Nicole with a Family Picture

ESSENCE: What happened that night when you got the call about Sean?

Nicole: I was at my mom's house, where I had just had my bridal shower. It was fun, had all the ladies over. Then about 4:00 A.M. my mom came in my room and told me my sister had just called, that something had happened. Of course I was nervous, but I never thought it would be something like this. I just thought, Oh God, what happened now? Great. So we went on our way to the hospital, and when we got there they wouldn't tell us what had happened. Nobody said anything to us for a half hour until a police officer came out and took my name and saw my ID, wrote my information down and said he'd be right back. We didn't hear anything more from the police for about an hour and a half. Finally I got really upset and asked, "What's going on? Somebody has to tell me something." So one of the surgeons came in and moved my family and me into the ER conference room. Then another doctor came in, and she told us that he had passed. It was a complete shock.

ESSENCE: The day before Sean was killed, you spent some of that afternoon together. Do you remember your last conversation?

Nicole: He dropped me and the girls off at my mother'’s house. But actually I had spoken to him on the phone after that, during the middle of the day. We always contact each other several times a day just to check in on each other and say, "What you doing now? What's going on? I miss you." He told me that he had just bought something to wear for his bachelor party. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him we were preparing for the bridal shower. He told me he wasn't sure if he was going to go out. And at the last minute he did change his mind, so he did go out. And that was it. We told each other we loved each other, as we always ended our conversations on the phone.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

That was the last conversation we had.