Page 40 of River & Crown
"Thank you," she quivered as she blew her nose.
"You never have to thank me, Kysre, and you know that. For as long as you need me, I'll be in your corner, and even when you think you don't, I'll still be there."
"We know," Kyree answered, slipping her hand into her sister's.
"Not to sappy out the moment, but I swear I never thought people like you existed. Going through the system, you hear people tell stories about kids getting adopted by genuine people. I love Amy and appreciate everything she's done for us, but there's only so much a white woman can do for two black girls who grew up in the hood for the first twelve years of their lives. Meeting you when we did was right on time. God must've known we needed you, the same way he knew Chosyn needed you."
Unable to hold back my emotions, a ragged sob tore from my throat.
"Is she okay?" Kyree quizzed.
My cries grew louder, and my chest heaved with hiccupping sobs.
"Look what you did, Kysre," Kyree smacked.
"I didn't know she was going to be this dramatic. Had I known, I wouldn't have said anything. You know I'm big on people not crying in front of me."
"I'm... I'm fi... fine," I stammered, reaching for a few tissues. I dabbed at my eyes, giggling as the twins went back and forth with each other.
"Please stop because I'm fine. What you said just got the best of me, but I'm fine."
Their eyes fell into low squints, silently questioning if I was actually okay.
"I promise I'm fine."
"Okay. How do the accounts work?" Kysre asked.
"Basically, every time you pay your dues, I transfer the money to your investment accounts. Some of the money will go into a Roth IRA. Basically, it's a retirement fund. It'll build interest, and later in life, you'll be able to pull from it. The rest of the money goes into your individual investing accounts. The money is then split between stocks, bonds, and CDs. I set it up to where you can't start pulling from these accounts until your thirtieth birthday. Even then, only an allotted amount can be pulled out yearly."
"What?" Kyree gawked, twisting her mouth into a frown.
"It's so we don't blow through the money," Kysre answered, and I nodded.
"You girls are young and have so much life to figure out."
"What is there to figure out?" Kyree huffed.
"What do you want to do with your life? Street racing is cool, but it's not a career."
"I don't have a problem with it." Kysre shrugged.
"Of course, your passive ass doesn't," Kyree smacked.
"Whatever, just know I'll beat your ass with these passive hands."
Kyree sucked her teeth but knew better than to drag the situation on.
"Anyway, I'm doing this for your benefit. You'll see, who you are at twenty-one won't be who you are at thirty."
"I don't know about Grumpy over there, but I'm happy with this." Kysre smiled.
"I'm not happy that I can't touch my money, but I do appreciate this."
Kyree flashed me a smile before pulling her ringing phone from her book bag. She hit a few buttons and then set it on top of my desk with Honey's picture on the screen.
"Hey!" she answered.
"Kyree, why haven't you returned any of my texts? I need to know if you're still down to go to Philly this weekend for that job."
