Wren has tried to shelter her only son from the tumult of the world. Now she's about to find sanctuary . . . in the last place she ever expected. In tiny Cottage Cover, on the coast of Maine, Wren Evans is raising her gifted son, Charlie. A single mom, she's fought hard to give Charlie a stable, secure home life. When a prestigious music academy in Boston expresses interest in Charlie's talent, Wren is willing to move them again to make his dreams come true. But Wren doesn't know that Charlie has been praying for her. And the answer to her son's prayers will change both of their lives. As Wren plans their move to Boston, life in Maine begins to fall apart. Her job is threatened with budget cuts, and Wren's grandmother, Ruth, arrives unannounced, with an outlandish request. Ruth wants the family gathered together one last time, at the summer home where, years before, an accident shattered Wren's peaceful childhood. In the tumult, Wren finds a friend in a handsome, kind-hearted local, Paul Callahan. When the family gathers in Cottage Cover, old wounds will be healed, new love will blossom, and the innocent prayers of a child will be answered in a most unexpected way. Sheila Walsh is a powerful communicator, Bible teacher, and bestselling author with almost six million books sold. She is the author of the award-winning Gigi, God’s Little Princess series, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay , Praying Women , Holding On When You Want to Let Go , and more. She is cohost of the inspirational talk show Life Today with James and Betty Robison, which is seen worldwide by a potential audience of over 100 million viewers. Sheila lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Barry, and son, Christian, who is in graduate school. Sweet Sanctuary By Sheila Walsh Cindy Martinusen Coloma Thomas Nelson Copyright © 2011 Sheila Walsh and Cindy Martinusen Coloma All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59554-686-9 Chapter One The morning was already off to a difficult start when Wren found the flyer tucked inside her ten-year-old son's backpack. Sandwich making and mental planning for her meeting with the library director came to a halt. Where had the paper come from? Charlie's music teacher must have given it to him. She couldn't think of any other possibilities. If not for the location given on the paper, Wren would have dismissed it completely. But the touch of cold in the late summer morning, winter's gentle whisper, spoke to the deepest part of her mothering instinct. Wren felt a chill down her back, and she carried the f lyer as she closed the kitchen window, reading the words for the third time. Summer Music in Malta "Play with the masters where the masters played." June 15– August 1st Applications due November 1st Charlie's father lived on the Mediterranean island of Malta, or he had the last she'd heard any news about him. Charlie didn't know this. He only knew his dad lived in Europe somewhere, and that they hadn't heard from him since Charlie was a toddler. The absent father was their norm and thus seemed no absence at all. Wren wanted to wake Charlie and ask him about the flyer, but instead she took a deep breath to calm herself. Anything that hinted of her ex-husband sent her into a momentary panic. He'd abandoned them to pursue his dreams in Europe, and after ten years, Wren had become warily comfortable that he wouldn't return. She'd been packing Charlie's lunch and putting a quote for the day into his backpack when she'd found the paper. The quote she'd written was taken from Peter Pan : "All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust." The words took on new meaning now, and seemed more for her than for Charlie. She wrote "Love, Mom" with a heart at the bottom and slid the card into the zippered compartment. She kept the flyer on the counter to ask him about it and made coffee. On mornings like this, Wren wished for Anne Shirley from her favorite childhood series Anne of Green Gables , or Jane Austen or another of her friends from literature, to discuss life over coffee—or perhaps tea would be more appropriate. Their blend of sense and sensibility and bosom friendship would surely bring clarity to the worries that kept disrupting Wren's sleep. Even Scarlett O'Hara could offer brittle but sound Southern advice. Wren hadn't been sleeping well, as if unwanted change tapped at her subconscious and this flyer was the catalyst. The women would sympathize with her past mistakes—falling in love and marrying spontaneously without reason or logic, which now meant raising a son without that all-essential male influence. She hoped they'd encourage her in the life Wren lived now—safe and controlled, organized and meaningful. "Mom," a voice sounded at the edge of Wren's thoughts. Jane, what would you tell me to do with my life? And how much therapy will Charlie need when he grows up? Wren imagined Scarlett taking her by the shoulders and declaring, "Fiddle-dee-dee—if I can fight the Unio