Chapter 3, March, Quail in Rose Petal Sauce Summary

With Nacha dead, Tita is now the head cook at the family ranch. To mark the occasion, Pedro brings her a bouquet of pink roses, which turn red in her grasp. His wife, Rosaura, who is pregnant, does not appreciate the gesture and Mama Elena warns Pedro and Tita to keep their heads about them. Tita refuses to throw the roses away and decides that she will prepare quail in a rose petal sauce. It is exquisite and its effects are particularly potent on her other sister, Gertrudis. Gertrudis begins to sweat and imagines one of Pancho Villa's soldiers she had seen in the town square last week.

Gertrudis is stricken with intense feelings that are very new to her. Her whole body produces pink, rose-scented sweat and she runs to...