The American public waited after the announcement of potential divorce, just to hear the final word. But Antony Palone remained elusive, and never gave any definitive public statement regarding the manner. And for good reason.
In one ear Catherine whispered to him, telling him that a woman who has cheated once will cheat again, and that any judge would grant divorce after completing the barest formalities. He was young; he was attractive. There were other women who would be glad to marry him – women that didn't have a track record quite like the one his wife had.
But in his other ear he heard Elizabeth's desperate pleas, her dignity forgotten as she practically begged to keep her marriage. And, though she had never quite apologized for the blows he suffered, he couldn't ignore her anguish. "For better or worse..."
Elizabeth, seizing on the opportunity, played the angle. She bargained and promised, reminding him of her worth, of her potential. She used every resource she could, and, in late spring, felt him breaking. She knew, then, that she would be welcomed back to the Palone family, and it was now only a matter of time. But she did not feel very charitable to the daughter that sparked her fall from grace.
In early summer, 1989, she approached the Fuwa family, asking if it would not be too much trouble take in her daughter. She implied at strained family connections, she intimated that Alexandra's father was a father she would be better off not knowing, she insinuated that it was for Alexandra's good. They accepted, eventually, and agreed that if Saena had to leave to join her husband's family, she could leave Alexandra, or "Kyouko" as she was known to them, in the care of the Fuwas.
It would be a year later, nearly to the day, that she contacted them again, this time to say that it was nearly sure thing. They made plans, signed papers, and in the fall, Elizabeth Palone rejoined her husband and his family in New York. Though the public clamored to know what happened to Alexandra, the only comment Elizabeth would make was that she was "happy and well."