Cassandra groaned as Safiya zipped up the off-white wedding dress. It had been altered only that morning, but with just two weeks left until her due date, she was pretty sure her belly grew inches per hour at this point. Sometimes at night, in the quiet of Nasir’s bedroom, she thought she could even hear it growing.

Safiya’s tongue poked out of her mouth as she struggled to clasp the top of the zipper. “Almost…got it.”

Cassandra wheezed dramatically once it was fastened, then grinned over her shoulder at her soon-to-be mother-in-law. Her own mother, Cathryn, beamed at her from the corner of the elegant bedroom where they’d all been getting ready, snapping a few pictures on her telephone. Out the window, she could see just the corner of the wedding site on the grounds of the villa, where chairs and an altar had been set up amid the sprawling green grass. The villa rental in northern California couldn’t have been cheap, but as both bride to Nasir and a late-term pregnant lady, she had double the reason not to give a damn.

“You look so beautiful, my baby girl,” Cathryn cooed, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“I feel like a whale,” Cassandra said, smoothing her hands over her huge lacy belly.

“Well, dear, you’re having twins,” her mother reminded her.

She’d chosen to wait until a bit later in the pregnancy to get married, mostly to coincide with the maternity leave she’d taken from her new agency, Cassandra’s Coupling, the endeavor she’d started after resigning from her previous agency. She and Nasir both thought it was the best step—a graceful exit that allowed her to take an entrepreneurial route with full creative control over her work. And though it started out small, her bursting list of happy client reviews meant that her business grew by the day. Laura had moved with her and would cover for her for the next few months.

Safiya laughed throatily. “It’s a new Azhar tradition, didn’t you know? All the brides must be incredibly pregnant prior to the marriage. My sons apparently won’t have it any other way.” She cast a sharp glance over to Elena, Asim’s wife, who stood off to the side holding her fifteen-month-old daughter Eleanor in her arms.

“I’m all about starting new traditions,” Elena quipped, which made Cassandra laugh, and then tear up. This day was a perfect cocktail of emotions and hormones, one she barely knew how to process. If she wasn’t bowled over by love, it was gratitude or adoration or relief or excitement. It wouldn’t be long before she was a shivering mess on the altar, clinging to Nasir to help her stand.

“And it’s my job to uphold them,” she said, smiling over at her soon-to-be sister-in-law. She and Elena had hit it off quickly, and though they’d only seen each other a few times throughout the months of her pregnancy, she felt more like a long-lost best friend than some distant relative. Nasir even admitted to her recently that he’d known they would hit it off, something he wore a bit like a badge of honor.

“Which means Basri will no doubt be following in his elder brother’s footsteps,” Safiya mused, eyes narrowing at no one in particular.

“I’m sure we can count on it,” Elena sighed.

“You’ll get more grandkids out of the mix, that’s for sure,” Cassandra said, rubbing her belly. “Maybe he’ll get triplets.”

“That would be the perfect conclusion,” Elena added.

Safiya laughed. “Come, ladies. We must go down now. I just got the signal.”

Cassandra waited for her mother to lift her heavy silk-lined train, pressing at the white netting that covered half her face, pinned to a trendy small hat that sat low at the back of her head. Her blonde tresses were pinned and curled up beneath the hat in a vaguely twenties style, while her lipstick was bright red and shocking. She and her mother made their way slowly down the wide staircase, steps creaking under her weight. At the bottom of the stairs, she sighed, lifting the bottom of her belly, wondering when these two babes would make their way out into the world.

“Almost there,” Cathryn murmured as they neared the elegant French doors leading outside. Beyond the brick-laid patio, the intimate group of friends and family gathered, all of them standing by folding wooden chairs. In the distance, off to the side of the white podium, a four-piece string quartet played.

Cathryn and Safiya departed for their seats together. Cassandra’s father, who waited off to the side, approached her with tears in his eyes.

“My beautiful girl,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He offered his arm, and she took it, smiling up at him. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Once the mothers took their seats at the front of the gathering, it was time for Cassandra and her dad. They started a slow walk toward the altar, Nasir’s back still facing them. As she neared the gathering, the quartet started a new song: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Friends and family rose to their feet.

Cassandra grinned, taking it all in, loving the dry lick of the late fall air, the familiar faces, which were turning now to face her. She spotted Laura, who already had tears on her cheeks, and Veeda and Oscar, who beamed at her like she was an angel coming from the heavens. But the person who snagged her attention most of all was the tall, dark, handsome man next to the officiant.

Nasir turned slowly and his eyes swept over her, sending chills through her even from so far away. A grin spread across his face, the most vibrant she’d ever seen, and immediately the tears came. She shook with laughter and tears as she made her way down the aisle toward Nasir, her father clutching tight to her arm, the wafting notes of cello and violin mingling inside her, lifting her to bliss.

In front of Nasir and the officiant, her father kissed her forehead again and then retreated to his seat off to the side. In the front row, Laura wiped at her eyes already, which prompted another wave of emotion in Cassandra.

She turned to Nasir, laughing a little as she grabbed his hands and lined herself up to face him. His eyes watered, his grip warming, everything about this feeling precisely like the best path she could have ever chosen in life.

“I love you,” Nasir whispered, while the quartet finished their song. “I’ve loved you since I laid eyes on you.”

Cassandra wilted, feeling only seconds away from the inevitable shaking-and-clinging portion of the ceremony. In the months since they’d reconciled, it had been a non-stop upswing of love and attention, of getting to know each other, of plumbing the depths of emotion and communication while testing the limits of honesty and expectations.

There was no other man she wanted to do this with. And this could never be a sorry repeat of past mistakes. This was a confident step into the future, a future that she and Nasir created together, one that would be completely and entirely theirs.

“I’ve loved you since you said the eighties band inspired divorce,” Cassandra whispered, a bit more quietly.

“So it looks like I’ve loved you just a little bit longer,” he said, winking.

Cassandra swallowed a knot of emotion, clutched his hands like she might blow away, even though that was impossible with the twins. “But I loved you harder.” She grinned. “I loved you so much, I made you two babies.”

Nasir tossed his head back with laughter, and the officiant cleared his throat. Nasir straightened, squeezing her hands, but that smile didn’t leave his face. The smile that bloomed like a secret crafted especially for her, a smile Cassandra would do anything to see for the rest of her life.