In theTime of the Butterflies Timeline

Dede starts school at Immaculada Concepcion

Dede and Minerva meet a young scholar named Lio, and are both immediately taken with him, but Minerva and him really hit it off. Minerva and Lio and Dede and Jaimito begin going on double dates and hanging out all the time. Mama learns of Lio's affiliation with the university and the protests of the government and tries to ban the girls from seeing him, but they all meet in secret. The same night Lio goes into hiding, Jaimito asks Dede to marry him. Dede denies the feelings she has for Lio and accepts. Lio later gives her a letter for Minerva asking her to go into hiding with him, but Dede burns it.
Later on in 1994, Dede notes Minerva's getting involved with Lio as the start of all the "problems" becase "Lio presented a very real opportunity to fight against the regime" (pg 66).

Minerva, Mate, and Patria want Dede to join them, but Jaimito is completely against it. She resolves to leave him, but fears losing her sons. They go on another honeymoon, and are reconciled.

Dede is visited by an interviewer, which launches her into a series of flashbacks

Patria starts school at Immaculada Concepcion
~September

Patria marries Pedrito three days before her 17th birthday

Patria has her first child, Nelson

*No specific date given, November is an estimation

Patria has her second child, Noris

*No specific date given, January is an estimation

While on a religious retreat, the Church that her and the people she is with are in gets attacked by guerillas. Patria sees a young boy get shot and decides then and there she's not going to "watch her babies die". This was a turning point for Patria, it was what really motivated her to join the revolution.

Patria had been letting Minerva have her underground meetings on her property, but always outside the house. Patria lets them come inside, and this is symbolic for her joining the resistance with Pedrito.

*This date is estimated

Nelson and Pedrito are arrested, and Patria's home is torn apart

After weeks of petitioning Nelson is released, another 'debt' the Mirabals owe Trujillo

Maria Teresa recieves a diary for her First Communion from Patria

Minerva learns that Minerva has been sneaking out of school and lies to the principal to cover for her

Minerva tells Mate about how her, Elsa, Lourdes, and Sinita have been going to secret meetings at Don Horacio's house and about how Trujillo is bad

Mate and Mama meet Minerva's new boyfriend, who is also studying law, and both really like him

Maria Teresa graduates from Immaculada Concepcion

Mate moves to the capital and stays with Minerva while they attend university

Mate moves in with Minerva and Manolo, noting tension and talk in "treasure hunt clues" between the two

After Mate meets a man who was bringing a delivery that was a part of the movement, Minerva and Manolo explain the entire underground to her, and she instantly wants to join

Mate falls in love with a man who is involved in the movement- making her permanently involved in the movement

Mate received her journal March 16, and talks about her fears. While they're in jail Minerva insists they go to "school" like Castro did while he was incarcerated. Minerva is put in solitary often for not complying with the rules. They are offered a pardon, but Minerva refuses to let them accept it because they have nothing to be pardoned for, and she won't go until everyone gets to go. Mate realizes that she is pregnant, and decides to abort it. She is taken to La 40, the torture chamber, and is tortured there in front of Leandro to get him to talk, which he does. Because of this, she has a miscarriage. Minerva and Mate have a trial, and get 5 years. They hear that the OAS will be coming to investigate human rights abuses in Trujillo's prisons, and Minerva wants Mate to tell them what happened in La 40 but Mate doesn't want to. When she meets with them she drops a note about the injustices but nothing about her own personal story. They hear all political women will be released, and they describe it as bittersweet.