Until death do us part

Sebastian was thrilled about everything in his life. Helping his fiancé and unborn child into his Explorer, he could not wait to get to the chapel and make Nicholette his wife. It was 3 o’clock. The wedding was in a half hour, but the chapel was only a couple of minutes away. He fired up the chariot and moved the gear selector into Drive.

Living recklessly had become the new normal for Sebastian. After a lifetime of playing things safe and “doing the right thing”, Sebastian grew tired of everything backfiring on him. So, after knowing Nicholette for only two weeks, he had decided that being cautious and playing things out was simply a waste of time. He knew he loved this woman beside him. There was no need to wait to introduce her to his family, or him to hers. There was no desire to plan a long elaborate wedding. He wanted to be with her now, and forever. Naturally, when Nicholette agreed to marry him earlier that day, he immediately booked a wedding chapel for that afternoon. There was no time like the present.

Nicholette on the other hand, was always one to live on the edge. Spontaneity was second nature to her. Her family considered her irresponsible. She considered it just living life to its fullest. Granted, there were times when her rash decisions caused her to become broke, stranded, or homeless, however, she always bounced back quickly. Her motto was: you only live once and money is made to be spent!

They already had a full morning together. Thrift shopping, followed by Sebastian’s surprise proposal at lunch, and then proceeded by a visit to Nicholette’s doctor to do an ultrasound. And now, after receiving the news that they were going to have a baby girl together, a wedding would make it the perfect day.

“Can you believe that this morning we were just casually eating breakfast, thinking about what the day held, and now here we are getting married?” Nicholette asked.

“I can believe it,” Sebastian said. “To be honest, I had thought about it since the first day we met, when you opened the door at your apartment.”

“I wonder if you had asked me right then to marry you, if I would have said yes?” Nicholette pondered out loud. “I actually think I may have.” She smiled at him.

The chapel was only three miles from the hospital where they had just departed. Although they were in a hurry due to their excitement, they had plenty of time to make the five-minute drive. They had pulled up at a red light of a busy intersection. Yet another minute of waiting that would feel like an eternity to the couple.

Sebastian turned to Nicholette. “You know, perhaps we should pray about this before we take the plunge.”

“Crazy talk!” Nicholette laughed. “Nah, you’re right though. Of course, at this point, are we even praying for God’s wisdom in our decision or are we just asking Him to bless it despite our insane risk-taking?”

“Oh, you’re going to get all theological with me now?” Sebastian laughed. “Of course, the latter is probably more accurate.”

Nicholette shrugged and began to pray, nonetheless. “Father God, thank You for this day. Thank You for Your blessings. Thank You for our little girl. God in just a few minutes we are going to be married. If there is something we should know, now is the time. We’re listening.”

Perhaps not the most eloquent of prayers, but her heart was in the right place. Despite their emotions being over the roof, they both honestly tried to listen to hear the Holy Spirit speak to them. The light turned green, and Sebastian released his foot from the brake, and the Explorer began to inch forward.

Brace yourself, Nicholette thought she heard God tell her.

Wait! Sebastian heard God’s voice tell him.

This was not the first time Sebastian felt like God had told him to “wait”. It seemed to be a running thread with him. Usually, Sebastian figured God was telling him to pause before making a dumb decision. But, of course, without more context, wait was open to interpretation.

Unfortunately, although both were actively listening and hearing God, both misinterpreted what God was saying to them. Had either one of them interpreted God’s voice correctly, the outcome of this day may have been very different. Nicholette thought He meant to brace herself for a wild ride of marriage. Sebastian thought perhaps He meant to wait a moment before getting married. It was really a shame that Nicholette did not physically brace herself in the passenger seat, nor had Sebastian waited at the light for just a moment. Three seconds would have been enough.

Sebastian looked over at Nicholette as they passed under the green light. She was smiling back at him. Sebastian could not imagine anyone looking happier than she did at that moment. Her face was beaming like it was surrounded by a halo. Her emerald-green eyes were lit up like neon. He was overwhelmed by her beauty and his love for her.

But then… Sebastian’s eye caught something out of his peripheral vision. His gaze shifted automatically from his beloved’s face to the passenger side window. His own facial expression went from pure joy to total fear in an instant.

Time seemed to have stopped. In this half-second, Sebastian’s mind processed more than it ever had at any given moment of his life. Less than six feet away, outside Nicholette’s window, a silver Chevy Silverado 2500 HD, traveling 62 miles per hour, was about to crash into the side of their Explorer. The driver, a middle-aged man, was busy sending a text on his cell phone and had driven directly through the red light. Had Sebastian waited two or three seconds after the light turned green, as God hoped he would, he could have avoided the impact. Had Nicholette braced herself for the impact, her outcome may have been different. However, none of that could happen now. It was too late to even scream.

Time resumed. Like the force of being hit by a freight train, the Silverado smashed into the passenger side of Sebastian’s Ford Explorer. All airbags deployed instantly. Glass from both vehicles exploded all around them. The Explorer was tough, but the impact was too much. Flipping side over side, the car crashed and rolled three times over. Metal debris from the vehicles along with the contents within the Explorer ripped around with no regard for what they impacted into. Sebastian could hear the screams of the woman he loved beside him. Blood was spraying about the vehicle like a can of spray paint. A couple seconds later, after flipping and rolling 30 feet in the middle of the intersection, the Explorer came to a stop, upside down.

The roof was crushed. Every window shattered. Their bodies mangled. Hanging upside down, still fastened in by his seatbelt, Sebastian was able to open one eye. Every bone felt broken. His body was in so much pain; his mind could not sort out what was even wrong with him.

“Nik…ki,” he was barely able to whisper.

“Sebastian…” he could hear her reply.

Unable to move his neck, he looked with the one good eye as far as he could, just barely being able to see her. Her body was drenched in her own blood. Protruding through her chest cavity, an unidentifiable metal shard was embedded between her heart and lung. Nicholette’s hand grasped around the metal, clearly knowledgeable of her condition. She knew she would love Sebastian until death do them part. She just did not expect it to be so soon.

“I love… you…” she managed to say, reaching toward him with a functioning arm.

“I… love… you…” he found the strength to reply.

Whether she heard him or not, he would never know. By the time the words left Sebastian’s lips, Nicholette’s arm had fallen limp. Her breathing and heartbeat had ceased. Nicholette was dead. The loss of the woman he loved was the last bit of understanding he had before his own eye darkened as he slipped into unconsciousness.