Miranda, when Andy told her about Hannah's bombshell request, felt tempted to metaphorically toss her racquet down on the tennis court like John McEnroe and shout "You cannot be serious!"

Then to Andy's astonishment, she began to laugh.

"What so funny?"

"Instant Karma, that's what. Honey, don't you see? The gods are punishing me for refusing to have one other couple share our day, by sending another through almost on the same hour. You've got to see the funny side of it. I am definitely being punished for past crimes here."

"What should I do? What shall we say? We can't possibly fit them in."

Miranda was busy trying to brush Matilda's fur with a little dog brush. Even though she was still a puppy, her white fuzzy hair was already getting the Bichon Frise look of astonished frizzle, and it appealed to Miranda's hair-dressing yearnings. She was even tempted to tie a little blue ribbon in their puppy's locks to keep them out of her eyes, but she guessed Andy would pull it out at once if she did.

She pondered the bigger problem for a long minute, then said, "Tell you what. Text Hannah back and say I expect Harry to do the decent thing and ask me, properly, if he can bring his lovely bride and share our festivities. It's something he really should take responsibility for. Why should you and Hannah have to do all the wheedling and negotiations? He needs to call me, and then we will decide."

"But you're not dismissing it out of hand? I just assumed it would be one wedding too far."

"We are living in strange times, darling. You know how I felt a little bewitched all the time we were in Italy?* Well I think the craziness is continuing. We just have to go with the flow! Now, don't you think Tilly would look sweet wearing a little blue bow?"

"Only if you want her to be laughed at by every other dog in Central Park. Have a heart, Miranda!"

Andy pulled out her phone and texted the message right back. Miranda marvelled at how quickly her thumbs flew over the keys. The generation gap between them had never seemed so wide.

Andy, on the other hand, was mentally storing up that magical moment when Miranda had said, "We just have to go with the flow!" It was proof that her fiancée was living in a zone far removed from her public image at Runway.

But then she remembered how Miranda had acted instinctively when she'd called her back that fateful day they'd first met at Runway, when she had first passionately kissed her in the thunderstorm, when she'd suddenly decided to take a year's sabbatical, and when she'd decided they should buy the beach cottage. **

Miranda had far more natural instinct and spontaneity, as well as a huge capacity for love, than anyone had ever given her credit for. She may have sometimes fussed about the placement of a single sequin, but she also knew how to make trousers for elephants, and how to make love like an angel. She was a goddess in human form.

Several other interesting things happened later that day. Nigel, with a couple of wide-eyed Runway interns in tow to carry everything, arrived at the house after lunch, with several pattern books and a selection of beautiful fabrics, and spread them all out on the long table in the formal dining room. He and Miranda closed the door behind them and went into deep and obviously confidential discussions.

Andy took the now immaculately brushed Tilly on a mile or so walk to meet the twins as they came out of school and accompany them home. As she walked, it amused her to imagine, if the girls' fantasy about residing in her parents' old trailer had come true, how this little canine ball of Manhattan charm would have had to fit in with her Dad's posse of flat-coated retrievers out in Ohio. Her fancy hair-do wouldn't have lasted five minutes, and they would have bullied her unmercifully.

Or then, maybe not. Pumpkin, her ginger cat, now seven months old, was no slouch when it came to fisticuffs, but he'd very soon learned not to mess with Matilda. They now shared a basket and were best mates. She was very friendly yet scared of nothing. Somewhere way back in her doggy ancestry, Andy guessed there must have been a really tough little rat-catcher. At any rate Tilly fairly galloped down the street now, ignoring all the instructions to heel. They all seemed as bad at dog-training with her, as Miranda had been with Patricia. Andy decided something had to be done about that, or the pup could get herself into serious danger.

After Andy had left the house, Miranda told the Runway girls to "run along and read something", and loftily dismissed them from the dining room. She needed Nigel to herself. They sat down together at the long table and first dealt with the twins' outfits. She was delighted that, as usual, his impeccable eye had found a solution for Cassie's wish to wear something with two legs instead of a satin dress.

"I'm afraid your notion of dressing her up like that painting in the Huntingdon Gallery won't get you very far, darling. Cassie told me she wants to look cool, and I don't think by that she means resembling a principle boy in an operetta."

He then pulled out a watercolour sketch of a young girl dressed in an informal pair of light blue chinos, but topped with a silky white shirt, and then an extravagant jacket in fine denim encrusted with sparkling sequins and a heap of coloured crystals and rhinestones. It reminded Miranda of the pearly kings and queens of her East End London childhood, but against a blue background. It was fun. It was festive, and it was youthful. And it would suit Cassie, with her merry curls and droll expression.

"I like it. It's such fun. And I think she will too. She's obsessed with cowboys just now."

"Then she'll also like these rhinestone encrusted cowboy boots, I've looked out to go with it." He produced a pair of little white boots in Cassie's size.

"This is a sketch. Do we know where we can get the jacket, in a size small enough for her to wear, in the next two weeks?"

"Yes. I've contacted the designer. They can start work tomorrow."

Nigel named a fresh young designer Miranda had already championed in a recent edition of Runway."

"I didn't know she did anything for children."

"She didn't but she will from now on. She's very keen!"

They then turned their attention to Caroline, and this project was easier. She had sent Nigel sketches herself of what she wanted to wear, just as she had for Cindy and her father's wedding, and he already had a dress half made up for her to try. It was very simple, but very beautiful in ice blue.

"Will this complement Andy's wedding gown?" asked Miranda.

"Absolutely. You will have three adorable people at your side. But the big question, sweetie, is whether you will approve of my choice for you." Nigel pulled over a garment bag and revealed a truly gorgeous blue silk creation from Vera Wang, a designer he knew Miranda already favoured for her attention to detail.

"Do you want to try it on? I think you should."

"I'll take it up to my room, now, before the children return. " Miranda normally didn't hesitate to strip down to her knickers in front of Nigel, her long-time confidante and gay guy supreme, but undressing in her own dining room seemed a bit odd. "I'll be back in a minute. Why don't you find your interns and show them my albums of Ives San Laurent originals? It will help their education."

Miranda tried on the dress in front of her dressing room mirror, turning to catch the side and then the back view. It was gorgeous, and fitted her perfectly thank God. (She didn't know that Nigel, on hearing all about her gelato eating frenzy in Florence from Andy, had secretly ordered it be let out an inch or so in some key areas.) It was lovely, and she would love wearing it. He had more than fulfilled his mission.

But when she had changed back into her normal straight skirt and blouse daywear, she walked thoughtfully down the stairs and handed it to him with a quizzical, slightly tentative air.

"Yes, don't you like it?" he asked, alarmed at the subtle hesitation in her eyes.

"Oh, it is magnificent. I will love to have it in my wardrobe, and I'm so happy I haven't expanded my waistline in Italy. I was a little worried, you know, about that."

Miranda fiddled with the glasses she tended to wear hanging round her neck these days, and then said, "But I need your opinion. What do you think? Be honest now. Andy said I'd look good in pants for the wedding. She mentioned it might bring out my inner butch! But then what does she understand? We both know my darling has zero sense of style. I just wondered . . ."

Nigel followed where she was leading. "Darling, you would look divine. A touch of the androgyny, and every woman and man at the wedding will want to fall at your feet. How about going the whole hog and give them a full Colette-Missy look? Black tails, gleaming white shirt, a sexy waistcoat, topped with white-gold or platinum ear-rings and cuff-links, and then black Cuban heeled boots. It will be unexpected, and ridiculously sexy. Let's do it!"

"I'm not sure. Andy's father will be embarrassed enough, giving his beautiful daughter away to an old lesbian wearing a frock. Won't this just intensify the incongruity? I don't normally even dress in pants."

"Of course not, but that what makes it so much more fun. And just think, you will also be keeping Cass company! It will be a wedding where everyone will be allowed to be exactly who they really are. I will be your campy best man. Hey I can wear the dress if you like! Go for it, girl! This wedding is going to be a blast."

"I expect so. It's certainly heading that way. Oh, and by the way," Miranda remembered. "Before I forget, Nigel, I could box your ears for encouraging Emily and Andy to come up with the notion of a double wedding. It seems that was your bright idea in the first place!"

"Yes, brilliant, wasn't it? And I am so happy you've agreed with it. Keeping Douglas happy up on that wind-swept coast two weekends in a row would have exhausted all my powers to entertain!"

"Don't laugh too soon. You opened the flood-gates you know. We now may have a third wedding added to the list. My nephew Harry, and Andy's sister Hannah may well be joining us, along with busloads of assorted Japanese and Australian extras on set."

"No!"

"Yes. I just want him to grovel a bit first. But I will agree. I already love him dearly, and Hannah is a poppet. His Uncle Charles will be there with us, and Harry no longer has anyone else it seems. He's lost his father, my brother, and his mother as well when he was a child, so Charles and I are his only close and nearest relatives."

"You will end up like Mother Courage if you're not careful."

"No, more like Old Mother McGinty!"

"Never! But, are we going with Plan B, then?"

"Yes, organise me a really well-cut, feminine but sharp looking tail coat and grey striped trousers and I will fulfil one of Andy's obvious fantasies. I can read my darling girl like a book. She wouldn't have mentioned it if she hadn't already dreamed of dressing me up like that at some point."

"You're on, my friend."

"Just be sure and make those boots with nice high heels and the trouser length to match. Otherwise Andy will tower over me, and I can't have that."

"Your wish is my command. This is so exciting!"

Then they heard a commotion downstairs as the street door opened and the girls, Andy and Matilda poured in. Miranda went to the door and called out, "Come straight up, girls, your Uncle Nigel has some ideas to show you!"

"Not a word to them or Andy about my outfit though," she whispered to Nigel, and he smiled and put his finger to his lips."

"Sealed." He said. "It will be our secret." But he was quietly thrilled. He knew he could make Miranda look a million dollars, and the New York fashion scene would go wild. He already knew what he was going to feature for the cover of the June edition of Runway. If he had everyone primed, they might just make the print run in time. This was going to be the wedding of the year! That would beat the tabloids at their own game!

*As told in 'Miranda's Enchanted April'.

**As told in 'Cuffed', 'Clued Up', and 'Telling'.