A Mistaken Identity

Upon arriving at the hospital, Betsy and Amanda went up to the front desk so as to get Amanda checked in and into a hospital bed. While Amanda was being taken to a room, Betsy filled out all of the necessary paperwork before going to join her older sister. I, however, opted to stay behind in the lobby so as to wait for the Jonas Brothers to arrive. Despite the fact that I absolutely despised the Jonas Brothers as well as the fact that neither girl wished for the boys to postpone the interview in order for them to be here—the interview was too important—I needed to wait for them to come; Kevin and Joe needed to be with their wives as they gave birth, and, no matter how much I may not have wanted him to, Nick would have to stay with me. Then, once I was given word that each of the Jonas daughters were born, I would finally be able to tell everyone what happened to Karleigh.

I sat back. It was almost over. All I had to do was wait for Betsy to go into labor as well. While staring at the ground, trying to figure out what I was going to do after this, I saw three pairs of feet come before me. “Karleigh, where exactly is Mandolin?” Kevin asked.

“If anyone, Betsy knows,” I said.

Kevin nodded. “Okay. Come on, guys.”

Nick went with his eldest brother, but Joe decided to stay behind with me. “I’ll catch up in a minute,” he told his brothers. I just want to speak with Karleigh for a moment.”

“Okay,” they nodded.

Once his brothers went off in search of Betsy and Amanda, Joe turned to me. “Okay, Kimberleigh, they’re gone. Now, please tell me, do you really intend on leaving us after Panda and Lizard give birth. Nick will be thoroughly upset to find out that, for the past nine months, he’s been dating his girlfriend’s twin, due to the fact that his girlfriend died. I’m the only one who knows this; I’m the only one of the Jonas Brothers aware of the fact that you took your sister’s place when Kevin and I first got married to Panda and Lizard.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I really can’t do that, Joe. There’s no way in hell that I can stay, not when I hate you guys. Not even for my sister would I ever be able to stay. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was because of my sister. But, despite what Karleigh and everyone else may want, I can’t stay. I’m leaving shortly after the kids are born.

“Okay,” Joe said.

Joe and I headed out to find the others, and we eventually did. They were in one of the hospital rooms, obviously. But, was weird was the fact that both Amanda and Betsy were lying on the beds. “What happened?” I asked. “Betsy, why are you now in a hospital bed?”

Betsy shrugged. “I went into labor.”

Amanda laughed. “Good thing we were at a hospital. You definitely lucked out with me going into labor a little earlier. I guess it seems as if these cousins really will be born on the same day.”

“It certainly does,” Betsy said.

“No!” I exclaimed, remembering what happened to Karleigh. We were twins, and Karleigh died. I was not about to sit around and watch as that happened to the Jonas daughters as well. It was going to way too hard for this family to deal with, particularly once I revealed the fact that Karleigh was dead to Nick. If someone else died, the family would be heartbroken. This was going to be particularly so with Nick because of what I did for my sister. Not to this family, I thought. That must never happen to this family. Karleigh’s death would probably be too much for any of them to handle, so it couldn’t happen again.

For the next hour, the Jonas Brothers and I sat around waiting for the girls to be ready to give birth to their daughters. I was growing rather antsy in regards to seeing that occur. It would mean that I would finally be able to reveal Karleigh’s death to everyone and get out of their lives. After that, I would finally be out of their lives forever, just like I wanted.

It was nearly noon when both Amanda and Betsy were finally ready to give birth to their daughters. Joe and Kevin went to support their wives while Nick and I stayed behind. I wanted to go find out when the Jonas sisters gave birth, yet Nick had me stay with him. “What’s up, Nick?”

“Oh, I was just thinking about something,” he said. “These days, it just seems as if you’ve been keeping something from me. Have you? Have you been keeping something from me?”

“Not yet,” I said. There was absolutely no way in hell that I was going to tell Nick about any of this quite yet. My twin sister’s death couldn’t be mentioned to Nick, Kevin, and my parents up until the Jonas daughters were born. It couldn’t be before, or something extremely bad was going to happen. I sighed. “Come on, Nick. Let’s go see your nieces be born.”

Nick nodded. “Sure.”