When I Am Gone (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781452099095)

Before he died, Peter looked into the eyes of his wife of forty years and said, "When I am gone find the mission God has for you . . ."

Three years later Janet Drake learns of a recently widowed father with four young children. She believes caring for this family is "her mission" and heads for the motherless Harrison home. But Tom, the father, considers her neither heaven-sent nor especially qualified. However with no other applicant in sight, he agrees to give her a one week try-out.

On her second day in town a chance meeting re-ignites a college friendship with Stu Mudoch, now a widowed missionary. He is convinced their meeting was a divine appointment while Janet is more than a little surprised at the strong stirrings of her heart.

The children's grief and their misbegotten ideas overwhelm her. But she is ready to do serious battle when an ambitious non-maternal woman casts her seductive web around Tom-pulling him off course from the fathering his children need.

Meanwhile Janet's secret Mary Poppins fantasy evaporates when the kids spurn her healthy cooking and none of the pervasive litter throughout the house jumps back into instant order in her wake. Friends of the deceased mom come alongside to help and she, in turn, mentors them as they deal with crushing disappointments and haunting histories.

Through it all one over-riding question plagues her. Is serving the Harrison family truly the answer to Peter's challenge, or are the Harrisons just a stepping stone on the way to the real mission?