Linda Vancel took off the white gold and diamond ring her mother left her 15 years ago to make the fudge, but after a bake sale at the West Lafayette State Farm Insurance where she works, she could not find it anywhere, The Lafayette (Ind.) Journal & Courier reported Sunday.

Finally, she sent a desperate e-mail to Linda Rhoades, a casual work acquaintance who bought the fudge.

Rhoades' sister-in-law's father discovered the ring, she said, when he bit into something hard in his dessert.

After she received the e-mail, Rhoades returned the ring.

"It renews your faith in people," Vancel told the newspaper. "Sometimes there's so much negative in the world, to hear a story like this is reassuring."