To Kill or Not to Kill?

As I sit down to type this blog post there is one accusation pulsing through my brain:

"You are a murderess. You are a murderess."
It is disconcerting to say the least, and was put there by my sisters.

All that is a highly unusual way to begin a blog post, but the fact is, I need your help. I need your best writers' advice, and ASAP. You see, I took the liberty of plotting out Puddleby Lane on paper beforehand, and from the very start a particular character has been doomed to death. I can't tell you which one, for that would spoil the story entirely, but suffice it to say, someone will "pop off as y'might say."

Yes, there is to be a foreseeable end for this particular fellow. Killing him off is not an "easy way out because I'm tired of him" action, like the girls in Anne Shirley's Story Club employed. No. From the start this death has been planned for him, and it's rather necessary for the storyline I have plotted. I could get around it I suppose, by having him severely injured, but isn't that a little cliche?

You ask, "Why are you suddenly having qualms about this action?"

I had not counted on falling in love.

I had not calculated just how special this character is, just how much Cora loves him, just how much I love him. To have him killed now will be painful. I know I will drop a few tears as I write his death scene.
It comes to this: Why did I have to write this character so well? Why did I have to let myself get attached to him and make him indispensable? Why? He's only a side character, and I had to fall in love! *smacks forehead*
I could have made him dull, reserved, boring. No. I couldn't be content with that. I wrote him with the best that was in my imagination and now I'm afraid that killing him off is an unconscionable action that I'll never live down. My sisters will not speak to me if this character is nullified. I might get threats. I might get the cold shoulder. They recommend I get rid of poor, sweet little Dot over this character!
Thus my predicament. What do I do with this indecision? Stick with the original plan? I don't mind so very much killing off the fellow, since it is an honorable death I have planned...and it helps the plot along a great deal...HELP ME!
The severe injury case is still plausible and would work in the same way, but it would give the book an altogether entirely story-book happy ending that publishers mightn't like so much. Can anyone give me advice? How do you feel about killing off characters? I am beginning to wonder if I like the planning beforehand scheme. At least I could have come up on this ending for this character all of a sudden instead of having it lurking in my brain during the whole story. But no, I have known he is to receive his sentence since the first words of Puddleby Lane. I suppose I should just be a brave girl about it.