Today I’d like to say a few words about Ryan Henderson. Yes, he’s the hero of book three (Sound of a Voice That is Still) which, according to the countdown clock on my website, won’t release for another days.
And no, there is no order to the way I’m introducing the characters in this series. They’re all just here, doing their own thing (as am I) and—every once in a while—someone will pop their head up to inquire, “Are you ready to talk about me now?” and so I will.
On the surface, Ryan does not appear to be rash or impatient. In fact, I’ve decided that his theme song should be The Script’s The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, which (yes, I’m aware) didn’t even come out until several years after the entire series was first released. No matter, I’m still putting it in the playlist. It’s actually pretty perfect for a lot of Oberon’s heroes—Nick, Dan, Seth, Chay, Sam even says it about himself. But that’s all beside the point.
Ryan is stubborn (he’d probably prefer I use the word determined, but I call it as I see it). He does a great impersonation of an immovable object. He’s a seawall, able to withstand the force of all of Siobhan’s many storms. She’s going to need that; she’s going to need him. But it’s going to take her a long time to see that; and an even longer time to accept it.
In part, that’s because she fears being vulnerable. In part, it’s because she doesn’t feel like she deserves it. But I’ll get to her issues at another time.
For all his apparent stoicism, Ryan spends a good part of the series rushing in where angels fear to tread…if I can be excused, for the moment, for channeling Dan. IYKYK. He acts on impulse. A lot. And it gets him into trouble. All. The. Damn. Time.
By the end of book eight Siobhan is seriously over that—but again, we’re not talking about her right now.
Like Nick, Ryan lost his father at a fairly young age.
(Actually, so did Liam, albeit in a very different sort of way. Which is something I’m going to have to think about. Why do all my cops have daddy issues? And why am I only figuring that out now?)
But where Nick was enfolded into his aunt and uncle’s family and not expected to grow up overnight, Ryan was.
Thirteen-year-old Ryan was expected to be the man of the family. His mother needed him to fill that role and his two older sisters (clearly, stubbornness and short-sightedness runs in that family) were determined that he step up and do his best.
As a result, he has a bit of a grudge against women (especially women who want something from him) a fear of commitment, a fear of being needed. Which is why he’s so perfect for Siobhan—who fears needing anyone and is determined to always stand on her own two feet.
(It’s why he and Sinead are perfect for each other, too—again, in an entirely different way. But that really is another story!)
It’s why Ryan and Siobhan’s meet-cute (which, okay, actually doesn’t happen until their third meeting) is so perfect, IMO. Here are two people who pride themselves for their ability to stand tall; to stand on their own two feet; to keep their balance, their footing, no matter what life throws at them; to not need anyone, and not let anyone need them. And within minutes—maybe less than a minute—of coming face-to-face with each other they’ve both knocked each other off their feet and onto their asses.
There are quite a few age-gap relationships in Oberon. I don’t know why, there just are. And this is absolutely not the place to go into the moral, legal, ethical, anything, issues inherent in twenty-two-year-old Nick falling for sixteen-year-old Scout. He didn’t know. It was a long time ago. Let’s move on…
But let’s not move too far, because it’s interesting to note that while Siobhan is the same age as Nick (they went to kindergarten together. She watched him eat paste and has never really recovered from it.) Ryan is a year younger than Scout. (For anyone interested in keeping score, Adam is only a year-or-so older than Scout).
Siobhan is very aware of the age difference between her and Ryan. She thinks he’s too young for her…or is it that she’s too old for him? I think she’d be impatient with the question and think it’s all the same, but I think she’s wrong there. He’s not too young for her, but she might be too old for him.
Ryan’s impatient with that question, as well. Because he thinks it’s all bullshit. For most of his life, he’s had his mother and sisters insisting he be an adult when what he felt like (and was) was a kid. Now he has Siobhan, insisting that he’s a kid when he’s trying to be an adult, when he’s trying to be her peer, her equal, her partner. Validation is a beautiful thing, but maybe not this time!
Ryan wants someone who’s mature, someone who’s struggled and suffered and grown. Someone he can look up to. Someone who can help teach him how to adult. Someone who got knocked down, but then got up again…I’m not sure Chumbawamba belongs on the playlist, but we’ll see.
Eventually (because that’s the time frame we’re always working with in Oberon) things will work out for Ryan and Siobhan. It’ll just take a little longer than they’d like.
But what else is new?
Sound of a Voice That is Still
Oberon 3.0
Some wounds take a long time to heal, others never do. Four months after being wounded in the line of duty, Ryan Henderson is beginning to fear that his is of the latter variety. He's a patient man, but a poor patient. As winter drags interminably on, he's growing desperate for distraction--anything that might take his mind off his injury, before he goes insane.
Siobhan Quinn could give the injured officer a lesson or two in living with pain. It's been ten years since her life was changed and her heart critically wounded as a result of the tragic accident that robbed her of her family. She knows firsthand how grief can cripple a soul and drive a sane mind over the edge.
Sometimes it seems like Spring will never come again. Sometimes, the only alternative to living in inner darkness, is death. Your own, or someone else's. In the depths of winter, Ryan and Siobhan will have to make a choice: Help each other heal. Or die trying.
https://www.books2read.com/SoundVoice
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