The Wedding Dress

by Mary O'Donnell

  She felt a shiver run up her spine as she held the dress in her hands and studied the embroidery on the label. She felt an immediate connection to this woman from the past, a woman with the last name Grey. Seeing the signature written in thread, Annie imagined that it was more than just a name; it was like a message sent across time … to whom? she wondered. Was it a message for a stranger in the future, simply to say, “This was mine,” or was she saying, “This is the work of my hands”? Another thought occurred to Annie: Was the embroiderer sending a message to someone special“this is for you”—a daughter, or a granddaughter, who might someday wear the same dress?

  “How did you come to have this dress, Gram?” Annie asked out loud.

  There was no answer, only more questions, foremost of which was: Who was Amanda Grey and what was her connection to Captain Grey and Grey Gables? Annie looked again at the pink color that matched the veil flowers and the expertise of the needlework on the label. Something in the way it was done seemed to say to her that the hands that had embroidered the name and date were the same hands that had worked the crocheted details of the dress and the accessories.

  * * * *

  Annie arrived at Expert Cleaners with plenty of time to spare before the meeting at A Stitch in Time. She had carefully folded the dress and placed it in the shopping bag and added the veil and gloves, placing layers of tissue paper between them and over top to protect them.

  The small building that housed the cleaners might have been mistaken for someone’s home were it not for the swinging glass door that opened into the drop-off and pick-up area. It was a little blue cottage with a big picture window, in front of which was a flower box full of red geraniums. Of course, the other giveaway was the sign out front—engraved with the business name and a stylized clothing hanger at the top—which hung from a cantilevered cedar post.

  She had been in the establishment before, taking in her winter coat and several other items to be dry-cleaned during the time she’d been in Stony Point, but she hadn’t noticed that they also specialized in the care and cleaning of antique clothing and other textiles. It was a family business, run by a husband-and-wife team named Kurt and Molly Williams. This morning, the proprietress of the business was standing at the front desk doing some paperwork.

  “Hi, Molly!” Annie said as she lifted the shopping bag onto the counter. “I’ve brought in an antique wedding dress to be cleaned, and it needs special attention. Mary Beth tells me you’re the best for that sort of thing.”

  Molly smiled at the compliment and said, “Well, let’s see what you’ve got.”

  After she and Annie had removed the contents of the shopping bag, and Molly had expressed her appreciation of its beauty, Annie showed her the labels she had found inside the dress.

  “Ahh, the Misses Sarto,” said Molly. “They were sisters—Lucia and Marietta—Kurt and I went to a fashion and textile exhibition in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts a few years ago that included some custom-made dresses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The museum had several dresses that had been made in the sisters’ shop. Apparently, they were much in demand because of their very fine workmanship, so quite a few of the dresses they made were preserved. This is in wonderful condition—almost as if it were never worn. Where did you get it?”

  Annie explained, once again, how she found the dress in the attic, and her theory that it was Amanda Grey who had added the crochet to the dress, and had made the accessories.

  Molly examined the veil and gloves. “These are expertly made. You might be right about the crochet. I may be able to tell you a little more once I’ve looked over the dress more carefully.” As she continued to study the veil, she said, “I think we’ll need to try to remove this wire. It might discolor the veil if it becomes wet, or it might rust, which is even worse. I’ll have to figure out the best way to do that without doing any damage to the stitching. It looks like a stiffener must have been used on the flowers and leaves around the wreath of the veil to keep them in the proper shape. One of the old ways to stiffen crochet was to use sugar in a solution of water, but I don’t think that’s the case here. She probably used a starch solution. I’ll photograph all the parts to make sure we get everything back the way it should be.”

  Annie berated herself: “I can’t believe I never even thought of taking photos of it! I could have shared them at the Hook and Needle Club meeting. Good grief—I’m totally brainless sometimes. Could you be sure to take a photo of the labels as well?”

  Molly laughed. “We all have our lapses at times. Taking photographs before and after cleaning is our standard practice for antiques to make sure we get everything back to the original state—only cleaner, of course. I’ll be sure to get a good shot of the labels too. If you’re interested in selling the dress, you might contact the museum—I’m sure they’d give you a good price, with the labels intact and the prime condition of it. I’d say at least a thousand; probably more.”

  Annie was surprised at that, but only said, “Oh, no—I’m lending it to a friend to wear for her wedding.”

  “Someone here in town?” asked Molly

  “No … well yes, actually—it’s Tony Palmers’ fiancée, Dervla O’Keefe.”

  “Oh!—yes, I met her at church on Sunday. She’s a beautiful girl. I’ll bet this design will really suit her,” said Molly.

  “It does,” said Annie, remembering Dervla’s ghostlike descent down the staircase at Grey Gables and the look on Andrew’s face. “It’s like it was made for her.”

  Annie paused and then asked, “About the Sarto sisters … did the museum have any information about them—like, how long they were in business?”

  “Yes, they did have a lot of information about them. I recall them in particular because their story took a rather interesting turn. The younger sister, Marietta, left the shop, after working there several years, when she got married. Lucia continued to run the business quite a while after that, but eventually moved out West—sometime between 1911 and 1914, I think—I’ll have to check the exact year with Kurt to see if he remembers. It was a bit of a scandal because she went out to Hollywood to become a costume designer when the movie industry was just taking off out there.”

  Annie laughed, “I guess that would be a scandalous thing to do according to staid old Boston! Well, that would seem to date the dress a lot earlier than the year that is on the embroidered label.”

  “Oh yes,” said Molly, “this design is much earlier. I’d say it’s from right at the end of the Victorian era—definitely before 1900. Nineteen eighteen was the tail end of World War I, and clothing styles changed a lot during the war.”

  Annie and Molly chatted for a bit about the changes in fashion around that time, until another customer entered the shop. Molly told Annie that the dress should be ready for pickup by Friday. Annie was glad to have someone so knowledgeable taking care of the ensemble. She’d have a lot to tell the other ladies at the Hook and Needle Club meeting.

  * * * *

  After running a couple more errands, Annie reached A Stitch in Time just a few minutes after eleven. Everyone else was already there—even Alice, who was often running behind schedule. The bell rang as she opened the door, and everyone had looked up when she entered, but besides perfunctory hellos, they all seemed unusually quiet. There was none of the normal chatter about what they were working on or the other things that had been going on in their lives. As she took her usual seat, Annie thought to herself that it was more than just quiet; there was tension in the air.

  Mary Beth spoke once Annie was seated. “Annie—glad you’re here.” She glanced sideways at Gwen as she continued, “I had just mentioned what we had talked about on Sunday—about having a ‘hope chest’ shower for Dervla.” Annie noticed that Gwen didn’t look up from her knitting, and her mouth made a grim line. The others seemed to be constrained by Gwen’s stony expression. Only Stella seemed the same as ever, knitting needles clicking away. “You’ve spent more time with
her than anyone else—do you think she would like something like that?”

  “I think she’d love it,” Annie answered. “She has a real appreciation for beautiful things, and I know she only brought one large and one small suitcase on the plane, so I’m pretty sure she would only have her clothing with her. She may have a lot of things in Ireland, but I don’t think she had time to organize anything household-wise to ship over. More than anything, I think she would appreciate the opportunity for friendship that a get-together like that would offer.”

  “What exactly is a ‘hope chest’?” asked Peggy, who was the youngest of the group and inclined to be more interested in current styles and customs.

  Though Kate was not that much older than Peggy, she had a soft spot for the way things were done in the past, so she was the one who answered, “Back in the day, most young girls had a hope chest. It was a present she received when she turned twelve or thirteen, and the idea was that she would spend the next few years filling it with things she would use to set up household when she got married. Often, the chest itself was a box made of cedar, and the girl would collect or make things for her trousseau, which included articles for setting up household—a linen tablecloth and napkins, lacy curtains, white cotton dishtowels, crocheted doilies, embroidered pillowcases—all kinds of things. Also, she might make things for her honeymoon like a special dress, lingerie, and accessories—gloves, scarves. She might purchase things like silver serving spoons, a fancy vanity set with a comb, brush, and handheld mirror …”

  “Wow!” said Peggy, interrupting the flow of Kate’s list, “how do you know so much about it?”

  “I just think it’s such a lovely custom, and I remember my grandmother’s cedar chest,” replied Kate. “She kept all her special remembrances in it, and sometimes she would take out some of the items to show me. Besides keeping old pictures, she still had a stitch sampler she’d made when she was a teenager, and pressed flowers she had saved from bouquets that Grandpa had given her … I loved seeing what she’d saved. And though a girl can ‘hope’ for a lot more besides marriage these days, she still needs to have things to start with when she’s on her own. I started a hope chest for Vanessa, actually. I couldn’t afford a real cedar chest, but I bought a footlocker for a reasonable price, and she and I lined it with a pretty, self-adhesive shelf-liner paper. We painted the outside a nice royal blue color. I made a couple of sachets with cedar chips to put inside to give it that great smell—it’s almost like having the real thing when you open the lid and the aroma wafts out. At least it will do until I can get her the real thing.”

  “That sounds really neat,” said Peggy. “I could do something like that for Emily when she gets older.”

  “I have my old hope chest,” said Stella. “It once belonged to my great-grandmother. She brought it over with her when she came to this country. It became mine when my mother died when I was just a child. I keep my own special treasures next to the ones that belonged to them, like your grandmother did, Kate.”

  “So, that’s the sort of thing I was thinking of for Dervla,” said Mary Beth. “We don’t have to do anything grand—just simple items with small touches to make them special and personal, but things that she can use. Perhaps in time they will be as special to her or her daughters as Stella’s are to her.” Mary Beth purposely looked at Gwen and asked, “What do you think, Gwen?”

  Gwen didn’t say anything at first, but she almost looked angry. Finally she began to speak, “It’s very kind of you all to want to do this, but I really wouldn’t want you to waste your time. I don’t think there will be a wedding. This engagement is just something Tony rushed into without thinking. I’m sure once he’s had a chance to reconsider, he’s going to change his mind. I don’t doubt that she’s a nice girl. She’s certainly pretty enough, and we know how that can turn a young man’s head. But I just don’t think he will go through with it. He has his whole life ahead of him, and it wouldn’t be right for him to be tied down to a girl that he’s going to come to realize isn’t right for him. His father and I are trying to talk some sense into him, and it won’t be long before he finally listens and sends her back home to Ireland.”

  Annie’s mouth had fallen open in amazement as she listened to Gwen. Instead of getting used to the idea of a new daughter-in-law, it seemed that Gwen’s hesitancy to accept Dervla had become determination to get her out of Tony’s life. Annie wasn’t the only one who was surprised at the vehemence of Gwen’s comments. The other ladies in the circle looked equally stunned, except Stella, who had stopped knitting and was looking at Gwen steadily. Gwen looked at the others and read their expressions.

  “Do whatever you want,” said Gwen. “I just don’t want to have anything to do with encouraging that girl to stay here. He’ll get over her soon enough.” And with that, Gwen put away her knitting in her carry-along bag and stood up. “I’m meeting John for lunch, so I have to leave early today.” Without another word, she walked out the door.

  After a few moments, looking at Mary Beth and whispering as if she thought Gwen might hear her, Peggy said, “What do we do now?”

  “As soon as I brought it up, it seemed like the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees, but I had no idea that she was so opposed to the marriage,” said Mary Beth. “I thought she was just still having trouble getting used to the idea. I think we’re going to have to forget about the shower. Gwen’s our friend, and one of our group—we can’t just go ahead with something that she is so opposed to.”

  Alice spoke up. “I’m sorry, but I disagree. Is that all we’re here for—closing ranks when one of us says the word? If we’d done that, Annie wouldn’t be part of the group now—as I recall there was a bit of reluctance to let her join us when she first arrived, not naming any names … Stella.”

  Stella gave Alice a wry look. “That was a misunderstanding … and a result, perhaps, of my natural inclination to be … somewhat stubborn. I have to admit that I was, as you say, reluctant at first, but everything worked out in the end.”

  “Exactly,” said Alice, “but not because we gave in to your doubts. I say we go ahead with the shower. I’ve spent some time with Dervla, too, and I like her. I don’t care if she marries Tony Palmer or not, though I personally don’t doubt for a moment that they love each other. She’s a stranger here, and I want to be a friend to her.”

  Mary Beth sighed. “I guess we can put it to a vote. We have to count Gwen as a ‘no’ I think. … All those in favor of having a shower for Dervla raise your hand.”

  Annie, Alice, and Kate all raised their hands. Annie was surprised when Stella joined them. Mary Beth and Peggy seemed surprised too. Slowly, Peggy raised her hand as well.

  “It looks like the vote is for having the shower,” said Mary Beth. “Perhaps I can talk to Gwen, and explain that we just want to show Dervla some friendship—as a stranger in Stony Point. I hope it doesn’t cause a rift that can’t be repaired.”

  11

  The ladies of the Hook and Needle Club, minus Gwendolyn, decided that the “hope chest” shower for Dervla should be a surprise, so it was arranged that it would be held at the carriage house, where Alice lived, next door to Grey Gables. They gave themselves a little less than two weeks to work on their projects, setting the time and date for two o’clock in the afternoon the second Saturday after their meeting. Mary Beth would close A Stitch in Time early that day, and Peggy thought she could get the afternoon off from The Cup & Saucer.

  They agreed that each of them would bring some sort of finger food—sweet or savory, and Alice said she would provide table service and drinks. At first they decided they were going to forego any of the usual party games that are the common thing at showers, but Alice recommended that they played one that would help them all get to know Dervla a bit better. She said she would make copies of a list of ten or fifteen questions that inquired about Dervla’s favorites—her favorite color, song or type of music, type of pet, food, season, time of day, hobby, flower, etc. Dervla wou
ld write down her answers, and the others would write down answers, trying to guess how Dervla had answered them. Alice said she would supply a “prize” for the person who answered the most questions the same as Dervla. Though none of them really knew her that well, just the process of guessing, and then comparing them with Dervla’s answers, would provide a little insight into her personality.

  Peggy and Kate wanted to bring along their daughters, and Kate thought that Vanessa would want to invite her best friend Mackenzie, since Vanessa had talked nonstop about Ireland since meeting Dervla. Both teens had learned to crochet the previous summer, and Kate said she would get them to work on some easy projects—dishcloths or hot pads—so that they could present Dervla with homemade gifts as well. Peggy said that Emily had received a pot-holder loom for her last birthday, and though her daughter was only a first-grader, Peggy thought she would be proud to be able to give Dervla something she had made herself.

  It was also decided they would send invitations to Tony’s sister, Meredith, and his sister-in-law, Sandra. Sandra was in Portland, so there was really no good reason that she couldn’t come, but Annie had her doubts that she would show up. She wished that Meredith lived closer, or that they could arrange to have the shower while she was still in town, but she and Frank and the kids were heading back to North Carolina on Friday. Perhaps Meredith would send a gift; there should be someone or something at the shower to represent the Palmer family, and Meredith had proved that she was willing to be a friend to Dervla. Annie was certain that Gwen wouldn’t show up, even though Mary Beth was going to try to talk her into it.

  The first forty minutes of the hour-long meeting had been spent planning the shower, and when they had finalized their plans, Annie decided to tell the others about discovering the labels in the wedding dress, and her theory that it was Amanda Grey who had worked the crocheted parts. She also told them what Molly Williams had said about the dressmakers. She decided not to mention that she had offered the dress to Dervla for her wedding.