Wildflower (Kris Bryant)

31 Home Is Where The Heart Is

Kris

Serenity was in the hospital for 18 long days. She was sick the two days, then she was put into a coma for five days, had a surgery for one day, then was in ICU for three days, then in the normal part of the hospital for a week. And now, after the heart attack and the open heart surgery and the recovery she was able to walk out of here still breathing on her own. This thing was far from over, for she has plenty of doctors appointments to attend and she just can't be care free about the way she lives her life. But she was as free as she has ever been now that she has a good heart. And she was more than ready to put it to the test.

"Where are we going" she wonders as she gets in my car.

She said her goodbyes to the doctors just a few minutes ago and made sure she gave out more than enough thank yous to laugh a lifetime. And now she was free to go and make a new life, however she wanted that to be. "I'm going to take you home in a little" I promise. I know she probably wanted to go somewhere familiar. "But there's something I want to show you first" I insist.

"Oh, okay" she smiles and I smile back at her. I reach over and grab her hand and she grabs me back. I hold on tight as I take us to our first destination.

We make it over to Wrigleyville but I wasn't here for anything baseball related. Instead I pull up to the freshly painted and freshly remodeled bus I had been working on for a while. I have seen it and got to look it over for a little but this is Serenity's first time being able to see it in person.

"Oh my god, that bus is huge" she gasps as we pull up next to it.

I smile as I put the car in park and turn to her. Her eyes as bright as ever as she tries to get a good look from her seat. "You want to go in" I offer.

"I would love to" she cheers.

So I turn the car off and hurry out of it so I could go open the door for Serenity and help her out. She was still pretty sore and pretty tired from her new medication she had to take, but there was no reason to keep her in the hospital. She wanted more than anything to get out of there so they let her go. It's not like she did a lot to strain herself anyway. I just hope all these books don't get her so excited she sends her heart out of wack.

Before we go in I take her to the other side of the bus. She has seen the front of it with the name of our foundation on there and the one side that had a painting of some books and a heart as the logo. But the other side was definitely my favorite.

"Kris... what did you do" she asks and we stop walking. She stops in front of a script on the side of the bus and reads it over for a second.

"A Book can give eyes to those who can't see
All the reasons there are to truly believe.
A book can help those who can't hear
It can make words sound melodic and the silence disappear.
A book can touch you in a way you've never felt
It can help you play the difficult hand you've been dealt.
A book can give you anything you can ever dream of
Just open it up, open your heart and you can feel the love."

I had one of her poems put on the side of the bus just because I can. That and because everything she writes is pure gold. I'm serious, she could give Dr. Seuss a run for his money.

"You're the only reason something like this exists, and I want everyone who sees this bus to feel like you do when you read" I explain.

"I can't believe you did this" she whispers as she turns to me. She had tears in her eyes but the smile on her face let me know it was happy tears.

"You inspire me to be more than I ever imagined possible. This is just a fraction of the ideas you gave me, the happiness you bring me. I won't even try to explain it to you because I know I can't. But this is a pretty good representation" I admit as I gesture to the large bus.

"This is... perfect. Thank you" she says as she pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arms around her as she buries her face in my chest. I close my eyes and smile to myself so thankful how this all came together. How this moment in my life, like every other one with her, is so perfect.

Finally I get the keys out and we go onto the bus. She freaks out when she sees the section dedicated to her with her favorite books. She runs up to it and runs her finger against all the spines. She had the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face as she looks through the selections. Everyone once in a while she will stop and excitedly point to one before moving on to the next.

"Oh my god I wouldn't even know where to start! You have a Tale of Two Cities and all of the Jane Eyre series and The DaVinci code. This is awesome" she cheers.

"You're so nerdy" I accuse causing her to giggle.

"I am, but I am proud of it" she admits.

"You should be, because look what happened because of it" I say pointing to our surrounding.

She looks around with a big smile on her face before turning back to me. "I can't even explain how amazing this is. Thank you Kris... for everything" she says softly.

After we finish walking around and I show her all the fun parts we take a bunch of pictures with it before we head back to my car. We climb in and we both sit there trying to figure out what happens next.

"I guess you should take me home now" she claims and I sigh. I just got her back and I really didn't feel like letting her go again.

"I guess so" I admit.

"But they say home is where the heart is, that's why it feels weird to think about going back to the house when in my heart I know I should be with you" she claims.

I turn to her to try and see where she was going with this but I wasn't sure. I know she moved back to Chicago because she had to but now she didn't have to be here. She could go anywhere and maybe she wants to stay with me? "If you want you can stay with me. I think it would be easier that way anyway so I can see you as much as possible without me having to call you to come over" I admit.

"No offense but your apartment doesn't feel like home either" she admits.

"Then we'll get a house" I say.

Her eyes get big as she looks through me. "I didn't mean we have to get a house" she insist.

"Well I want one we can make a home. Where we can have a hundred dogs and kids running around. Where we can just be ourselves and get away from reality for a while. Like a little dream land we can call our home" I insist.

I see a small smile come across her lips as they curl up at the end. "I would love that" she admits.

"And I until that happens, you wanna stay with me" I ask and she nods.

"I would" she promises. "My heart will always choose you."