People You'll Meet in Oberon: Ryan Henderson

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

People You'll Meet in Oberon: Nick Greco

 

If you were to ask me which character is at the heart of the Oberon series, I couldn’t give you an answer. Or rather, I could answer it any number of ways because I don’t think there is ONE definitive answer. It depends on a lot of factors—what book I’ve been reading most recently (okay, let’s be honest: re-reading!) how I’m feeling on any given day, the mood I’m in.

 

Today, I’m thinking it might be Nick.

 

Nick Greco started out life as a hot-headed troublemaker whose motivation for joining the police force could best be summed up by the saying, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. The license to carry a gun and break the speed limit whenever he felt like doing so, were also perks. 

 

Nick might not be the most morally gray character in the Oberon pantheon, but then again, given how many rules he bends, laws he breaks and lines he crosses…there’s a good chance that he is.

 

He’s also one of the most dialed in characters in the entire series. His relationship with Scout twenty years ago had unintended consequences for a lot of people. His relationship with her now, will impact even more. He has (or has had) close personal relationships (familial and otherwise) with Lucy, Darcy, Paige, Sinead, Siobhan and his ex-wife Lauren. He has friendships, working relationships and rivalries with Dan, Ryan, Liam, Adam and Sam. And while he’s technically the hero only of book one, the stakes are exceptionally high for him in books two, three, four, seven, and eight as well. Especially eight.

 

So who is he, really?

Nick is Italian American and proud of his heritage—although he does get impatient when Lucy suggests that Lupercus is any part of their family heritage.  He’s an only child but was partially raised by his aunt and uncle and regards his (double-first) cousins Lucy and Joey practically as siblings. He loves his family and will stop at nothing to protect them in any way he can. He has an ongoing issue with money (or the relative lack thereof) that takes several books to resolve. He loves cooking and cars and is usually fond of camping…although not so much in book one. 

 

A life-long resident of Oberon, he’s not particularly fond of any of the mystical aspects of his hometown. At best, he thinks they’re a distracting pain in the ass. At worst…well, let’s just say it’s not a good day when he discovers that Scout might be turning psychic. 

 

He keeps trying to quit smoking, with little success. His “open door policy” at work is constantly being abused by his friends and loved ones. I kind of love that for him, but I’m mean that way.

 

He’s as loyal as Lucy, as stubborn as Dan and as doggedly determined to do his job (no matter what) as Ryan. He’s not quite an Alpha Hole, not quite an Alpha Roll; and he couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about him, other than Scout. 

 

In short, as was said about Byron, he’s mad, bad, and dangerous to know. He’s definitely one of my favorites. But, then again, I say that about a lot of characters!

Here's one of my favorite Nick scenes from Scent of the Roses.(Oh, and spoiler alert? He does in fact go there again!)

It’s not working. Nick slammed his coffee mug down on the table. His usual Sunday morning routine of newspapers and coffee on the deck outside his apartment, was doing nothing to alleviate the angry confusion of emotions that had been building inside him since yesterday afternoon. 

She’s back. After all this time, she’s finally come back.

He couldn’t believe the way he felt. He couldn’t even put a name to what he felt – angry, bitter, nostalgic, more than a little crazy. Plus, some other, inexpressible combination of hopeful sensations, part daydream, part memory, that he thought he’d buried long ago. Back when he’d finally made himself accept the painful truth, that she was never coming back to him.   

It's been so long since I’ve seen her. Hell, it had been a long time since he’d even thought about her. Really thought about her, anyway. Thought about her in the kinds of ways that made sleep impossible and sent him speeding angrily up and down the coast for hours at a time. Thought about her in ways that made him drink too much or smoke too much. Not that he wouldn’t mind a cigarette right now, he thought, in the instant before he remembered that his daughter had made him quit. Again. Six months ago. Shit. 

What was she doing here, anyway? And why now? Not that it mattered, of course. Now. Next week. Next year. He didn’t have the faintest clue, anymore, what he’d say to her if he saw her.  

What am I thinking? I wouldn’t say anything to her. Why should I?  

She was the one who’d left him, after all. So what if she’d been a minor at the time, with no say in the matter?  She had gone away and, apparently, forgotten all about him. And he’d be damned if he’d give her the time of day, now.  

He probably wouldn’t even recognize her, anyway, come to think of it. Although she seemingly hadn’t changed so much that Lucy hadn’t known her.

Oh, hell.  Does Lucy know about this? Is this what had her on edge the other night?

Well, shit.  Of course, it was. And wasn’t it just like his cousin to try and hide something like this from him? To jump to the conclusion that he needed protection. 

Like I even care anymore.   So, she’s back.  Big deal.

What the hell kind of idiot did his cousin take him for?   

Okay, so it had taken him a while to get over her. Years in fact.  But he had done it, hadn’t he? Nobody could say that he hadn’t. He had moved on with his life.  Hell, he’d even gotten married!  Not like that had been an incredible improvement, relationship-wise.  

You sure know how to pick ’em, don’t you?   

Yeah, Lucy’d got that right.  That pretty much summed up his whole fucking love life, didn’t it?  But no more.  No way.  Seeing her now was the last thing on his mind.  The absolute. Very last. Thing.

She’s probably not even up there anymore, he thought, a few minutes later, as he stared out at the mountains.  

Well, hell. No wonder he couldn’t stop thinking about her—not while he was sitting here with a perfect view of Mt. Totawka and the foothills where the festival was going on. He needed to get off this deck. He needed to find something else to do, something else to focus on.

Which shouldn’t be a problem. There were always plenty of things he could be doing on a day like this. He could always go in to work, for one thing.  Just because it was his day off, that didn’t mean he had to stay away. Or maybe he could go fishing. He hadn’t been fishing in months. Or else…he could go for a hike, couldn’t he? Or out to a movie…  

Or he could just stay here and wash his car.  

His car really needed a wash, come to think of it. Hell, he could wax it, too, while he was at it. Maybe change the oil, clean the spark-plugs. And when was the last time that he’d taken the time to really detail it?  

But thinking of cars was not such a terrific idea, he realized a little too late, because so many of his memories of her included cars.  That was how they met. She’d been hitching a ride one foggy April night and he had stopped for her…  

No. Stop that. Cut it out.

He picked up his paper and tried once more to read it, but put it down a moment later, when he realized that his mind was working up a ridiculous fantasy about seeing her again. Of coming across her trying to hitch a ride back from the festival. Maybe, if he drove up there right now—

What the hell am I thinking? She’s not a teenager, anymore. There was no earthly reason to suppose she’d be hitching a ride back from the fair.

It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.  

He ground his teeth, as his eyes strayed back to the mountain.  It really didn’t matter because he was not going up there again. He hardly ever went to any of the festivals, and he’d just been to this one, yesterday.  

There’s no way I’m going back up there again. No way in hell.

He was actually glad he’d found out that she was back in town, but only so that he could make damn certain he did not run into her by accident.  

Liar, a small voice in his head admonished him. Why’d you back out on the camping trip, then? 

But that had nothing to do with her—no matter what Joey thought. He did have a lot of work to catch up on. And it made perfect sense that he save a few of his vacation days for later in the summer, so that he and Kate could go somewhere.   

I wonder what she looks like now?   

The thought came out of nowhere, and for a moment he was overcome with the longing to find out. Jesus, but this was getting ridiculous. What could she look like, after all?  She was thirty-six years old, for pity’s sake. She was probably settled and dull.  Probably nothing at all like the wild, unpredictable girl he remembered.  

Thirty-six-year-old women did not look or behave like teenagers. Which, if he were honest, was not a bad thing. There was a whole range of really objectionable, immature behaviors that he associated with those years, and he, for one, was just as happy to have seen the end of them.   

Thirty-six-year-old women did not hitch rides, for instance – a dangerous and illegal activity the whole world would be better off without. And they did not go around creating the kind of havoc Scout had positively excelled at when she was sixteen. 

They had jobs and they had families and they had mortgages and commitments. And most of them wouldn’t be caught dead dancing around a balefire in the middle of the night, not even with their clothes on. Most of them—the sensible ones—wouldn’t even have bothered going to any damn pagan festival in the first place!  

Except that she had been there.    

And she had not forgotten all about him, damn it.  

She said I have your eyes. 

Her own eyes had been a smoky, warm, greenish gold; like the moss that grew in damp, secret hollows all along Domingo Creek.  

And her hair had been a streaky mass of yellow and brown.  The same color as the grass along the cliffs there, late in summer, after it had been bleached and debauched and blown about by the sun and the wind.  

And when she smiled – but, no, he wouldn’t even think about that.  He’d spent years forgetting her smile. 

And anyway, none of it mattered.  Not anymore.  I’m over her now, he reminded himself again, more firmly.  Definitely and completely over her.  And he was not going to go there again.  No possible way.

Scent of the Roses

Oberon Book 1.0

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For years, Scout Patterson has tried to run from the mistakes in her past.  Now, she's coming home--to face the ghosts she's never laid to rest, and the love she thought she'd lost forever.  Reawakening that love would be a dream come true.  Unfortunately, love is not the only emotion that can last forever. 

​

Memories and dreams are the only things that have gotten Nick Greco through the past twenty years.  Memories of the girl he loved and lost, and dreams of what his life would be like, if he could only find her again.   And if he can bring himself to believe that anything she tells him is true.

 

 Can the star-crossed lovers put aside the hurt and distrust they still harbor toward each other?  Or will the evil which already nearly destroyed them once, triumph yet again?

https://www.books2read.com/ScentRoses

People You'll Meet in Oberon: Cara Matthews

Hard to imagine that Cara snagged the first spot, but she does have a spooky little story available right now (see below for details) so...sure. Why not, Cara?

Cara Matthews first appears in A  Taste of Honey. We don't exactly see her, but we hear the other characters talk about her--not flatteringly. Cara is Seth's cheating, drug-addicted ex, at this point.  She sees a little more action in Touch of a Vanished Hand, but that does nothing to endear her to us either:

            Seth tossed his empty beer can into the bushes, lay back on the picnic table and stared up at the sky.  It wasn’t enough.  One six pack, split between the two of them, had done nothing to dull the craving.  “Shit. That was pitiful.  Couldn’t you have gotten more? Or maybe something stronger?”

Cara’s face appeared above him, surrounded by stars. She waved a vial in his face and smiled. “I told you, you could always add some of this to it.” 

Seth batted the vial away and sat up. “And I told YOU. No drugs. Why the fuck don’t you get this? I’m trying to stay off that shit.”

“Right,” Cara drawled, as she slipped the vial back into her pocket. “Like booze and pot aren’t drugs now? You’re such a poser, Seth. Get over yourself, huh?”

           

“They’re not,” Seth insisted. At least, well, he supposed they were, at that. But it wasn’t the same. And Cara damn well ought to know it. He could handle getting drunk, or lighting up now and then. It was the other stuff that was ruining his life. Stuff he hadn’t even wanted to take. Stuff he didn’t dare tell anyone he’d been given, either--other than Cara. And she was the only person he knew who had an even bigger problem than he did.

She gets one more (very short) mention in that book, and then disappears until book seven (Visions Before Midnight) when she doubles down on her trouble-making really makes up for her previous absence and causes all sorts of difficulties for several of the main characters. People die--or almost die--due to her desire for revenge. But by the end of that book she's somehow managed to redeem herself.

 Toward the end of the book, she and Seth achieved closure in what I thought would be their last scene together. There was no way they were getting back together. They had too much history and he was madly in love with someone else. So I figured it was time to close the door on that relationship. They both needed to move on, to get a life and (in Cara's case) to disappear. 

Oh, how wrong I was!

See, there were several villains at work in Visions Before Midnight. And I let one of them get away with murder. I thought I was wrapping up a loose thread that had stretched all the way back to book one. I thought my villain, finding himself on the loose (and completely unsupervised--my bad!) would take the opportunity to go away. But what I SHOULD have foreseen was that OF COURSE he'd find Cara, instead.

In hindsight, it was. So. Freaking. Obvious.

He finds her. He abducts her. The story ends on a ridiculous cliff-hanger that I NEVER saw coming. And next thing I know,  I was stuck writing her as the under-age heroine of book eight (Dreams Under the Hill).

Turns out Cara had had a much harder life overall and a much rougher HOME LIFE than anyone in Oberon had ever appreciated. Turns out, she was an AMAZING heroine. Loyal, brave, determined, resourceful, wounded--Oy! So wounded!--and resilient.

Which was a damned good thing because she doesn't get a true HEA in book eight--due in part to her age, because, c'mon!  Which meant she had to return AGAIN in book nine (And Shadows Have Their Ending). Which in turn meant she deals with People Trying to Kill Her repeatedly for three consecutive books! 

She does, however, get my absolutely FAVORITE kiss scene at the end of book nine (which wasn't even her book!) and, after that, I certainly thought her HEA was implied. 

Wouldn't you think so?

"...Here.”  He pointed to his chest.  “Put your hand right there and tell me if you feel my heart beating.”

She did as he asked. Her own heart was racing, but his was beating pretty hard, too. She nodded.  “Yes.”

 

 “Well, it’s just ‘cause you’re here that it does that. I swear to God, when you’re not around my whole chest feels empty.”

 

 She knew he didn’t mean it––not literally, anyway. But, it was still just about the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. It was the kind of thing she used to wish Seth would say, not that he ever would. Her breath came out on a shaky little sigh.  “Oh. th-that was really nice.”

 

 He smiled softly. “So, you never told me. Did you like your flowers?”

 

 Cara felt herself stiffen. “F-flowers?  Wh-what flowers?” 

 

 “And the balloons? For your birthday?”

 

 “Th-those were from you?”

 

He nodded.  “Didn’t Seth tell you? I had a card too, but then he answered the door and I thought you were with him so–  I sent you some for your graduation, too, you know. And, then, when you were in the hospital I–” He broke off.  “Cara?  Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

 

She was shaking from head to toe, too frightened to hope he was telling the truth.  She’d wanted them to be from him. She’d hoped they might be. But, “Oh, please, you’re not making this up are you? Because it would really, really...hurt...if you were just saying stuff.”

 

“I’m not,” he answered quickly.  “I swear I’m not. I swear I mean every word I say.”  He stared at her for a moment, as though he were trying to make up his mind, trying to decide what to do next. And then he kissed her, leaning across the gap that separated them, touching her with nothing but his lips. And it was the softest, sweetest kiss she’d ever imagined.  

 

When she was a little girl she’d dreamed of being kissed like this, then she’d grown up and learned that every kiss was different.  Some were nice and some were not and most were somewhere in between.  She’d been kissed by a lot of different guys, in a lot of different ways.  Even Liam had kissed her before.  But, not like this.   Never like this.  

 

When it ended he put his hands on her shoulders and eased her close.  He held her gently against his chest––no pressure, no force. She rubbed her cheek against the front of his shirt and wished she could melt right into him.  It didn’t even matter that it was a uniform shirt, that he was a cop––and she’d always gotten along so well with them––because it was also Liam.  Her Liam.  And, it really didn’t matter what else he was.  

 

 HOWEVER, as I said, there were still readers who felt Cara needed MORE (newsflash: Cara will ALWAYS need more!) but I do like to keep my readers happy, so I penned a short sequel novella to FINALLY put Cara and her hero to bed. Literally. That's Sea Change, by the way, and it will return late next year. 

This Halloween story? Is DEFINITELY not her happy ending. Not in any sense of the word, other than the fact that she's not dead yet.

Hungry Heart is Cara's first-person depiction of some of the events that take place in book seven. It details what she did and why she did it. And, once again for anyone who's still not clear: It. Is. NOT. A Romance. But it's spooky and suspenseful, it was a lot of fun to write (there's a cursed, semi-sentient journal, ffs!) and it ends just as more bad things are about to happen...making it perfect for a Halloween read!

https://www.tinyurl.com/Hungry-Heart