The question stayed with me for years.<\/p>\n
Why had Sarah written that Richard must never know about Leo?<\/p>\n
At first, I assumed the answer was simple.<\/p>\n
Richard wanted Daniel separated from her.<\/p>\n
He wanted to protect the Whitmore reputation.<\/p>\n
A teenage pregnancy threatened the future he had planned for his son.<\/p>\n
That explanation was cruel enough.<\/p>\n
But it wasn't complete.<\/p>\n
I discovered that much later.<\/p>\n
After Richard died, Daniel gained access to private family records.<\/p>\n
There were old legal files.<\/p>\n
Financial documents.<\/p>\n
Medical records.<\/p>\n
Private correspondence.<\/p>\n
Some had been hidden for decades.<\/p>\n
Daniel found references to Sarah.<\/p>\n
Then he found something that frightened him.<\/p>\n
A file had been opened on her family shortly after Richard learned she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
Not just on Sarah.<\/p>\n
On me.<\/p>\n
On my husband, Michael.<\/p>\n
On Leo.<\/p>\n
Daniel brought the documents to Rachel.<\/p>\n
She called me immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something you need to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
I went to her office.<\/p>\n
Daniel was already there.<\/p>\n
He looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you find?\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
Thomas Vale did.<\/p>\n
Thomas had been Richard's attorney for more than twenty years.<\/p>\n
I had never trusted him.<\/p>\n
He placed a thick folder on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard commissioned an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInto my family?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
Daniel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas opened the folder.<\/p>\n
Inside were old photographs.<\/p>\n
Military records.<\/p>\n
Addresses.<\/p>\n
Notes.<\/p>\n
One photograph showed a young man standing beside an old truck.<\/p>\n
I knew him.<\/p>\n
Not immediately.<\/p>\n
Then memory struck.<\/p>\n
A stranger had come to our house when Sarah was a baby.<\/p>\n
He had asked for Michael.<\/p>\n
When I told him my husband wasn't home, he had stared at Sarah.<\/p>\n
Not glanced.<\/p>\n
Stared.<\/p>\n
I had remembered his face for years without knowing why.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat man,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cJonathan Hale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's my biological father.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He told me the truth he had discovered in Richard's records.<\/p>\n
Richard was not Daniel's biological father.<\/p>\n
Daniel had been tested when he was sixteen.<\/p>\n
The result had been hidden.<\/p>\n
Richard had learned that his wife had once loved another man.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Hale.<\/p>\n
A man who had worked as Richard's driver.<\/p>\n
A man who had been separated from Daniel's mother through money and intimidation.<\/p>\n
The pattern was horrifying.<\/p>\n
Richard had done to his own family what he later did to Sarah.<\/p>\n
He had destroyed a relationship because he believed wealth gave him the right to control other people's lives.<\/p>\n
But then came the part none of us expected.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Hale had known Michael.<\/p>\n
My husband.<\/p>\n
They had served together in the military.<\/p>\n
The photograph showed them standing beside each other, young and smiling.<\/p>\n
Richard was there too.<\/p>\n
Three men.<\/p>\n
One history.<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was more.\u201d<\/p>\n
He placed another document on the table.<\/p>\n
A DNA analysis request.<\/p>\n
My name appeared on it.<\/p>\n
So did Sarah's.<\/p>\n
So did Jonathan Hale's.<\/p>\n
I stared at the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard wanted to determine whether Sarah and Daniel were biologically related.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas's face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard suspected that Jonathan Hale may have been involved with your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mind rejected the words.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe test was never completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSarah died before a usable sample could be obtained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stepped away from the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're saying my father suspected Sarah was my half-sister?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
The room seemed to tilt.<\/p>\n
Daniel's face had gone completely white.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca was standing near the door.<\/p>\n
She covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about Jonathan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he was Richard's driver.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew he had been involved with Daniel's mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel turned toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Richard threatened everyone who knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was decades ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was still afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Sarah's name on the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the test was never completed, then we don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is only a suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel's breathing steadied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we can test.\u201d<\/p>\n
I immediately objected.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won't force him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas spoke quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be another way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He opened a second file.<\/p>\n
Richard had preserved biological samples from members of his family.<\/p>\n
Medical samples.<\/p>\n
Old records.<\/p>\n
Archived materials from private facilities connected to Whitmore Medical.<\/p>\n
Thomas had found a sample labeled Sarah Carter.<\/p>\n
My daughter's name.<\/p>\n
I felt sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone at the hospital collected it after her death.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean stole it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas didn't argue.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard wanted it preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took something from my daughter's body?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned about it after Richard died.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hand moved before I consciously decided to strike him.<\/p>\n
The slap echoed through the room.<\/p>\n
Thomas turned his face back slowly.<\/p>\n
Daniel grabbed the edge of the table.<\/p>\n
Rebecca began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sorry,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
I hated that apology.<\/p>\n
Not because it was false.<\/p>\n
Because it came ten years too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Jonathan?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a sample from him too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stared at Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we can finally know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time, certainty seemed possible.<\/p>\n
The test was arranged through independent specialists.<\/p>\n
No Whitmore laboratory.<\/p>\n
No family doctor.<\/p>\n
No private investigator.<\/p>\n
Just science.<\/p>\n
We waited.<\/p>\n
Those days were unbearable.<\/p>\n
Daniel barely slept.<\/p>\n
Rebecca prayed constantly.<\/p>\n
I found myself thinking about Sarah as a baby.<\/p>\n
About the man who had once stood outside my house and stared at her.<\/p>\n
About Michael.<\/p>\n
About the photograph.<\/p>\n
About the possibility that the adults who had surrounded my daughter had known things she never did.<\/p>\n
Then another discovery arrived.<\/p>\n
Someone had been watching Leo.<\/p>\n
Thomas showed us surveillance records.<\/p>\n
Photographs.<\/p>\n
School entrances.<\/p>\n
Baseball games.<\/p>\n
A playground.<\/p>\n
Images taken from a distance.<\/p>\n
My hands shook as I turned through them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the rest?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome surveillance continued after Richard became too ill to authorize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're telling me someone else took over?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then we heard a camera shutter.<\/p>\n
Everyone froze.<\/p>\n
The sound had come from outside.<\/p>\n
Daniel moved first.<\/p>\n
He ran toward the window.<\/p>\n
A man stood beside a gray sedan across the street.<\/p>\n
A long camera lens pointed toward the building.<\/p>\n
Daniel shouted.<\/p>\n
The man lowered the camera and ran to the car.<\/p>\n
Daniel raced outside.<\/p>\n
The sedan sped away.<\/p>\n
By the time Daniel returned, his face was flushed with anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to move Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel agreed.<\/p>\n
That night, I checked every lock twice.<\/p>\n
Leo noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat's wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children know when adults are lying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't believe me.<\/p>\n
Neither did I.<\/p>\n
The next morning, we returned to the cemetery.<\/p>\n
I needed to be near Sarah.<\/p>\n
Maybe that sounds irrational.<\/p>\n
I didn't care.<\/p>\n
We brought flowers.<\/p>\n
Leo stood beside me.<\/p>\n
Daniel remained a few yards away.<\/p>\n
He never approached the grave without asking.<\/p>\n
That small courtesy meant more to me than he knew.<\/p>\n
Leo crouched.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed beneath the flowers.<\/p>\n
There was an envelope.<\/p>\n
White.<\/p>\n
Unmarked.<\/p>\n
I hadn't placed it there.<\/p>\n
Neither had Leo.<\/p>\n
Daniel came closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't touch it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
Then at the envelope.<\/p>\n
I used a tissue to pick it up.<\/p>\n
Inside was one photograph.<\/p>\n
Leo.<\/p>\n
Walking out of school two days earlier.<\/p>\n
My blood turned cold.<\/p>\n
Someone had been close enough to photograph him.<\/p>\n
On the back of the picture, six words had been written.<\/p>\n
Sarah lied about more than Daniel.<\/p>\n
Beneath that was a phone number.<\/p>\n
Then another sentence.<\/p>\n
Ask Rebecca who was in the delivery room.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had gone pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was in the delivery room?\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho else?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have been hiding things from me for ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked toward Daniel.<\/p>\n
Then toward Leo.<\/p>\n
Then at Sarah's grave.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was another person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
She swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone Richard sent.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make sure the baby was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca's face crumpled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn't there to hurt Sarah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo collect something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She couldn't answer.<\/p>\n
Thomas, who had been standing behind us, suddenly looked disturbed.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was Richard collecting?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca finally looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cA blood sample.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the ground beneath me disappear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo determine whether Daniel was the father.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Richard already separated them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn't trying to prove Daniel was the father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel's expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was he trying to prove?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca's answer came in a whisper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether Sarah and Daniel shared the same father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Leo stood beside me.<\/p>\n
I pulled him closer.<\/p>\n
Daniel looked as though he had been struck.<\/p>\n
The test we had just arranged suddenly carried a different meaning.<\/p>\n
It wasn't merely about proving who Leo's father was.<\/p>\n
It was about discovering whether the man standing before us had been biologically related to Sarah.<\/p>\n
If he was, then the truth about Leo's birth would become something none of us had imagined.<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said the old test was never completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Sarah's sample exists.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Jonathan's?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel's voice shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen test them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n
We waited.<\/p>\n
Days later, the results arrived.<\/p>\n
I refused to open them alone.<\/p>\n
Daniel sat across from me.<\/p>\n
Rebecca stood behind him.<\/p>\n
Rachel was beside me.<\/p>\n
The envelope lay unopened.<\/p>\n
For a long time, nobody moved.<\/p>\n
Then Daniel reached for it.<\/p>\n
His hand trembled.<\/p>\n
I put my hand over his.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever it says, we deal with it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
He opened the envelope.<\/p>\n
Read the first page.<\/p>\n
Then the second.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
I watched the blood leave it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
He couldn't speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
He handed me the paper.<\/p>\n
I read the result.<\/p>\n
And for several seconds, the words made no sense.<\/p>\n
Then they did.<\/p>\n
The test excluded a biological relationship between Sarah Carter and Daniel Whitmore.<\/p>\n
I read it again.<\/p>\n
Then again.<\/p>\n
My knees weakened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey weren't related.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel covered his face.<\/p>\n
A broken sound escaped him.<\/p>\n
Rebecca began crying.<\/p>\n
The years of fear, suspicion and inherited secrets collapsed under a simple scientific answer.<\/p>\n
Sarah was not Daniel's half-sister.<\/p>\n
The nightmare Richard had built around that suspicion had never been true.<\/p>\n
But the result raised another question.<\/p>\n
Why had Richard been so determined to know?<\/p>\n
The answer came from the final page.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Hale was confirmed as Daniel's biological father.<\/p>\n
And Richard had known.<\/p>\n
For decades.<\/p>\n
He had known Daniel was not his biological son.<\/p>\n
He had known about Jonathan.<\/p>\n
He had known about Sarah's pregnancy.<\/p>\n
He had known about Leo.<\/p>\n
He had manipulated all of them anyway.<\/p>\n
The bloodline had never been the real issue.<\/p>\n
Control had been.<\/p>\n
Richard had destroyed Sarah and Daniel's relationship because he believed he could decide who belonged together.<\/p>\n
He had lied to Daniel about the pregnancy.<\/p>\n
He had lied to Sarah about Daniel.<\/p>\n
He had hidden his own son's parentage.<\/p>\n
And he had kept Leo under surveillance because he feared the truth might eventually escape his control.<\/p>\n
I looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
He was crying quietly.<\/p>\n
Not because Sarah had been his sister.<\/p>\n
Because she hadn't.<\/p>\n
Because the woman he had loved really had been the woman he believed she was.<\/p>\n
Because the years he had lost to fear could finally be understood without another horror standing behind them.<\/p>\n
Leo approached slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma?\u201d<\/p>\n
I knelt.<\/p>\n
He looked at the papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs everything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled him into my arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes that mean he's really my dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel crouched in front of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo studied his face.<\/p>\n
Then, after a long silence, he said, \u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel laughed through his tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood?\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI already decided I wanted you to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
That was the moment I realized the DNA result had never been the most important proof.<\/p>\n
The proof was the years that followed.<\/p>\n
The visits.<\/p>\n
The letters.<\/p>\n
The school plays.<\/p>\n
The bridge projects.<\/p>\n
The birthdays.<\/p>\n
The ordinary mornings.<\/p>\n
Daniel had become Leo's father by showing up.<\/p>\n
Not by inheritance.<\/p>\n
Not by wealth.<\/p>\n
Not by a document.<\/p>\n
By staying.<\/p>\n
Years later, when I stood beside Sarah's grave with Leo, Clara, Daniel and little Sadie, I finally understood what my daughter had wanted all along.<\/p>\n
She had wanted her child safe.<\/p>\n
She had wanted him loved.<\/p>\n
She had wanted the truth to reach him without destroying him.<\/p>\n
She had believed she had time.<\/p>\n
She hadn't.<\/p>\n
But somehow, despite everything that had been taken from us, we had found a way to use the time that remained.<\/p>\n
Leo placed yellow flowers against Sarah's stone.<\/p>\n
Daniel stood beside him.<\/p>\n
I watched my grandson's daughter holding Clara's hand.<\/p>\n
The family Sarah never got to see stood around her grave.<\/p>\n
Not perfect.<\/p>\n
Not untouched.<\/p>\n
But together.<\/p>\n
Daniel came to stand beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor not shutting the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you kept showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot to make up for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did.\u201d<\/p>\n
He smiled faintly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward Leo.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cYou have a life to live now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He followed my gaze.<\/p>\n
Leo was laughing as Sadie tried to place another flower on the stone.<\/p>\n
The wind moved through the trees.<\/p>\n
For years, I had wished Sarah had told me everything sooner.<\/p>\n
I used to believe that if I had known the truth from the beginning, I could have prevented the pain.<\/p>\n
I don't believe that anymore.<\/p>\n
Some pain cannot be prevented.<\/p>\n
Some people arrive too late.<\/p>\n
Some mistakes cannot be repaired completely.<\/p>\n
But they can be answered with different choices afterward.<\/p>\n
Sarah died at eighteen.<\/p>\n
She never got to watch Leo grow up.<\/p>\n
She never got to see the man Daniel became.<\/p>\n
She never got to meet the granddaughter who carried her memory forward.<\/p>\n
But her secret no longer belonged to fear.<\/p>\n
It belonged to us.<\/p>\n
And Leo grew up knowing something I had once been terrified he would never understand.<\/p>\n
He had never been unwanted.<\/p>\n
He had never been forgotten.<\/p>\n
He had never been the reason two people failed each other.<\/p>\n
He was simply a child born into a story shaped by frightened adults.<\/p>\n
And he had grown into a man determined to write the rest of it differently.<\/p>\n
The question stayed with me for years. Why had Sarah written that Richard must never know about Leo? At first, I assumed the answer was simple. Richard wanted Daniel separated … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-readmore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4824,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809\/revisions\/4824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}