It’s been two years since Linda passed away from cancer, and her husband is still learning how to raise their daughter Sammy alone. Sammy, now 22, has inherited her mother’s strength and resilience, but the loss still lingers deeply in their lives. Linda had been a talented seamstress, and even in her final months, the sound of her sewing machine filled their home with quiet purpose.

Near the end, Linda spent hours locked in her sewing room, refusing to reveal what she was working on. “It’s a surprise,” she’d say with a secret smile. After her passing, the surprise revealed itself: a wedding dress she had been making for Sammy—her final gift.

The dress was nearly complete when Linda died. Her sister Amy, also a skilled seamstress, finished the remaining work. When Sammy and her father saw the completed dress, they broke down in tears. It wasn’t just beautiful—it was sacred, stitched with love and pain and goodbye.

They stored the dress carefully in a garment bag in the guest room. Sometimes, Sammy would sit beside it quietly, feeling closer to her mother through it.

Then came Molly—Linda’s niece, a spirited 16-year-old who visited with her mother, Diane. At dinner, Molly became curious about the dress. When she asked to try it on, both Sammy and her father gently declined. Molly seemed to accept it—until the next morning.

While Diane and the narrator were out, Molly stayed behind under the pretense of spending time with their dog. When they returned less than an hour later, they heard screams coming from the guest room.

They rushed inside to find Molly on the floor, tangled in the destroyed wedding dress. Silk was torn, crystals were everywhere, and she held scissors in her hand. She claimed she got stuck and panicked. Instead of asking for help, she had cut into the dress.

Sammy came home minutes later and collapsed when she saw the damage. Her scream was filled with raw grief—the same kind she had when they lost Linda. Molly’s dismissive comments—“It’s just a dress”—only made it worse.

Diane stepped up and made a hard call. She told Molly she would pay the $6,000 needed for Amy to try and salvage what she could. Molly protested, but Diane remained firm.

Though the dress will never be the same, Sammy held its remains and whispered, “Most of this is still Mom’s.” Love, after all, doesn’t unravel with the seams—it remains stitched into memory forever.