So Niccolò went behind the screen and began to undress, right there in the kitchen, even though she and his sisters were still there. She could see his bare, freckled shoulders from where she sat, and she could hear him splashing and scrubbing himself with the bar of soap Rosa handed him. In a few short minutes he was out and dressing himself, fortunately still behind the screen, and then Aldo did the same, without anyone bothering to change the water.

As soon as their father was finished and dressed again, the boys dragged the tub outside; she could hear it being emptied into the vegetable garden. Back in it came, to be painstakingly filled a second time. Then Rosa disappeared behind the screen.

It was Nina’s turn after that, and though Niccolò, his father, and the older boys had left the kitchen, there were still four other people in the room. She undressed hurriedly, almost furtively, and stepped into the tub. The water wasn’t very warm, and it was rather unpleasant to think of it having been used once already, but the soap smelled of lemons and it was wonderful to wash away the sweat and grime of the past three days.

“Don’t take too long,” Rosa said. “The children are waiting for their turn.”

“Sorry. I’ll just wash my hair quickly.” Nina ducked her head, scrubbed her scalp with the soap until it stung, and ducked again under the water.

“Would you like me to rinse your hair?”

“Yes, please.”

Rosa came to stand behind her, and Nina dutifully bent her head and wondered, just at the last second, if the water would be cold, but it was warm, or close to warm, and it felt heavenly as it sluiced over her head and back.

The boys returned to empty and refill the tub as soon as she’d dried herself and got dressed, and then it was the girls’ turn, with Rosa helping them with their hair, and it was emptied and refilled once more so the boys might wash. The water they’d used, when it was emptied after Carlo had finished, was so gray that Rosa exclaimed it would kill every plant in the garden.

Niccolò and Aldo returned then, having settled the animals for the night, but rather than go straight upstairs they listened to music on the radio, Rosa set her sisters’ hair in rag curlers, and Nina, despite her tiredness, wished she had something to keep her hands occupied. Tomorrow she would ask Rosa if there was any darning or mending she might do. Tomorrow, when she wasn’t quite so tired, and the peace in the kitchen wasn’t quite so fragile, and she had a better sense of where in this family she belonged.

Chapter 9

Again she woke at dawn.

“Nico?”

“I’m here. You should go back to sleep. We don’t go to Mass for hours yet.”