Wish on a Mountain — Virginia C. Holmgren

Searching Heart

For Julie Lachlan, “home” meant a painting of snow topped Mt. Hood which her Oregon born mother had carried with her wherever Julie's dad's job as an oil company geologist had taken them. Now her parents were dead, killed in a hurricane, and Julie had come to Portland to see “her mountain”, hoping somehow to fill the sudden emptiness in her life. But to stay she needed a job, and she wasn't having much luck finding one until her landlady spotted Cal Stuart's ad for a “gal Friday” at his Highlands Ranch. There was plenty of “family” at Highlands for orphaned Julie. The Stuart's had four sons, three daughters-in-law, grandchildren and a nephew, David Maury, who Julie soon learned was steady as Mt. Hood. But it was Cal's dark-eyed, teasing, unpredictable son Breck who made her heart stand still and dream of making Highlands Ranch home forever.