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heart’s desire that you understand and believe this, and I hope you won’t hesitate to come if there’s a need.”
    Wondering all the time if he had been clear, Douglas closed with a song. He didn’t pray at the front of the room, but his heart begged God to use him in a way that would aid each person.

     
    The service ended, and little by little the congregation dispersed. Dannan had not been looking for the small, redheaded woman, but she suddenly walked past him toward the door. He wanted to have eye contact with her but didn’t know her name, and he knew it would be awkward if he followed her. She was moving along, bidding folks goodbye but not stopping to talk. Dannan watched her all the way out the door, going so far as to study the window until she went by.
    It was a relief to have Conner appear and invite him to dinner. Otherwise he might have stood for way too long thinking about that woman and wondering who she was.

     
    Dannan was not the only guest invited to the Kingsley house for Sunday dinner. The four Muldoons still in town were there, as were the Weber family and Judson Best.
    “So tell us, Dannan,” Conner invited during the meal, “what do you hear from Doc MacKay?”
    “I just had a letter from my father, and Uncle Jonas is enjoying the area immensely. The house is roomy enough for each to have his own bit of space, and I guess they’re rubbing along together quite nicely.”
    “Will your folks visit you here, Dannan?” Alison wished to know.
    “My mother’s health doesn’t allow her to travel, and my father hates to leave her, so probably not.”
    “Will you go for a visit later in the year?”
    “I don’t know when I’ll be going that far south. I’ll probably visit my cousin in Willows Crossing before the summer’s over.”
    “Has your mother been ill long?” Douglas asked.
    “About five years. She fell while hiking with my father and injured her back. Sitting for long periods is excruciating.”
    Most of the heads at the table nodded with understanding, but no one commented. It was certainly easy to see why his mother could not travel. She would have been miserable.
    “She’s an amazing woman,” Dannan felt a need to add, looking at the compassion on Hillary Muldoon’s face. “She doesn’t spend a moment pitying herself, and because we write to each other almost weekly, I never feel out of touch.”
    Conversation drifted to Judson, a young man, fairly new in town, who was working part-time with Jace on the farm and part-time for Will Barland, who grew a broomcorn crop. That business was expanding to the point that Judson was helping Will ship brooms across New England.
    Judson’s charming way of describing his job had everyone laughing in very short order. Indeed, they were still enjoying his humorous anecdotes when Troy rose from the group to answer the knock on the front door.

 
    Three
     
    “Do not tell me you’ve put dinner on,” Maddie said to her aunt when they arrived back at the farm and caught the aromas wafting from the parlor as soon as they stepped into the kitchen.
    Doyle suddenly appeared in the parlor doorway, a large smile on his face.
    “She didn’t lift a finger, but she certainly enjoyed telling me what to do.”
    Maddie laughed when Cathy looked as pleased as Doyle.
    “Come on,” Cathy urged. “Wash up and we’ll eat.”
    Maddie and Jace were not going to argue with that order. Valerie was settled in the corner, and the four adults sat down to the meal. Maddie noticed in a hurry that Doyle was swift to cut meat and butter rolls for Cathy. For a moment the younger woman couldn’t remember if he had been that solicitous the night before and then wondered if something might have happened between them that morning.
    “How was the sermon?” Doyle asked when all plates were served.
    “Excellent,” Jace was swift to say. “Douglas is still talking about the war with sin.”
    “Is that normal?” Cathy asked, and the other three diners