The Lost Daughter

Nina is alarmed to see Tonino, who wasn’t supposed to arrive until the next day. She tells Leda she will call her, then leaves with her husband and sister-in-law. Leda watches her go, feeling the closeness they just shared evaporating. Back in her apartment, she is determined to remove the “baby” that Elena put in the doll’s stomach. She lets the dirty seawater trickle out of the toy’s mouth, thinking about her own pregnancies. With Bianca, Leda had enjoyed being pregnant. She felt “the most intense pleasure of [her] life” when she held her daughter for the first time (123), and she was “proud” of the accomplishment.

With Marta, however, Leda was always sick. The baby “attacked [her] body” and ruined the memory of her first pregnancy’s joy. The doll vomiting dirty water reminds Leda of herself when she was pregnant with Marta. She rinses the doll with clean water, and then, using tweezers, she pulls a worm out of its mouth.

The next few days pass in a haze of heat and sunshine. Leda doesn’t speak with Nina again, but she continues to watch her. She also notices Gino watching Nina, looking on resentfully as she spends the weekend with her husband.

One night, Leda goes to see a movie, but the show is interrupted by a group of rowdy young men from the Neapolitan family who mock Leda when she threatens to call the police. The next day, she is uncomfortable seeing the boys on the beach and leaves earlier than usual to return to her apartment. That night in the town square, there is music and dancing. Leda dances with Giovanni until the Neapolitans arrive, then he hurries off to greet them. Nina and Tonino begin to dance. Gino appears and dances with Leda, trying and failing to catch Nina’s eye.

When Leda is ready to leave, Gino walks her home and asks for a favor. He and Nina want to use Leda’s apartment to meet in secret. Flustered, Leda tells him she wants to speak to Nina about the matter.

That night, Leda cannot sleep, wondering what she should do about Nina and Gino. She thinks about her daughters. When they were teenagers, they often asked her to leave the apartment so they could be alone with their boyfriends, and Leda always assented, reasoning that they were better off at home than elsewhere. She thinks that Nina admires and respects her, so giving or denying the keys will push Nina in one direction or another. However, she worries that Nina doesn’t have the same support system she did and that Tonino might become violent. Finally, Leda concludes that she is playing the role Brenda played for her in Nina’s life, offering her an opportunity to “take responsibility for [her] life” (136).

The next day, Nina calls to tell Leda she will come for the keys. Leda spends the day reading and working on her terrace, wondering if Nina will follow her plan. She arrives that evening, looking upset, and Leda asks if she is sure she wants to pursue an affair with Gino. Nina insists she is, saying she “can’t take it anymore” (138), and Leda agrees to give her the keys. She also tells Nina she wants to give her something else and goes to retrieve the doll. Nina is “stupefied” when she sees Nani. Leda has no justification for taking the doll; she only tells Nina she is an “unnatural mother.” Furious, Nina begins insulting Leda in dialect, then she takes the hatpin Leda bought her and stabs her in the side before running out.

Leda doesn’t feel badly hurt as she begins packing her things. Her phone rings, and she is overjoyed to see her daughters calling. Both her children are on the phone, asking her why she hasn’t called them. Leda responds, “I’m dead, but I’m fine” (140).