Lacey hung back in her readying room while I checked that everything and everyone was in place for the ceremony. We’d met the Omundis twice in the run-up to the wedding, and they were mercifully unperturbed by any of the notoriety surrounding me, or Nick, or even my sister. Olly’s parents were as compact as he was, and shared his vibe of being so grounded as to be rooted to the earth. His sister Natasha, who Lacey told me was the pioneer behind some groundbreaking new surgical laser, was almost intimidatingly accomplished and had gone on a long rant to Nick about the latest spate of Times Cryptics. Her wife, Karmen, had rolled her eyes at me and whispered, “Total gibberish, right?”

There was a huge flower arrangement sitting on one of the windowsills at the far end of the registry council’s ceremony room that was new since I’d stuck my head in earlier.

“Love from Niles Kensington,” I read off the card that was peeking out from between the dahlias and roses, and smiled at the sight of Freddie’s pseudonym.

“Who’s Niles Kensington?” asked Natasha.

“A…distant cousin,” I lied.

I could see from Natasha’s face that she had a follow-up question about this, but the officiant stepped into his spot behind the flower-bedecked wooden podium in the front of the room, and we all had to take our seats. Olly walked to his spot while frantically trying to defog his glasses; he finally gave up and tucked them into his pocket.

“Please make sure I say my vows to the correct indistinct blob,” he said.

When Lacey entered on my mom’s arm, and I saw the love and awe on Olly’s face, I instinctively squeezed Nick’s hand. Lacey had struggled when I met Nick, the only other person who’d ever been as important to me as my twin, and now it was my turn to watch her embrace a life partner who wasn’t me. For a long time, we’d assumed there wasn’t room around us for other people. Now, as she and Olly recited their vows to each other, there was only calm. You don’t stop doing a puzzle when you find two pieces that fit; you build around them, and the whole jigsaw hangs together better. When the ceremony ended, we collectively swarmed the happy couple, and I hugged Olly a little extra tightly.

“Are you crying?” Lacey asked Nick.

He grinned. “I’m a sucker for a good love story, Lace,” he said.

“Aren’t we all,” said a familiar voice, and everyone turned to see Queen Eleanor herself in a lime-green dress, slowly making her way toward my sister.

“Gran,” Nick sputtered. “When did you…?”

“I waited until after you’d begun,” she said. “Naturally, I didn’t want to make a fuss.”