The Truth About Love and Lightning Read Online Free Page A

said and put a hand on her belly. Exhaling softly, she picked up her cell phone, hesitating but a second before she dialed Walnut Ridge. Her mother’s phone rang and rang and rang without an answer, which worried her a little. Someone was always around the house, if not Gretchen then Aunt Bennie or Aunt Trudy.
    She hung up and tried again, only to get a rapid busy signal.
    Maybe they were having trouble with the lines. Could be a squirrel had chewed through them again. That had happened on more than one occasion, and it took the devil to get the service truck out to the old farm for repairs.
    Well, no matter, she told herself, ending the call. She’d call the office and tell Alan she was taking some sick days. Then she’d pack a bag and catch a cab to the train station. Her mom had told her over and over again, “If ever you need me, I’m here for you, any day, rain or shine.”
    And, at the moment, Abby needed her something fierce.

Three
    Time stood still as Gretchen listened to the freight-train-like charge of wind and the barrage of hail pelting the house with a relentless rat-a-tat-tat .
    “It’s right on top of us,” Bennie said, gripping her sister’s hand so tightly that the blood ceased to flow to Gretchen’s fingers.
    Matilda scrabbled over her feet to get to Trudy’s lap, and Gretchen found herself holding her breath until she finally had to gasp, sucking in dusty air that tickled her throat and left her coughing.
    As suddenly as it had arrived, the barrage of noise receded, as if someone had shut off a giant switch, and then the room grew deathly still, the only noise their anxious breaths and Trudy’s voice, repeating in a hushed whisper, “We’re okay, we’re okay, we’re okay.”
    When only silence followed, Gretchen dared to open her eyes to see an impatient Matilda pacing. “Is it gone?” she asked.
    Bennie loosened her death grip and tipped her head from side to side. “Yes, it’s gone,” she said and smiled with relief. “We made it.”
    So far as we know, Gretchen mused. At least, the house hadn’t fallen down around their ears. Still, she was afraid to see what was upstairs and even more frightened of what lay outside.
    “Let me go up alone to check,” Gretchen said and released her sisters’ hands before rising from the folding chair. She turned the flashlight toward the stairs and headed up. Though the ceiling bulb remained dark, she didn’t worry about leaving Trudy and Bennie in the gloom. They were perfectly capable without the light and, besides, they wouldn’t go anywhere until she gave the all clear.
    She could barely breathe as she unlocked the door at the top of the stairs and opened it, part of her fearing there would be nothing beyond but rubble. Instead, she peered into the kitchen, where everything was as they’d left it.
    “We’re good!” she called down to her sisters. We lucked out, she told herself as she heard the scuffle of their footsteps on the steps behind her, Bennie appearing first and then Trudy, just as they’d emerged from Annika’s womb.
    “It’s so gray in here,” the elder twin said, touching her way toward the kitchen sink. “The electricity must be off, eh?” she asked, perceiving the subtle change of dark and light.
    “You’re right,” Gretchen confirmed and tried the kitchen switch, thumbing it on and off to no avail.
    “Well, it’s a good thing we have a gas stove,” Trudy cheerily remarked, easing her way across the room toward the pantry. “I’ll put a kettle on and make us all a cup of tea. Chamomile, I think, to calm our nerves. My heart’s still racing.”
    Gretchen wandered through the dining room, the front hall, and the parlor, making sure all was safe. Thankfully, framed embroidery and mirrors still hung on the walls, the windows appeared intact—albeit muddied by wet leaves—and the ceiling sported no new stains, merely cracks in the plaster that had been there for an eternity.
    “The house seems to have held