Summary
The night Clara dies, Esteban sleeps in her bed beside
her. Next to her, he notices that he has shrunk further. He feels
that they are finally reconciled. Esteban arranges an elaborate
funeral for Clara. He erects a mausoleum to hold Clara, Rosa the
Beautiful, and himself, so that they can all be united in death.
He and Jaime have to steal Rosa's body from the del Valle family
plot in order to put it into the mausoleum.
After Clara's death, the big house on the corner deteriorates.
The flowers that once filled it wilt and die, the building falls
into disrepair, and the family members draw apart. Blanca stays
in the house and tries desperately to maintain it, but the random
amounts of money her father gives her for the upkeep are never enough.
She can only barely keep the house from complete ruin and still
has to borrow money from whomever she can.
Nicolas begins charging his spiritual students and makes
enough money to rent a house for the group he names the Institute
for Union with Nothingness. Esteban tolerates his son's activities
until he finds that Alba has joined them in shaving her head and
chanting "om." Esteban releases his fury on Nicolas, who in return
shows up the next day, naked and chanting, in front of the gates
of the Congress. The shock and anger give Esteban a heart attack.
He recovers three weeks later and forces Nicolas to leave the country
with instructions to never return. Esteban sends Nicolas enough
money to support him and to keep him away.
Once Alba's hair grows back, Esteban enrolls her in a
British school for girls, convinced that it is of utmost importance
for her to learn English. Alba hates the school, but Esteban insists
that she stay there for ten years. To ward off the nightmares that
plague her after Clara's death, Alba is allowed to move into Blanca's
room. Their relationship deepens, as Blanca reads to Alba from Uncle
Marcos's books and tells her wild family stories each night, just
as Clara had done with her.
In the senate, Esteban is convinced that the communists
are gaining power in the country and must be stopped. No one takes
him seriously. He is so often made fun of that he becomes quite
well known and always wins his bids for re-election. After Pedro
Segundo's departure and Clara's death, Tres Marias does not produce well.
Esteban refuses to sell Tres Marias because of its symbolic value
but pays it little attention.
Pedro Tercero continues to meet with Blanca regularly
and often with Alba as well. Alba loves him but never realizes he
is her father, Pedro Tercero continues to ask Blanca to come live
with him, but she refuses, not wanting to give up the romantic image
she has of their relationship for the mundane experience of everyday
life together. Jaime and Pedro Tercero also maintain a deep friendship.
