Woman of Light

This chapter is set in 1912, in the small community of Saguarita. Sara and Maria Josie run to Saguarita, where they anticipate finding a distant relative. The relative is long gone, but two benevolent families separate and raise the sisters. Recognizing they have little future in the community, Sara persuades Maria Jose to go to a dance hall where there are miners from many backgrounds. Maria Josie is reluctant to get involved with any of the men. However, Sara is attracted to a Belgian men named Benny Dumont, who persuades her to drink with him. Their relationship develops and, when he goes to a different mine in Huerfano, Sara goes with him.

This chapter is set in 1922 and describes a pregnant Maria Josie’s journey to Denver after she loses her child to her partner’s poisoning. The baby is stillborn, and Maria Josie buries them alongside a river. A white woman named Millicent in an expensive Pierce-Arrow automobile sees her walking and offers a ride. After spending an evening in Millicent’s home, Maria Josie rises early and sets out walking again. A farmer driving a chicken truck stops to give her a ride.

On the day of Lizette’s wedding, guests fill the Saint Cajetan’s Catholic Parish. Sent for water in her heavy bridesmaid’s dress, Luz looks into the sanctuary and sees Avel. David tries to speak to her, but she responds, “please excuse me. Today, I am the servant of the bride” (271). During the ceremony, Lizette’s veil slips off as planned. When she and Alfonso leave the church, well-wishers pelt them with rice.

The wedding party takes place at the Fox Street house. Before it is time for his band to play, Avel takes Luz into a laundry closet and he kisses her, telling her that he cannot wait for their own wedding. After Avel’s band begins to play, David takes Luz to the same closet: “They stared at each other, as if understanding for the first time a message written between them” (279). As they have sex, Avel opens the door and turns on the light. David simply straightens himself up and leaves. Avel takes his ring from Luz and also leaves. At the sound of Luz’s sobbing, Lizette comes to the closet and begs Luz to tell her who hurt her.

Avel stands across the street from David’s law firm, drinking mezcal (alcohol made of agave) and brooding about Luz. Along with his ring, he took the key to Luz’s office. He enters and systematically burns different items until the entire suite catches fire.

This chapter is set in 1926 when Luz is eight, and describes David’s 20th birthday party—which takes place in a vacant house. Luz and Lizette play hopscotch beneath an arch outside, while the adults become increasingly inebriated inside the house. David stands outside talking to the girls when Papa Tikas and his brother Dominic emerge, accompanied by a young woman with a flapper hairstyle. As the men argue with the woman, Dominic slaps her, then forces her into a car. When Lizette asks David about the woman, he pretends to be clueless.

Walking to work the morning after the wedding, Luz reflects on her feelings and options. As she approaches the law firm, she discovers it burned. A crowd has gathered, and she sees David walking among the ashes. Protesters wave signs, and Luz sees Celia, Estevan’s sister, among them—who mounts a truck and gives an impassioned reading of Luz’s translated letter. Luz is moved and realizes she never wants to see David again. She returns to wedding cleanup, and Lizette asks what happened. Afterward, she goes to the mirror factory to explain everything to Maria Josie.

As soon as Diego receives a letter from Luz demanding he come home, he gathers his things. Along the way, he encounters new lovers and unexpectedly sees his father’s headstone in a Somerset graveyard. He arrives in Denver and sees the burned shell that was David’s law firm. In Hornet Moon, Diego meets Ethel and embraces Maria Josie. He and Luz share what happened during their time of separation. Luz now has the ability to actively see the past and future: “I can see things about our people. I know our stories” (304).

Luz, Diego, Maria Josie, and Ethel ride to the Saint Agnes Home for Children, a location Luz had foreseen. Diego goes inside and comes out with his daughter by Eleanor Anne, whom he names Lucille. He asks Luz to tell her all the stories about their family.