For six days, I carried the truth around inside me like a stone.<\/p>\n
Not a sharp stone.<\/p>\n
Not something that cut me every second.<\/p>\n
Something heavier than that.<\/p>\n
Something that sat quietly in the center of my chest while I fed Hailey, folded tiny pajamas, sterilized bottles, answered texts from my mother, and listened to Liam moving through the house as though our marriage were exactly what everyone believed it was.<\/p>\n
On Sunday afternoon, our families began arriving just before five.<\/p>\n
My mother came first, carrying a casserole dish even though I had specifically told her I had cooked enough food.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a newborn,\u201d she said, kissing my cheek.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no such thing as enough food in this house.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father followed her with two bottles of sparkling cider tucked under one arm.<\/p>\n
Liam\u2019s mother, Diane, arrived ten minutes later with his younger sister, Chloe, who immediately went upstairs to wash her hands before asking if she could hold Hailey.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly if you sit down,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n
She settled carefully into the corner of the sofa, and I placed my daughter into her arms.<\/p>\n
Hailey made one sleepy little sound, then curled against Chloe\u2019s sweater.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh,\u201d Chloe whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the room, Liam smiled.<\/p>\n
For half a second, the sight of him watching our daughter nearly broke me.<\/p>\n
That was one of the hardest things about what I had heard.<\/p>\n
The man on the phone had sounded cold, impatient, almost contemptuous.<\/p>\n
But the man standing by the fireplace was the same man who could spend ten minutes making ridiculous faces until Hailey stopped fussing.<\/p>\n
The same man who had assembled her crib at midnight because one screw had been missing from the package and he had driven across town to find a replacement.<\/p>\n
The same man who, during my pregnancy, had once gotten out of bed at two in the morning because I casually mentioned wanting a cinnamon roll.<\/p>\n
Real people, I was beginning to understand, could hold contradictions that hurt more than simple villainy ever could.<\/p>\n
Dinner passed pleasantly.<\/p>\n
That almost made it worse.<\/p>\n
My father told a story about getting lost on the way to a fishing lake when I was twelve.<\/p>\n
Diane complained affectionately about Liam refusing to wear anything but superhero shirts when he was six.<\/p>\n
Chloe showed us photos from her college apartment.<\/p>\n
Liam laughed.<\/p>\n
He passed me the potatoes.<\/p>\n
Once, under the table, his knee brushed mine.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He smiled automatically.<\/p>\n
And I wondered how long he had been practicing that smile.<\/p>\n
After pumpkin pie, I cleared the dessert plates and returned with a glass of water.<\/p>\n
My hands were steady.<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make a toast,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
The conversation faded.<\/p>\n
Liam, who had been leaning back in his chair, straightened.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dear husband, Liam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chloe grinned.<\/p>\n
Diane lifted her glass.<\/p>\n
Liam\u2019s expression did not change, but I saw the muscles tighten along his jaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years ago,\u201d I continued, \u201cwe promised each other a lot of things.<\/p>\n
Some of them were probably unrealistic.<\/p>\n
We promised we would always communicate.<\/p>\n
Always make time for each other.<\/p>\n
Never go to bed angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father chuckled softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarriage teaches you quickly about that last one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A few people smiled.<\/p>\n
I did too.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut one promise matters more to me now than it did then.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room became quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat we would tell each other the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam\u2019s eyes met mine.<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
A flicker.<\/p>\n
Small enough that no one else would have noticed.<\/p>\n
I had spent six days wondering how I would feel in this moment.<\/p>\n
Powerful?<\/p>\n
Vindicated?<\/p>\n
Angry?<\/p>\n
Instead, I felt unbearably tired.<\/p>\n
I set my glass down.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s what I want for our anniversary,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane glanced between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma?\u201d my mother asked.<\/p>\n
I had decided the night before that I would not play the recording.<\/p>\n
Technically, there wasn\u2019t one.<\/p>\n
I had thought briefly about pretending there was.<\/p>\n
I could have told Liam I had proof.<\/p>\n
I could have watched him panic.<\/p>\n
But somewhere between Hailey\u2019s 3 a.m. feeding and sunrise, I realized I didn\u2019t want my marriage\u2014or its ending\u2014to become a performance.<\/p>\n
I wanted answers.<\/p>\n
And I wanted the people who loved us nearby because, suddenly, I wasn\u2019t sure I could trust my own understanding of the life I had been living.<\/p>\n
I looked at Liam.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast Tuesday, you forgot to hang up the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The color left his face.<\/p>\n
No one moved.<\/p>\n
I heard the refrigerator humming in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Then Liam whispered, \u201cEmma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard you.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mother lowered her glass slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she hear?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chloe asked.<\/p>\n
Liam stared at the table.<\/p>\n
I answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe heard Liam talking to another woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father\u2019s chair shifted.<\/p>\n
I put one hand on his shoulder before he could stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, please.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stayed seated.<\/p>\n
Not because he was calm.<\/p>\n
Because I asked him to.<\/p>\n
Diane looked at her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiam?\u201d<\/p>\n
He rubbed both hands over his face.<\/p>\n
Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n
And then he said the sentence I had spent six days expecting and somehow still wasn\u2019t prepared to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a terrible mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
I remained standing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma, can we do this privately?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice wasn\u2019t loud.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t need to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told another woman you hated me while I was home feeding our daughter.<\/p>\n
You told her you were going to divorce me and marry her.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to protect you from the discomfort of answering a question.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes closed briefly.<\/p>\n
Diane whispered, \u201cOh, Liam.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something inside me shifted.<\/p>\n
Three months.<\/p>\n
Hailey was ten weeks old.<\/p>\n
I did the math immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince before she was born?\u201d<\/p>\n
His silence answered before he did.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother reached for my hand.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t take it.<\/p>\n
Not because I didn\u2019t want comfort.<\/p>\n
Because if someone touched me just then, I thought I might fall apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is she?\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam hesitated.<\/p>\n
I watched his hesitation carefully.<\/p>\n
That was when the first unexpected thing happened.<\/p>\n
His mother said, \u201cIs it Natalie?\u201d<\/p>\n
Every face at the table turned toward her.<\/p>\n
Including mine.<\/p>\n
Liam looked genuinely shocked.<\/p>\n
Diane\u2019s expression crumpled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom,\u201d Liam said.<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane covered her mouth for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe works with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe came to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam stood abruptly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Hailey was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the room tilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe came by the hospital,\u201d Diane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly for a few minutes.<\/p>\n
Liam introduced her as someone from work.<\/p>\n
She brought flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes moved to Liam.<\/p>\n
I remembered those flowers.<\/p>\n
White daisies in a blue vase.<\/p>\n
No card.<\/p>\n
Liam had told me several people at the office contributed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas she already your girlfriend then?\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer came quickly.<\/p>\n
Almost too quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.<\/p>\n
Emma, I swear.<\/p>\n
Nothing had happened yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said three months.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started emotionally before anything physical happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam sat back down.<\/p>\n
He looked smaller now.<\/p>\n
Not innocent.<\/p>\n
Not helpless.<\/p>\n
Just stripped of the easy confidence I had seen every evening when he walked through our front door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met Natalie about seven months ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe transferred into our department.<\/p>\n
We worked on the same account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got along.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
He swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou talked to your wife too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those three words landed harder than I expected.<\/p>\n
Liam seemed to realize it immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t mean\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, you did.\u201d<\/p>\n
I finally sat down.<\/p>\n
Hailey was asleep in the portable bassinet beside the living room sofa, safely away from the dining table and blissfully unaware of the quiet collapse happening around her.<\/p>\n
Liam looked toward her.<\/p>\n
Then back at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you got pregnant, everything changed so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father made an angry sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cCareful,\u201d I said to Liam.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not blaming you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen don\u2019t begin your explanation with my pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time that evening, I saw something in his face that looked less like fear of being caught and more like shame.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was scared,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout money.<\/p>\n
About being a father.<\/p>\n
About whether I would be any good at it.<\/p>\n
Work got worse.<\/p>\n
There were layoffs.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t tell you because you were pregnant, and I thought I was protecting you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t get to say that like it was an unfortunate scheduling problem.<\/p>\n
I was building a crib alone at eight months pregnant while you were having drinks with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere all those late meetings lies?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not much of a defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Liam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chloe had tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n
She looked furious with her brother but also devastated in the particular way younger siblings sometimes are when the person they once admired becomes suddenly, painfully ordinary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Natalie give you,\u201d she asked, \u201cthat Emma didn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChloe,\u201d I said gently.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liam was silent for so long that I thought he wouldn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n
Finally, he said, \u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chloe frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t give me something Emma couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave me somewhere I could pretend I wasn\u2019t failing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentence changed the room.<\/p>\n
Not because it excused anything.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
But because it sounded true.<\/p>\n
And truth, I was discovering, was far more complicated than confession.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt work,\u201d Liam said, \u201cI was still the same person.<\/p>\n
I knew what I was doing.<\/p>\n
Natalie thought I was funny.<\/p>\n
Competent.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t know I was lying awake wondering whether we could afford daycare, whether I could get promoted, whether I was going to become my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane went still.<\/p>\n
Liam\u2019s father, Robert, had died when Liam was nineteen.<\/p>\n
I knew only pieces of that story.<\/p>\n
He had worked constantly.<\/p>\n
He had missed birthdays.<\/p>\n
He had eventually left Diane for someone else.<\/p>\n
Liam rarely spoke about him.<\/p>\n
A chill moved through me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hated your father for cheating,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you did exactly what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no dramatic argument after that.<\/p>\n
No one shouted.<\/p>\n
No glass broke.<\/p>\n
Nobody demanded that Liam leave immediately.<\/p>\n
Instead, the evening became stranger and quieter.<\/p>\n
My parents took Hailey upstairs while I spoke with Liam in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Our families remained in the house, giving us privacy without leaving me alone.<\/p>\n
Liam stood near the sink.<\/p>\n
I sat at the breakfast table.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I heard on the phone,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you mean it?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face twisted.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you mean that you hate me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said it very easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was showing off.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
It was such an ugly, childish explanation that I believed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor her?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had started saying I was never going to leave you.<\/p>\n
She said I was using her.<\/p>\n
I was angry.<\/p>\n
I said things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kissed her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you slept with her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
Then: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
My entire body seemed to become quiet.<\/p>\n
Not numb.<\/p>\n
Quiet.<\/p>\n
I had suspected it, of course.<\/p>\n
But suspicion still leaves a tiny door unlocked for hope.<\/p>\n
One word closed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I opened my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means enough times that counting would sound bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
His shoulders collapsed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked out the window above the sink.<\/p>\n
The backyard was dark.<\/p>\n
We had hung string lights along the fence the previous summer.<\/p>\n
Two bulbs had burned out, leaving uneven pools of gold across the patio.<\/p>\n
I had been asking Liam to replace them for weeks.<\/p>\n
Such a ridiculous detail to notice.<\/p>\n
Such an ordinary problem belonging to a life that no longer existed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens now?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll end it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t a gift to me, Liam.<\/p>\n
That is the minimum requirement for having this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to stay at your mother\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n
His head lifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor how long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I see Hailey?\u201d<\/p>\n
The fear in his voice was immediate.<\/p>\n
I looked at him carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am angry at you as my husband.<\/p>\n
I am not going to punish our daughter by taking away a loving father.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face crumpled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don\u2019t come and go whenever you feel like it anymore.<\/p>\n
We make a schedule.<\/p>\n
You show up when you say you will.<\/p>\n
If you want to be her father, you become reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you get tested.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd tomorrow, you tell Natalie it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can do that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not asking for theater.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t need you dramatically calling her while I listen.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow you can tell her clearly and privately.<\/p>\n
Then you send me one message confirming you did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if she contacts you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He inhaled slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmma, I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean you treated me lovingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The difference seemed to hurt him.<\/p>\n
It hurt me too.<\/p>\n
An hour later, our families began leaving.<\/p>\n
Diane hugged me for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glanced toward Liam, who was putting a bag into her car.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think I taught him something terrible without meaning to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat keeping painful things secret protects your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
She looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Robert left, I told Liam almost nothing.<\/p>\n
I wanted him to remember his father kindly.<\/p>\n
Maybe too kindly.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wanted to ask more, but my mother called me from inside.<\/p>\n
Hailey needed feeding.<\/p>\n
By ten o\u2019clock, the house was quiet.<\/p>\n
For the first time since we married, Liam did not sleep beside me.<\/p>\n
I expected to cry.<\/p>\n
Instead, I sat in the nursery rocking chair with Hailey against my chest.<\/p>\n
Her tiny fingers curled around mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and me,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
Then I corrected myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.<\/p>\n
Not just you and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because that was another thing I had realized.<\/p>\n
I still had parents.<\/p>\n
Friends.<\/p>\n
A sister-in-law who texted me before midnight:<\/p>\n
I love my brother, but I\u2019m on your side when it comes to honesty.<\/p>\n
Call me anytime.<\/p>\n
There were people around me.<\/p>\n
I had simply spent so much time trying to make our little household work that I had forgotten how wide family could be.<\/p>\n
At 8:12 the next morning, Liam texted.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
I told Natalie our relationship is over.<\/p>\n
I told her not to contact you or me outside necessary work communication.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m requesting reassignment today.<\/p>\n
I read the message twice.<\/p>\n
Then put my phone down.<\/p>\n
At 9:03, another message appeared.<\/p>\n
This one was from a number I didn\u2019t recognize.<\/p>\n
Emma, my name is Natalie.<\/p>\n
I know I am probably the last person you want to hear from.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t defend what I did.<\/p>\n
But before Liam tells you his version of everything, there is something you need to know.<\/p>\n
Something he doesn\u2019t know I know.<\/p>\n
I stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
My first instinct was to delete it.<\/p>\n
My second was to block the number.<\/p>\n
Instead, I waited.<\/p>\n
Another message arrived.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not asking you to forgive me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m asking you to meet me once.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something about Liam\u2019s \u201clate meetings\u201d that has nothing to do with me\u2014and I think it matters.<\/p>\n
I read that sentence three times.<\/p>\n
Then I looked toward the nursery, where Hailey slept peacefully in her crib.<\/p>\n
For six days, I had believed I finally knew the secret that explained my husband\u2019s absences.<\/p>\n
Now the woman he had been seeing was telling me there had been another one.<\/p>\n
And somehow, the possibility frightened me more than the affair itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For six days, I carried the truth around inside me like a stone. Not a sharp stone. Not something that cut me every second. Something … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-inspiration","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18490,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18489\/revisions\/18490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}