Joey drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was hard to believe so much beauty could conceal, somewhere among its secret corners, the tragedy that had left her alone in the world. Somewhere in these mountains and valleys lay the key to freeing her heart of its long-held burden.
Freedom. Joey took another deep breath of scented air. That was all she had left, the hope of resolving the old sorrow at last. It could never be finished—not until she found the place where her parents had died.
Even now, that word was hard to acknowledge. They’d left her, without a good-bye, without giving her a chance to tell them how much she loved them. She’d only been a kid then: sixteen, still at that vulnerable age, so close to her parents when they’d left on their final journey.
If it hadn’t been for a freak storm, the kind of accident even the most experienced pilot couldn’t always avoid—Joey clenched her fists, feeling the sudden sharp twist of painful memory. Her father had been careful, she knew that, he’d been flying for years, and the small plane had been meticulously kept up. Not his fault that they’d gone down in these mountains they’d loved, never to be found.
Opening her eyes, Joey pushed back the sadness and focused on the resolve that had kept her going during the past months.
This was the turning point, the time that she would take back her life at last. She would find the place where they had been lost, confront that crippling sorrow, let the clear mountain winds carry her good-byes over the wilderness. There was nothing, now, to hold her back.
She looked down at the half-finished sketch in her lap. She knew she’d made the right decision to leave her architect’s job in San Francisco, no matter how comfortable and lucrative. There’d been too much waiting, too much wasting of her life in a vain effort to find the security her parents’ death had taken from her.
Even Richard—what she’d had with Richard had been a desperate grasp at replacing something of what had been lost, restoring some meaning to her life. She’d still been young, vulnerable, so full of need, he’d seemed strong, controlled, everything she thought she’d wanted then. But she’d grown up, found that security could be an illusion, control a trap. And all the empty places in her heart had not been filled.
She tossed her head angrily. That was behind her, and well left behind. There could be no more dull security to cover the hurt. No, she wouldn’t think of Richard. No regrets. From now on she’d be in control of her own life.
Absently she set down her sketchpad and caressed one of the vivid blossoms at her feet. It was a deep pink shooting star, one of many wildflowers that turned the mountain hillsides into brilliant canvases from late spring through early autumn. She’d had ample time to study just about every kind of wildflower from the very first blooms after the snowmelt, but now the summer was fading, and all the beauty of Nature couldn’t change that unalterable fact.
When she’d come to these mountains in the spring, she’d been confident of finding what she sought before midsummer. But after searching several of the most likely areas in this stretch of the Rockies, she faced the very real possibility of failure. This was her last hope—this town, this valley, and the wild stretches of surrounding mountains. If they weren’t here… She bit her lip, hard.
She had to find them. They had to be here. Time was running out. Here in the north, the time of blue skies and green growing things—and passable trails—was all too brief. City-bred she might be, but she understood that once the first snows fell, her quest would be over for the year. That was simply a thought she could not bear.
In an effort to clear her head, Joey focused on her breathing and steadied it until her pulse had slowed again. No smog here—no fumes, no constant racket of cars and human clamor. Here, away from the town, it was easy to pretend you were the last person on earth. Joey grimaced to herself. She might be savoring that feeling if it hadn’t been for the constant worries that hung over her. She’d been waiting for her local guide now—one she’d hired in the last town—for over a week. If he didn’t show up soon…