“Did you brush your teeth?” She smiled lightly.

He laughed. “Yes, with your water from the well. Tania, after breakfast,” he said, lowering his already husky voice, “I want you to show me your grandparents’ house. Is it far?”

“It’s not too far,” she said and her face was inscrutable.

Alexander was not used to Tatiana being inscrutable. His job was to make her scrutable. He smiled. “Hmm.”

“What do you want to see it for? It’s all padlocked shut.”

“Bring the key. Where did you sleep?”

“On the couch in the porch,” she replied. “Were you comfortable? I didn’t think so. You were in all your clothes. But I couldn’t wake you up for anything—”

“Did you try?” asked Alexander in a measured tone.

“I had to practically shoot your pistol in the air to get you to climb up onto the stove.”

“Tania, don’t shoot it up in the air,” Alexander said. “The bullet has to come down.” Remembering her lips on his face, he added, “You removed my socks and my belt.” He grinned. “You should have gone the extra step.”

“Couldn’t lift you,” Tatiana said, blushing. “How are you feeling this morning? After all that vodka?”

“Great. How about you?”

“Hmm,” she said, surreptitiously looking him over. “Do you have any clothes to wear besides your uniforms?”

“No.”

“I’ll wash your Class-As for you today,” she said. “But if you’re planning to stay for a little while, I have some regular clothes for you.”

“Do you want me to stay for a little while?”

“Of course,” Tatiana replied, her voice measured. “You came all this way. No point in going back so soon.”

“Tania,” Alexander said, walking close to her, knocking into her gently, “now that I’m lucid again, tell me about Dimitri.”

“No,” she said. “I can’t. I will, but—”

“Tania, do you know that I saw him two weeks ago, and he didn’t tell me he saw you in Kobona.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing. I asked him if he saw you or Dasha, and he said, no, he had not.”

Shaking her head, Tatiana gazed straight ahead and faintly said, “Oh, he saw me and Dasha, all right.”

Some of the milk spilled to the ground.

As they walked, Alexander told her about Leningrad, about Hitler and his losses. He told her about the vegetables growing all over the city. “Tania,” he said, “they’ve planted cabbage and potatoes right in front of St. Isaac’s.” He smiled. “And yellow tulips. What do you think of that?”

“I think that’s great,” she said in a tone that conveyed no connection to St. Isaac’s whatsoever. Inscrutable.

Alexander didn’t want her to feel sad this morning. Were there just too many things for them to get past before he could get a morning smile out of her?

“What’s the ration up to now?” Tatiana asked, her eyes to the ground.

“Three hundred grams for dependents. Six hundred for workers. But soon there might be white bread. The council promised white bread this summer.”

“Well, it’s certainly easier to feed one million people than it is to feed three.”

“Fewer than a million now. They’re being evacuated by barges across the lake.” He changed the subject. “I see you have plenty of bread here in Lazarevo.” Alexander eyed her. “Plenty of everything here in—”

“Everybody been buried?”

He sighed imperceptibly. “I supervised the excavation of graves at Piskarev Cemetery myself.”

“Excavation?”

She didn’t miss a thing. “We used military mines to dynamite—”

“Mass graves?” she finished.

“Tania… come on.”

“You’re right, let’s not talk about it. Oh, look, we’re home.” She rushed ahead.

Disappointed they were already home, Alexander caught up with her. “Can you show me those clothes? I’d like to put something else on.”

Inside the house she pulled out her trunk from near the stove and was about to open it when Dusia’s voice sounded from one of the bedrooms. “Tanechka? Is that you?”

Naira came out and said, “Good morning, dear. I didn’t smell the coffee this morning. I woke up, sweetheart, because I didn’t smell the coffee.”

“I’ll make it now, Naira Mikhailovna.”

Raisa came out of her bedroom and said, “When you have a minute, dear, could you help me to the outhouse?”

“Of course.” Tatiana started to close the trunk. “I’ll show you later,” she whispered to Alexander.

“No, Tatiana,” Alexander said impatiently. “You will show me now.”

“Alexander, I can’t now,” she said, pushing the trunk back against the wall. “Raisa has a hard time going to the bathroom by herself. You see how she shakes. But you can sit for five minutes, can’t you?”

What, he hadn’t been patient enough? “I can sit for longer than that,” he said. “I sat all night yesterday with you and your new friends.”

She chewed her lip.

He sighed. “All right, all right. Do you have a mortar and pestle?” Alexander couldn’t help himself; his spirits were too high, and he was too crazed by her to remain exasperated for long. Trying to keep the double meaning out of his voice, he asked, “Would you like me to grind your coffee beans for you?”

“Yes, thank you,” Tatiana replied. She was not playing. “That will be a big help. I’ll get you the cheesecloth, too.” She paused. “Could you fire up the stove, please? So I can make breakfast?”

“Of course, Tania.”

Tatiana took Raisa to the outhouse and then gave her her medicine.

She dressed Dusia.

She made all the beds, and then she fried some eggs with potatoes. Alexander watched it all. As he was sitting on the bench outside and smoking, Tatiana came up to him with a cup of coffee in her hands, and asked, “How do you like it?”

His eyes twinkling, Alexander looked up at her standing in front of him, so lavender fresh and young and alive. “How do I like what?”

“Your coffee.”

“I like my coffee,” said Alexander, “with thick, warm cream and lots of sugar.” He paused. “Get the cream right from the pail, Tatiasha, right off the top. But warm. And lots of it.”

The cup in her hands started to shake.

Scrutable.

It was all Alexander could do not to laugh out loud, not to grab her, not to pull her to him.

After breakfast he helped her clear the table and wash the dishes. Her hands were immersed in a pan of sudsy water when Alexander, having watched her for a while, put his own hands in and felt for hers.

“What are you doing?” she said in a hoarse voice.

“What?” he said innocently. “I’m helping you with the dishes.”

“You are not a very good helper, I’m afraid,” Tatiana said, but she did not take her hands away, and as Alexander watched her face, he finally saw something dissolving against her wall of pain. He rubbed intently between her fingers, getting fixated and inflamed by the fine blonde down on her forearms and by her blonde eyebrows. “I think the dishes are going to be very clean,” he said, glancing at the four women, who were sitting in the morning sunshine and chatting within a few meters of them. In the warm, soapy water, Alexander stroked Tatiana’s fingers one by one, from the first knuckle down to the fingertip, and with his thumbs circled the palms of her slippery hands, while Tatiana stood, barely breathing through her parted lips, her eyes glazed over.

The fire raged in Alexander’s stomach.

“Tatia,” he said quietly, “your freckles are so pronounced. And,” he added, “very enti—”

Axinya came up to Tania, pinching her bottom. “Our Tanechka is freckled as if she’s been kissed by the sun.” Damn it. Alexander couldn’t even whisper to her without them overhearing. But when Axinya turned her back, Alexander leaned forward and softly kissed Tatiana’s freckles. He let her pull her fingers away from him and walk off, wet hands and all. Without drying his own hands, he followed her. “Is now a good time for you to show me those clothes?”