Clarita was a real good mother. She had named her baby Dolores because of the pains she had during delivery at the emergency room in Carrascal. That’s where she ended up living after her dark-skinned lover told her that he was trying to get a divorce, and they could not live together till he got it.

Broken hearted Clarita, who did not know Floro was married until she came with him to Santiago, wanted to go back to her small town. But Floro offered to pay for a room for her at the house of a family that had a “pension” (boarding house) in Carrascal.

It was a nice family of five–mother, father, two daughters and one son. They had a nice big patio with cherry trees and some chickens. But Clarita felt very uncomfortable with the way they looked at her as she got bigger in the waist and every time Floro came for her. The family was very religious, and they even prayed novenas for Clarita without her knowing about it.

Clarita was a pretty girl. At 17 she had been elected as the Spring Festival Queen, and she presided over the parade in her town.

Her pregnancy was uneventful, but when time came to deliver, the pain was more than she could ever imagine. So, the name Dolores (meaning pains).

The family was really nice to her when she gave birth and took the baby as one of the family.

However things were going to change. . . .