4 (jaylor) gleaming twilight and an infinite afterglow

chapter nineteen.

"Daddy," Thea asked as she sat with Joe at the breakfast table. Taylor had already left for Rhode Island. She'd said goodbye to Thea last night, so that she wouldn't get upset before school. Joe already missed Taylor, she'd only been gone for less than twelve hours now - but he missed her. "Why did Mommy have to leave?"
Joe sighed. They hadn't told Thea about the fact she was going to have a little brother or sister running around - they wanted to wait until they knew that everything was alright. Joe knew how worried Taylor was about it - knew that she just wanted this appointment to be over.
"Mommy had to go and do important things today, but you get to see her this afternoon! I'll come and pick you up and we're going to the airport and then we'll get to see Mommy." Joe told her as she took a bite of her breakfast. They'd been sitting here for twenty minutes already - because Thea hated breakfast and argued the entire time.
"I'm not hungry." She started fussing again, and Joe sighed. Taylor was better at finding ways to get her to eat than he was. "Dadddyyyyy..."
"Mommy wants you to eat breakfast, Theabear." Joe told her as he took a bite of his breakfast. "It would make her sad if I told her you didn't eat breakfast and went to school with a grumbly tummy."
"But I'm not even hungry!" She whined, and Joe pulled his phone out of his pocket. He knew that Thea was watching this. "But... but I don't want mommy to be sad," she told him as she took two more mouthfuls of her cereal.
Joe smiled - ah, the tricks of parenting.

"You all on your own today?" Ryan asked as Joe walked Thea to the car. "I'm surprised the house is in one piece!"
"Um, Uncle Ryan, I've been on my very best behaviour." Thea called from the car and Ryan laughed.
"Well, we all know who she's related to, don't we?" Ryan laughed and Joe grinned.
"Oh, we definitely do. Does the hair not give it away?" Joe replied, and Ryan laughed.
Thea waved goodbye, but was too busy talking with Betty to be bothered by Joe at all.
He walked back into the house - into the silence. It left him speechless and slightly cold. The house was almost never quiet. Usually, there'd be the sound of Taylor humming a new melody in the hallway, the sound of the piano ringing through the hall, the sound of a guitar or the way she'd murmur new lyrics as she tidied up after breakfast. They'd barely been apart from each other - it was so weird that Taylor wasn't here. He could count on one hand, the number of times they'd been apart since Thea was born.
He wouldn't have it any other way - he loved being with Taylor, they loved being with each other.
He stopped in the middle of the living room - what was he supposed to do? The house was completely empty.
So of course, he headed straight to the piano. He still loved playing the piano so much - and was currently teaching Thea to play little pieces of it. She'd always sat beside him and begged for him to teach her. He'd started by teaching her a few basic notes, which she'd learnt quickly. She loved sitting beside him while he played piano so much, that they'd had to by a bigger stool for the piano - so that the three of them could fit. On a Saturday night, the three of them would sit at the piano and sing songs together. Both Joe and Taylor had learnt to play different nursery rhymes on the piano, so most of the time that's what they stuck to. But sometimes, they added in a special song that they'd written together. Just for her. They hadn't even recorded it - they didn't want there to be any chance that the world might here it. This was a secret that they wanted to keep within these walls. It was Thea's song. And only the three of them knew it. Joe would play the piano, Taylor would sing and he would softly hum the words. Thea would sit between them, her head leaning against Joe's arm as she sung all the words. It was one of their favourite things to do - and the fact that Thea loved it too, just made it perfect.

Although, as he sat down and pressed his hands gently on the keys, it felt lonely. The world was bleak and grey without Taylor in it. He missed her so much, and he was counting down the hours until he would see her again. He didn't like being apart - a little part of him always worried about her. Particularly because of what she said a few days ago. He didn't like to think that she was struggling - didn't like to think of her falling back into the arms of the darkness. She had been a little better lately, although a few of the pregnancy symptoms had struck her - and they had been worse than they'd been with Thea. Joe was just glad that she didn't have any world tours planned - he wouldn't want her to go through that pressure again.
He didn't know what he wanted to play. He just played without thinking, trying to fill the silent void there was without Taylor.