Dallas, Texas

Laying the bouquet of flowers down on the newly sprouting grass, Bobby took note of the slightly cooler October day. Time was passing, but things weren't getting easier like people had told him they would. He was still grieving, grieving Pam, grieving Will, grieving his mother and grieving the loss of the life he'd always imagined himself living.

His life was a mess and that mess was beginning to affect other people negatively too. He had a job he hadn't put in a full day at in months, a family he had barely spoken to since leaving the hospital in Denison, and when he tried to reach out for help, his needs were met with objection from other interested parties. He was making his mess Jenna's mess every time he went to see her and for that he truly felt bad, but it didn't stop him, which was self-destructive and made things uncomfortable for Jenna. It didn't make sense to him why he was seeking out Jenna's friendship, he knew things were complicated between them and always would be; Charlie was a different story though, he knew why he wanted to get to know her, although he wasn't sure that made it right. Jenna had named him Charlie's father in a moment of vulnerability, not because she wanted to involve him in her life, so to act like he was anything more was presumptuous. For whatever reason, he'd sought the friendship of the Wade women and they'd welcomed him, but he knew he should stay away now, his presence wasn't good for them.

Sitting back, he breathed in the fresh air and closed his eyes; he wanted to feel better, but he didn't know how to.

Houston, Texas

Opening the jewellery box in search of the diamond necklace she'd coveted ever since her father had presented it to her mother last Christmas, the young lady scanned her eyes over the exquisite jewels, carefully sliding the drawers out to reveal their contents. Spying several stunning items, she frowned to herself when she realised the one she was looking for was nowhere to be found.

Standing still for a moment, it occurred to her that the jewellery box wasn't the only place her mother stored her fine things, and delicately closing everything she'd opened, leaving things exactly as they'd been before she touched them, she walked over to the closet.

Picking up a neatly folded pile of light sweaters off a shelf, revealing the safe they sat in front of, she set the clothes aside and twisted the dial with the combination of her birthday and her parents' anniversary, expecting it to open as it always did, but it didn't. Sighing, frustrated, she grabbed the pile of sweaters and put them back where they belonged.

Uncertain of what to do next, she walked over to the window, looking out onto the driveway. As far as she could tell, her mother wasn't home, so she couldn't just go and ask her about the safe not unlocking or the whereabouts of the necklace. She supposed she could wait, but she was impatient and wanted it now. They were attending the symphony later in the evening and she'd had her attire planned for weeks, she had to have the necklace.

Closing the closet door, she walked out of the bedroom, downstairs to her father's study. Kneeling down to open the bottom door of the dark wood built-in bookshelf, she found what she was looking for and twisting the dial, this time the safe opened easily. Brushing past the things that were of no interest to her like bank books and a gun that had belonged to her grandfather, she located the book that contained all of the important keys and codes for their various homes and safe deposit boxes. Flipping through it, she suddenly felt confused; the code for the upstairs safe was the same as what it had always been, the same as she'd used. Perhaps she'd been clumsy and twisted the dial half an inch incorrectly, she really didn't think so though.

Returning upstairs to the master bedroom, she walked over to the closet and tried again to unlock the safe, having just as much luck as she'd had the first time. Sure now that the code had been changed, her curious side got the better of her and before she even had a chance to begin to feel guilty about it, she was snooping around in search of a hint as to what was going on.

Looking behind piles of sweaters and hanging skirts, dresses and her father's suits, she reached for a hatbox next, opening it to reveal a woman's hat, but something else sticking out from beneath it too, something brown and papery.

Holding the small piece of newspaper in her hand, she read the words in her head first, then said them aloud to herself a second time as she tried to process what they meant, "Pamela Jean Ewing (née Barnes), April 10 1950-August 13 1973". It was an obituary, that much was obvious, but what it was doing hidden away in a hatbox belonging to her mother was unclear.

"It is with great sadness that the family of Pamela Ewing announce her passing. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband Bobby…" reading the information about a young woman just over five and a half years older than her, she didn't recognise one name in the list of surviving family members, not Bobby, not Cliff, not Digger, not Maggie and not Jimmy.

Turning her attention to the other newspaper clipping, she noted it too was an obituary, specifically for a Willard John Ewing, a baby whose date of birth and death were unfortunately the same. August 13th had obviously been an awful day for the Ewing and Barnes families, she had enough information to understand that, what she didn't have enough information to understand was how any of it related to her mother.

"Katherine? Are you up here?" hearing her mother's voice coming from outside the bedroom, she panicked; her parents trusted her and ordinarily she could walk into their bedroom just as she had done earlier without issue, however, trust was built on respect, and prying didn't exactly come under respectful behaviour.

Throwing everything back into the hatbox, she slid it back onto the shelf, just in time as seconds later her mother opened the door and walked into the bedroom.

"Oh you are here. What are you doing?" spotting her standing by the open closet, she asked a very valid question.

Stepping back, she turned around to face her mother and answered the question, "looking for the diamond necklace I asked to borrow, I can't get the safe to open".

Looking beyond her at the safe, her mother didn't appear to notice anything out of place, and answered, "I had Florencia put it in your bedroom while you were out, didn't you see it?"

"No. Thank you, I'll go find it now", closing the closet door behind her, she was well aware her mother hadn't said anything about the safe, probably because she'd changed the combination herself, she didn't want to risk asking her again though for fear of a scolding, or worse, not being allowed to wear the necklace as she so wanted. With everything at risk in mind, she did as she'd said and left the room, heading down the hallway to her own bedroom, her mind swirling with thoughts of the evening ahead, the two lives lost and where her mother fit in to the situation.

To be continued…