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Dina’s speech was a resounding success. She had the audience laughing along as she shared stories about her sister’s quirks and Hania’s early experiences as an influencer. She spoke of how proud she was of her little sister, how brave and inspiring Hania’s journey had been. She ended with her sincere good wishes for the new couple, and a final thought: “I’m not sure what my sister will turn her smart, beautiful, hardworking, creative, and talented mind to next, but I can’t wait to find out. Buckle up, Samir.”

Onstage, her new brother-in-law mimed putting on a safety belt and gave her a thumbs-up, to the crowd’s great amusement. Dina smiled at him and shook her head. That was it, really, she thought. Samir accepted Hania the way she was; he didn’t want her to give up her job or her dreams, or change her entire personality to fit in with his family or life. He just wanted . . . her.

The same way Lucky had wanted her. The way that Arshad never had, not without her family, money, and status; all things Lucky had never cared about.

Her heart clenched at this, and she brought her attention back to the speech, finishing up by thanking the guests for attending, and Samir’s family for hosting them all. She wished the couple every happiness.

Afterward, her sister gave her a big hug. “You did good, Dina,” Hania whispered in her ear. “Way better than Arshad. People really respond to authenticity.”

The applause was gratifying, Dina thought as she looked out at the crowd. Maybe she could get the hang of this whole talking-in-public thing after all. Her gaze scanned the crowd once more, noting Lucky’s absence before landing on Arshad. Her ex-husband wasn’t smiling or clapping, and she recognized the expression on his face: He was annoyed that she had done well. It was always a competition with him. She was thankful she wouldn’t have to deal with him for much longer. She gave him a small smile and climbed down the stairs.

As she made her way through the tables, the guests stopped her to congratulate her on Hania’s wedding and compliment her speech. Once again, Dina reflected on how powerful she had felt in front of the microphone. Terrified, yes, but the adrenaline rush had also been euphoric, even if she felt jumpy and weak in the legs in the aftermath.

At the bar, she asked for a soda, something with sugar and empty calories, both for her parched throat and to settle her nerves. A beautiful woman in a skintight mermaid dress with cutouts at the waist approached her. Dina smiled at her over the rim of her glass, expecting further congratulations.

“This might be a strange question, but you went to school with Lucky, right?” the woman asked.

Dina nodded, curious now.

“I’m Mariam,” the woman said.

Dina immediately stiffened. Lucky’s ex-girlfriend. She looked down at the woman’s finger, noting the massive diamond. “The one who dumped him to get with a doctor?” she asked, her tone caustic.

Mariam smiled, fleetingly. “That’s the one,” she agreed, and something about her sense of humor softened Dina toward her. “I know it’s none of my business, but I’m worried about Lucky. He left the tent with his mom and brother before you all got here. I think they went to talk to some older guy outside, pretty sure it was his taya, you know, the one who—”

Dina was moving before Mariam finished her thought, running outside, toward Lucky, the instinct to intervene and protect so strong, so visceral, she barely realized where she was headed until she burst out of the tent and caught sight of Lucky and his family facing off against an older man, the same one she had caught a glimpse of outside the restaurant on Devon Avenue, the restaurant that had belonged to Lucky’s father. She started to run.

Lucky stared at Dina, even as his mother and brother slipped around him to return to the tent. His uncle had already scurried toward the driveway, ready to leave now that he had accomplished his goal, and part of Lucky considered going after him. That thought flew out of his mind when he spotted Dina, his attention focused entirely by her, a homing pigeon finding his true north.

“Dina,” he breathed, eyes raking over her outfit. She had worn plenty of beautiful outfits over the course of the wedding, but the elegant purple sari she wore today was different. It fit her like a glove, accentuating a figure that was fuller than it had been in law school, and his eyes lingered on every curve. With her hijab tied back from her face to show off dangly earrings that caught the light from the full moon, she was stunning. He swallowed and tried again. “W-what are you doing here?”

She looked embarrassed. “I thought . . . Mariam was worried about you. She said you were out here, talking to your uncle, and I ran here after my speech—”

“You made a speech?” he interrupted. He was probably in shock, he thought, mind spinning from all that had happened in the last fifteen minutes.

Dina smiled wryly, nodding. “Hania asked me a while back, sort of. Then she changed her mind and asked Arshad. I couldn’t let that stand.”

“Good call,” Lucky said. “He would have spent the entire time congratulating himself on being the best brother-in-law or taking credit for the wedding.”

A shadow crossed her face, and Lucky wondered if it was because he had bad-mouthed her husband. Then he remembered what Aliyah had challenged him to do: ask Dina if Arshad had actually told her about his feelings all those years ago.

It had been a wild night. If he was being honest, the entire week had been full of the sort of magic that was only possible in the close, intimate proximity of a wedding. If Hania hadn’t met Samir and if they hadn’t decided to marry, he might have lived the rest of his life sure that Dina Haq had been indifferent to him in law school and that the girl he couldn’t get out of his mind had never returned his feelings.

Fate had brought them back together. After witnessing his mother’s profound act of courage and grace with his uncle, he was emboldened to be brave too.

“Dina, I need to tell you something,” he began, his voice low, gaze steady on her face. “Something I never had the nerve to say before.”

She took a step closer, the night soft around them. “You can tell me anything, Lucky. I’m not going anywhere.”

He took a deep breath. “Back when we were in law school, I had . . . feelings for you.” Her eyes widened—in horror? shock?—but he pushed on. “It might be more accurate to say I was crazy about you. You were all I could think about. I knew early on that law school wasn’t for me, but the thought of not seeing you every day was unbearable, so I stayed.”

“Lucky, I—” she started, but he shook his head. He needed to finish, to lay the whole sorry story at her feet before he lost his nerve. Heart thumping, he continued.

“Things came to a breaking point in our final year. I needed to know if you returned my feelings, but I was scared. That’s when I made a fatal mistake. Do you remember that night just before finals, when we were studying together at Robarts Library?” She nodded quickly, and he breathed out. “I had to know if you returned my feelings. I did something stupid. I told Arshad how I felt about you, and I asked him to ask if you might possibly be interested in me too,” he finished.

Dina’s eyes were wide. “But . . . that was the night I asked Arshad if you were interested in me,” she stammered. “He told me you only saw me as a friend. That you were moving to Chicago with your family and I was better off without you because you were a flirt with a roster of women,” she said.

Lucky closed his eyes and lifted his face to the dark sky, breathing deeply, in and out. Aliyah, Saleem, they had been right. Arshad had been the villain all along. He had lied to Dina, lied to Lucky, then taken advantage of the situation.