“No, Sister. I was just reflecting on your words. Very wise. I can see why you’re next in line to become our convent’s Superior.” It wasn’t the most comforting thought.

“Don’t flatter me,” Agnes replied, though the gleam in her eyes suggested flattery wasn’t off the table. “I don’t sit around daydreaming of such an honor…although one likes to imagine the Superior General putting her trust in one.”

One? Agnes had always had a touch of Queen Victoria about her. Madeleine held back a smile. Mother Gertrude, Superior General of their order, had no such pretension. It was one reason she and Madeleine had always gotten along so well. “Of course, Sister.”

“And Sister Madeleine, perhaps you too one day—in the future. How old are you now?”

“Thirty-five, Sister.”

Agnes’s eyes grew shrewd. “And you’ve chaired our history department for three years, in addition to teaching. Designing the curriculum, no less.”

“It’s my honor to shape our students’ studies.”

“A little too broadly, in my opinion. I heard you let Maria Fernandez do her senior project on the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Agnes’s eyes narrowed. “And she didn’t condemn them.”

In 1960s Los Angeles, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary had asked to wear normal clothes instead of habits and abandon a rigid schedule of prayer and silence. The Vatican forbade it, along with other proposed reforms. In the end, most of the sisters left the order to found their own secular community.

Their disobedience was wrong. But seen in a certain light, that kind of courage was…well, admirable.

“It was international news,” Madeleine said. “There’s no reason our students shouldn’t know about it. Maria’s project was excellent. Sister Catherine agreed.”

Agnes snorted. “It’s incredible how permissive so many orders have become. I know we can’t avoid popular culture when we’re around teenagers all day”—Agnes’s tone indicated this was a shame—“but you hear about nuns who have cell phones and get on social media!”

“Our order has a Facebook account,” Madeleine pointed out.

Agnes glowered at her. “Of which I heartily disapprove.”

“We have to live in the world, Sister. I believe we can do it faithfully.” She knew she sounded stubborn. Sister Agnes might be her senior, but Madeleine had earned the right to speak her mind—if she could manage it respectfully.

That hadn’t always come easily to her.

Sister Agnes rolled her eyes. “This is a conversation I’m tired of having. I’m not surprised to hear you’ve got these opinions. Maybe in these decadent times, they’ll get you to a higher leadership position someday.”

Currently, Madeleine’s responsibilities were teaching, chairing a department, and helping Sister Catherine balance the budget—in addition to her duties as a nun. That was plenty to keep her busy. What would “higher leadership” entail?