Gathering Together

Sid sat up in bed and rubbed his head. It had been another long night at the Red Lion. A fun one though. Filled with songs and laughs and moments where Sid could just throw away any thoughts of how things had ever gone wrong in his life or how they could in the future. But there was always a price to pay for that, and right now he was feeling it in the pounding, erratic beats in his head.

Sid groaned and rubbed his temples one more time before moving to get up and deciding to have a morning cigarette instead. He would have to get ready to go out soon. He'd agree to go up to the McDaniels' farm and work on their barn. And fix the lights in the den of their house. There wouldn't be a lot of money in that, but there would probably be a box stuffed full of food from the farm that he could enjoy over the next week.

He was just about to get dressed when he spotted a piece of paper lying on the table. He picked it up and smiled as he instantly recognized the handwriting.

The smile grew as he remembered why he had gotten that paper in the first place.

Lady Felicia struggled to figure out what to wear on her date tomorrow night.

Nathan was one of the most exciting guests she had entertained in Kembleford in a long while. They had started out by swapping stories of trips to London and Paris and had soon moved on to easy laughs at jokes and comfortable silences. Tomorrow, Monty was returning to London to take care of estate matters and Nathan's sister would be heading back early. It was an opportunity that she had hoped for within minutes of meeting Nathan.

Felicia pushed a couple of her dresses aside and wondered if it was time she got something new. She wanted to make the right impression on Nathan, but was unsure of how to do it. If he would respond better to something more forward like the red dress she had bought a week ago which perfectly matched her figure or the blue one which was more relaxed and matched her eyes.

She smiled and finally came to a decision, pulling out the dress she chose and laying it out to be freshened up before her dinner with Nathan tomorrow. Tonight would be far less fun, however, as Nathan had agreed to spend the evening at Monty's club rather than have dinner at the Montague estate again.

Felicia let out a little sigh and wondered how she could liven up her evening when she suddenly remembered a card she had gotten in the mail yesterday. Then her upcoming evening didn't seem so drab after all.

Mrs. McCarthy was busy as usual, although for a change, it was at home rather than at the church or the presbytery.

She knew the Father would be working on his homily today along with some of his own paperwork, so she decided to tackle her spring cleaning so it would stop lurking at the back of her mind. Not that she had all that much work to do. Years ago, she had been ingrained with a habit of keeping everything tidy and spotless and had never lost that routine. What might have taken other days only took her a few hours.

Once she was done, she was satisfied although she knew she would have to touch up soon enough. After all, there was no point in letting herself remain idle for too long.

In fact, she was already contemplating what she could do with her evening. She could stop by the presbytery. The Father always did seem to need her for one thing or another at some point every day. Or she could drop in on the widow Kitchner. Amelia Kitchner was currently trying to piece together a quilt and McCarthy knew that she would need all the help she could get.

She was just about to put on her hat and grab her purse when the stack of mail by the door caught her attention. She hadn't read all of it, so she grabbed the piece on top and opened it up so she could scan the contents.

It was then that her activities for the evening were decided for her.

Father Brown paced about the kitchen, a pleased smile on his face.

He had spent the week studying and contemplating where all of his other attempts had gone wrong and was convinced that he had had the problems solved. Now was the moment of truth when he would find out if all of his work had paid off.

A few moments later, Lady Felicia, Mrs. McCarthy and Sid walked into the presbytery and joined Father Brown in the kitchen.

"All right, Father, what's this about, eh?" Sid said, plopping down into a chair.

"Yes, something about taking care of dinner for us?" Felicia said, her curiosity stirred.

"And what's that I smell?" Mrs. McCarthy said. "Something in the oven?"

"Ah yes," Father Brown grinned. "I invited all of you hear to try the fruit of my labors. My own version of Mrs. M's delectable chicken pies."

Everyone else groaned and put their hands on their face. They knew that no good could come from the Father making dinner, and yet none of them could dredge up any regret over coming.

For, no matter what mishap was awaiting them in the oven, they were all sure that there was a warm, happy time ahead of them.