Riggs straightened his tie one last time in the bathroom mirror.

He and his brothers were in their room over the barn, preparing for the wedding as the girls got ready in the house. He was reminded suddenly of their first night here, not so long ago.

“I don’t think it’s going to get much straighter,” Drago said kindly, smiling at Riggs in the mirror from over his shoulder.

Riggs turned to see Burton grinning at him from his place by the window in the tackle room.

“Is it time?” Riggs asked.

Drago nodded.

They climbed down the stairs of the old barn and followed the path up to the pond.

The air was cool and fragrant. It was full dark, but fireflies filled the sky, lighting their way.

Now that so much attention was being paid to the home of Stargazer Peaches, they had to be careful about a big event like this one, so they had decided to hold the ceremony after dark.

“Married at midnight, I like it,” Sage had said when Tansy suggested the plan for the big wedding.

When Riggs had proposed getting married in the first place, she had only sobbed like a child and hugged him so hard it would have broken a lesser man’s ribs.

And now it was about to happen.

From what he had been given to believe about Earth’s wedding customs, their plan was exceedingly simple.

But that didn’t mean the whole farm hadn’t been exploding with wedding activity.

Otis, whose passion for baking had recently become a farm attraction, ceased peach pie production temporarily to concoct a presumably incredible wedding cake, which no one was allowed to see until the big event.

The pie stand he’d set up at the newly busy farm was bringing in enough money that Sage had insisted on putting him on payroll.

“I won’t take your money,” he said.

“I insist,” Sage retorted, a gleam of a threat in her eyes.

“I’ll spend it all on wedding cake ingredients,” he countered, taking the check she pushed into his hands and scurrying away before she could argue.

Tonight they would see what he had been working on.

Meanwhile, Tansy and Burton had been spending early mornings weeding and planting around the pond. And Drago and Arden stopped by each evening to encourage the new life to grow.

No one else was allowed near the pond. Which made Riggs a little grumpy.

Sage, being the practical one, planned out the ceremony and created the invitations, such as they were, with Riggs’s help.

“No one is coming besides us,” Riggs had said, confused.

“Oh, it’s nice to have something to commemorate the day,” she had replied with a secret smile.

So many secrets.

Like the one in his pocket.

On the day of their escape, Dr. Bhimani had given the men an envelope of cash to be used in case of an emergency. They’d had a private meeting this week and decided that a proper wedding for their mates qualified.

Without the women knowing, the three brothers had made an extra stop on their trip to town last week to purchase three slender gold rings and three plain silver ones from the local jewelry shop. Their marriages would have all the trappings.

They had reached the pond at last.

Otis sat on a stool near the water, playing Greensleeves softly on his ukulele.

In the darkness, Riggs could see that the tall grasses and shrubs that surrounded the north side of the pond were gone and something smaller was in their place. The delicate fragrance of flowers floated on the breeze.

“Roses,” Burton whispered.

“It is beautiful, brothers, well done,” Riggs whispered back.

Burton nodded, looking pleased.

The flickering of candlelight came from the other side of the pond.

“They’re here,” Drago breathed.

The rest of it seemed to go in slow motion.

Arden appeared first, wearing a simple white cotton dress that was a perfect contrast to her dark hair, in which she wore a circlet of flowers. She smiled up at Drago as he came to take her hand.

Then Tansy arrived, even taller than normal in high-heeled sandals and a silvery dress that revealed her shoulders. Her short hair was glossier than usual and shimmering earrings skimmed her collarbones. Burton ran to take her hand, earning her indulgent smile.

At last Sage walked slowly around the pond to the rhythm of the music. Her wavy hair was down around her back and she wore a long, lace dress that made Riggs think of tiny stars against a sky. It was old-fashioned yet beautiful, just like his darling mate. And Riggs felt a love so fierce it was like a pain in his chest.

When her hand was at last in his, he nearly cried with relief.

“We have a surprise for you,” Sage told him.

The hedges on the south side of the pond were suddenly moving.

He realized that in the darkness his eyes had been fooled. Two screens with branches on them had stood in for the shrubbery.

Behind them were seven smiling people, each holding a candle, except for the one holding the baby.

Bond and Posey, Rocky and Georgia, Rima and Magnum, and Dr. Bhimani, with baby Estrella Grace in her arms, all faced them smiling.

“Guests,” Riggs breathed.

“Guests,” Sage agreed, squeezing his hand.

And now he knew why they had hand printed the beautiful invitations.

There was a flurry of excited whispering and waving, and then the ceremony began.

The words washed over him and he managed to follow along, but Riggs was lost in a sea of love and wonder.

At the proper moment he slid the ring onto Sage’s finger and was gratified by her expression of surprise and delight.

Then he was bending to kiss her, pressing his lips to hers as if they could somehow freeze the moment if only he kissed her thoroughly enough.

When they finally broke apart, the guests cheered.

They all followed the path back down to the barn where Otis had set up their reception.

The interior of the barn was aglow with fairy lights.

Three enormous cakes covered the large table in the middle.

“There’s one for each couple, so everyone has to eat three pieces,” Otis announced.

Arden and Drago’s cake was carrot with cream cheese frosting and a garnish of peach blossoms on top.

Tansy and Burton’s was a honey cake, festooned with hundreds of delicate marzipan bees.

And the cake for Sage and Riggs was a traditional vanilla wedding cake with peach infused frosting and a constellation of chocolate chips on top.

Music started in the background and Riggs wondered if they would dance soon.

“Is that David Bowie?” Sage asked Rima, who had come over to congratulate them.

“Oh, yes,” Rima laughed. “That’s my mom’s old Heroes album. It’s the only one we have on cassette tape. Otis called in a panic earlier and said there was no music in the barn. The boom box is the only thing we had with a big speaker that runs on batteries. Sorry.”

“No,” Sage told her. “Don’t be sorry. I think… I think it’s just right.”

“Shall we dance?” Riggs asked her.

“Do you know how?” she asked.

“My training was watching 80s movies, of course I do” he teased her. “You’re a silly girl for asking that question.”

She grinned and he swept her into his arms.

Over her shoulder, he could see his brothers and their mates on the dance floor, beginning to sway under the fairy lights.

Outside this barn, he knew, were the rest of the humans who inhabited the surface of this wild, sad, funny, inexplicable planet.

He was truly one of billions of brothers and sisters now - a full-fledged participant in Earth’s chaotic march toward who knew what ends - tragic or magical. This was a brotherhood so much larger than himself and those he loved, that he was humbled by it and overwhelmed with a desire to help them all somehow.

But for tonight, he turned his attention back to his own mate, and the sweet universe that was her love.

Sage lifted her chin to meet his eyes, as if knowing he was dreaming again, worrying about a world so big he could hardly change it in a hundred lifetimes.

He waited to see what she would say, yearning to hear her thoughts and feelings on this important evening as they began their life together formally.

But she only smiled up at him. It was a smile that told him that all was well, that she was his and he was hers. It was her most twinkly-eyed smile, the one that brought him back to himself as he realized she always would.

He smiled down at her, amazed that he had found her, amazed that she had accepted him - accepted everything about him.

And they whirled to the music as the blue-green planet whirled around its only star, joyfully, steadily, forevermore.