“You do that. Will you and the rest of the Darcy household be attending our little picnic?” MacCracken swept his Bible-laden hand in an arc at the multi-colored foliage along the tree-lined street and at the sun hanging high in the noonday sky.
“I think we had better be headed home to the farm,” Mary Darcy told the minister as she tightened her shawl about her head.
“Oh, Ma, let’s stay in town for a while!” Sally implored, stamping one boot on the top step of the church. Then, with a slight grin in Wally’s direction, “We need to introduce Wally to the congregation. Make him feel welcome!”
MacCracken leaned forward slightly. “Not to interfere in family matters, Misses Darcy, but it would be nice for the rest of the church to meet Mister Bayer.”
Frank Darcy’s right hand was on his wife’s shoulder with a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “We’ll stay a little while.”
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Wally chomped and swallowed the last bite of his sandwich with gusto, and smiled sheepishly when he looked up from his reclining position on the Darcy blanket to find Sally smiling down at him from her own position on one corner. “Great sandwich!” He reached for the jar of milk Sally and her mother had purchased for him at the store, along with the rest of the lunch the Darcy household was consuming at the congregational picnic held on the green across the street from the church on the unseasonably warm day.
“Glad you liked it.” Sally nibbled at her own sandwich and continued to smile downward.
