After the separation, I had told my executive assistant, Theresa, to shield me from any personal distraction connected to the divorce.

“I called your divorce attorney too,” Rosalie added.

“He said all communication had to go through your office, and promised he’d pass the message along.” “He never said a word to me,” I confessed, my voice cracking.

“Nobody told me anything.” “Nobody let me through,” Rosalie corrected softly, looking straight into my eyes.

“How many closed doors was I supposed to stand in front of before I finally accepted that you just didn’t want me in your life anymore?” I had no answer.

The walls I had built to keep my grief out had, it turned out, been perfectly designed to keep my own child out too.