The Time Traveler’s Wife: Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

Wednesday, August 12, 1998 (Clare is 27). Clare has gone home to be with Lucille during her last hours. For days, Lucille has become untethered from reality, talking to herself and her deceased parents. Clare sits in the room as her mother sleeps, choosing to watch the sunrise instead of looking at all the medical equipment scattered around her mother’s room. When Clare gets up to turn off the air conditioning, she finds that Lucille has died. She holds her mother’s body and feels a sense of calm knowing her mother is no longer suffering from the cancer. Etta comes in the room, and Clare tells her Lucille has passed.

Saturday, September 12, 1998 (Henry is 35, Clare is 27). Henry remembers how deeply Lucille loved her garden. He and Clare would always find her out back, even when she was ill, whenever they came to visit. Henry knows that Clare’s relationship with her mother had been fraught, but he remained very fond of his mother-in-law until her passing. Henry reflects on how much he misses Lucille, though he notes his sadness is nothing compared to his wife’s. Clare is so stricken with grief that she is lost in her own mind. She eats and responds when people address her, but she does so without emotion. Henry does miss Lucille, but he realizes he misses Clare—as she was—far more.

Wednesday, November 26, 1998 (Clare is 27, Henry is 35). Clare returns to Lucille’s room and is relieved that the hospital bed and medical supplies have been removed. She tries to get into her mother’s desk, but it’s locked, and she can’t find a key. Clare goes downstairs to get Henry’s help. Once he manages to pry open the desk drawers, he gives Clare privacy to sort through her mother’s papers. Clare reads through pages of notes, lists, doodles, and drafts of Lucille’s poetry. Clare finds one poem from the year Lucille lost a baby and attempted suicide. Another poem, addressed to Clare, is filled with Lucille’s moving observations of her daughter.

Henry comes back upstairs to find Clare surrounded by a spread of white papers of Lucille’s desk. Clare shows Henry the poem she found. Henry finds it so beautiful that it eases some of his remaining anger at Lucille’s sometimes cruel treatment of Clare. Henry can see in Clare’s face that she now knows for certain that her mother loved her. The poem is the first concrete proof Clare has of her mother’s love. Clare, who hasn’t cried since Lucille died, begins to weep freely. Henry holds her and feels like Clare has returned to him.