George Town, Cayman Islands

Following along as the lawyer diligently went through the paperwork line by line with them, explaining what each point meant and giving them an opportunity to amend anything that didn't sound quite right, JR looked up in surprise when his wife cleared her throat, breaking her silence as they reached the list of assets they intended to transfer ownership of.

"May I speak to my husband alone for a moment?" glancing at him briefly, Sue Ellen focused on Mr Walters, smiling politely when she received the answer she was looking for.

"Of course", nodding, the older gentleman stood and left the meeting room, giving the two of them the space Sue Ellen had requested.

"What's wrong?" clueless as to why his wife wanted some privacy, JR knew the easiest way to find out was to ask her directly, because he sure wasn't able to guess it based solely on her facial expression. She looked concerned and somewhat confused, but Sue Ellen was a worrier, so her expression was nothing new.

"I don't want to sound like I'm doubting your judgement, but are you sure this list of assets is correct?" answering him, she failed in her attempt to avoid sounding as though she wasn't doubting his judgement, because that's exactly how she sounded, for reasons he couldn't understand.

"Yes, I compiled it myself with the help of our most recent quarterly bank and investment reports", explaining his methods, he wondered why he even had to explain himself, he'd never given her a reason to question his business acumen and their present personal business was all fairly standard.

"Then I suppose my question is why wasn't I aware of even half the things on the list?" reaching the real point of her question, Sue Ellen's innocence showed.

"You never asked", telling it like it was, he knew she might not agree, because she did take an interest in what he did all day, including how he supported their family, to a point. Considering everything, including her surface level interest and history of taking on his problems, he told her what she wanted to know, but if she didn't push, neither did he. They'd been there before, she liked knowing what was going on at work so she could be a good wife and support him at home, but the reality was, she didn't work for Ewing Oil and there was only so much she needed to know before the details overwhelmed her or she lost interest in the bigger picture. The same went for their marriage, he kept her involved in things that concerned the two of them if and when it came time that her input was needed, but most of the time there wasn't anything for him to share and there was nothing she needed to ask. He didn't deliberately deceive her and she wasn't overly curious, it was just how things were.

"You never led me to believe there was more than our chequing account, retirement and a few investments. What percentage of what we own is being gifted into trust today? Half? A quarter?" questioning his transparency, Sue Ellen revealed more of what she didn't understand, just how deep their pockets were. Having little gauge on where they sat financially was something he could appreciate, because the fact was, they were wealthy and they never had issues with accessing money when they wanted to spend it, so naturally they never really talked about where the money came from when they did spend it. Bobby probably had the same issue, he knew he had money and he knew someone was managing it for him behind the scenes, so when he went to spend it there was nothing to question.

"See you did know the basics, you just didn't know how much of what we owned, that shows in your percentages. We're being conservative here today, I can't give you an exact figure but you're overestimating with your halves and quarters", confirming she had the general idea, she was just off in her numbers, he presumed his confirmation would settle her mind.

"This is conservative?" pointing at the paper in front of them, Sue Ellen seemed to have a hard time grasping that they had more than she initially realised. He couldn't see why it was so hard to believe though, he was JR Ewing, he had a diverse portfolio of assets valued at, if not more than, what one would expect a man of his position to hold, and being his wife she benefited from those assets too, even the ones her name wasn't on.

"I don't see what the problem is, you married a Ewing, you know you married into comfort", pointing out that his wealth was never a secret, he thought too that it was actually part of the reason they were married at all considering they wouldn't have met if it wasn't for his position. The fact was, she married into money, she just didn't ask exactly how much.

"I know, the problem is I didn't realise how little knowledge I had about our comfort until I read that list and now I feel like I'm a step behind again. I thought we were equals but now I feel like…" trailing off as she got into explaining her feelings, Sue Ellen's old insecurity began to show again. She was confident and much more independent than she had been in the past, but every now and then, it became clear she thought less of herself than was healthy.

"Sue Ellen, you have to stop thinking of us as unequal. You're my wife, you don't know all the details about our situation because you've never needed to know everything. There is security in being my wife, you don't have to think about spending money, therefore you don't, that's nothing to be ashamed of or feel inadequate about", trying to be empathetic, he also tried hard to explain why she didn't need to feel the way she did in the first place. No one expected her to know everything that went on in the background, so to be so upset when she didn't know everything was just unnecessary.

"Yes, security dictated by you", snapping at him in response to his attempt at empathy, this time it was him that was left confused by their conversation.

"Now what does that mean?" giving her a look to tell her he wasn't following and wasn't amused by her tone, he asked her to explain.

"Do you not remember when I left you and you cut my access to our joint accounts?" bringing up an old, painful time in their marriage, her comment made sense, though that didn't make it any more acceptable. They had dealt with the problems they'd faced back then a long time ago and it wasn't fair or nice to raise old issues again when they'd been put to rest, they'd even agreed that in one of their sessions with Doctor Williams long ago.

"That's not one of my prouder moments, but it's also not something that will happen again, so I you have nothing to worry about", accepting that she had been hurt before, he refused to engage further in arguing about the past.

"I'd hope not", sulkily muttering her response, she didn't seem to want to follow his lead and put an end to the hostility in their conversation.

"I fail to see what that has to do with this and I fail to understand why we're talking about ancient history again when we've agreed time and time again to move on", annoyed, he tried again to shut down her antagonism.

"I'm sorry, it doesn't, not directly. My point is, I feel awfully naïve sitting here nodding along to the lawyer's comments when I have little to no idea what's really happening, not here and not back home", apologising, she returned to their initial conversation, appearing to have realised that punishing him for old mistakes was not necessary.

"I think I can fix that. What do you say when we get back to Dallas we take some time to go through things? Would that help you feel more involved?" doing his best to move forward, he offered her an easy solution to the problem, one he would have offered sooner had he realised she was interested. There were things she didn't need to know, things from the past that would upset her and things present that were too hard to explain without explaining everything going on at Ewing Oil, but there was no harm in sitting down with Franklin Horner and showing her a few reports to satisfy her curiosity about how their wealth was generated.

"I'd like that", softening, she seemed to be satisfied with his offer which was pleasing to hear.

"I'll arrange it", nodding, he was happy to give her what she wanted if it meant she didn't feel so insecure and they'd be free to enjoy their time together rather than arguing repeatedly about old wrongdoings.

"Thank you. I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful or prying too much, I know I didn't contribute a lot to our finances when we got married, but we're married now and I like to feel like an equal participant". Reminding him of how things has been before they'd joined their lives together, her comments were unnecessary, because he needed no reminding, nor did it really matter, money was absolutely a part of why they had crossed each other's paths, but it was not the reason they were married and he didn't doubt that she loved him.

"You didn't have to, that's what husbands are for", brushing off her comments, he confidently reassured her that it wasn't necessary to think about, there was no question that he provided for them and he liked it that way.

"And wives?" smirking at his comments, she asked a leading question as she delicately ran her fingers over his shirt collar, her friendliness a welcome change after the previous heaviness in their conversation.

"Wives have their own special talents", matching her expression, his mind wandered to all the advantages of being married; of course, one didn't need to be married to do most of the things that came to mind, unless he wanted to them with Sue Ellen, which he did, and that among other things was why marriage wasn't so bad.

"I have a college degree you know, I'm more than capable of understanding everything here", stroking his cheek gently, she held eye contact with him as she spoke, clearly trying to remind him that on top of being a wife in the sense that excited him, she was also a smart, educated woman.

"I know, which is why you're here with me now. We're doing this together, for our family", accepting her point, he reminded her too that it wasn't new information to him. He could have easily gone about their business today alone, he did after all have more than enough assets solely in his name to not require her signature on any documents in order to guarantee security for their future, however, he hadn't done that, because their family was their family, not just his. The fact was, she wasn't involved in much of their business because she had never enquired and he'd never thought it necessary to tell her, the deepest she'd ever really gotten was when they'd purchased the old Wade ranch, but even then she'd accepted their cash purchase without asking many probing questions about their situation. She didn't know a lot now, but that wasn't solely his fault, nor hers, and whether she was capable of understanding wasn't a question, it had never been a question as far as he was concerned.

"We are", appearing to remember now that they were only having the discussion because he'd involved her in their family's future to begin with, Sue Ellen nodded and smiled, saying nothing else.

"So it's settled?" looking to her to agree, he hoped she would so they could move on and get things going again. They were only in the Caribbean for a flying visit and with their short timeframe it would be nice to get their business settled so they had some time to enjoy the island destination outside.

"For now. I still want that meeting when we get back to Dallas", confirming he'd temporarily appeased her, Sue Ellen stuck to what she wanted for the future, which didn't bother him as he'd already agreed to do so anyway.

"Of course. Should I ask Mr Walters back in now?" agreeing again, he was eager to get back to business and motioned toward the door as if to remind her where they were and why.

"I think so", smiling supportively, she stroked his cheek again and then pulled back, returning to the patient silence she'd demonstrated before she interrupted the lawyer earlier.

Satisfied with her agreement to continue, he hesitated no longer and called Mr Walters back into the room. The sooner they read through the documents, the sooner any amendments could be made and the sooner they could sign on the dotted line before finally getting to enjoy the vacation Sue Ellen insisted their trip ought to be.

To be continued…