Two months later, Claire released him.
When the dream started, he was walking in a desert. He was alternately too hot and too cold… Then he came upon an oasis. Claire was waiting there. She was standing in front of a house and she led him inside. When he sat down, he could see that it was Rocky's living room. They sat on the faded print furniture. In the dream, Claire held his hand. She was even more beautiful than before. Her blond hair had grown long again, the way it had been when he met her.
"You can't be a good father if you're half a man," she told him. Her blue eyes looked at him with the same love that he had seen when they first married. "You tried to do the right things but I expected too much," she told him. "The things that shaped you, you couldn't control, and they drove us apart. But I will always love you, John. Always. I'm in a better place, darling. I can look down and see your pain. Whatever you do for yourself, you'll be doing for me. I know you won't ever again break your promises to Heather. Just don't break your promises to yourself."
When he awoke, he lay still in bed. He could hear the wind blowing through the cypress trees outside the house. The dream had been so vivid that he was startled by it. Claire's voice had been so clear, exactly the way he remembered it. He listened to the wind and the sound of the leaves rustling.
He got out of bed but became angry at himself. The dream was his own subconscious attempting to free him. He had taken so much from Heather and Claire; now was his time to give back. But in his heart he was lonely.
He heard a noise coming from Heather's room and slowly moved down the hall. He looked in. The light was on and he could see her sitting at her desk, writing in her school binder. She turned and saw him. "Oh, Daddy, just a minute, I want to put this all down…" she said, as she continued writing.
He entered the room. "Pumpkin, you should be asleep." He went to her and sat on the edge of the bed. "You have to get up early and feed Miss Muffet before school."
"I know… It's just… I had this incredible dream and I wanted to write it all down so I wouldn't forget," she said. Then she closed her binder and looked at him. "It was Mommy. She came to see me," Heather said. "She was just like before, Daddy. She was so beautiful. Her hair was long and, in the dream, she held my hand."
"What did she say?" Lockwood had a lump in his throat. "She told me you were in pain. Is that true, Daddy?"
"Sometimes. Sometimes I am. But I'll get better. We both will."
"She said that she loved us and that we had to let her move on. It was so clear, Daddy. So clear… like she was right in the room with me."
"I know," Lockwood said softly.
He took Heather's hand and led her across the room to her bed. He tucked her in and then leaned down and kissed her. Heather held him for a long time.
"Daddy," she finally said, "she wants you to be happy."
Lockwood turned off the light, went downstairs, and called Karen.