Read Online When Love Calls by Lorna Seilstad - Free Book Online

brotherly.

 8 
    What had Walt truly meant by his last few comments?
    Hannah set a crate they’d yet to unpack on the kitchen table, her thoughts spinning from Walt’s words. Was he implying he wanted to court her? No, she had to be reading too much into his words. They were friends. More like brother and sister. Not once had she looked at Walt that way. Well, maybe once or twice, but she’d still been wearing braids then.
    She pulled a cake pan from the crate. Walt loved cake. All kinds, but plain white cake was his favorite. She’d made him one for his birthday last year, and he’d grinned for half the day.
    Tessa bounced in, plopped into one of the straight-backed dining chairs, tossed a tablet on the table, and snapped open a newspaper. “‘City may be cut off from the rest of the world.’”
    “What are you talking about?” Hannah shook the thoughts of Walt from her mind.
    “It’s the headline in today’s paper. I’ve decided to become a journalist, so I’m keeping track of the best headlines. This story is about the Chicago telegraph union considering another strike, which would cut off Chicago from receiving any communication.” Tessa set down the paper.
    So this strike talk went beyond Des Moines.
    “But I could do a better job writing the story. This is boring.”
    Hannah smiled at her sister. Lately Tessa wanted to do something different nearly every day. “What would you put in it?”
    “Blood. Turmoil. Rioting. People are fascinated by that stuff.” Tessa pointed to another headline. “This one is good. ‘Victims roasted alive in train wreck.’”
    “Tess, that’s horrible!”
    “But it gets your attention, doesn’t it?” Tessa tapped her pencil against the tablet. “So, now I’m going to interview you. Ready?”
    With an eye roll, Hannah removed a plate from its wrappings. “Sure.”
    “Was spending a whole day in classes at operators’ school as boring as it sounds?”
    After wiping the plate with a towel, Hannah set it in the cupboard, looked at Tessa, and chuckled. Naturally, her younger sister would think spending a full day in classes would be less than exciting.
    “It was actually quite fascinating, Tess.” Hannah freed another plate from its wrappings. “Professor Phillip E. Tubman came in to teach us about how the telephone works. Did you know a telephone has 201 parts?”
    “Do I need to know that?” Tessa jotted the information down. “Did this professor talk all day?”
    “No, his class lasted for an hour. Besides the introduction this morning, we had his class on the mechanics of telephony, and Mrs. Nesbit gave us our first voice lesson.”
    “Why do you have voice lessons? You aren’t learning to sing.”
    “We are learning how to breathe.”
    Tessa cocked an eyebrow. “You seem to be doing that just fine.”
    Hannah straightened and pressed a hand to her stomach. She took a deep breath and felt her stomach expand beneath her palm. “See? There’s a way to breathe that allows you to project your voice more effectively. You must expand your diaphragm.”
    “If you say so.”
    Charlotte strolled into the room. “If you say what?”
    Hannah lifted the next crate onto the table and passed Charlottethe heavy cast-iron skillet from within. “I was telling Tessa about what I learned today.”
    “She learned to breathe.” Tessa grinned. “And she says it was fascinating. Makes you want to run out and apply to join her, doesn’t it?”
    “Tess.” Hannah frowned.
    “What? That’s what you said.” She held up her tablet. “See? It’s right here. I quoted you.”
    Charlotte giggled and set the skillet on top of the stove. “I’m afraid it doesn’t appear you impressed our little sister.”
    “But Lottie, you could impress me.” Tessa opened the door to the icebox, and cool air whooshed into the room. “By making a delicious supper. I’m starving.”
    “It’s hard to make something delicious when our cupboards are bare.” Nudging her