Chapter 7 and 8

CHAPTER 7: consists of entries from María Teresa's diary between 1953 and 1958. She discusses her father's death in 1953, her romantic dilemmas, Minerva's experiences in law school, and her own experiences at college. Minerva marries Manolo Tavárez, has a daughter and earns her law degree, but Trujillo refuses her a license to practice. During the summer, María Teresa stays with Minerva's family. Minerva and Manolo have marital problems until they become involved in an underground movement against Trujillo, this helps them set aside their differences and come together. They explain the movement to María Teresa and reveal their code names. Minerva is Mariposa, or Butterfly which is their under cover name. María Teresa then joins them, largely because of her feelings for Leandro Guzmán, AKA Palomino, a man in the movement. She becomes Mariposa #2 or Butterfly #2. She marries Leandro on February 14, 1958.

CHAPTER 8: Patria narrates chapter 8, which covers 1959. She becomes pregnant and decides to name the child Raúl Ernesto after the Cuban revolutionaries Raúl Castro. The movement needs a place to meet, and Patria offers them her farm. Patria goes on a religious retreat. On June 14, the retreat is bombed when Trujillo's forces attack rebels hiding in the mountains. Patria watches a small boy die. She vows to help in the resistance, and she convinces Pedrito to do the same, though they will lose their farm if they are caught.

-Robin