Houston, Texas

With nothing but his thoughts and emotions to focus on the entire flight down, arriving at his hotel downtown in the theatre district in the early afternoon was a pleasant distraction, albeit temporary since the moment the door to his suite closed behind him his mind began racing again.

Having come to Houston for a particular reason, now that he was here suddenly he didn't feel so sure about his choice.

He needed to speak to Rebecca Wentworth, it was something he had to do, but perhaps surprising her by showing up on her doorstep wasn't the right decision.

The danger of not just showing up was that if she knew he was coming and didn't want to see him then she may do exactly as she'd done to Cliff and Pam before, disappear, or at least make herself very difficult to find.

Her daughter was apparently far easier to contact, but he needed to understand Rebecca before he moved on to introductions with her family.

Making a decision, he grabbed his keys and left the hotel. He just needed to do it, not think about it so much.

Heading west, it didn't take him more than 10 minutes to understand why Cliff had felt uncomfortable during his visit to Houston. The Wentworths lived a very different life to the Barnes family, if that hadn't been obvious before, it was now.

Pulling up outside a large, Georgian style redbrick home, he sat in his rental car for a few moments before finally making the move.

He wasn't intimidated, there was nothing about the area of Houston that he couldn't see or buy himself in Dallas, his unsettled feeling simply came from the fact that he'd thought a lot about the moment ahead and knew it could go very well, or very badly.

Using the doorknocker, he stood back and waited for someone to answer, surprised when Rebecca Wentworth herself opened the door.

"Bobby Ewing."

Addressing him by name, she acknowledged that she knew who he was, and getting a better look at her, he confirmed that she was in fact the same Rebecca he'd met at the cemetery last September.

"May I come in?"

"Yes, please."

Following her inside, through the foyer and down a hallway, he took a seat in the formal living room as directed.

"I'm surprised to see you here."

Making what he was sure she intended as a general remark, her comment still felt out-of-place.

"You shouldn't be; you approached my family first at the cemetery."

"I had to see her one final time."

Nodding, he understood her on that point, but he also had questions that remained. She obviously regretted not being able to say goodbye to Pam before she'd left the world behind, however the fact was that while Pam had been alive she hadn't done anything to rebuild a bond between them and so to have regrets in death was pretty questionable behaviour, behaviour he wanted to understand better.

"Can we talk about before that?"

"Which part?"

"The part where you left."

Frowning, she didn't seem very receptive to the direction he was taking their conversation in.

"I'd rather not."

"Please, I came to hear your side of the story. I know Cliff's take, I don't have the privilege of hearing what Pam thought or remembers, so I'd like to hear your perspective."

Quiet, she stood and walked over to a window.

"It's not easy for me to talk about."

Speaking not at him, but out towards the lawn and trees, she seemed caught up in her memories.

"I'm here to listen."

Standing, he walked over to join her, getting her attention again when he stood beside her.

"Let's sit down, have a drink."

Nodding, he agreed to her suggestion.

Not too long later, he understood why she needed the drink. Detailing the past to him, her story mirrored Cliff's, albeit painting her in a better light than Cliff had.

He'd not know Digger well but he could imagine he might not have been easy to live with. He knew too the pain of losing a child, and Rebecca had lost two very young. Additionally, he understood from meeting and talking with Maggie that she was stable and dependable and sometimes knowing that there was a person like that around to pick up the pieces could be tempting.

Gary had left Lucy when she was young but he had to imagine that he hadn't done that without first thinking of his daughter's wellbeing, knowing that she'd always be taken care of by his family even if he couldn't stand being around them. He didn't know the exact details of what had gone on with Valene either, just that one day she'd been Lucy's mother and the next she hadn't, but he had to assume too that she'd had the same thoughts, making it easier to separate herself from her daughter.

Finishing her story, Rebecca looked about on the verge of tears, but she didn't cry.

"That must have been very difficult for you."

"It was. I had to rebuild my life from nothing."

Thinking back to how he'd come to be there, in her living room, he found himself considering the other people in the situation. She wasn't the only one who'd had to rebuild her life after she'd left, her husband and children had all been without her for years. She'd had a difficult life as Rebecca Barnes, her circumstances improving once she left that identity behind, but Cliff, Digger, and Pamela had lived the opposite experience.

"And once you'd rebuilt your life?"

"I don't understand your question."

"Well, it looks like you live well now. You have the resources to make contact with lost family yet you didn't, why?"

Not wanting to sound judgemental, he wasn't sure he succeeded, especially since his feelings were turning from pity to disapproval the longer he thought about it. He could never do what she'd done and if he had, he would have made an effort to correct it long before she had, because as far as he could tell, she still hadn't really done anything to reconnect with her past, her daughter had been the one doing all the hard work.

"It's not that simple, I ran from Digger and that life, I wasn't prepared to get pulled back into it."

Listening to her, her comments angered him.

"I'm not talking about playing domesticated wife and mother in a miserable marriage; I'm talking about contacting your two adult children and trying to build a relationship with each of them."

Rebecca had been gone for more than two decades but still seemed to think of her past as the present, which was not helpful.

She seemed content with the comfortable life she'd created for herself in Houston and had little desire to do anything that might disrupt that.

"You're naïve if you think contacting either of my children could have gone ahead without Digger somehow becoming involved."

"Digger is dead now and you still haven't contacted Cliff."

Listening, he understood now why his former brother-in-law thought so little of her. She made very little effort to even try to empathise with the people she'd left behind and she seemed to put more thought into making up reasons why she couldn't do something than trying to come up with way to do them.

"Cliff doesn't want to speak to me."

Unable to disagree, he didn't think it should be the end of it. She'd wronged Cliff, it wasn't really surprising that he was hurt and it wasn't surprising that her continued lack of effort didn't sit well with him.

"You've never even tried to apologise to him for leaving."

"I don't like your accusatory tone."

Scowling, her demeanour went from one of a person who was willing to converse with him to one who wanted nothing to do with him.

"You don't like hearing the truth."

"I'd like you to leave, now!"

Standing, she pointed towards the door they'd entered through.

"As you wish."

Following her direction, he walked out, leaving her behind.

He would have preferred things had ended differently, but she didn't seem to have any such desire, so he was done.

To be continued…