Miss Ellie bathed in the May sunshine, while her childhood sweetheart played around the local outdoor park with Aaron.
Within the five months that followed baby John's paternity suit, their lives had transformed drastically; J.R. and Sue Ellen were separated, to be divorced, and the Barnes-Ewing feud had escalated into all-out-war between J.R. and Cliff. Nevertheless, Miss Ellie and Pam continued their efforts to establish a peace treaty between the families. Sue Ellen, too, had amicably renamed her son in honour of Miss Ellie's beloved father, Aaron Southworth, who had served as a paternal influence in Willard's life.
"Willard," she clasped her hands into one, as he buckled Aaron into his stroller seat and started to lap the park. "How's Sue Ellen?" She lacked the emotional resilience of most and Miss Ellie worried for her relatively newfound sobriety.
"Fine, Ellie," he reported, as he did every other time she probed, and Miss Ellie could never ascertain whether it was because he suspected she would feed the information back to her husband and son. "Why don't you see for yourself? She asks after you the same." He always said that, too, and Miss Ellie always dismissed the sentiment with a sombre shake of her head. She didn't dare trouble the waters any more than she already had done. Her unofficial visitation with Aaron was a sore-point at Southfork, especially for J.R., who declared on more than one occasion that she and Bobby had committed mutiny on him in favour of the Barnes family and Sue Ellen. Her disloyalty had created a deep wound for her son and Miss Ellie feared it may never heal.
Miss Ellie wordlessly halted his motion forward and crouched down in front of Aaron, who was almost twelve months old and the spit of Sue Ellen. "We miss him terribly," she unashamedly surrendered to her emotion. Without the little boy's cries in the early hours, or the collection of toys scattered around the house for any hurried person to trip on, Southfork lacked spirit. "Sometimes, I wish that damn paternity suit never happened; I wish… he were still ours."
There was a woeful sadness in her voice that he had never been privy to before, and her tears prompted a confession. "Ellie, I hope you know I took no pleasure in the pain all this has caused you," he uneasily cleared his throat. "Or your family." Somehow, she doubted he cared for the effect Aaron's absence had on Jock or J.R. but Miss Ellie awarded him a small smile for intent. "The truth is, I sometimes wonder if Aaron would be better off had he been J.R.'s son."
"Willard, why would you say that?" Miss Ellie demanded, incredulous. He had once sworn it would be over his dead body that he would ever concede his losses to Jock or his son; Miss Ellie wondered what could have prompted such hasty resolve.
He stared at her plainly and replied in one word; "Neurofibromatosis."
"Neuro-fibro-matosis," Sue Ellen cautiously repeated the word - a word which had entered her existence mere seconds before.
Pam reached for her hand but Sue Ellen swiped hers away too quick. "It's passed in DNA. Daddy found out he was a carrier shortly after Aaron was born." It should have been Cliff. It was his responsibility to the mother of his child; but he had refused and manipulated delay tactics to escape the inevitable. He was so obviously tormented by the fear that Sue Ellen would end their already-frail relationship that he remained adamant the condition remain secret. It was his mindset that if Aaron was healthy and Sue Ellen was happy, then it would be non-sensical to rock the boat. Unfortunately for Cliff, their father had well and truly rocked the boat; Miss Ellie had confided in Bobby and it would be only a matter of time before Jock and J.R. latched on. All hell would surely break loose, if Sue Ellen were to learn of Cliff and Pam's dishonesty from her soon-to-be-ex-husband. "We had him checked out by a doctor in Fort Worth, shortly after he was home from the hospital. Cliff's physician has performed two full medical exams since and there were no symptoms found."
Reassurances had little effect on Sue Ellen, who paled with the shock. "I- I don't understand. You and Cliff have known about this for months… and you didn't think to tell me?" It wasn't a question, it was her narrative. She often stumbled upon hushed voices, sometimes in heated debate and every time Cliff laboured denial. In the end, she assumed it was residual paranoia from a decade of deceit.
"Sue Ellen, I am so sorry -"
"But he's fine. My baby - is fine." Aaron had adjusted to life away from Southfork and Sue Ellen received daily compliments on how well-developed the little boy was. He had a healthy appetite and his cries had the capacity to rouse half of Texas. "Pamela. Is he fine?"
"The doctors say that he could show symptoms at any point but the first year is crucial." Pam forced herself to respond matter-of-factly, in order to be sure Sue Ellen received all the information, but it didn't make the delivery any easier for her. "The survival rate for children is low; Cliff and I lost a brother and sister both before they were a year old."
"My God…" Sue Ellen deflated, head-in-hands, and Pam curled an arm around her delicate frame.
"Sue Ellen," Pam could feel her sister-in-law detach emotionally from the room, and physically squeezed her shoulders to draw her back into orbit. "Aaron has shown no symptoms. The doctors have said how healthy he is. Another month or so, and they're pretty confident that Aaron could be just a carrier of the disease." Sue Ellen sniffed away the threat of tears and nodded her head, determined to be that hopeful.
"I can't lose him, Pamela… I can't." The baby boy she had avoided for months had become her heart and soul.
"You won't, I promise."