And now that it had happened, she found it brought her nothing but a tired sadness.

And then, to Alex’s surprise, Elena did something he had not expected.

She admitted her own fault.

“After the two blocked calls,” she said, “and the ignored letter, and the visit to Beacon Hill where your mother turned me away, I gave up.

And I didn’t have to.

I could have hired a process server.

I could have contacted your legal team directly, gone around your mother entirely.

I could have pushed harder.