A Mistaken Identity

Once I mentioned this to him, Nick’s jaw dropped. So did Kevin’s. My news was evidently rather shocking to them. In a shocking twist though, Joe was quite calm throughout this entire ordeal. Of course, since he already knew of the fact that I wasn’t Karleigh, it really wasn’t that surprising. That meant that Joe would be able to help me, his wife, and sister-in-law convince his brothers, his parents, and my own parents of the fact that Karleigh died. In fact, it might even be the only way. Nick groaned. “How could you not be Karleigh?” he asked. “It just doesn’t seem to make any sense. You have to be Karleigh!”

“But, the fact remains that I’m not,” I argued, attempting to make my case. “Think about it, Nick. Just think about all of the times in which you suspected there to be something weird about me. Well, you weren’t that far off, Nick. I’ve been keeping something huge from you. See, I’ve been acting weird because I’m not her. There is absolutely no way for me to act exactly like my twin sister. What you noticed was the awkwardness I had at adjusting from the orphanage to living where my twin sister grew up.”

“An orphanage?” Nick asked.

“Yes, an orphanage,” I confirmed.

“The same one from four months ago?” he inquired.

I nodded. “Of course. Why do you think we went over there in the first place? A tea party? Obviously not. No; like I said before, he’s my uncle. Ultimately, that meant that I had to confront him about the fact that he never told he about who he really was, despite the fact that I had lived there for seventeen and a half years. I never knew he was there.

“Okay?” Nick uttered in absolute confusion. “So, if you’re not Karleigh, who are you? And what exactly happened to my girlfriend that would cause you to be inserted into our lives?”

I sighed. “Okay, Nick, you asked for it. My name is Kimberleigh Melanie Fox, your girlfriend’s unwillingly estranged twin sister. Now, as far what happened to Karleigh, that is really something that you do not want to know about. But, I have a feeling deep down inside that you really do want to know what happened, so I suppose I must. Nick, Karleigh’s dead.”

“Dead?” he asked shakily. “How?”

“She was trying to find me,” I explained, attempting to choke back my tears as I did. “The day before the wedding, Karleigh realized that I was her twin sister and went to find me. She would have succeeded if not for Allison and Zora; they killed her before she got the chance to come find me. And, the stupid thing is that I lost my sister merely because of two very jealous girls that wished to retaliate against the Weimar family and tried to prevent any Jonas-Weimar union from existing. That’s the only reason you lost Karleigh and I lost my sister. It was because of them that all of this happened to the both of us.”

“Unbelievable!” Nick yelled out, making his nieces cry out from the noises in the room. He looked over at his older brothers. “See what you caused. By dating those bitches, you caused me to lose my girlfriend. Now I’ll never again be able to see the girl I loved so much ever again.” He then turned to face me. “As for you, Kimberleigh, I don’t ever want to see you come around my family after Karleigh’s funeral. You may be Karleigh’s identical twin sister, but you will never be her. And, knowing that she’s dead, there is no way that I will ever be able to see her adoring face at all after the funeral has been held.” With that, Nick stormed out of the room, away from his family for the moment, and away from me.

“Wow,” Kevin said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Nick get as angry as he right now. He normally has such a calm demeanor. Why in the world would he flip out like that?”

“Yeah,” I said knowingly as I turned to face the girls. “Now, you see, this is exactly why I wanted to mention this immediately after the honeymoons were over. Of course, when it was discovered that the both of you were pregnant, you asked me to keep the secret until after Seraphina and Summer were born. And, look what happened because I went along with your stupid idea, even though, in my heart, I knew it to be a bad idea.”

Kevin’s eyebrows rose. “You guys knew.”

Betsy and Amanda nodded. “We knew since the wedding actually. And, Joe found out what was going on shortly after that. Barely anyone else knew what was going on, and, until the girls were born, no one was ever allowed to know what was going on with the Fox family.”

“Mandolin, Queeny, I really do wish that you two would have mentioned it earlier than now,” Kevin said. “Maybe if you had done so, Nick might not have done what he did.” He then turned to face me. “As for you, Kimberleigh, I really don’t know what to say to you other than sorry for Nick’s little outburst. He really was in love with Karleigh; not even Selena or Miley could ever compare to how in love he was with your twin sister.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” I grumbled.

“So, what are you going to do now?” they asked.

I shrugged. “I really don’t know. But, I do know this: I have to get back and tell my parents about who I really am and what happened to Karleigh. Like with Nick, I’m not sure how they’ll react to this news, but they must be told. It’s far too important for me not to tell.”

“Good luck with that,” Joe said.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said rather dully. With a heavy sigh, I left the hospital and went home. I desperately needed to talk to them about what happened. But, for a moment, my mind drifted to Nick. What was going to happen with him as a result of what I did, not telling him that Karleigh died?