response, only a quick, "yes grandma", before asking whether there was anything else?

"Well, do you know where your grandfather and uncle are?" asking on the off chance she did know, she knew not to be too disappointed when Lucy said no and instead left a message with one of the ranch hands to find Jock and Jack and ask them to return home as soon as possible too. Finishing that call, she hung up and dialled again, phoning back through to the lake house, getting the same response she had not long before; clearly JR and Sue Ellen were out, and perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing, her call was sure to disrupt and cut short their quiet weekend.

Giving up for now, she went to find Raoul, asking him to bring Bobby and Pam's bags inside before heading back outside to look out for Lucy and John Ross. Resuming her gardening, she found herself unable to focus on the flowers in front of her as thoughts turned to the problems ahead for the family. Bobby was usually the son she worried the least about, he didn't often stray too far from the path she and Jock expected him to follow and even when he did, it wasn't in the way JR or Gary did, it was much easier to deal with.

Prior to bringing Pamela Barnes home as his new wife, Bobby's idea of rebelling against what Jock wanted was asking to switch from working at Ewing Oil to Southfork Ranch, which to be quite honest, wasn't even an act of rebellion, simply a personal choice, one Jock had overreacted at the suggestion of at first. This was much bigger than anything Bobby had instigated previously, this time, he was sure to see a different side of his daddy, a side she wasn't sure he was ready to see. Being his daddy's favourite son was worth something, but it didn't mean he was immune to hearing harsh criticism of his life choices, choices he thought were good and Jock was sure to think otherwise.

Hearing the phone ringing, she hurried inside to pick it up, her stomach turning when Jock spoke, asking what was so urgent that she needed him and Jack to return home early. "Well, Bobby's home and he's brought a wife", breaking the news, she was hesitant about what else to tell Jock, she didn't want him to arrive at Southfork angry, but coming in blind to the situation wasn't ideal either.

"A wife?" repeating her comment as a question, his surprise was obvious; they hadn't even known Bobby was dating anyone, so hearing he was now married was a complete shock. "Yes", responding flatly, she didn't know what else to say. "Who is she?" questioning her, looking for more details to make sense of what she was telling him, she made the decision to withhold the one important piece of information. Maybe they'd all be lucky and he wouldn't recognise Pamela as Digger's daughter like she had and the young woman would have a chance to make an impression before Jock's existing bias took over.

"I think you'd better come and meet her yourself", reiterating that he should come home to find answers to his questions, she hoped she'd made the right decision. "We're on our way", answering her quickly, he soon hung up and she breathed out deeply as she heard the call disconnect; what happened now was out of her control, what was done was done and all that was left was to hope for the best reaction to the news of their new family member.

She would do her best to welcome Pamela to the family, but she couldn't pretend it wasn't going to be a strange reality to live with. The fact was, Bobby and Pam clearly shared something with each other and didn't seem too bothered by the chilly atmosphere between their two families, but that didn't mean the rest of their family members felt the same way. She strongly suspected that if things were going to end well, it wasn't going to be before they reached rock bottom first and that was what worried her. She knew better than to fall apart at the first sign of trouble though, so instead of letting her fretful thoughts get the better of her, she forced herself to do something useful, attempting once again to finish what she'd started. Dialling back through to the lake house for a third time, she was almost shocked when JR picked up, shocked, but happy; the family needed to be together at a time like this and besides Gary who unfortunately she didn't get her hopes up about returning home, JR and Sue Ellen were the final two members needed back at Southfork.

To be continued…