“What? John Ross, what's the matter?” Lucy was concerned and welcomed the chance to divert attention away from her own problems.

“Nothing, it's okay.”

“Well, let me give you a piece of advice. If there's a problem…something between you and Melissa, then you have to go to her and talk about it before you two marry. Neil and I didn't do that and our marriage almost fell apart because of it.”

“Then your eyes were deceiving you Kaitlin. That flame died down years ago…and there's no match in Texas…or on this earth…that can light it back up.” Sue Ellen put the last bottle back in place and stood back up. “Now if you'll excuse me, my son's getting married in less than an hour and I'd like to go see him.”

Kaitlin turned around and watched Sue Ellen disappear into the hallway. “Who are you kidding Sue Ellen? Time is the match that lit that flame back up…and now it's burning brighter than ever. Everyone can see that; why can't you?”

“Something's bad wrong isn't it?” Jillian asked.

John Ross nodded, trying to swallow the lump in his throat as he did so. “Yeah…and this wedding can't go on until I talk to Melissa…until she knows what I've done.”

And now for the continuation...

J.R. shifted from one foot to the other, making small talk while he waited for the wedding to begin, which should be happening in a matter of minutes, but where was John Ross? Or Melissa for that matter…

He spotted his daughter standing off to herself and J.R. immediately noticed that she didn't look good. “Jillian? You okay?”

Jillian smiled and nodded. “I'm fine I guess…just feeling a little dizzy.”

J.R. was instantly concerned. “Do you need to go to the doctor…or the hospital?”

“No Daddy! I think the excitement of the wedding just got to me. I'll be fine.”

“Well, promise me that you'll let me know if it doesn't get any better.”

“I will,” Jillian assured him. “But I'll be fine.”

“We're never going to get there on time,” Melissa groaned. Why hadn't they left earlier?

“Never underestimate your mother's driving capabilities honey…” Angela slammed her foot on the gas pedal and veered over into a narrow opening between two cars in a faster moving lane. “Southfork, here we come.”

“Don't you worry about John Ross…he'll be here. Can't say that I've seen Melissa though.”

“Melissa will show up…unfortunately.”

“Oh? Just what's that supposed to mean?” J.R. asked, going on the defensive.

“Understand, J.R… that I don't have any plans of standing in the way of my daughter's happiness. If she wants to marry your son, then that's what she'll do. You, however, well…Harry told me about some of the dirty little deeds you've done. I just hope your son doesn't follow in your footsteps.”

J.R. raised an eyebrow. “There's John Ross now…”

Across the crowd, John Ross frantically looked for Melissa and he stepped off to where the cars were being parked. Melissa's familiar red car pulled into the entryway and she jumped out, coming face to face with John Ross.

“Melissa, we need to talk.”

“John Ross! You're not supposed to see me until I walk down the aisle…”

“I know.”

“You look so handsome…to hell with tradition.” Melissa pulled John Ross into a pre-wedding kiss. “Not that we need the practice…”

John Ross smiled uneasily. “No, I don't think we do.”

“Today is the happiest day of my life…and aside from the running late and a couple of other things, it's going just like I've always dreamed…and in a few minutes you and I will finally be married.”

“Yeah…”

“So what're we waiting for?” Melissa's enthusiasm was contagious. She didn't seem to be nervous in the least.

John Ross smiled and kissed her again. “Come on. Let's get married.”

She panned the camera around the office and moved over to the desk where she began to snoop through Rex's papers and files.

“Rex, may God help you if I find out it was you behind my being attacked.”

“Right in here,” came a voice from outside the door, which Afton instantly recognized as that of Rex.

Panicking, Afton bolted over to a small closet, slid in and closed the door just as Rex entered the room.

Through the crack between the doors, Afton saw Rex walk into the office with a bearded man. Afton opened the closet doors just a little wider, lifted the camera and filmed through the crack in the doors. When she saw the dragon tattoo on the man's arm, memories from the night of her attack flashed back to her…

Afton got up, using the wall as her support. She felt the man's presence behind her and even in the darkened room she could see what he had in his hand---something very big and very blunt.

Afton wanted to scream but something prevented her. Without a sound, she started to run. She knew the penthouse well enough to know that the door was right down the hallway. She could hear him after her. She reached the door---she tried to open it, but it was bolted.

Through the crack between the door and the wall, there was a shred of light shining through. She looked back on the shred of light and thought she saw an arm heading towards her, an arm with an unusual dragon like shape on the arm…

Barely breathing, Afton listened in on their conversation.

“Afton must die, even if we can't frame Neil for her murder now. Afton's death will affect Cliff Barnes deeply…but that'll only be the beginning for him.”

“Gotcha.”

“See to it that you do. It's getting down to the wire now and there's no room for more of your incompetent mistakes. Afton's already getting suspicious…I underestimated her, she's more intelligent than I thought, but she's still nothing I can't handle.”

“Yes sir…everything's under control…”

From within the closet, Afton gasped. They were planning on finishing her off for good!

“Sure Mom…what about?”

“There's so much I need to say to you today…so much I should have said to you before today, but somehow I never got around to it until now. It's so easy to put off talking to those you love because you think they'll always be around so then you can say it later…but in a way, I'm kind of losing you today, so I want to say this.”

“I'm listening.”

“You make me proud John Ross…every day. I've never said this, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think that. You're going to make a wonderful father for little T.J…and a wonderful husband for Melissa.”

John Ross looked down.

“And I know that everyday you will be the best man that you can be…and Melissa and T.J. will love you for it. John Ross…I can see your father in you…”

John Ross finally looked up, startled. Had she just said what he thought she said? “What?”

“I can…I can see the good of J.R. in you…the J.R. that I fell in love with all those years ago. The caring and kind J.R…and the J.R. that would do anything for his family. You're like that.”

John Ross didn't know what to say. What would his mother think if she knew he also shared J.R.'s darker side? “Thanks…” he muttered.

Sue Ellen hugged him tightly. “I don't want to let you go, but today is the day I have to.”

“I'm not going anywhere…”

“In a way, you already have, John Ross. You've grown up…you're a man now. A man destined for a future of happiness and that is what I want for you. When you almost married Karen, I gave you 25% of Ewing Oil as a wedding gift…but that was a mistake. This time, I have something else, if you'll take it.”

“What is it?”

“It's really more for Melissa I guess, but I'm giving it to you to give to her.” Sue Ellen pulled a black box out of a drawer and opened it. “It's a locket…a heart-shaped locket. J.R. gave it to me the night before we married the first time.” Sue Ellen smiled, fondly remembering the man J.R. was when he gave this to her. “You'd never believe how romantic your father could be.”

“Is there a key?” John Ross asked, pointing to the tiny keyhole in the locket.

Sue Ellen smiled. “There was at one time.”

“What happened to it?”

“I think only your father knows the answer to that. He had the key to my heart, so to speak…and he may still have it, I don't know.”

J.R. had been standing at the half-open door long enough to catch the last few minutes of their conversation. He couldn't believe Sue Ellen had kept that locket all these years and it touched him to know that she had.

He knocked softly on the door and then pushed it open. “He does still have it, Sue Ellen.”

Sue Ellen was almost furious that he'd been listening to their conversation, but she didn't want to ruin John Ross's day. The anger subsided and she didn't say anything. Had J.R. kept that key all these years?

J.R. handed John Ross a gold chain, from which a tiny gold key dangled. “Guess your Momma and I were thinking the same thing today.”

John Ross looked at them both. “Can I open it?”

Sue Ellen looked at J.R. and their eyes locked for an eternity. Finally, they both nodded. “Sure, go right ahead,” J.R. answered.

John Ross inserted the key and turned it, causing the locket to click. Sue Ellen and J.R. stood behind him and watched anxiously while he swung open the front half of the locket. Inside were two tiny pictures of J.R. and Sue Ellen, taken when they were both much younger.

“Mom, Dad, I couldn't take this…its yours.”

“Not anymore John Ross,” Sue Ellen quickly replied. “It's time for those pictures to be replaced…with yours and Melissa's.”

“Are you sure?”

“She's right Son,” J.R. echoed.

“I don't have much time to give this to her…I'll have to hurry. Thanks Mom and Dad…this means a lot to me.”

Sue Ellen hugged John Ross again as J.R. watched. “Go on…go give it to her John Ross.”

John Ross smiled at both of them and then he was gone. Once they were alone, J.R. turned back to Sue Ellen.

“You kept it…all those years?”

Sue Ellen hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Pardon the pun…but I didn't have the heart to throw it away…even after all you did to me—I still couldn't do it. And you kept yours too…”

“Of course I kept it.”

“Why?”

“Reminded me of you…I started wearin' it around my neck after you went away to Europe with that Lockwood fellow. You might have been gone, but it helped me to think of you.”

“I'm sure you had plenty of other things to keep your mind occupied while I was away.” Sue Ellen walked over to the door and gripped the doorknob.

“Where are you going?”

“To our son's wedding.”

J.R. lingered behind for a few minutes, thinking back to the days of their happiness.

John Ross fished in his pocket and pulled out the locket, which was newly fitted with pictures of both him and Melissa, and he handed it over to her. Melissa took it and looked at it while a smile spread across her face. “John Ross, I love it…”

“It was my Mom's…Dad gave it to her before they married.”

“Does it open?”

“You bet it does…but I get to keep the key…after all, I'm the only one that's supposed to hold the key to your heart. Right?”

“You'd better believe it.” Melissa took the key from him and opened the locket. “Oh John Ross, I love it.”

Sly popped her head in the door and interrupted their conversation. “Melissa! John Ross! Are you two planning on being married today or not?!”

“I'll see you in a few minutes.” John Ross locked eyes with his future wife for several more seconds before going outside to take his place.

Christopher tapped his watch when John Ross finally came to the altar and the music began to play softly as Sly, bride's maid and longtime friend of Melissa and the McSween family, walked slowly down the aisle. Wade watched her from his seat, not realizing until now how beautiful she actually was.

Sly took her place and Jillian followed, catching a gawking glance from Manny who sat next to Wade at the back of the seating area. Jillian turned her head slightly and noticed him sitting there, but he looked away and she continued her march down the aisle.

Angela, Melissa's matron of honor, followed them and once the three women had gathered near the altar, little Megan began slowly walking down the aisle, throwing delicate flower petals. A quiet chuckle went through the crowd as she stopped occasionally to be sure every inch of ground was covered with petals. Christopher and John Ross both looked at her; John Ross with just a hint of heartache. He had thought she was his daughter for so long, only to have her snatched away.

Suddenly, all thoughts of anything but Melissa vanished as the wedding march began to play.

John Ross looked down the aisle and was taken aback by Melissa's beauty. Melissa walked slowly and steadily toward him and despite his best attempts to forget, John Ross thought back to what Lucy had said…

“…you have to go to her and talk about it before you two marry. Neil and I didn't do that and our marriage almost fell apart because of it.”

Comments or questions about the episode...