Chapter Thirty – Six - Beautiful Disaster

“I’ll take care of this,” Tim said, standing up from his seat, as Caraline held him back. She shook her head at him, and then looked at Bryan.

“Stop Tim, no.” Caraline whispered, looking back at Nick. “Nick, what are you doing here?”

”I wanted to say congratulations on your wedding.” Nick replied, smiling at her. “You got what you wanted, a wedding in your little country church. My eloping wasn’t good enough for you.”

“Nick, just leave. Please, now. Don’t do this with people around.” Caraline replied as Bryan walked up to her, whispering something in her ear.

“What? Bryan? If you got something to say, say it out loud,” Nick said, walking up closer to them. Bryan nodded his head no, and looked back at Caraline. “SAY IT BRYAN! I’m crazy? Is that it?”

“I told her not to get upset, it’s not good.” Bryan said, crossing his arms. “Are you happy now Nick? Not only did you hurt her, but you’ve ruined her wedding day?”

”Oh god forbid she sheds a tear on her wedding day.” Nick replied, causing Caraline to look at him.

”It’s not good for the baby, it doesn’t have shit to do about the wedding day. Now leave dammit.” Bryan said, walking up closer to Nick.

“The police are on their way Nick! You’re ruining your future!” Faith yelled from the front of the church. Nick looked over at Faith and then back at Caraline.

“He got you knocked up?” Nick asked, looking at Bryan. “Oh that explains the quick marriage huh? You fucking asshole!” he yelled, pulling a pistol from his jacket pocket. “I hurt her, but you just ruin her life by getting her knocked up so she can be some little housewife in her double wide trailer like the white trash that you are!”

”Nick, put the gun away,” Tim said, walking up towards them. “But it away right now.”

”No, I’m not putting shit away and I’d suggest that you take your ass back there to your wife.” Nick replied, looking back at Bryan. “I hope you had a nice wedding day so far, because you’re never going to live to see your wedding night.” Nick said as he closed his eyes, pulling the trigger on the gun all five times.

”Nick, you fucking psychotic bastard!” Tim yelled as he and Caraline’s brother Andy ran to the back of the church to tackle him. Nick opened his eyes from the floor, looking over to see Caraline’s dress drenched in blood.

“Caraline?!?” Nick yelled as he saw Bryan stand up and look at him. “CARALINE!?!?”

”You shot her!!” Bryan yelled as the police ran into the church, taking Nick from Tim and Andy. “Take him out of here before I KILL him!”

”Caraline?!?!” Nick screamed again as the police dragged him out of the church. He kicked and hit both of the policemen, getting loose from them and ran into the church. He pushed through the crowd, looking down to see Caraline. She was lying there on the floor with a gunshot to her chest and four more shots moving lower to her abdomen, “Oh my god, I killed Caraline.” He said, looking at Bryan before he jumped at him. “You made me kill Caraline because you got her fucking pregnant!”

”It’s your baby!” Bryan yelled, kneeling back down to Caraline. “Caraline baby, just hang on.”

“My baby?” Nick asked as the police ran up and began to drag him away again. He had a look of confusion on his face as they locked him up in the police car. He sat there wondering why Bryan would tell him that it was his baby. He hadn’t been with Caraline in over three months and she didn’t look pregnant. He couldn’t even remember what she looked like in the dress.

While Nick was deep in thought about the baby, an ambulance drove up and rushed inside with a stretcher. Nick watched and waited for some sign that she was okay. He never intended to shoot her. He didn’t intend to shoot anybody. He carried the gun for protection because it was such a small town, he was afraid he was going to be robbed or mugged of all his money. He jumped out of his thoughts again as the EMT’s strolled the stretcher out with a sheet over her.

He killed her.

Before he knew it, he was in tears and crying hysterically. He couldn’t control the hurt and anger inside any longer. He hated himself for what he just did. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, looking over to see Bryan and Caraline’s mother walk out of the church, hugging one another. That was supposed to be him, not Bryan. That was supposed to be Bryan under the sheet, not Caraline.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Nickolas Gene Carter,” a judge said a few weeks later in a hot courtroom in Star, Mississippi. “You plead guilty, am I correct?”

Nick stood there in a crisp and sharp looking suit and tie. He had a blank look on his face that showed no emotion. “Yes your honor,” Nick replied, looking over his shoulder to see Howie sitting on one side. His family disowned him and so did the other guys in the group. On the other side of the courtroom was Tim, Faith, Caraline’s family and Bryan and his family. “May I say something before you sentence me your honor?”

“Go ahead,” the judge said, taking off his glasses and looked at Nick.

“I just want to say that I never went to the church to kill anybody. I loved Caraline more than anything. I broke her heart and that was the biggest mistake of my life up until that moment. When I found out she was pregnant, I thought it was obviously her new husband’s child. I became outraged and wanted to shoot him. I never intended to kill her or the baby. I loved her.” Nick said as he looked back at her family. “I’m sorry.”

”Is that all you have to say Mr. Carter?”

”Yes sir,” Nick said, holding his hands together.

“On the behalf of the State of Mississippi, you are guilty of 2 counts of first degree murder of Caraline Morgan Cashwell and her unborn son. You are hereby sentenced to spend life in prison with no chance of parole. Your sentence stars immediately,” the judge said as two Sheriffs walked over to lead him out of the courtroom. He looked at Howie, mouthing the words “Thank you” to him. He looked at Faith mouthing “I’m sorry” to her before they walked him through the double doors.

As Nick walked down the long hallway, he started to remember something that they talked about once.

“Have you ever thought about killing yourself?”

”No, not really. Have you?”

”Once, but I was too scared to go through with it and realized I had way too much going for me at the time to do something like that,”

”Why’d you want to do that?”

”No reason,”

She was right. She had too much going for her, and he had to come in like a natural disaster and ruin it all.

He deserved life in prison, and he was going to die there, so that one day, he could be with Caraline and their baby again.