My sister, Brooke, hooked two fingers around the back of my chair and yanked it away just as I was about to sit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis table is for family\u2014not you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed harder than the scrape of wood against the ballroom floor.<\/p>\n
For a second, I thought I had misheard her. The reception was already loud\u2014silverware clinking, a jazz trio playing near the dance floor, two hundred guests talking over one another beneath chandeliers\u2014but Brooke was staring directly at me.<\/p>\n
She wore an ivory satin dress that probably cost more than my car. Her new husband, Ethan, was across the room greeting coworkers. At our table sat Grandma Rose, my mother\u2019s three sisters, six cousins, and Brooke\u2019s maid of honor.<\/p>\n
I looked at the place card in front of me.<\/p>\n
CLAIRE BENNETT.<\/p>\n
My name.<\/p>\n
Brooke snatched it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were moved,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a table near the kitchen for people who aren\u2019t immediate family.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed once because the alternative was crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf-sister,\u201d she corrected.<\/p>\n
That did it.<\/p>\n
I picked up my purse.<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s expression changed, just slightly. She had expected me to argue. She had prepared for a scene, not an exit.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire,\u201d Grandma Rose said.<\/p>\n
I turned toward her.<\/p>\n
My grandmother was eighty-one, five feet tall, and the kind of woman who never raised her voice because she never needed to. She looked at Brooke, then at the empty space where my chair had been.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this your decision?\u201d Grandma asked.<\/p>\n
Brooke folded her arms. \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma pushed back her chair and stood.<\/p>\n
Then Aunt Diane stood.<\/p>\n
Aunt Melissa stood.<\/p>\n
Aunt Ruth stood.<\/p>\n
My cousin Tyler muttered, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding me,\u201d and rose beside them. His wife followed. Then Jenna, Mark, Olivia, Sam, and two cousins from my father\u2019s side who had driven in from Ohio.<\/p>\n
Within seconds, almost everyone at the family table was on their feet.<\/p>\n
Brooke went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to leave,\u201d she said quickly.<\/p>\n
Grandma picked up her handbag. \u201cNeither does Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n
People at neighboring tables had begun noticing. My uncles stood next. Then family friends who knew why I had spent the last four years helping Grandma after her hip surgery. Chairs scraped back in waves.<\/p>\n
I walked toward the ballroom doors with my throat burning.<\/p>\n
Behind me, I heard Ethan\u2019s voice over the microphone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait\u2014where is everybody going?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one answered him.<\/p>\n
Then Brooke shouted my name.<\/p>\n
Ethan spotted me at the exit, saw Grandma beside me, and looked back at his bride.<\/p>\n
His face hardened.<\/p>\n
The room fell so quiet that the microphone caught someone setting down a champagne glass. Brooke glanced around, suddenly realizing this was no longer private.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do to her?!\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke stared at Ethan as if he had betrayed her simply by asking.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Grandma Rose stopped near the ballroom doors. I did too, although every instinct told me to keep walking until I reached the parking garage.<\/p>\n
Ethan lowered the microphone. \u201cHalf your family is leaving before the toast. That is not nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s cheeks flushed. \u201cClaire is being dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned around.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t say a word.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the problem for Brooke. There was no screaming sister for her to point at, no broken glass, no public insult she could reshape later. There was only the chair she had pulled away and the relatives who had watched her do it.<\/p>\n
Aunt Diane spoke first. \u201cShe told Claire the family table wasn\u2019t for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan blinked. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said I\u2019m not immediate family,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Brooke stepped toward him. \u201cI said she was moved. Seating changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo where?\u201d Ethan asked.<\/p>\n
Brooke hesitated.<\/p>\n
My cousin Tyler answered. \u201cTable nineteen. By the service doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan looked toward the back corner of the ballroom. Table nineteen had been used for three last-minute vendor meals, two distant coworkers, and an empty seat beside the DJ\u2019s equipment case.<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s mother, my stepmother Linda, finally approached from the head table. She looked furious, but not at Brooke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a wedding,\u201d Linda whispered. \u201cCan everyone stop making this about Claire?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma turned slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Linda stiffened.<\/p>\n
Grandma continued, \u201cBrooke made it about Claire when she publicly removed her from her own family.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were people watching now from nearly every table. Ethan handed the microphone to his best man and walked closer to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooke,\u201d he said, quieter, \u201cwhy did you move her?\u201d<\/p>\n
My sister\u2019s eyes flicked toward me.<\/p>\n
And suddenly I knew.<\/p>\n
Three weeks earlier, Brooke had called me asking for twelve thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
She and Ethan had gone over budget. The florist required final payment. The upgraded bar package cost more than expected. Brooke wanted me to \u201chelp temporarily\u201d because she knew I had savings.<\/p>\n
I had said no.<\/p>\n
Not because I hated her. Because two years earlier I had loaned her eight thousand dollars for a business course she never took. She had spent most of it on a trip to Miami and never repaid me.<\/p>\n
I had not told Ethan.<\/p>\n
Apparently Brooke had not told him either.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this because I wouldn\u2019t give you the twelve thousand?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s head snapped toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat twelve thousand?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s face drained of color.<\/p>\n
Linda closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
That tiny reaction told Ethan everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou asked Claire for money?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brooke grabbed his arm. \u201cWe can discuss this later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. We discussed the budget. You told me your mom covered the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda immediately said, \u201cI did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke looked at her mother in disbelief.<\/p>\n
Ethan stepped away from his bride.<\/p>\n
The silence in the ballroom had changed. It was no longer awkward curiosity. It was attention.<\/p>\n
I wished I could disappear.<\/p>\n
Instead, Grandma squeezed my hand.<\/p>\n
Brooke pointed at me. \u201cShe always does this. She walks in acting superior because Grandma worships her and everyone follows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI came to your wedding,\u201d I said. \u201cI brought a gift. I sat where your coordinator placed my name. You pulled my chair away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s mouth opened, but Ethan interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you invite your sister here just to humiliate her?\u201d<\/p>\n
She did not answer.<\/p>\n
That answer was enough.<\/p>\n
I turned toward the doors again.<\/p>\n
This time Ethan called after me without the microphone.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, please don\u2019t leave yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I faced him.<\/p>\n
He looked exhausted rather than angry now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to know what else I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke whispered, \u201cEthan.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not look at her.<\/p>\n
And for the first time that night, I realized the wedding reception might not survive the next ten minutes.<\/p>\n
I did not want to become the reason my sister\u2019s wedding collapsed.<\/p>\n
That distinction mattered to me, even if it did not matter to anyone else in the ballroom.<\/p>\n
So I looked at Ethan and said, \u201cWhatever problems you two have, they are between you. I am not staying here to put Brooke on trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke gave a sharp, humorless laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma Rose turned toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan rubbed a hand over his face. He was thirty-four, normally calm to the point of being difficult to read. I had known him for three years and had never once heard him shout before tonight. Now he looked like a man trying to assemble a puzzle while someone kept handing him pieces from a different box.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire,\u201d he said, \u201cdid Brooke borrow money from you before?\u201d<\/p>\n
I hesitated.<\/p>\n
Brooke answered for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t my question.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could feel dozens of people listening, and I hated it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEight thousand dollars,\u201d I said. \u201cTwo years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the certification program?\u201d Ethan asked.<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
Brooke stared at the floor.<\/p>\n
I nodded. \u201cThat was what she told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
He turned to Brooke. \u201cYou said your father paid for that course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was going to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you told me you completed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI completed most of it online.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head before I could stop myself.<\/p>\n
Ethan saw.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d he asked me.<\/p>\n
I kept my voice low. \u201cThere was no course. At least not one she paid for with my money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s head snapped up.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou posted pictures from Miami the same week you told me the school had delayed enrollment. When I asked for the tuition receipt, you stopped answering me for a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t prove anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cIt only explains why I wouldn\u2019t lend you another twelve thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda stepped between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is emotional,\u201d she said. \u201cThis can be sorted out tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know she asked Claire for the wedding money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda\u2019s lips pressed together.<\/p>\n
\u201cLinda.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she was short,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know she told me you covered it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda glanced toward Brooke.<\/p>\n
Ethan let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh, except there was nothing amused in it.<\/p>\n
His father, Robert, had joined us by then. Robert was a retired accountant, broad-shouldered and gray-haired, with the permanent expression of a man who wanted numbers to reconcile.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly is short?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Ethan looked at Brooke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019d like to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s eyes filled with tears.<\/p>\n
For one second, I almost felt the old reflex\u2014to rescue her, soften the scene, say something that would give her a path out.<\/p>\n
I had spent most of my life doing that.<\/p>\n
Brooke was six years older than me. After our father married Linda, she decided I represented everything that had gone wrong in her childhood. When our father died when I was nineteen, that resentment hardened.<\/p>\n
If Grandma invited me to lunch, Brooke said I was the favorite.<\/p>\n
If Aunt Diane gave me her old car, Brooke called me spoiled.<\/p>\n
If I got promoted at work, Brooke said I had connections.<\/p>\n
I kept believing that if I was patient enough, useful enough, generous enough, she would eventually stop treating me like an intruder.<\/p>\n
The chair had finally taught me what eight thousand dollars, dozens of favors, and years of silence had not.<\/p>\n
Brooke did not need proof that I loved her.<\/p>\n
She needed me beneath her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m leaving,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Grandma nodded. \u201cThen I am too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan lifted a hand. \u201cClaire, wait. Not for Brooke. For me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
He walked to the head table, took his phone from beside his plate, and returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooke and I have a joint account for wedding expenses,\u201d he said. \u201cWe each agreed to deposit thirty-five thousand. My portion is there. She told me hers was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke whispered, \u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan opened the banking app.<\/p>\n
He stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
Then he looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s fourteen thousand dollars left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert frowned. \u201cAfter final vendor payments?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke started crying.<\/p>\n
Not delicate bridal tears.<\/p>\n
Full, frightened sobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s face went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much is missing?\u201d<\/p>\n
She covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooke.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-one thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda gasped.<\/p>\n
Ethan looked almost confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did twenty-one thousand dollars go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke said nothing.<\/p>\n
Then her maid of honor, Kelsey, spoke from behind the family table.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooke spun around.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelsey\u2019s face was pale. \u201cYou told me he knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnew what?\u201d Ethan asked.<\/p>\n
Kelsey looked miserable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe credit cards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Brooke\u2019s crying became louder.<\/p>\n
Piece by piece, the story came out.<\/p>\n
Six months earlier, Brooke had discovered that three credit cards she had hidden from Ethan were close to their limits. She had used part of her wedding savings to pay them down, intending to replace the money with a year-end bonus.<\/p>\n
The bonus was smaller than expected.<\/p>\n
Then she upgraded the reception anyway\u2014premium flowers, imported champagne, extra lighting, and a designer second dress for the after-party.<\/p>\n
When the bills came due, she started borrowing.<\/p>\n
Two thousand from Linda.<\/p>\n
Three thousand from Kelsey.<\/p>\n
Five thousand against a retirement account.<\/p>\n
Then she called me for twelve thousand, believing I would say yes because I usually did.<\/p>\n
When I refused, she panicked.<\/p>\n
And apparently, she blamed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you moved her to a back table because she wouldn\u2019t cover money you secretly spent?\u201d Ethan asked.<\/p>\n
Brooke wiped mascara from beneath one eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was it like?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe judged me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI said no,\u201d I replied. \u201cThat is all I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou made me feel pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t tell anyone you asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan looked at me. \u201cNot even Grandma?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s eyebrows rose slightly. She had clearly suspected there was more to the story, but she had not known about the money.<\/p>\n
Brooke stared at me, and I watched another realization hit her.<\/p>\n
I had protected her reputation even after she pulled my chair away in front of the family.<\/p>\n
That should have ended the argument.<\/p>\n
Instead, she said, \u201cYou always get to be the good one.\u201d<\/p>\n
I finally understood there was no answer to that accusation.<\/p>\n
If I defended myself, I was self-righteous.<\/p>\n
If I stayed silent, I was manipulative.<\/p>\n
If I helped, I was showing off.<\/p>\n
If I refused, I was selfish.<\/p>\n
The game only worked as long as I agreed to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need to be the good one,\u201d I said. \u201cI just won\u2019t be your target anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hugged Grandma, told my aunts I was going home, and walked through the ballroom doors.<\/p>\n
This time no one stopped me.<\/p>\n
Outside, the August air in Columbus was warm and heavy.<\/p>\n
I had reached the valet stand when Grandma appeared beside me, followed by Diane, Melissa, Ruth, Tyler, Jenna, and several others.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really don\u2019t all have to leave,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Grandma gave me a look.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the point.<\/p>\n
They were not leaving because I had commanded loyalty.<\/p>\n
They were leaving because Brooke had forced them to choose whether humiliating me was acceptable, and they had answered.<\/p>\n
We ended up at a twenty-four-hour diner ten minutes away.<\/p>\n
Grandma ordered pancakes at eleven at night. Aunt Ruth found a private room in the back. Someone loosened a tie. Someone else ordered fries for the table.<\/p>\n
We did not celebrate Brooke\u2019s disaster.<\/p>\n
Mostly, we talked about everything except the wedding.<\/p>\n
At 11:42 p.m., Ethan texted me.<\/p>\n
I am sorry for what happened. You did not cause this. I asked Brooke to stay with her mother tonight. We are not going on the honeymoon tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n I stared at the message for a long time before replying.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re dealing with it. I hope you make whatever decision is right for you.<\/em><\/p>\n Then I put my phone face down.<\/p>\n Three days later, Brooke called fourteen times.<\/p>\n I did not answer.<\/p>\n She sent texts that moved through every possible version of the story.<\/p>\n First, I had destroyed her reception.<\/p>\n Then Grandma had destroyed it.<\/p>\n Then Ethan\u2019s family had always hated her.<\/p>\n Then Kelsey was a traitor.<\/p>\n Then she admitted she had been under \u201cimpossible financial pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, she wrote:<\/p>\n I shouldn\u2019t have moved your seat. I was angry because you could have helped me and chose not to.<\/em><\/p>\n That message told me she still did not understand.<\/p>\n I replied once.<\/p>\n My money was never an obligation. Neither was my silence. Do not contact me until you can speak to me without blaming me for your choices.<\/em><\/p>\n Then I blocked her.<\/p>\n The marriage was not annulled, despite what several relatives predicted. Ethan and Brooke were legally married, and Ethan did not make a dramatic decision in the ballroom.<\/p>\n He did something slower.<\/p>\n He moved into his brother\u2019s apartment for six weeks.<\/p>\n He asked Brooke for complete financial disclosure.<\/p>\n He postponed the honeymoon indefinitely.<\/p>\n They began marriage counseling and met separately with a financial adviser.<\/p>\n Brooke sold the second wedding dress, several designer bags, and jewelry she had bought on credit. Linda repaid Kelsey because she felt responsible for encouraging Brooke to \u201ckeep the wedding looking perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethan eventually returned home, but under conditions Brooke hated: separate personal accounts, shared access to household bills, no new debt without disclosure, and a repayment plan.<\/p>\n The reception humiliation was not what nearly ended their marriage.<\/p>\n The lying was.<\/p>\n As for me, something changed more quietly.<\/p>\n I stopped auditioning for a place in my own family.<\/p>\n When Thanksgiving came, Grandma hosted at her house.<\/p>\n She invited both of us.<\/p>\n Brooke arrived early.<\/p>\n I arrived twenty minutes later.<\/p>\n For a moment, we stood in the entryway looking at each other.<\/p>\n She seemed smaller without the wedding dress, without an audience, without the certainty that everyone would rearrange themselves around her anger.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in therapy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n I nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that doesn\u2019t fix anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n She swallowed.<\/p>\n \u201cI was cruel to you.\u201d<\/p>\n It was the first apology she had ever given me that did not contain the word \u201cbut.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Her eyes watered.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept thinking if people loved you, there was less left for me.\u201d<\/p>\n I leaned against the doorframe.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was never how it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n I did not hug her.<\/p>\n I did not tell her everything was forgiven.<\/p>\n But I stepped aside and let her walk with me into the dining room.<\/p>\n Grandma had put two place cards beside each other.<\/p>\n BROOKE.<\/strong><\/p>\n CLAIRE.<\/strong><\/p>\n My sister stared at them.<\/p>\n Then she quietly pulled out my chair.<\/p>\n Not backward.<\/p>\n Out from the table, so I could sit.<\/p>\n I looked at her for a second.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded and took the seat beside mine.<\/p>\n Nothing was magically repaired. Trust did not return because of one apology, and years of resentment did not disappear over turkey and mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n But there was no public performance this time.<\/p>\n No test.<\/p>\n No demand that I pay for belonging.<\/p>\n And when Grandma raised her glass before dinner, everyone remained seated around the same table.<\/p>\n I realized I had spent years believing family was something I had to earn by being useful.<\/p>\n That night, I finally understood the simpler truth.<\/p>\n A seat freely given is worth more than a place you have to purchase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My sister, Brooke, hooked two fingers around the back of my chair and yanked it away just as I was about to sit. \u201cThis table is for family\u2014not you.\u201d The … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24,22,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encourages","category-family","category-inspiration","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37074,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37072\/revisions\/37074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}