Joe and Jill Biden: The Vignettes | SFW

Hummingbird: 1/1 [Fluff]

Author's Note: This is a tiny blurb I wrote for Valentine's Day that a few sweet friends encouraged me to post here.

Happy Valentine's Day! 🤍 - C&C

Hummingbird

Jill bit her lip anxiously as she watched Joe unwrap his Valentine's Day gift.

A brilliantly crafted Omega Seamaster watch encased with a royal blue bezel, mimicking the rich color of the ocean, complete with a steel band. As he pulled it out of the box, he marveled at its intricacy.

"This is beautiful, Jilly," he commented. He promptly secured it to his wrist, rotating it slightly from left to right to see the sapphire shine under their chandelier.

They decided to keep it low-key at Jill's request. She couldn't bear the idea of having dinner in a bustling restaurant, surrounded by well-meaning supporters that interrupted their Valentine's Day meal.

Instead, they began the morning with toast and coffee in bed, where Joe presented her with a baby pink corsage and decided to end the day with a four course Italian dinner she spent the day cooking. Jill took the time to decorate the table with white roman candles, flower petals, and red roses, insisting that the dining room have a similar ambiance to a restaurant.

"I have something for you, too," he announced, pulling a wrapped gift box out from underneath the table. The box was wrapped in red paper with a gold heart pattern stamped onto it.

"Unfortunately my wrapping job is less than stellar, but I did try," he joked, embarrassed at the uneven bow.

"Joe, I love it," she reassured him. She adored the crinkled corners and sideways tape. To her, it meant that he put effort into the gift. He could easily pawn it off on an assistant, but he never did. .

Jill unwrapped the present and Joe stopped her.

"I should warn you that it's fragile," he cautioned and she nodded.

Jill methodically removed the red tissue paper, exposing a glass figurine of a blue hummingbird. As she continued to peel back the paper, she stared at it, running her finger tip over its smooth wings.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, "How on earth did you find this, Joe? It's identical to the one my Grandmother gave me. In fact, I think it is the same one."

She was speechless. Her Grandmother Jacobs had gifted her the small figurine after she'd admired it for weeks in the window of a shop in downtown Philadelphia. From that moment on, it rested on her dresser in her shared room with her sisters and then upgraded to the bigger dresser her home, and then her apartment, and finally on her and Joe's shared dresser.

When they began the moving process, she was certain to wrap it up in several pages of newspaper but it wasn't enough to protect the delicate, aged glass and it shattered.

"I tracked it down on the internet," he explained with a shrug. "It turns out that you can find just about anything. It took me a few years to find the correct one, but I finally found it just in time for Valentine's Day."

"Years? Oh, Joe," she whispered, holding it out in front of her and inspecting it. "This is so thoughtful."

"I know how much it meant to you."

The look of disappointment and sadness on her face when he'd pulled it from the box to discover that it was in pieces was etched into his mind. She didn't say a word about it, but she collected the pieces into a plastic bag, which she tucked safely into a shoe box that remained on the top shelf of her closet, unwilling to let go of them.

Jill wiped her tears with her fingers and walked to his side of the table, she sat down comfortably in his lap.

"I love you," she expressed as she put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him in for a languid kiss.

Throughout their 40 year marriage, she never once doubted his commitment to their marriage. She credited their success to their promise to never let the other person down. They both worked for their marriage and strived to be a better partner and lover, but as she leaned into the kiss, she knew that he was everything she'd prayed for and so much more.