The Gown

Miriam finishes work for the day and walks to Walter’s flat, glad that spring has come again. Miriam loves going to Walter’s because it is so cozy and feels like home. After Ann moved, Miriam couldn’t stay in the house, so Walter proposed that she live in Bennett and Ruby’s flat in London while they stay in the country. At Walter’s place, Miriam finds him cooking her grandmother’s chicken recipe to mark Miriam’s year anniversary in England. After supper, they make espresso and listened to the gramophone. Miriam requests Edward Elgar, her favorite composer, and she starts to cry. Walter begs her to stop because he can’t bear to see her cry, and he wants her to forgive herself for what she did during the war. Miriam asks if he misses his first love. Walter says he doesn’t when he looks at her. They kiss, he proposes, and Miriam accepts life with him forever.

“Ann—March 21, 1997”

Ann goes to downtown Toronto to view the art exhibit VÉL D’HIV by Miriam Dassin. Ann has been waiting to see Miriam’s embroideries for many years. Ann hurries past all the others to the one that Miriam sketched at her dinner table all those years ago. Ann realizes that she is looking at herself; Miriam put her in the portrait. Ann looks at the other pieces and then returns to the portrait to think about what she would tell Miriam if she saw her again. She would say that she was happy; she had a happy daughter, and she had a granddaughter, the light of her life. She had never regretted leaving England. So little was left from those days. She had never even shown the embroidery samples to her daughter. At that moment, Ann decides to leave the samples to Heather. She walks into the sunshine happy and content with her life.

“Miriam—October 2, 2016”

Miriam readies things for family dinner and thinks about Walter and how wonderful their life was together. She misses him but decides not to dwell on it because this is a day of celebration, and all her family, including Daniel who moved to New York City, will be there. She made her grandmother’s chicken for the occasion. Yesterday, Miriam took down her favorite embroidery to send to Heather. She wraps it up, and then her youngest granddaughter, Hannah, comes in with peonies, and they go snuggle in Walter’s chair.

“Heather—October 14, 2016”

Heather arrives in Toronto, checks into her hotel, and goes to the lounge to get a drink and wait for Daniel. Daniel arrives and they kiss. Daniel asks if she sold her story, and Heather says yes. Daniel wants to celebrate and gives her a gift from Miriam. Heather unwraps it to find the embroidery and a note from Miriam. Miriam writes that she embroidered it when she was pregnant with her daughter, inspired by her mother’s garden. It brought her great peace, and she hopes it does the same for Heather.