My voice was small. “I still can’t pay for it, Maude.” “Oh, the pride on you.” Her green eyes shone. “Would you still wear it if I told you it was a gift?” I looked down at myself. Maude had told me on the road to the Fervent Peaks that she didn’t know anything about being maternal. And it heartened me that someone as honorable and purposeful as Maude Bauer could still get some things wrong. She was the most nurturing woman I’d ever known. “Yes.”
