On Christmas Eve in Hartford, Connecticut, my sister Lauren abandoned her nine-year-old daughter, Emma, at a deserted bus stop with a single pink backpack and a coat far too thin for the icy rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cAunt Claire? Mom said I ru!n Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was already reaching for my keys.<\/p>\n
Lauren, her husband Derek, our parents, and my younger brother Ryan had arranged a luxurious Christmas vacation in Aspen.<\/p>\n
Emma had looked forward to it for months, but that morning she accidentally spilled orange juice across Lauren\u2019s white suitcase and later started crying after Derek said she was \u201ctoo dramatic\u201d to ski alongside the adults.<\/p>\n
Apparently, that was enough.<\/p>\n
They dropped her at a bus stop two miles from my apartment, told her I would \u201cprobably come get her,\u201d then headed toward Bradley International Airport without bothering to contact me.<\/p>\n
When I arrived, Emma sat alone on the metal bench, clutching her backpack tightly against her chest. Her lips looked blue. She had been waiting there for almost forty minutes.<\/p>\n
I covered her with my coat, helped her into my car, and contacted the police.<\/p>\n
That was the moment my family stopped thinking of me as the quiet older sister who always fixed everyone else\u2019s messes.<\/p>\n
By midnight, an officer had recorded Emma\u2019s statement. A hospital documented mild hypothermia and serious anxiety. Child Protective Services immediately opened an emergency case. Lauren eventually called from Colorado after their plane landed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou involved CPS on Christmas Eve?\u201d she shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou abandoned your child in freezing weather.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was safe. She had a phone number.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is nine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then my mother took the phone and said the words that erased whatever hesitation I still had.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, don\u2019t destr0y this family over one bad parenting decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
So I did something none of them anticipated.<\/p>\n
I retained an attorney.<\/p>\n
Within days, I petitioned for temporary guardianship with Emma\u2019s consent and submitted every text message, voicemail, medical record, and police report. Lauren and Derek came home furious rather than remorseful. They claimed Emma was exaggerating. Derek even insisted she had wanted to remain behind.<\/p>\n
The judge did not believe him.<\/p>\n
Emma came home with me.<\/p>\n
For the following six months, my family told everyone that I had stolen a child, destr0yed Christmas, and man!pulated the legal system. I barely responded. I worked, brought Emma to therapy, enrolled her at another school, and allowed the case to proceed.<\/p>\n
Then, in June, Lauren, Derek, my parents, and Ryan all received identical certified letters.
\nThey were not from me.<\/p>\n
They came from a law firm.<\/p>\n
And before they finished reading the opening page, they realized that losing custody of Emma was merely the beginning.<\/p>\n
The letter was sent by Whitmore & Hale, a probate firm based in New Haven.<\/p>\n
Six weeks before Christmas, Emma\u2019s paternal grandmother, Margaret Cole, had p@ssed away following a lengthy illness. Margaret had never trusted Derek with finances, and everybody in the family knew that.<\/p>\n
What nobody realized was that she had revised her estate plan three months before dy!ng.<\/p>\n
Margaret had left Emma a trust valued at slightly more than $1.8 million.<\/p>\n
Derek had initially been appointed as one of its trustees.<\/p>\n
Under a provision Margaret\u2019s attorney had specifically required, any trustee found by a court or child-welfare agency to have a.b.u.s.e.d, a.ban.don.ed, en.dan.ger.ed, or financially exploited Emma would automatically lose eligibility to manage the trust. Since CPS had substantiated the a.ban.don.ment allegation and family court had awarded temporary guardianship to me, that provision had been activated.<\/p>\n
I was appointed successor trustee.<\/p>\n
Lauren phoned me less than ten minutes after signing for her copy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned about it three weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou planned everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Your mother-in-law planned for the possibility that Derek would fail Emma.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek snatched the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat money belongs to my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you have no right to control it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trust says otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
He threatened to take me to court before ending the call.<\/p>\n
He did.<\/p>\n
That became his second mistake.<\/p>\n
During discovery, my attorney requested Derek\u2019s financial records because he claimed that I had sought guardianship to gain access to Emma\u2019s inheritance.<\/p>\n
We needed to establish that I knew nothing about the trust when I contacted police or submitted the emergency petition.<\/p>\n
His banking records proved that easily.<\/p>\n
They uncovered something else too.<\/p>\n
For almost two years, Derek had been moving money out of a custodial savings account Margaret had previously established for Emma.<\/p>\n
The amounts were small initially. Then larger withdrawals appeared, described as school costs, medical bills, and summer programs.<\/p>\n
Emma had participated in none of them.<\/p>\n
Almost $74,000 had disappeared.<\/p>\n
When Lauren discovered this, she defended him at first.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably moved it for tax reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Derek was unable to provide receipts. The funds had instead paid credit-card balances, a leased Porsche, golf-club memberships, and part of their Aspen vacation.<\/p>\n
The Christmas vacation Emma had supposedly \u201cru!ned\u201d had actually been partially financed with her own money.<\/p>\n
My father, Thomas, called me that evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrop this before Derek gets arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not the prosecutor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell your lawyer to stop investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The silence on his end revealed something I had never anticipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
His denial came much too quickly.<\/p>\n
One week later, subpoenaed emails revealed that my father had assisted Derek in disguising two withdrawals as reimbursements. Ryan had also taken $12,000 from that same account to rescue a failed business venture.<\/p>\n
My mother, Diane, had known enough to tell them not to mention \u201cEmma\u2019s money\u201d in written messages.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, that certified letter was about far more than a trust.<\/p>\n
It had become a roadmap showing everyone who had treated a little girl\u2019s future like the family\u2019s personal emergency fund.<\/p>\n
Lauren showed up alone at my apartment one evening. She seemed smaller than I remembered, without her expensive coat, flawless makeup, or usual confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Emma tell you she hates me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes she ever ask about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren\u2019s eyes became watery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
I chose my words carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe asks why you left her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren lowered herself onto the edge of my couch and buried her face in her hands.<\/p>\n
For once, she did not blame me.<\/p>\n
But remorse could not stop what was already coming.<\/p>\n
The probate court froze every account associated with Emma\u2019s previous custodial funds. The family court widened its investigation. Derek\u2019s employer was subpoenaed because several fr@udulent reimbursement documents had been produced using company equipment.<\/p>\n
And then a detective contacted me.<\/p>\n
The missing money was no longer considered merely a private dispute within the family.<\/p>\n
It was now being investigated as theft.<\/p>\n
By July, every version of the Christmas story my family had spread began falling apart beneath documents they could not dispute.<\/p>\n
She was calm, meticulous, and entirely uninterested in hearing our family\u2019s explanations. She wanted dates, signatures, account numbers, receipts, and evidence.<\/p>\n
Derek gave her attitude.<\/p>\n
My father offered excuses.<\/p>\n
Ryan offered panic.<\/p>\n
My mother offered tears.<\/p>\n
Lauren offered the truth.<\/p>\n
Not immediately. But enough.<\/p>\n
She admitted she had known Derek sometimes withdrew money from Emma\u2019s custodial account. He had assured her it was temporary and promised he would replace everything once a real-estate investment became profitable. Lauren also admitted my father had told them not to worry because, as he put it, \u201cMargaret left more than that girl could ever spend.\u201d<\/p>\n
That statement went into the detective\u2019s notes.<\/p>\n
Later, it appeared in court too.<\/p>\n
The guardianship hearing was set for August.<\/p>\n
Until then, Emma continued living with me under temporary orders. Her days had become ordinary in ways that somehow felt extraordinary.<\/p>\n
She joined a summer art class. She learned how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. She developed an obsession with blueberry pancakes and refused scrambled eggs unless they came covered in hot sauce.<\/p>\n
But on certain nights, she still woke believing I had disappeared.<\/p>\n
The first time it happened, I discovered her standing in the hallway at two in the morning, clutching her backpack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
She looked at me, embarrassed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought maybe you were gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m right here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if you go on vacation?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you come with me, or you stay somewhere we both agree is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her gaze dropped toward the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if I spill something?\u201d<\/p>\n
That almost broke my heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you spill everything in the whole house.\u201d<\/p>\n
She gave a small laugh, but that night she still slept on the couch outside my bedroom.<\/p>\n
Her therapist, Dr. Anika Patel, explained that Emma was testing whether things would remain stable.<\/p>\n
Children who experienced sudden rejection often tried anticipating the next rejection before it could happen.<\/p>\n
What Emma needed most was consistency, not speeches.<\/p>\n
So I stopped promising her forever and began showing her exactly what tomorrow would bring.<\/p>\n
Breakfast. School. Therapy every Thursday. Library every Saturday. Bedtime at nine.<\/p>\n
Again and again.<\/p>\n
His employer suspended him without pay after discovering that he had used company software to produce fake invoices supporting withdrawals from Emma\u2019s account. He had listed supposed payments for tutoring, orthopedic treatment, and private-school deposits.<\/p>\n
None of those existed.<\/p>\n
Then the Porsche vanished from his driveway.<\/p>\n
Then the Aspen credit-card bill remained unpaid.<\/p>\n
Then he fell behind on the mortgage.<\/p>\n
Lauren moved into my parents\u2019 home after separating from him.<\/p>\n
My mother called and accused me of \u201cenjoying\u201d their downfall.<\/p>\n
I told her I was enjoying none of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted you to pick Emma up,\u201d she said bitterly. \u201cThat was the whole point. We knew you would.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn\u2019t anyone call me?\u201d<\/p>\n
She had no answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy leave her outside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLauren was angry. Derek was angry. Everyone was stressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not an explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother finally yelled, \u201cBecause we were going to miss the flight!\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
A nine-year-old girl had been left outside in freezing rain because five grown adults did not want to miss first-class boarding.<\/p>\n
I ended the call.<\/p>\n
At the August guardianship hearing, Lauren shocked everyone.<\/p>\n
She chose not to challenge my petition.<\/p>\n
Derek did.<\/p>\n
His lawyer claimed the abandonment had been one isolated mistake in judgment magnified by ongoing family tension. He painted me as bitter, controlling, and motivated by money.<\/p>\n
Then Emma\u2019s court-appointed guardian ad litem laid out the timeline.<\/p>\n
Security footage from the bus stop showed my family\u2019s SUV pulling in at 3:41 p.m.<\/p>\n
The vehicle drove away at 3:44.<\/p>\n
Emma entered the pharmacy vestibule at 4:16 after repeatedly trying to open the locked door.<\/p>\n
I arrived at 4:23.<\/p>\n
Not one adult had contacted me before Emma called.<\/p>\n
The judge asked Derek a single question.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Cole, when you drove away, who did you believe had accepted responsibility for this child?\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek replied, \u201cClaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHad you spoken to Claire?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHad anyone in the vehicle spoken to Claire?\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That ended the argument.<\/p>\n
The judge awarded me permanent guardianship, with future review possible if Lauren showed sustained improvement. Derek was limited to supervised visitation only.<\/p>\n
Lauren was given a structured route toward rebuilding her relationship with Emma: parenting classes, individual counseling, consistent visits, and no unsupervised contact until Emma\u2019s therapist recommended it and the court gave approval.<\/p>\n
My parents received no independent visitation rights.<\/p>\n
Ryan stopped contacting me completely.<\/p>\n
The financial investigation continued separately.<\/p>\n
Derek was charged with felony larceny and offenses connected to forgery. My father was not accused of personally taking the money, but prosecutors introduced evidence showing that he had helped prepare misleading reimbursement descriptions.<\/p>\n
Eventually, he reached an agreement requiring cooperation, restitution toward the losses he had helped hide, and community service.<\/p>\n
Ryan returned the $12,000 after selling his motorcycle and borrowing money.<\/p>\n
His business failed anyway.<\/p>\n
My mother was never charged, but her standing within the family suffered in ways no legal ruling could quantify.<\/p>\n
For years, she had controlled every holiday, birthday, conflict, and apology by determining which version of reality everyone else was expected to accept.<\/p>\n
This time, bank records existed.<\/p>\n
There was video evidence.<\/p>\n
There were sworn statements.<\/p>\n
There was no story she could reshape.<\/p>\n
Derek ultimately pleaded guilty to reduced charges in return for restitution and probation under strict financial conditions. His professional license was suspended after his employer reported the falsified paperwork to the appropriate board.<\/p>\n
The missing $74,000 was not immediately recovered, but restitution orders were entered by the court, while Margaret\u2019s trust remained completely untouched.<\/p>\n
That was what mattered most.<\/p>\n
The trust covered Emma\u2019s therapy, educational expenses, and eventually a modest summer camp that she selected herself. I never used the money for rent, groceries, or regular household costs. My attorney recommended meticulous accounting, so every dollar was carefully documented.<\/p>\n
I wanted nobody to have any opportunity to claim that I had rescued Emma because of money.<\/p>\n
Six months after those certified letters arrived, Lauren asked me to meet at a diner located halfway between my apartment and our parents\u2019 home.<\/p>\n
She looked exhausted, but healthier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI signed a lease,\u201d she told me. \u201cSmall place. Two bedrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been going to therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma told me she wants me to see her art show.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren held her coffee mug tightly between both hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep trying to understand when I became someone who could leave my own child on a bench.\u201d<\/p>\n
I refused to answer that question for her.<\/p>\n
After a lengthy silence, she said, \u201cI think it happened gradually. Every time Derek was cruel, I called it stress. Every time Mom covered for me, I called it family loyalty. Every time Emma had a feeling that inconvenienced us, I called her \u201cdifficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
She met my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd every time you objected, I called you jealous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t fix what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the first meaningful thing she had said to me in months.<\/p>\n
Lauren did not regain custody of Emma that day.<\/p>\n
She did not regain it the following month either.<\/p>\n
Real life did not rearrange itself because of a single apology.<\/p>\n
But she continued attending supervised visits. She arrived on time. She stopped asking Emma for forgiveness. She stopped speaking negatively about me around her. She stopped bringing expensive presents.<\/p>\n
At the art show, Emma displayed a painting showing a yellow house with three windows and one crooked tree.<\/p>\n
Lauren stood next to me studying it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that your apartment?\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I think she made it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma came over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my future house,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lauren smiled cautiously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho lives there?\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma pointed toward the largest window.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she pointed at another.<\/p>\n
\u201cAunt Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren swallowed hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the third?\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma stared at her mother for several seconds.<\/p>\n
Lauren nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n
She waited until she reached the parking lot before crying.<\/p>\n
One year after the bus-stop incident, Christmas Eve arrived again.<\/p>\n
There was no Aspen vacation.<\/p>\n
No matching luggage.<\/p>\n
No reservation at some expensive restaurant.<\/p>\n
Emma and I remained home in Hartford. We made terrible lasagna, watched a couple of movies, and burned an entire tray of sugar cookies because I forgot to set the timer.<\/p>\n
At seven, Lauren arrived for her court-approved Christmas visit.<\/p>\n
She brought only one gift: a sketchbook.<\/p>\n
Emma unwrapped it and smiled.<\/p>\n
Then she accidentally spilled hot chocolate all over the coffee table.<\/p>\n
Everything froze.<\/p>\n
I noticed Emma\u2019s reaction before anybody said a word. Her shoulders tightened. The color disappeared from her face. Her eyes immediately shifted toward the front door.<\/p>\n
Lauren noticed it too.<\/p>\n
For a moment, everything from the previous Christmas seemed to enter the room with us.<\/p>\n
Lauren set her mug down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Emma stayed completely still.<\/p>\n
Lauren picked up a towel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just hot chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still no response.<\/p>\n
Then Lauren said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t ru!n anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma\u2019s shoulders relaxed.<\/p>\n
She knelt down to help wipe everything up.<\/p>\n
Nobody hugged. No emotional music played. Lauren still had years of broken trust to repair, and Emma had every right to determine what relationship she wanted with her.<\/p>\n
But when the visit ended, Emma taped one of her drawings onto the refrigerator.<\/p>\n
It showed three people seated around a table.<\/p>\n
That spring, the court reviewed my guardianship. Dr. Patel recommended that Emma remain living with me while Lauren\u2019s visitation gradually increased. Lauren accepted the recommendation without arguing.<\/p>\n
Derek had visited Emma only a few times under supervision. She did not want additional contact, and nobody pressured her.<\/p>\n
My parents mailed cards.<\/p>\n
Emma decided whether she wanted to open them.<\/p>\n
Ryan relocated to Ohio for another job and eventually sent a letter apologizing for taking money from her account. I kept it inside a drawer until Emma told me she was ready to read it.<\/p>\n
The trust continued growing under professional management. I remained co-trustee alongside an independent fiduciary appointed through Margaret\u2019s estate plan, eliminating even the suggestion that I alone could control Emma\u2019s money.<\/p>\n
That arrangement brought me peace.<\/p>\n
Two years after that Christmas Eve, Emma finally asked the question I had always known would eventually come.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you save me?\u201d<\/p>\n
We were driving home after school.<\/p>\n
I thought about the police report, the court hearings, the attorneys, the financial records, and every adult who had spent months arguing over who was responsible for destroying the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cYou called me. You told the truth. A lot of people helped after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you came.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight away?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight away.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat counts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps it did.<\/p>\n
My family once claimed Emma always ru!ned Christmas.<\/p>\n
Their ability to keep pretending.<\/p>\n
The letter that arrived six months later did not destr0y anyone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
It merely opened every locked drawer they had counted on remaining permanently closed.<\/p>\n
Derek lost access to money he never had the right to touch.<\/p>\n
My father lost the authority that came with automatically being believed.<\/p>\n
Ryan lost the privilege of pretending theft was merely a loan.<\/p>\n
My mother lost control over the family narrative.<\/p>\n
Lauren lost custody, then gradually began earning small pieces of her daughter\u2019s trust again without any guarantee of receiving the ending she hoped for.<\/p>\n
And Emma?<\/p>\n
Emma lost the belief that being loved meant being tolerated only until she became inconvenient.<\/p>\n
She was twelve when she eventually stopped keeping that pink backpack next to her bed.<\/p>\n
One Saturday morning, she carried it into the kitchen and placed it beside the trash.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sure?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ripped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can sew it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So we tossed it away.<\/p>\n
Then we drove to the mall and bought her a brand-new backpack for middle school.<\/p>\n
She picked a ridiculously bright green one covered with silver stars.<\/p>\n
At the register, she pulled three wrinkled dollars from her pocket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can help pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gently pushed her hand back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She grinned.<\/p>\n
Outside, the summer sunlight shimmered across the parked cars. Emma swung her new backpack over one shoulder and walked several steps ahead of me toward our car.<\/p>\n
She did not turn around to check whether I was following.<\/p>\n
She already knew I was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Christmas Eve in Hartford, Connecticut, my sister Lauren abandoned her nine-year-old daughter, Emma, at a deserted bus stop with a single pink backpack and a coat far too thin … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24,22,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37327","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\/37327","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=37327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37329,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37327\/revisions\/37329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readinstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}