4 (jaylor) gleaming twilight and an infinite afterglow

chapter twenty five.

"Do you think that Thea is going to be okay?" Taylor asked softly. Both Luca and Nora were born so late at night that Thea wouldn't be arriving with Andrea and Scott until the morning. Taylor and Joe hadn't slept at all - regardless of how tired they really were. "We're going to have to make sure that she knows that she's just as important. I'm so worried that she's going to feel excluded - I mean, she's older than-"
"Taylor," Joe rested a hand on hers. "Thea's not going to spend a day worrying about that. We wouldn't let that happen." Joe leaned forward, kissing Taylor's cheek. "You never cease to amaze me with how amazing you are." Joe smiled against her cheek, and Taylor turned and pressed her lips to his. "I'm so proud of you."
These first few months of having a baby, or babies, as the case may be, were Taylor's favourite. Even though she knew she'd hardly get any sleep, it was her favourite. Perhaps it was because she was always too busy to worry about the thoughts in her head. Taylor loved being a Mom more than anything in her life. It was her favourite part of the story that both her and Joe had written so far.
"Thank you for always being here to tell me that." She kissed him gently, cupping his cheeks. "I could never have done it without you."
"And now we get to see Thea, and do the thing that you always have to do with new children and show them to everyone... when I'd much rather keep them all to ourselves." Joe smirked and Taylor let out a little laugh. "Mum and Dad are coming in a couple of days - and Patrick is literally one call away, or so he says. He says that he can't wait to be the favourite uncle of another two of our kids," Joe laughed. "I wish we could keep them all to ourselves forever."
Taylor looked over at him and smiled. "When Thea was born... we just packed up and headed to New Zealand for a while." She couldn't believe how much time had passed since that very moment. How little Thea had been, how nice it was to be invisible for a little while. "She was so tiny, and look at her now..." Taylor glanced down at her phone screen, where there was a photo of Joe and Thea. They'd taken that photo at their home at the lakes, and Joe was holding Thea, and they were both smiling at the camera. Taylor loved that photo so much that she'd had it as her lock screen and her home screen ever since. That had been the trip where Joe had finally gotten to see Molly again. Taylor could still remember how much she'd had to encourage him to go - he was so nervous. Molly had suggested that both Taylor and Joe come over to their place for dinner. Thea had been excited to stay with Joe's parents, so it worked well.
Molly had been so lovely, and it had made Taylor all the more willing to help.
Joe, when they initially arrived, hadn't said a word, and Taylor had done all the talking. But eventually, he'd apologised and Molly had reassured him that there wasn't anything he had to apologise for. It had been a lovely evening.
That whole trip had been so special. Taylor was so grateful that they could afford to travel so much, because she didn't know what she'd do if she couldn't get away.

Joe glanced over at Taylor, who'd finally fallen asleep. Joe just couldn't sleep. The twins were sound asleep beside Taylor, and as hard as he tried, he just couldn't relax. Unlike Taylor, he wasn't stressed about the fact that Thea might not feel as special, because he knew that wouldn't happen. He didn't have to worry about it because he just knew that it would be okay. Thea would arrive in the morning, and they'd make a big fuss of her.
Every single day, he'd grown to love the life he was living more and more. He loved it so much. He couldn't even describe the amount of love he felt for Taylor, for the children. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how lucky they were.
Many distant years ago, he never could have imagined feeling like this. Both of the twins were asleep, they'd just been fed and swaddled, but Joe just didn't feel tired at all. Sleep wouldn't find it's way to him, no matter how hard he tried. So, he did what he always did when he couldn't sleep. He started to write some poetry. Half the time, the phrases that he wrote down would end up in songs of Taylor's - and he smiled when he thought of the Grammy's that the two of them had won together. Thea loved to sit with them while they wrote songs - occasionally blurting out words that she thought would sound good. Most of the time, they'd end up pausing on their own song and writing one with Thea. Neither of them complained about that, because Thea always had so much fun.
Joe hadn't brought his notebook with him, so he pulled out his phone and began to type. He didn't feel like writing anything about his own life right at this moment, because words couldn't describe how happy he was. Some moments just couldn't be put into words, and he'd end up feeling frustrated if he even tried. He had this unwavering ability to put himself in the shoes of other people, and this meant that he found it so easy to come up with a narrator for his poems, to write poetry about something he'd never experienced before. Perhaps that's why, both him and Taylor had perfected Champagne Problems so long ago. Because both of them were able to completely transform into others.
Once he started writing, he just couldn't bring himself to stop. He hadn't had time to sit and write in so long - that all of his words just spilled from his head in poetic phrases.
Halfway through writing it, at the top of the page he scribbled the title of it.