Dallas, Texas

Thanking the waitress for their drinks, Sue Ellen watched her walk away from the table before speaking, acknowledging JR's increasingly giddy mood. "JR, tell me, what's making you so happy?"

She was in good spirits all things considered, but there was something different about her husband. The oil business was in trouble but by the way JR acted after coming home from the office sometimes it was difficult to believe.

She didn't get the feeling there was infidelity happening, Julie had been dealt with and JR wasn't stupid enough to stray again, nor did his behaviour in their bedroom indicate he was unhappy in any way, so it had to be something else.

"Oh, things are just working out."

Vague, the grin on JR's face continue to perplex her.

"Care to share?"

Looking around Scalini, he appeared to be checking out how many of the other patrons they knew, which considering they were in the heart of Dallas on a Friday night, was a reasonable amount.

"I will, but it's a secret, you have to keep it that way."

Seemingly satisfied that they were safe, JR's continued mysteriousness intrigued her. Whatever the secret was, it wasn't something he cared about other oilmen and their wives overhearing.

"I can keep a secret."

"I know darlin', it's just you really can't tell Jenna, she'll tell Bobby."

Teasing the subject, he didn't explain anything, just that it was obviously a personal issue rather than a business one.

"It's about Bobby?"

"No, not really, but I'm not going to be the one he hears it from." Shaking his head, he answered her question but didn't provide any clarity on the bigger picture. It seemed he knew something that Bobby didn't, he certainly knew something she didn't.

"I'm very interested now."

Taking a drink, he let the subject sit for a moment before revealing what he knew.

"Ok, once upon a time there was a man and a woman who lived right here in Dallas…"

Listening to his opening sentence, she couldn't help but laugh, he was really setting a scene.

Pausing for her interruption, he set her straight, "no, that's how the story starts."

Picking up her wine glass, she took a drink, ready to hear where he was going with his tale. "Go on."

"This couple had four children together…"

Detailing the story of a woman who left her two young children with their alcoholic father in order to make a better life for herself, she gathered quickly even without names that there was a closer connection to their lives than she would have suspected.

The story was not familiar enough to be her own, her father had been an alcoholic just as the man in the story was, but her mother had stayed and her father been the one to leave. If she thought hard enough she knew there were probably countless other people she knew who struggled with their drinking, she'd turned to alcohol in a difficult time of her life herself, and she knew JR's brother Gary had had a fair few issues, the story was not about either of them though, she knew that.

Continuing, making it quite clear that the woman hadn't left and returned for the children once she was in a stable situation, it struck her what a regrettable decision the woman had made when JR made it clear that there would never be an opportunity to reunite now, because her daughter was no longer around.

"This story isn't particularly uplifting", interjecting as he paused, she was grateful for the wine she'd ordered and her own ability to steady her nerves with alcohol without falling into a negative state like others she'd just been reminded of, because she definitely needed a drink right now.

"Did you ever read the original version of fairy tales? Mama did to Gary and Bobby and most of them aren't very uplifting either", chuckling, JR lightened the mood a little.

Smiling at his joke, she said nothing and waited for him to pick up where he'd left off.

"So, twenty-one years later who walks into my office but the daughter of this woman from her second marriage, looking for help to decipher her mother's past, which I gladly offered."

Feeling uneasy about what JR 'helping' meant to him, she asked him to explain. "How?"

"I had a private investigator look into the information she brought me."

Grateful that he didn't describe any cosy stakeouts or intimate discussions, she did wonder what was going on, specifically why he was the one she'd asked for help.

"And?"

Shrugging, JR answered using a tone that indicated nothing interesting had occurred, although his earlier mood and what actually came out of his mouth said the opposite. "It was mostly as expected. Abandonment, name changes, remarriage, a slate wiped clean."

"Hold on, does this have anything to do with that phone call you took that day I brought John Ross into the office?"

Some of what he was describing sounded familiar; she'd had some reservations then and even more now.

"It does."

Feeling uneasy, she didn't say anything, prompting JR to defend himself.

"I'm helping, being a good person, just like everyone is always asking me to do."

Appearing genuine, she believed he probably was, but that didn't explain his involvement or ease her mind.

"Why are you doing it? What significance do any of these people have to us? Why would someone ask you for help in this situation?"

Listening to her questions, he didn't immediately answer, but when he did, a lot of things became clearer.

"This woman, she is Pamela's mother, and her daughter is Pamela's sister."

"Oh my", finishing her glass of wine, she felt like she could use another.

She had a better understanding of the situation now, Pamela's past wasn't entirely unknown to her, but she still had a number of questions. Instead of asking JR several things at once though, she focused on one in particular. "Does this woman know her daughter has come to you?"

"She does now..."

Returning to his story, he further described how he'd become involved and where his involvement had led him following several visits from members of the Wentworth family.

"Let me get this straight, you know all sides, Rebecca knows her own history, Katherine is figuring it out, Cliff doesn't want to know and Bobby knows nothing?"

It sounded to her like he had honestly just been in the right place at the right time, and until she found out otherwise she was satisfied to believe that, but that didn't really make his involvement any less complicated.

Nodding, he confirmed, "if you want to explain it in simple terms like that, yes."

"This is a mess."

"But not our mess", shrugging, he seemed to agree, although he didn't seem nearly as concerned as she was.

"No. Which makes me think, why does any of this matter to you? What do you get out of it?"

Pushing for answers, she wanted to understand.

"Nothing in particular, but for something that just fell into my lap it's good information to have in my back pocket to use if I ever should need to. Rebecca's husband, Herbert Wentworth, owns a number of companies that could be of use to Ewing Oil someday." Explaining his position, he seemed most delighted to get something for nothing, because that so rarely happened.

"Do you plan on using it?"

Asking him directly, she hoped the answer was no, because she wasn't sure she could cope with more tension should something go wrong. She enjoyed seeing him scheme and manipulate things to go his way, but this was a little far, this was playing with people's lives and emotions.

Shaking his head, he reassured her, "no, I suspect it'll all come out within the family before I find any use for it."

Mildly relieved by his intentions, the issue of him knowing something that affected others closer to him than it did him himself still didn't sit quite right with her.

"So, Bobby?"

Finishing his own drink, he waved the waitress back over, ordering a couple more drinks for them.

"Like I said, I've told Rebecca not to be so naïve as to expect Katherine won't persist with her questions, and I've told Katherine she should continue to press Rebecca for answers. Only when those two can be honest with each other does Bobby stand a chance at getting the real story out of either of them."

Explaining his thought process, what he said made sense. Bobby was recovering from the shock of losing Pam and being messed around by two women who couldn't or wouldn't tell him the entire story was not what he needed at present. He needed to know, but he should be told when there was a guarantee that he'd be hearing the truth, not bits and pieces of a history that related to Pam.

"And Cliff?"

Considering Pam's brother, Rebecca's only living son and only other relation to Pam, she had less strong feelings about what, how, and when he should be brought further into the situation, because she didn't really know him at all beyond briefly meeting him at both Pam and Miss Ellie's funerals. Still, she wanted to know what JR had planned for him.

"Again, that's for those Wentworth women to decide, or Cliff to start doing some digging of his own, he has part of the puzzle already".

Reminding her that Katherine had already been in contact with Cliff, JR didn't offer any further information, however she didn't get the feeling that he was holding anything back either.

"I'm not sure about all of this, but I trust you."

Believing he did have good intentions and believing that what he'd told both Katherine and Rebecca was right, she supported him, which he seemed to genuinely appreciate.

"Thank you."

She meant what she'd said, she did have a few reservations about keeping secrets, but she could see where he was coming from, and there didn't seem to be any harm in waiting it out, watching from afar to see who did what next.

To be continued…