APRIL 1981

Though Sue Ellen had assumed Alaska would retain its 'winter wonderland' effect all-year round, an intensity of green blossomed by spring to prove her wrong. Natural lime tones varied to a dark, olive green and the strength of each shade struck a deep chord in her; the vitality of the earth was a reflection of her marriage, which peaked an all-time high. She was five months pregnant and absolutely radiant.

From her sun-lounger, she observed father and son play at the edge of the the thawed-out lake. The warmth of the sun-rays heated the mild chill of spring air and Sue Ellen devoured a local herbal tea to conserve inner-warmth. "Honey, I tell you, I can't wait 'til he's old enough for me to teach him how to swim!"

Sue Ellen scowled, light-heartedly, at her husband. He didn't have to try hard to sound like Jock. "Well, why don't we let him focus on walkin' and talkin' first, darlin'?" She had privately promised herself not to release full parental control of John Ross, the way Miss Ellie had done with J.R. once Gary had been born. It would be a challenge but she was determined not to sacrifice either one of her children. "Have you spoken to your father recently?"

He refused to return her eye, something which didn't escape her attention, as he answered. "Last night, very briefly."

"Really?" Her eyebrow rose, and her tone expressed how disinclined she was to believe his response. "Well, it must have been brief for Jock to forget all about it. He called here this morning wanting to know why he hadn't heard from you." Naturally, her father-in-law's phrasing hadn't been quite so rational. "Don't you think this has all gone too far?" Evidently, Jock had not reacted to J.R.'s emotional blackmail the way her husband had anticipated. "How do you expect to prove yourself fit to run the company from Alaska? Why don't we go home and -"

" - and do what?" J.R. impatiently snapped, propelling a nearby stone into the lake. "Sit on the sidelines while Bobby runs my company." There couldn't have been a crueller fate for the Ewing heir, who had lived a lifetime of promise that his daddy's company was destined to be his birth-right.

Sue Ellen reached forward and tenderly massaged his shoulders, so tense. She had willingly been his sounding board for enough years to perfect the technique to soothe any grievance. She draped her arms around his neck and balanced her face into the crook of his shoulder, her lips parallel to his right ear. "It's only a company, J.R.. Why don't you start your own?" His expression was an incredulous one. "If your daddy can do it, you certainly can! Jock didn't even have a college education, let alone the kind of experience you do, and he built Ewing Oil from the ground up. Think about the empire you could build for yourself and John Ross." The brilliance of the idea pulsated through Sue Ellen's veins as she envisioned her husband accepting the pride of his father and coming into his own, the way he never had before.

Thoroughly unconvinced, J.R. brushed off her suggestion, "No, I can't." He couldn't enter into competition with the company his father had built for him - it was absurd! He softly patted her hand, thankful for her input. "Daddy meant Ewing Oil to be mine. I'll be damned if Bobby steals it from me."

"Well, I'm afraid you're in need of a new game-plan then, darlin', because your daddy isn't about to change his mind."

A sharp pain sliced through his head, in threat of an oncoming migraine, and he shook his head, "I don't want to talk about business anymore."

Lust, in its most unmistakable form, conveyed itself but Sue Ellen diverted eyes to their son. "We should get John Ross inside first. It's starting to get colder." She exhaled a faint moan, as she lifted the weight of her son into an embrace, her energy consumed by the pregnancy. "I ordered from the caterers but dinner won't be here for another hour so." Her words fell on deaf ears, J.R.'s attention consumed by the half-read book on the coffee table. "J.R., did you hear what I said?"

"I heard it," he confirmed, his Texan drawl concealing his pre-occupation with the book.

Sue Ellen set John Ross into his play-pen and leapt to retrieve the book. "Do you mind? That's private!"

"Well, what is it?" He caught a brief glimpse of the word 'sex' in the title and had gathered the general premise was to guide women in their pregnancy experience.

"I don't know why you're so curious, J.R.." In vain, Sue Ellen battled to maintain her composure and flicked the curls from her face in a dramatic fashion. "It's a book about pregnancy, that's all. One of the women at my pre-natal class recommended it to me. It's nothing interesting, really. I only accepted it to be polite." Her expertise in the twisted truth didn't fool him and J.R.'s nose literally twitched at the stench of her deception. Sue Ellen backed away slowly, "J.R.," her voice wavered, nervously. He moved swiftly and snatched the book from her determined clutch. The illustrated pages confirmed his suspicions. They hadn't engaged in another sexual encounter since their reconciliation, though Lord only knew the many unreciprocated advances J.R. had made. "Is this the reason you won't let me touch you anymore?" One line about the side-effect of severe pain during sexual intercourse drew his eye, "Have I hurt you?"

She smiled sweetly, repossessing the book and setting it aside. "No, you haven't. If you must know, I was curious about the effect pregnancy can have and the lady who runs the class directed me to the book." While other women noted infinite cravings for food, Sue Ellen's only hunger had been for her husband. Her sex-drive had reached unknown heights, so much that it prevented her from following through on her instinct. "Does that satisfy your curiosity, my darlin'?"

A devilish grin spread across his lips and he pulled her close, "It certainly does." She moaned in ecstasy at the soft nibbles his lips trailed over her neck, pacified.