The handwritten instruction contained a name.<\/p>\n
Samuel Reed.<\/p>\n
No explanation.<\/p>\n
No address.<\/p>\n
Only the sentence:<\/p>\n
Find Samuel Reed before making any decision about the house or the trust. He knows what I was trying to repair.<\/p>\n
Daniel read it three times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Samuel Reed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Maryanne shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never heard the name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone from Thomas\u2019s family?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that I know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel searched the trust documents.<\/p>\n
Samuel appeared once more.<\/p>\n
Witness consultant: Samuel J. Reed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trust had been prepared by a Duluth law firm called Harcourt & Lane.<\/p>\n
Unlike everything else Thomas had hidden, this had a current telephone number.<\/p>\n
Daniel called.<\/p>\n
The receptionist would not discuss client matters until we established authority. I identified myself as Thomas\u2019s widow and executor. She placed us on hold, returned, asked for documentation, then transferred us to an elderly attorney named Margaret Lane.<\/p>\n
The moment I said Thomas Bennett, she became quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wondered when someone would call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew my husband?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor twelve years.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the others.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know he was married?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Mrs. Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever wonder whether I knew about this trust?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas told me you did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
That irritated me more than I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently half of Minnesota knew things I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand your anger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you probably don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least people were learning not to argue with widows.<\/p>\n
I asked about Samuel Reed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s alive,\u201d Margaret said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe lives outside Two Harbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat explanation should come from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Lane, I\u2019ve had enough explanations reserved for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel worked for Frank Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maryanne stiffened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the business?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was an accountant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel leaned closer to the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he know about the intercepted letters?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe he knew more about Frank\u2019s finances than anyone alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
That changed the room.<\/p>\n
We asked Margaret to contact him.<\/p>\n
She promised only to pass along our number.<\/p>\n
For the rest of the afternoon we returned to the trust.<\/p>\n
The investment account had begun with rental income from the blue house, but Thomas periodically added money from his own workshop earnings.<\/p>\n
Daniel calculated the contributions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was putting money here while telling Mom not to buy the expensive washing machine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite everything, I laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat machine cost fourteen hundred dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt lasted twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was ugly for twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily watched us.<\/p>\n
The expression on her face made me stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sound like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel became still.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow would you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t. I mean from the letters. His humor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was such a small moment, yet something shifted.<\/p>\n
For the first time Emily had connected Thomas\u2019s written voice to the living man in front of her.<\/p>\n
Her brother.<\/p>\n
Our phone rang after four.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Bennett?\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice belonged to an older man.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Sam Reed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone looked at me.<\/p>\n
I put the call on speaker.<\/p>\n
Samuel was eighty-four.<\/p>\n
His breathing sounded rough.<\/p>\n
He said Margaret Lane had warned him this day might come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found Thomas\u2019s trust,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told us to find you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he want you to tell us?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel was silent.<\/p>\n
Finally he said, \u201cNot by phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost objected.<\/p>\n
Then he gave us his address.<\/p>\n
An hour north.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can come tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The force in his voice surprised us.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel coughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Thomas waited too long. I made the same mistake. I\u2019m not giving another night to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
We left at five.<\/p>\n
Maryanne stayed behind.<\/p>\n
Emily came with Daniel and me.<\/p>\n
The drive followed Lake Superior northeast beneath a sky the color of slate.<\/p>\n
Samuel lived in a cedar-sided house among birch trees overlooking the water.<\/p>\n
He met us at the door using an oxygen tube.<\/p>\n
Age had bent him, but his eyes were alert.<\/p>\n
When he saw Emily, he stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re Maryanne\u2019s girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily stiffened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m forty-seven.\u201d<\/p>\n
A faint smile touched his mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo an eighty-four-year-old, that qualifies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you\u2019re Ruth\u2019s boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel glanced at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel\u2019s gaze settled on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas chose well.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not know what to do with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t make this sentimental.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cFair.\u201d<\/p>\n
His living room contained accounting books, old maps, and a telescope facing the lake.<\/p>\n
Samuel sat in a recliner while we occupied the sofa.<\/p>\n
He did not waste time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank Bennett was a thief.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence was so direct that Emily blinked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he steal?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom whom is the better question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel had been hired by Frank in 1974 to manage bookkeeping for the family company.<\/p>\n
At first the irregularities looked ordinary: personal expenses paid through business accounts, inflated invoices, questionable loans.<\/p>\n
Then Samuel discovered something worse.<\/p>\n
Frank had been diverting money from a trust created by Thomas\u2019s grandfather.<\/p>\n
That trust was supposed to fund Thomas\u2019s education and eventually transfer company shares directly to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas never went to college,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Samuel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was told the trust lost value.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank used it to cover business debts and finance investments under his own name.<\/p>\n
Daniel leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Dad\u2019s own father stole from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Dad know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel discovered the theft shortly before Maryanne became pregnant.<\/p>\n
He confronted Frank.<\/p>\n
Frank threatened him with prosecution over bookkeeping entries Samuel had signed without understanding their purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a coward,\u201d Samuel said.<\/p>\n
No one interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had three children. A mortgage. A wife with rheumatoid arthritis. Frank convinced me that exposing him would destroy every employee in the company. So I stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
His shame had survived nearly fifty years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this have to do with Maryanne?\u201d Emily asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cControl.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandfather needed Thomas\u2019s inherited shares cleanly transferred into the family company before auditors looked too closely. A marriage complicated that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maryanne\u2019s copy of Frank\u2019s letter had hinted at this.<\/p>\n
Samuel confirmed it was worse.<\/p>\n
Frank was negotiating a sale with an outside partner.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s shares represented enough voting power to stop it.<\/p>\n
If Thomas married Maryanne and separated his finances from Frank, the scheme risked exposure.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he forced them apart,\u201d Emily said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe manipulated them apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not simply forge Thomas\u2019s signature?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel looked uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
Daniel whispered, \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank forged several documents transferring Thomas\u2019s inherited shares.<\/p>\n
Samuel notarized one under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why Thomas told us to find you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you can prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can prove enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel pointed toward a cabinet.<\/p>\n
Daniel retrieved a thick binder.<\/p>\n
Inside were copies of ledgers, transfer documents, canceled checks, and letters Samuel had kept secretly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you come forward?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told myself I would after my children finished school. Then after my wife\u2019s surgery. Then after Frank died.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes met mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cSound familiar?\u201d<\/p>\n
Too familiar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas found you eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout fifteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas had created the North Shore Trust twelve years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel smiled sadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to my house with questions I\u2019d spent thirty years avoiding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas had discovered discrepancies while closing his mother\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n
One trail led to old corporate records.<\/p>\n
Another led to Samuel.<\/p>\n
Samuel confessed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Thomas angry?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to put me through that window.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel almost smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds more like him than people think.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel told Thomas the full story.<\/p>\n
The stolen trust.<\/p>\n
The intercepted letters.<\/p>\n
The forged documents.<\/p>\n
The pressure on Maryanne.<\/p>\n
The business sale.<\/p>\n
Frank had died without accountability.<\/p>\n
Much of the stolen money was gone.<\/p>\n
Some investments, however, survived.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this is where your blue house becomes complicated,\u201d Samuel said.<\/p>\n
Emily frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank used stolen money to pay part of the mortgage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement landed heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe house wasn\u2019t just Thomas and Mom\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLegally, yes. Financially, partly funded with money taken from Thomas\u2019s grandfather\u2019s trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was Thomas\u2019s money anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel removed another file.<\/p>\n
Part of the money came from accounts belonging to business employees.<\/p>\n
Pension contributions.<\/p>\n
Small amounts skimmed across several years.<\/p>\n
Maryanne had believed Thomas protected the blue house through the family company.<\/p>\n
In truth, Frank had partially protected it with money that was not his.<\/p>\n
Emily stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the house was bought with stolen money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot initially. Most of the purchase was legitimate. Later refinancing and repairs used mixed funds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas spent years trying to calculate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel understood first.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investment account.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel nodded.<\/p>\n
Thomas had not built the North Shore Trust simply to give money to Daniel and Emily.<\/p>\n
He had built it to restore what Frank had taken.<\/p>\n
Rental income from the house had been invested.<\/p>\n
Thomas added personal funds.<\/p>\n
He traced surviving employees and their descendants.<\/p>\n
Some had already received quiet restitution through legal settlements arranged by Margaret Lane.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was paying people back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor twelve years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventeen families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily sat again.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the remaining trust?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRepresents the amount Thomas believed actually belonged to him after restitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked at the papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why he split it between us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why can\u2019t we just accept it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Thomas wasn\u2019t certain his accounting was complete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel opened the binder to one marked page.<\/p>\n
There was one unresolved account.<\/p>\n
Harold Pierce.<\/p>\n
A foreman at the Bennett company.<\/p>\n
His pension contributions disappeared shortly before the business sale.<\/p>\n
Thomas located Harold\u2019s widow years later, but she refused money.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe believed accepting it would reopen an old wound.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat wound?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Samuel looked toward Emily.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold Pierce was Peter Cole\u2019s father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily went completely still.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour stepfather.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
That correction mattered.<\/p>\n
Emily\u2019s eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter\u2019s family lost money because of Frank?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Peter married my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The connections were almost unbearable.<\/p>\n
Maryanne had lost Thomas partly because of Frank\u2019s financial scheme.<\/p>\n
Then she married Peter, whose own family had been harmed by the same man.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Peter know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel explained that Harold blamed the Bennett family for losing his retirement money. He warned Peter to stay away from anyone connected with them.<\/p>\n
Yet Peter fell in love with Maryanne without realizing she had once been engaged to Thomas Bennett.<\/p>\n
When he eventually learned, he chose not to tell his father.<\/p>\n
Emily rubbed her forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur families were tangled together before I was even born.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel coughed heavily.<\/p>\n
Daniel brought him water.<\/p>\n
After he recovered, I asked the question that mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Thomas want us to do now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted you to make the final decision he never felt entitled to make alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout the house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the remaining money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the damage landed on all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed toward Emily.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lost a father you should have known.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were denied a sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou built a marriage without knowing part of its foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not like that phrasing, but it was true enough.<\/p>\n
Samuel leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas thought inheritance would be too simple. He wanted repair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does repair look like?\u201d Daniel asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what you must decide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily stood and walked toward the window.<\/p>\n
The lake beyond the trees had darkened toward evening.<\/p>\n
After a long silence she asked, \u201cDid Thomas know Peter\u2019s father was one of the employees?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFifteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for fifteen years he knew Frank hurt Peter\u2019s family too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd still didn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel did not defend him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI needed one person to stop explaining why he couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s reasons mattered.<\/p>\n
But consequences mattered too.<\/p>\n
Samuel handed me one final envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas left this with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My name was written on the front.<\/p>\n
Ruth.<\/p>\n
I opened it.<\/p>\n
Inside was a single-page letter.<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote that he knew I would be tempted to clean up the mess he left because that was what I always did when life became difficult.<\/p>\n
He asked me not to.<\/p>\n
Do not protect my memory from the truth.<\/p>\n
My vision blurred.<\/p>\n
He wrote that Daniel deserved to be angry.<\/p>\n
Emily deserved to reject him.<\/p>\n
Maryanne deserved to grieve what was stolen.<\/p>\n
I deserved to decide whether the man I loved could also be the man who failed all of us.<\/p>\n
Then came the sentence that broke something open inside me.<\/p>\n
Love me accurately, Ruth. Not kindly.<\/p>\n
I stopped reading.<\/p>\n
Daniel touched my shoulder.<\/p>\n
I handed him the page.<\/p>\n
He read.<\/p>\n
Then Emily did.<\/p>\n
No one spoke for a long time.<\/p>\n
When she finished, Emily folded the letter and returned it to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t forgive him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I ever will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s yours to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I want to know you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s eyes filled before he could hide it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I want to see where he lived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis life.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was different.<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about the empty chair at my kitchen table.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s workshop.<\/p>\n
His clothes.<\/p>\n
The birdhouse unfinished for our granddaughter.<\/p>\n
The forty-two years that belonged neither to secrecy nor sainthood, but to an imperfect man.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily looked again toward the lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should tell Mom what we learned tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then decide what to do with the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel picked up Samuel\u2019s binder.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us,\u201d Emily agreed.<\/p>\n
As we prepared to leave, Samuel called my name.<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s one more thing Thomas never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel looked at Emily.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter knew Thomas was your biological father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother said\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaryanne didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel reached into the side table and removed an envelope bearing Peter Cole\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to see me shortly before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel handed her the envelope.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was trying to decide whether to tell you himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily\u2019s fingers shook around it.<\/p>\n
For the second time in two days, the father she believed she understood had left her a truth after death.<\/p>\n
And on the front Peter had written only five words:<\/p>\n
For Emily, when truth comes.<\/p>\n
The handwritten instruction contained a name. Samuel Reed. No explanation. No address. Only the sentence: Find Samuel Reed before making any decision about the house or the trust. He knows … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2668,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions\/2668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}