In the middle of Chapter 9, just before the ninth break, Dede, Minerva, and Manolo have this conversation while they are on the road to Jaimito's mother's house.  Dede says,

"I just have to admit to myself.  I'm not you - no really, I mean it.  I could be brave if someone were by me every day of my life to remind me to be brave.  I don't come by it naturally".

Minerva notes quietly,

"None of us do",

and Manolo asserts,

"Dede, you're plenty brave",

and then, since he is driving and does not know the way, adds,

"You're going to have to tell me where to turn".

Dede has been agonizing over whether to join her sisters in their revolutionary activities.  In her heart she feels that the cause is right and that she should, but her domineering husband, Jaimito, is adamant that she stay out of it.  Things come to a head when Dede returns home to find that Jaimito is gone, having taken the children to his mother's house.  Minerva and Manolo offer to take her to confront her husband, and it is on the way to Jaimito's mother's house that the conversation above takes place.

Dede has been blaming Jaimito for her reluctance to join the Revolution, but she realizes that the real reason she has held back is her own fear.  Dede admits to herself that

"Jaimito (is) just an excuse.  She (is) afraid, plain and simple" (Chapter 9).