The question sat unanswered in the clear Montana air. Kathleen England always wanted to know, who was her biological mother?

"I have always wanted to find her. It's always been a dream in my life," says England, 24, an athletic department administrator at the University of Montana.

"I wanted to know what she looked like, why she did it, all the questions adopted kids have."

For three years England searched the court records in Missoula, finding her original birth certificate, finding the name of her mother, Gail Patterson, but no trace of how to find her mother.

She sent $100 to a woman in Great Falls who promised to track her down, but got no response and no refund.

Then on May 14, 1997, four days after Mother's Day, she logged onto the Internet. She found a mysterious woman in Helena who wouldn't give her name, but offered to look up records. Two hours later, the woman called back.

She had found Gail Patterson. Patterson had married, taken her husband' s last name, been divorced and now lived in Fort Benton.

"I can't even remember what I was feeling. Excitement? Nervous? I mailed her (Patterson) a letter that day to say I wanted to meet her," England says. "Two weeks later, I got a phone call. It was her."

They met in June. England opened the door, felt like she was looking into a mirror and met her biological mother for the first time.

Since then, the two have seen each other a couple of times. They have struck up a friendship, and England has answered the nagging question.

"I have a part of me that feels whole again," she says.