At 23, she'd chalked up experience working in a law firm, got engaged and was ready to give birth to a baby girl.
"I had the cool family life, with the house, the fence, the man, and the dog," she laughs.
Now amember of Parliament and third on the Act Party's list, McKee has quickly become adept at the loud-mouthed rough and tumble of Parliament's debating chamber.
But in an emotional interview with Newstalk ZB, her speech starts to slow and her body stiffens.
It's the first time McKee's spoken at length about the crash that claimed her fiance's life.
She reveals they'd been together since the age of 15, and he proposed just days before he died.
"His name was Kane."
Act Party MP Nicole McKee in her vegetable garden in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A week later, and three years after she was told it would be a struggle to get pregnant, McKee gave birth to her first child, who she calls an "angel".
But that too was traumatic, as she grappled with a reality that had turned her life upside down.
"When people say they've had a bad week, I think back to that ... he died on Sunday, I buried him on Tuesday, came back to Wellington on Thursday, and went into labour on Friday.
"I was meant to have a home birth, and not only had I lost my man ... but [then] my baby was also breech," she says.
McKee says she was determined to stay awake and give birth, refusing pain relief for 38 hours.
"My proudest moment is January the 13th, 1997, being able to push out my daughter with her left foot first and come out the other side."
Fast-forward to the present day and the pro-gun ownership, free speech advocate is still adjusting to the halls of power.
Before the 2020 election, she cut a controversial figure, pushing against the Government's firearms reforms after the Christchurch terrorist attack.
Act leader David Seymour, flanked by MP Nicole McKee and deputy leader Brooke van Veldon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
It was then that she met Act leader David Seymour, and with the party's surge at the polls, made it into Parliament.
"I'm surprised I'm here ... to be honest with you, I didn't actually think that I would be capable of doing some of the things that we're doing."
As she says these words, a defiance emerges across McKee's face, almost as if she's discovering her newfound self-confidence in real time.
"But I am more than capable."
She's now married and has four children - three with her current husband.
McKee says she feels "lucky", although memories of her past don't go away easily.
"When you lose someone that's really close to you, you go through these different stages, you have anger, you have hurt, you have hate, but I think by the time you get to nearly 50 ... all of that gets pushed aside," she says.
"I'm starting to get a bit teary-eyed because I'm just thinking of all the really good times that we had. I can't even remember arguing with him.
