1 (jaylor) wisteria hearts and caged folk songs

chapter thirty.

It was Joe's birthday today. They'd moved back to New York so that Taylor could finalise the sale of her old apartment, and Joe had arranged to meet a friend for a walk in the early morning. She'd thought long and hard about what to do to make this day special. She'd adored everything he'd done for her birthday and she felt like she had to do something that at least compared to it. She'd written a song about the time at the lakes together, and she was so excited to sing it to him.

Because Joe was out for the moment, it gave Taylor enough time to wrap his gifts. She had spent all of last night trying to perfect the melody of her song, and she'd finally gotten it to a place she was happy with. She laughed when she went out into an emergency closest with her guitar, trying to keep Joe from hearing her practice. She was so excited to show it to him. For the first time, she wasn't afraid to be at the house on her own. It was the first time that she hadn't actually noticed that she was doing this - that she was alone.
She wrapped up his presents, she'd brought them all online recently. She didn't know what to get him because he wasn't the kind of person that liked to wear excessive labels. She wasn't the sort of person that liked to buy her friends and family any material and insignificant gifts.

"Taylor? Love?" She heard Joe open the door, and he came inside, his cheeks red from the cold.
"How was it?!" Taylor asked, shoving the presents behind her back. She smiled as he came in. "I missed you." She was still as in love with him as she was the very first time they kissed. Even more so, probably.
"It was good," He said as he cupped her cheeks and kissed her, "but I missed you. And now we can spend the entire day together."
Taylor leaned up and kissed him. "I got you something."
"I told you that I didn't need anything," he smiled. "You're here, and that's all I need."
"It's not much, Joe, really. I wanted to get you something." Taylor handed him the bag with her gifts in it. Joe looked at the bag and then back up at her.
"This is a lot!"
"No, it's really not." Taylor smiled. "Anyway, you deserve it." She kissed him on the cheek, as she led him into the living room. She was so excited to spend today with Joe, she had their evening planned out for over a week. All the stuff she needed for it was sitting in a suitcase under the bed that she'd given Joe strict instructions not to touch.
He sat down on the couch before he started opening her presents. "There's a card but you have to open it later." Taylor insisted.
"You really didn't have to do this, my love."
"Of course I did, Joe!" She rest her head on his shoulder as he opened the first gift. It was a fountain pen. She'd seen Joe scribbling in a notebook with a pencil that was literally the size of one of Meredith's paws.
"Taylor, this is too much." It wasn't. It might have been the most expensive one she could find, but it definitely wasn't too much. "It's beautiful."
"It's not too much!" She kissed his cheek. "Everyone says that this one is supposedly the best to use and I thought that you could use it instead of that old pencil..." Joe smiled.
"I love it." He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to him. "It's the nicest pen I have ever had. I can't wait to use it."

He opened the next gift, where she'd gotten him a couple of different notebooks. One of them was for his poetry because she had seen that his old one was falling apart at the seams, and another one was full of blank sheet music. "It's for the piano," she told him softly. "Because you play it so beautifully, and now you can keep track of everything. And that one is for all the random poetic thoughts you have."
Joe loved the gifts so much. Taylor had listened and paid attention to everything that he'd said or done. He fucking loved her so much.
The next gift was her favourite gift out of all of them, it was the gift that she was most excited to give him.
"Oh my god, Taylor!" Joe said as he realised what it was. It was a vintage edition of William Wordsworth's poetry. She had paid particular attention to his bookshelf, making sure that she didn't get him anything that he already had. "This must have cost a fortune!" It was signed by William himself, and she'd stumbled across it after hours of researching. She just shrugged with a smile. The price didn't matter - his reaction was priceless. His hands actually trembled as he held it.
"I love it." He set it down carefully beside him, before pulling her into him. He could squeeze her tightly now and she didn't even flinch. "I love it so fucking much, my love."
"I hope so," Taylor said, gazing up into his eyes. "I just thought that it was perfect... I hope that it is..."
"Of course it is! It is going to be my most prized possession ever." He kissed her. She loved seeing him like this. He was so happy.