title: The Legend of Molly Langtrye
author: Harrington, Jerylyn
description: Patrice Langtrye inherits her five-time great grandmother Molly's antique woman's secretary desk and discovers a diary hidden in a secret compartment in its upper carvings. The diary contains a year from Molly's life with her husband on his ranch outside Amarillo, Texas before the Civil War. Patrice is outraged at the story contained in Molly's diary and she feels compelled to vindicate her grandmother's name from the story written in the diary. She sets out to see how the husband's side of the family had dealt with Molly's reputation over the years and her trip of discovery brings her into direct contact with the current owner of the ranch, Bradford Langtrye, who owns and operates a ranch called Four Oaks. She finds that the story contained in Molly's diary was incomplete and Edna Langtrye, Brad's mother, helps her complete the story from one diary with another story that was contained in another diary that had been left at Four Oaks. Patrice's encounter with Bradford Langtrye brings surprise. Patrice is almost a physical, mirror image of Molly. Brad feels compelled to have the real life woman to the cold, oil paint of a painting and, at first, has trouble separating the real from the fantasy concerning Patrice. They both find that they have to compromise to sate each other's needs and to form a real life partnership.