DEAR ELLIE: My fiance of six months keeps in touch with several female friends, some of whom he'd dated: lunches, phone calls, etc. We're getting married next summer.

DEAR ELLIE: I love my stepchildren and treat them as my own; they love and respect me. Although I try to be kind, considerate, understanding and patient, their mother remains spiteful.

DEAR ELLIE: I'm getting married, but my sister-in-law doesn't get along with the general population. My brother asked me to have her in my bridal party as a show of reaching out. It took her four months to accept, but she's resentful because the wedding date was inconvenient for her.

DEAR ELLIE: Whenever we're together with my friend of 20 years, she's rude to her in-laws or short-tempered with her parents, and often gets into arguments with her husband, all in front of our family. We're embarrassed and don't know how to react. It's not a great environment to be in for ourselves, or our children. What should we do in these situations?

DEAR ELLIE: I worked nights while my hubby was home with the kids, ages 6 and 9. When I got home, there was garbage on the floor, clothes everywhere, a sinkful of dirty dishes. Every day I cleaned, but it was a mess the next morning.

DEAR ELLIE: My partner's grown children ignored him throughout our 20 years together, hurt that he moved someone into the family home. My efforts to reach out to them were rebuffed.

DEAR ELLIE: It's been five years since my ex-husband left our marriage of almost 23 years, and I'm still trying to find and fit together pieces of the puzzle as to why it didn't work. Is there a book that you'd recommend for me to read?

DEAR ELLIE: My husband and I cannot stand my best friend's husband. They've been married for more than 10 years, and he's one of these people who boasts about everything, lies and isn't interested in anything about you. We've stopped getting together as a group and have just left going out to the "girls."

DEAR ELLIE: I've been with a woman 20 years my senior for 13 years. I was in my late 20s then and wanted a rewarding career and a family. She'd already had her kids; they've never accepted me and still barely treat me as a friend.

DEAR ELLIE: I just got this new job, met some new people and made some cool friends. I get along with everyone but have a hard time "selling" myself as boyfriend material because of verbal abuse from parents, bullying at school and extreme shyness with females. I take almost a month to gather the courage and hope that one might say yes.

DEAR ELLIE: I'm 23, an IT professional, with my own place, life and career ... all the things that never worked out before.

DEAR ELLIE: When my wife and I married (I was 30, she was 26), she complained that we got married too late to travel before having children.

DEAR ELLIE: After 28 years, my wife announced she'll no longer have sex -- that her "playground" is closed, and that I should get used to it or get out. Over the last three years, her mother and father passed away, our children started college and her job will soon disappear.

DEAR ELLIE: I rushed into living with my new girlfriend because I can't stand being alone. I now regret this, as I'm worried about our compatibility.

DEAR ELLIE: I've found recent messages from my wife (seven years together) to her ex. They'd been together the previous night. When confronted, she said she'd been contemplating a divorce and didn't feel the same anymore. I begged her to work this out but she wasn't listening, so I talked to her about moving and separating the items we bought together. She cried.

DEAR ELLIE: My mother-in-law pokes her nose into everything we do as a couple. I need her as she takes care of my toddler.

DEAR ELLIE: I've been seeing a woman for two years that I met online; she travels for work; we take turns visiting each other. But I'm in love and told her I want her to stop traveling or work in my area.

DEAR ELLIE: I'm in my 20s, and in my new profession as a lawyer. I love the work, but its demands take a toll on my personal relationships.

DEAR ELLIE: We moved in together after one month; we bought an expensive sports car together for good weather; I own a minivan, which we drive in winter. We traded in his motorcycle and bought a bigger bike together. Then he got his divorce and gave everything to his ex -- their house, savings, investments. Now he's tired of being "housebound" in winter.

DEAR ELLIE: When our first baby was 1 month old, I discovered that my husband had begun a relationship with a co-worker while I was pregnant. Apparently their relationship was non-sexual, but he was in love with her. He started treating my daughter and me really badly, so I kicked him out. He soon said he was sorry and committed to working on our relationship.

DEAR ELLIE: I'm a male, 30, married for five years, father of two children, and a cross-dresser. When my wife and I started dating, I'd stopped cross-dressing, thinking I was cured. I was wrong. I've been doing this from age 8, and I'm not sure if my parents ever suspected.