Austin, Texas

"Engaged!? What, where, when, how? I want details. Let me see the ring!"

Excitedly questioning her, Paula, Sue Ellen's roommate and good friend studied the ring when Sue Ellen held her hand up to show her.

Listening as Sue Ellen gave her the information she'd asked for, Paula could tell that there was something her friend wasn't telling her.

"That's so sweet, Clint is a great guy. However, what about your mom? You have to be kidding yourself if you think she'll ever let you go along with this plan. Plus, what about college? Or the pageants? You have to finish college, but the pageant scholarships are paying most of your tuition aren't they?"

Unrealistic herself at times, honesty was her role in the relationship she had with Sue Ellen.

"Uh well Paula, I'm not exactly sure, we didn't really get that far in our conversation and you're the first person I've told. But I'm sure Clint will be happy with waiting until I complete my commitments though and as soon as we show my mama that Clint has the potential to earn a good salary I'm sure she'll come around."

Trying to convince both of them that everything would be ok, Sue Ellen's uneasiness was obvious.

"Whatever you say, but I know I wouldn't want to be there when you break it to your mother. Take my advice, talk to Clint before you do anything, you two both need to be on the same page and present a united front or else the whole thing will crumble before your eyes. Your mother senses weakness and knows your insecurities, don't let her take advantage of you if this is what you really want."

Hugging Sue Ellen, Paula's concern about Sue Ellen's wellbeing grew. Patricia Shepard was vicious and scathingly critiqued anything and everything; she wasn't going to make anything easy for Sue Ellen and Sue Ellen needed to be prepared for that.

Later that evening, Sue Ellen slept restlessly, her mind racing, going over the possible negative outcomes of her current situation. Clint could decide that she was too high maintenance with all of her questions and break up with her, the pageant committee could strip her of her title and scholarship, or worse, her mother could take matters into her own hands, engineering some more awful dates for her to attend.

Awaking feeling worried and uneasy she decided that Paula was right, she and Clint needed to seriously talk about their future and decide what to do.

Preparing herself for the day, she decided to skip her morning class knowing she wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway.

Making her way over to Clint's apartment she mentally listed everything they had to get settled before going any further with their plans, she just hoped they were really on the same page.

"Sue Ellen?"

Surprised to see her standing at his door as she was a good student who didn't ordinarily skip classes, Clint didn't hesitate to let her inside.

"Are you busy? I think we need to talk."

"No, I was just tidying up a little but that can wait. What's worrying you?"

Ushering her toward the couch, he sat beside her.

"How do you do that? Read my emotions. Am I that transparent?"

Her eyes wide, she appeared upset.

"Oh, it's just a look, I can't describe it, but I can recognise it. Now, you're worried about something, so share the problem and we can come up with a solution together."

Smiling reassuringly, he waited for her to speak.

"Let me preface by saying that I am not having doubts about our relationship, but there are so many things about our marriage that we haven't even discussed. I realised last night that we haven't talked about a lot of things or what we're going to tell everyone when they ask us about our married life."

Listening, he nodded, not really surprised at her words. Sue Ellen had always been a worrier when it came to getting the approval of others to justify her decisions.

Placing his hand on hers, he spoke. "Ok, what kind of things do you want to discuss? We can figure everything out if we just calmly and rationally talk through any doubts you're having. Now, tell me what's worrying you?"

Taking a deep breath, she prepared to inform him of her thoughts.

"Ok, well the biggest one has to do with timing. When do you want to get married? Because that will affect a whole lot of other things."

Surprised that timing was her biggest concern, he thought that maybe things weren't so bad after all.

"Well I was thinking sooner rather than later but tell me your other concerns and we can decide together."

"When we get married will affect a lot of other things. You're aware that winning the pageants helps pay my tuition but did you know that to compete in the pageants, contestants must be unmarried? If we get married right away I'll lose my Miss Austin title and won't be allowed to compete in Miss Texas. That means that I won't be able to pay for college. The money I make by modelling isn't enough to cover everything. Then there's the possibility of my modelling career disappearing if I were to become pregnant soon after we marry. That would put us in an even worse position financially. In addition, where are we going to live? This apartment is nice enough for the short-term, but long-term it's not a proper place to start a family. But how are we supposed to afford a house if I don't have a job and you're still in college?"

Spilling out almost every situation she could come up with, he was taken aback by the thought she'd put into snowballing their problems.

"Sweetheart, you're putting too much stress on yourself. I said I'd rather get married sooner than later but I didn't demand that we do it right now. I said that because I love you and can't wait to call you my wife. If it's going to put us in a bad position to get married immediately then we don't have to do that. We can wait until we're both finished college before settling down, that's not a problem."

Feeling her immediately relax as he reassured her, he continued on, determined to lessen the stress she was feeling.

"As for where we'll live, if we wait until after I graduate then I'll be available to work fulltime in a job with a much higher salary than what I'm making now. You don't need to worry about our living situation. As for starting a family, when it happens we'll deal with it, but I don't want you to spend any more energy thinking that you need to financially support us, not with pageants or your modelling career. You'll be Mrs Clint Ogden when we're married and that's the only title you'll need. Now, is there anything else you're worried about?"

Smiling weakly, Sue Ellen stayed quiet for a moment, then eased into a final thought.

"Well, there is one more thing. Now that we've decided to wait until after graduation to get married, I'd like to also wait a little while before announcing the engagement. I don't want to risk my mother doing something to sabotage our relationship before we're in a position to be independent."

Listening to her reasoning, he thought this was a subject where they didn't completely agree. Why should they have to hide their celebration? It wasn't fair or right. However, Mrs Shepard could and would make their lives difficult, he knew that from experience, so perhaps it was understandable.

"I don't like it, but I can live with it."

Brushing her hair with his hand, he looked into her eyes.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, that's everything I wanted to talk about. I'm glad we figured all of that out, I feel much better now."

Hugging him, she spoke the words into his shoulder.

"Good, because I have other plans for the day."

"Oh, I'll be going then."

Getting up to leave it was clear that she'd misunderstood him, probably thinking she'd interrupted whatever he was doing while she was supposed to be in class.

"Oh no, my plans are right here."

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her back to him and brought her face to his. Running his hand through her hair, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.