Mercedes and I looked at each other and I said to her, “Am I doing the right thing?”

“Do you love him?”

“Completely, utterly. From the moment I met him.”

“I’m crazy about him, too, Milagro. He’s got his quirks. What guy doesn’t?” Mercedes glanced fondly at Pepper.

“He’s a righteous dude,” Pepper said, with a nod that sent the tiny metal skull beads on his beard dancing.

I took a breath and smiled. “Okay, Pepper, we’re ready.”

Juanita was at the piano and when her trumpeter played the first pure notes of “At Last,” our guests in the club fell silent. Juanita joined in next, singing, and then the rest of the Rat Dogs began playing.

Mercedes went down the aisle between the small cocktail tables and took her place onstage. I followed, wearing her grandmother’s scarlet satin cocktail dress, ruby drop earrings, and an antique gold and ruby tiara.

As I walked through the crowd, I saw the Grant family, Nancy, Mercedes’s family, the Stitching & Bitching crowd, the bikers, the heiress, the tabloid writer, my masseuse friend, the foxy shapeshifter, and Ian’s family and his other friends. They all smiled at me and I felt so lucky to have them in my life.

And when I arrived by my groom’s side and looked into his dark eyes, I thought, Love, love, love.

Ian, wearing an exquisite black suit and white shirt, smiled his dangerous smile, and my heart was so full, I thought it would burst. When he took my hands, I felt the thrill that no one else gave me, and I knew he felt the same thrill.

The doorman Lenny’s wife, a minister, conducted the brief service. Ian slipped an ancient gold and ruby band on my finger, and it looked exactly right.

The minister said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” and Ian kissed me, sending shivers down my back. Everyone clapped and many hooted and hollered and the party started right away, just the way we’d wanted it to.

Champagne corks popped, guests started chattering, and the band began playing. My new father-in-law, compact and distinguished Augustin Ducharme, in tails and a sash with medals, kissed me on both cheeks, saying, “Our son is a lucky man!”

Lala Ducharme looked both chic and matronly in a pink Chanel suit. She held my hands in her small ones and said, “We’ve been waiting for this day ever since Ian told us about you. I know you will be a good wife.”

“I will do my very best.”

Friends handed me off from one to another, kissing me and wishing me well. Nancy said, “You look incredible, and I knew you’d get to wear a tiara. My envy is boundless. You should keep it on for the wedding night. Do you have a title now, too?”

“I’ve always had one. It’s Miracle of the Saints.”