The wedding dress came back with grass on the hem

Dear Delyara, My daughter returned her wedding dress to my house today. She has been married for nine months and is already leaving. The hem was stained with grass from the garden where they took photographs, and one bead near the waist was missing. I had stored the dress for her after the wedding because her flat was small. She collected it last week, intending to sell it, then brought it back because she could not bear strangers trying it on. We spread it across my bed. She said the marriage had involved lies, money taken from her account, and one night when he blocked the door. I asked why she had not told me sooner. She said, “Because you loved the wedding so much.” That sentence has stayed inside me all evening. I did love it. I spent savings on flowers, cried during the vows, and told everyone I had never seen her happier. Perhaps she thought preserving my memory of one beautiful day mattered more than telling me what the days afterward became. Tonight, I cleaned the grass from the hem by hand. I stopped at the small tear near the back because repairing it felt wrong. The dress does not need to become perfect again. My daughter is asleep in her childhood room, and for now that is the only thing I want restored.