Thanks! I don’t have a URL yet because I am in preview mode, evaluating the theme, but I think I will stick with it so I can provide a URL shortly.
I tried your solution and it worked great except that (1) the image sizes at maximum were not wide enough, and (2) when I narrowed the window and the featured content stopped showing side-by-side, the width was still 50% instead of 100%. I suspect they are both straightforward CSS fixes, but haven’t had time to investigate.
I am also experimenting with adding a third featured page so maybe I won’t need it after all, but if it’s not difficult to do on your end, you might consider making it an official option.