For being as large as Abigail's dog Koda was, the pitbull had never been aggressive to either of Larry's daughters.
"You look so pretty, Koda." Cadyn said as she applied a tiara to his large boxy head.
Some of Ambrose's Mardi Gras beads hand been left over so the two twin girls had already put purple and blue beads around Koda's neck. And not to mention that he was also sporting a little pink tutu that clashed with his blue gray coloring. Along with a fuzzy pink tiara that one of the girls had brought over.
In any normal circumstance this would be a laughing moment, maybe film it or take pictures of a large male blue pitbull letting two little girls dress him up like a princess. Only not this day, not now for Larry at least. His attention was elsewhere, in a different time and place.
The time was around the year 2010, he was reliving his cousin Abigail going off to Iraq to train the local Iraqi forces in dismantling bombs and IEDs. Then the memory would storm over with thoughts and an imagination of a fiery explosion where Larry would see Abigail die with the rest of her unit in that blast.
"Daddy!" One of the girls yelled.
"Yes, Cade?" He asked the four year old while shaking the condensation off of his hand from the beer.
"Mr. Stu was talking to you." Kendyl said pointing to the man that was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
Glancing over his shoulder, Larry saw his older coworker standing there with his own beer in hand.
"It's that time of year again, isn't it." Stu asked looking at his younger friend and former Nexus teammate.
Stu Bennett and Larry Rotunda had been living near each other in Tampa for some years now. He'd come over when they weren't on the road, some times sharing hotel rooms to save on spending on separate rooms.
"Sorry, Stu, I…" Larry stopped when the other man interrupted him. "I was…"
"With her, your Sister Abigail. I know the story. Everyone has heard about her in some way." Stu then sat down in the chair next to Larry's.
Abigail's death didn't only hit Larry hard, but a lot of people, mostly the family members from the men in her unit also felt the anguish. But it was Abigail's death that made media waves with the WWE. Everyone then knew about Abigail Winters, Husky Harris' cousin, how she became the name of Bray Wyatt's finishing move, Sister Abigail. There weren't a lot of people who didn't know about how she died and how much she loved her country.
"You still miss her, don't you?" Stu asked.
"Is it that obvious?" Larry mumbled.
He remembered that Stu had lost his grandfather around the time he started in with the Nexus and the WWE. Stu understood Larry's grief. He was one of the main friends that stuck by him when the fact no one could bury the rest of Abby's body since none had been found, besides her left foot.
"Do you still miss your grandpa?" Larry asked.
"Every day. But he wouldn't like me to worry day in and day out about the situation. You have a life to get on with." Stu motioned to the two girls playing with the dog.
"Abby wouldn't like that either." Larry scrubbed a hand over his large beard.
"Your girls love that dog." Stu said, trying to change the conversation up a bit.
The beach towel was bright pink with black Zebra stripes and Koda pretty much took up the entire space of it. The two brown haired girls giggled, both oblivious to the two men watching them. The dog simply laid there while he let the girl try to put pink plastic bracelets on his large white front paws.
"I couldn't give Koda up. That's the one thing Abby would hate. She worked hard to make him be everything that pitbulls are not seen as. Loyal, gentle, he's not dog aggressive or cat frenzied. And it wouldn't be the first time we've had a pitbull in the family."
"There were more?"
"One more, named Geronimo. She rescued him when she was a teenager and living with us during her high school years. She was very into proving to people that pits aren't the Devils in disguise. Neither of the dogs ever attacked anyone, thought Gerry seemed to have been a bait dog, his mouth was taped when she found him."
"She sounds like those people in Louisiana." Stu commented.
"She has donated some money to them, so have I. She loved that show, so do the girls. It's our thing to watch when they come over."
"Seems like you enjoy pitbulls."
"I didn't until the night Geronimo saved out lives from a home invasion. That's when Abigail decided to pursue helping people. If she wasn't going to be a police officer then she was going to be a soldier."
Until she died at least.
"Girls," Larry's ex-wife said walking out on the back patio. "Girls it's time to get your things together. Windham, you didn't get them ready." She crossed her arms while looking at him.
"Because today would have been the day, Cass." Larry said through gritted teeth.
Cassidy didn't say anything as Cadyn approached the adults. "Mr. Stu, can you help me take these off of Koda?" She asked pointing to the dog's front paws.
Stu found himself looking at the biggest dog he'd ever encountered in his life. Koda sat down on Cadyn's command and she lifted his paw so that Stu could help.
After managing to get the pink plastic bracelets off, both girl and dog went inside. Stu saw the way Cassidy was glaring at Larry, hands on her hips but the unemotional look the big man was sporting was a little unsettling. Larry was a passionate guy, loved his girls, loved his job, but right then it seemed like he didn't want to do much of anything.
"Grow up, Larry, Abigail is gone. Dead and gone. It's time to move on with your life. It's been five years."
The glass in Larry's hand broke, beer and shards falling to the ground at his feet. Cassidy's eyes only grew larger but her expression was hiding her shock that her ex would have done something like that. Stu had never seen Larry do anything like that. He was sure that Cassidy had gone too far with what she said. It was her fault that the marriage had ended anyway.
"Make sure that the girls are getting all their stuff together." Stu told Cassidy, as Larry looked down at the puddle of liquid between his feet, mixed with glass.
Cassidy didn't fight with the tall Englishman. She did as he told her and walked back into the house to find the girls and the dog.
"Larry, it's not…never mind. I don't know what she was thinking. People are allowed to mourn." Stu stood up from the chair. "I'll get the sweeper. Just stay there."
About this time the next day, Larry would be gone on that European tour, he'd be too busy to worry about life. When it came to the WWE it was hard to think of anything else.
London, England a week later.
A majority of the roster from the night's show had decided to go out to a club or a bar, pub was the name of bars in Europe. Larry hadn't wanted to go.
"Come on, it'll be great." His off screen friend Jon Good, better known as Dean Ambrose said.
But it wouldn't be great for him. It was still hard to believe that his cousin was gone.
"Oy, how about supper? I know this great place nearby." Stu suggested from his spot near the two of them. "No clubbing or dancing, I'm dead tired. I'd would love to have some proper English food."
Stephen Farrelly was with that idea. "I'm too old to be clubbing."
"That's up to you. I'm going out." Jon said grabbing the rest of his stuff and stuffing them into his backpack.
"Are you taking Renee with you?" Larry asked.
All Jon did was shrug as he picked up his backpack. Nick Nemeth, or Dolph Ziggler, left shortly after talking about someone named Mack, the resident wardrobe artist.
Larry thought about the possibilities. "I don't feel like clubbing. Dinner sounds good."
At a locker across from him, Joe Anoa'i stood up with his own stuff. "Hey, Larry, don't forget to call your girls. I gave you an ass beating and I know they love you." The Samoan wrestler gave Larry an all knowing smile. It was a smile that only someone like Joe, another father in the WWE, would give.
Roman Reigns was a good father, everyone knew that. A lot of the fans didn't know that Bray Wyatt had daughters, unless someone really looked.
So a group of large men walking into an English restaurant in the middle of London was a surprise to the staff. Stephen, Stu, Larry and several other big wrestler men walked in looking for tables. Larry, Stu and Stephen found a table to themselves near a window that looked out at the old fashioned London street.
"He's still having a hard time about it," Stephen asked Stu since Larry wasn't really talking that night.
"Pretty much." Stu said, glancing at the menu.
Neither of the three men said much of anything as they looked for their meals. Larry was having a hard time, which wasn't so much of a bad thing inside the shows. It was outside that was unbearable for people to deal with. The last five years had been like this, Larry getting sullen around July for a week or two around the time that Abigail had been killed.
"Mate, you ready?" Stu asked as the waitress came to take their orders.
Obviously he had been lost in thought and hadn't realized what had been going on. "Uh, sorry, I'll have the Reuben sandwich." Larry said.
The waitress took their orders and left.
"Larry, fella, you have to get over it." Stephen said.
The cold glare of Larry's blue eyes looked up at the Irishman. The anger, lightning blue so sharp that even the large pale redhead Irishman stiffened his back in the wooden chair.
"What I feel and how I deal with it is no one's goddamn business." His hand slapped the table, shaking their glasses, making the ice clank inside of them. "Everyone is telling me how to deal with my sister's death. My ex, you, the only people who don't are my daughters and Stu."
"Because it's not my place to comment on how he deals with pain." Stu then sighed. "Look, Ste, there are some things that he wants to deal with on his own. If he wants to relived nice memories then that's his deal."
"Memories like what?"
"Abigail horsing around with Mika, Taylor and me." He produced a picture of the three of them together.
Abigail carried Mika on her back, both brother trying to keep the two girls from falling over because there was an obvious pool in the background.
Stu looked at the woman who could have passed at Taylor's twin. Her hair and his were the same type of brown hair, but she had brown eyes instead of blue like the brother's had. She had a round face, a straight nose and a smile that made Stu smile as he looked at the picture.
"She was always more of a sister than a cousin to me." Larry said as Stephen looked at the picture. "She watched out for us, she played with us, she got her license and drove us around when we couldn't get rides. We cherished her, our almost sister. And then she decided to go on with an army career."
The words hung there like thick clouds. Stu didn't say anything and Stephen silently slid the photo back across the table to the grieving man.
"I still find it kind of funny that she was insistent on owning pitbulls." Stu told his long time Irish friend. "I mean, the blasted thing let two little girl dress him up like he was a fairy princess of something."
Stephen laughed. "Wonder if Mack likes dogs or even cats."
"Nick wouldn't let you get close to Mack. Besides, you and Mack are two different people."
"Just because Mack is Nick's twin and American doesn't mean we don't have anything in common, fella." Stephen responded.
Larry watched the two of them banter, which made Stu a little more grateful that Stephen was there. Talking about Stephen's love woes seemed to have taken Larry off the fact about his cousin, Abigail.
Larry appeared to be less sullen, talking more and kidding with Stephen about his crush on Mack Nemeth. Stu was the big instigator about Mack and Stephen, daring the Irishman about pursuing the wardrobe employee in a romantic way.
"Nick is only watching out for the best for Mack. They are twins after all, Nick being the older of the two." Stu said.
Just then there was a cell phone ring going off. Stephen checked his, as did Stu but Stu hadn't gotten even one text from Tori that night. Which was sort of strange for Stu.
"Hello?" Larry said upon answering his phone.
Stu watched Larry, confused about the way Larry was looking.
For Larry it was different, it was the voice of a ghost that had haunted him for the last five years. The voice of his cousin, the woman that had died for their family and for the country.
"Hi, Larry, it's me. It's Abigail." A whispy voice said from the other side of the phone.
I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July, at least for the Americans. I also hope you liked this chapter. Though I'm not too thrilled with it, it does show a side of a family bond that Larry has for Abigail.
Next Chapter: The Phone Call and To Germany Larry and Stu go.