The Gown

After the royal wedding gown is complete, Miss Duley tells everyone to assemble. She gives all the women who didn’t work on the gown a chance to do a small stitch on the last petal of the gown so they can say they sewed the princess’s wedding dress. Ann and Miriam help pack the train. Ann finds it bittersweet, knowing she will never work on the dress or be close to it again.

Ann is so nervous about being late for the wedding that she sleeps fitfully. Another thing keeping her up at night is that her period is two weeks overdue. Ann must accept she’s pregnant and must make hard choices. In the morning, Ann gets dressed in her best work dress, a fancy coat that Carmen lent her, and an elegant hat she borrowed with a peacock feather sticking out of it. While Ann attends the ceremony, Miriam goes to the palace in case there is a last-minute sewing emergency on the gown. Ann and Miriam’s neighbor takes their picture to commemorate the occasion, and then they go their separate ways.

Ann fights through the crowds, and they make her think of VE day. She goes through several barriers and eventually makes it to the chapel door.