Jeremy did not follow me when I left Lacey\u2019s room.<\/p>\n
For that, at least, I was grateful.<\/p>\n
I walked until I found an empty stairwell and sat three steps below the landing, gripping the metal railing with both hands. The air smelled faintly of disinfectant and concrete dust. Somewhere below, a heavy door opened, then closed again.<\/p>\n
My thoughts refused to arrange themselves into anything useful.<\/p>\n
Jeremy had secretly married Lacey.<\/p>\n
Lacey was dying.<\/p>\n
She had made me the beneficiary of nearly three hundred thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
She wanted some kind of farewell ceremony.<\/p>\n
And my husband had apparently spent three years moving between our home and a hospital room while convincing himself that keeping me ignorant was an act of protection.<\/p>\n
The stairwell door opened.<\/p>\n
Jeremy appeared.<\/p>\n
He stayed on the landing.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I sit?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the empty step beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been making decisions without asking me for three years. Why stop now?\u201d<\/p>\n
He absorbed that without defending himself.<\/p>\n
Then he sat two steps above me rather than beside me.<\/p>\n
For a minute, neither of us spoke.<\/p>\n
I could hear his breathing.<\/p>\n
The familiar rhythm of it made me furious.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many people knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy stared at the opposite wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know about David.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLacey\u2019s lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho else?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of people at the hospital knew we were legally married.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour sister?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour crew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone in our family?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you managed to hide an entire wife from everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you say it like that\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow would you prefer I say it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the stairwell door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the whole thing now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cJill\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo more pieces. No more finding things in parking garages or courthouse files. Start at the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
He rubbed both hands across his knees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beginning was when I saw Lacey here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the marriage?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout four months before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat were you doing at Vanderbilt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA crew member\u2019s wife was having surgery. I drove him.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sounded mundane enough to be true.<\/p>\n
Jeremy continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw Lacey near the pharmacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you recognize her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she recognized you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mouth tightened in a way I remembered from funerals.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe looked different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because she was sick.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked for maybe ten minutes. That was all. She told me she\u2019d been diagnosed. I asked if she needed anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she said yes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course she didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The Lacey I remembered had been proud even at twenty.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she had people helping her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you came back anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cA week later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I knew what you\u2019d think.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean accurately?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean I knew you\u2019d think there was something romantic happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWasn\u2019t there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you need secrecy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause seeing her stirred up things I didn\u2019t know what to do with.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The answer I had been waiting for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat things?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRegret.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cLove?\u201d<\/p>\n
He took a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot the way you mean.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice remained low.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to leave you. I didn\u2019t want another life. I didn\u2019t look at Lacey and think I\u2019d made a mistake marrying you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what did you think?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat she was sick and alone and that once, a long time ago, I had hurt her badly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy looked toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then I found out about the pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stairwell seemed to tighten around us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t know before?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she\u2019d been pregnant. I didn\u2019t know when she lost the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me she was pregnant after I started seeing you. We were already falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach twisted.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated that word again.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you kept seeing me while knowing your girlfriend was pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy flinched.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI panicked. I told Lacey I needed time. She took that as me choosing you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
No hesitation.<\/p>\n
It should have comforted me.<\/p>\n
Instead it made twenty-two-year-old guilt rearrange itself into something more complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved you,\u201d Jeremy said. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t fake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you left her carrying your child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice cracked slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe miscarried after she moved to Nashville. By the time she told me, she wanted nothing from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you let her disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared at his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve hated that version of myself for twenty-two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the young man I married.<\/p>\n
Funny.<\/p>\n
Restless.<\/p>\n
Certain he could repair anything with his hands.<\/p>\n
I had never known he was carrying that particular failure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after you found her again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI started visiting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Tuesday?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at first. Sometimes once a month. Then the cancer spread.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLiver first. Then bone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words were clinical.<\/p>\n
Jeremy said them like someone who had memorized every scan.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe needed help getting to appointments. Her brother came when he could, but he lives in Washington State. Friends helped. I did too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did marriage enter the picture?\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe lost coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer employer cut her hours after she couldn\u2019t work consistently. There were appeals. Temporary coverage. Charity applications. Everything took too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you offered to marry her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe asked?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
He leaned back against the concrete wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried putting her on a policy through one of the companies I subcontract with. Didn\u2019t work. Then her lawyer brought up marriage as one possible route for some benefits and legal permissions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLegal permissions?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDecision-making. Hospital access. Insurance. Property. All of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile married to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid the lawyer know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My head snapped toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he still helped you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer lawyer is a woman. Cynthia Wells.\u201d<\/p>\n
I filed the name away.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Cynthia knew about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how did this happen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy\u2019s expression darkened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t as simple as signing one piece of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing about this sounds simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLacey and I tried other things first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch as?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMedical power of attorney. Beneficiary changes. Domestic support arrangements. We looked at every option.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd none satisfied her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy did not answer.<\/p>\n
That was answer enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo eventually this became emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word was almost a whisper.<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
Jeremy remained seated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said if she was going to die, she wanted one memory that belonged to the future we\u2019d once planned.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pressure built behind my ribs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you gave it to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I owed her something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
My voice cut through the stairwell.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou owed her honesty. You owed me honesty. You did not owe either of us another illegal marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy lowered his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause from where I\u2019m standing, you spent three years calling deception kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was afraid telling you would destroy us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you should have decided whether helping Lacey was worth that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You avoided deciding. You tried to keep both lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words hung between us.<\/p>\n
Jeremy did not contradict me.<\/p>\n
That hurt most.<\/p>\n
I sat again because my knees had begun shaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Tuesdays?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer treatment schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery week?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMost weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said it was work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came home afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGot into bed beside me.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I rubbed my wedding ring with my thumb.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever almost tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHundreds of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHundreds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJill\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Let me understand. Hundreds of times you looked at me, wanted to tell me, and chose another lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice was barely audible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Jeremy. You keep saying you know because you want the sentence to end.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen sit with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did.<\/p>\n
A long silence passed.<\/p>\n
Finally I asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s this ceremony Lacey wants?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy exhaled slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe talked to the hospital chaplain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA small service in the chapel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA wedding?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His answer came quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot another one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat, then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants to release the marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelease it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows what we did wasn\u2019t sustainable. She wanted to sign annulment paperwork once treatment stabilized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she never did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kept getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants to sign everything before the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat paperwork?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAn annulment petition. Legal acknowledgment. Estate papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo after secretly becoming his wife, she plans to die after officially giving him back to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy flinched at the cruelty in my words.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
I was tired of being the only person cut by them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not how she thinks about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does she think about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe thinks she borrowed part of a life she never got.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer stopped me.<\/p>\n
For one brief, unwanted second, I saw Lacey alone in an apartment after losing a pregnancy, then years later sitting through chemotherapy with no spouse beside her.<\/p>\n
Sympathy arrived before I could block it.<\/p>\n
I hated its timing.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe still had no right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd neither did you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The door opened below us.<\/p>\n
A hospital employee appeared, startled to find us sitting there.<\/p>\n
We both moved aside.<\/p>\n
After he passed, Jeremy said, \u201cThere\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed without humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reached into his jacket and removed a folded piece of paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Lacey?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He held it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you write it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever intend to give it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night before I married Lacey.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the envelope.<\/p>\n
My name was written across it in Jeremy\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
Jill.<\/p>\n
The edges were soft from being handled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere has that been?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor three years?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you give it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer was so ordinary that it made me angrier than anything dramatic could have.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfraid I\u2019d leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the envelope.<\/p>\n
It was already unsealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou read it again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I unfolded the letter.<\/p>\n
The handwriting was uneven.<\/p>\n
Jeremy had written three pages.<\/p>\n
He told me he loved me.<\/p>\n
He told me he had found Lacey.<\/p>\n
He told me she was dying.<\/p>\n
He told me she had asked him for help he believed would break my trust.<\/p>\n
He wrote that he did not know how to choose between abandoning someone he had once failed and betraying the woman who had built a life with him.<\/p>\n
Then one sentence stopped me.<\/p>\n
I am going to make the worst decision of my life because I cannot find a good one.<\/p>\n
I read it twice.<\/p>\n
Then I folded the paper.<\/p>\n
Jeremy watched me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make it better,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew before you did it that it would hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you did it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That truth mattered more than his reasons.<\/p>\n
He had not been swept helplessly into deception.<\/p>\n
He had seen the cost.<\/p>\n
He had chosen it.<\/p>\n
The door opened again.<\/p>\n
This time David stood there.<\/p>\n
His expression was grave.<\/p>\n
\u201cJeremy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy rose immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLacey\u2019s blood pressure dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy moved toward the door.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
He looked back at me.<\/p>\n
I could see the conflict in his face.<\/p>\n
Wife in the stairwell.<\/p>\n
Wife in the hospital bed.<\/p>\n
For three years he had moved between those worlds without forcing them to meet.<\/p>\n
Now there was nowhere left to hide.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy disappeared through the door with David.<\/p>\n
I remained in the stairwell holding the letter he had been too afraid to give me.<\/p>\n
For several minutes, I considered leaving.<\/p>\n
Then I stood.<\/p>\n
Not because Jeremy needed me.<\/p>\n
Not because Lacey deserved me.<\/p>\n
Because if Lacey died that afternoon, I refused to spend another twenty-two years wondering what truth had died with her.<\/p>\n
I returned to Room 714.<\/p>\n
Jeremy stood beside the bed while nurses adjusted medication.<\/p>\n
Lacey\u2019s face had gone pale.<\/p>\n
Her eyes opened when she saw me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently I\u2019m making questionable decisions too.\u201d<\/p>\n
A faint smile moved across her lips.<\/p>\n
Jeremy almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Almost.<\/p>\n
I stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cLacey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore you die, I want every piece of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes sharpened despite the medication.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery document. Every promise. Every reason. Every secret.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glanced at Jeremy.<\/p>\n
He looked away.<\/p>\n
Then Lacey returned her gaze to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo protecting me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo protecting him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy said, \u201cJill\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
I raised one hand.<\/p>\n
Lacey\u2019s mouth curved slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo protecting Jeremy,\u201d she agreed.<\/p>\n
I put his three-year-old letter onto the bedside table.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if there\u2019s something bigger than this marriage, you tell me now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacey became very still.<\/p>\n
That stillness answered the question.<\/p>\n
Jeremy noticed it too.<\/p>\n
\u201cLacey.\u201d<\/p>\n
She ignored him.<\/p>\n
Her eyes remained on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get a vote anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacey\u2019s breathing had become shallow, but her voice was clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I miscarried twenty-two years ago, Jeremy believed the baby was his.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieved?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy\u2019s face lost color.<\/p>\n
\u201cLacey.\u201d<\/p>\n
She closed her eyes briefly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
I looked at Jeremy.<\/p>\n
He stared at Lacey as though he had never seen her before.<\/p>\n
Then she opened her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the reason I never told him is the same reason I left town.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy took one step backward.<\/p>\n
For the first time since I had discovered the second marriage, the shock on his face matched my own.<\/p>\n
Whatever truth had brought us into Room 714, we had not reached the bottom of it yet.<\/p>\n
Jeremy did not follow me when I left Lacey\u2019s room. For that, at least, I was grateful. I walked until I found an empty stairwell and sat three steps below … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25780,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25709\/revisions\/25780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}