seeking insight for developing scene

[Sally]

For my novel-in-progress, "The Sturgeon's Dance," I am seeking guidance from those with experience in the issue I present.

My scene involves Liam, who is thirteen, and his uncle Rory, single after a divorce several years ago. Liam and Rory have been great pals since Liam was an infant. Rory (partly as comfort from his painful, failed marriage) has doted on the boy and engaged him at every opportunity. The closeness and depth of the relationship prompted Liam's parents, Rory’s older brother Aidan and his wife Ellen, to ask Rory to be Liam’s godfather, which he accepted.

In a previous chapter, Aidan has been killed in an industrial accident, which devastates Ellen and Rory and of course Liam. After six months, during which Ellen and Liam get grief counseling, Ellen asks Rory to consider a relationship with her - she needs the intimacy of a husband and wants to remarry. Rory is the only one who can fully relate to what she has been through/is going through.

Rory has a hard time with this idea - he looked up to Aidan his whole life, so at first he thinks that to marry Aidan's wife is like a betrayal of Aidan. But he comes around to the idea, when Ellen points out that their marriage would be good for Liam, too, who needs a father figure in his life. But because of the love and respect Rory has for Liam, he doesn't want to proceed until he has consulted with the boy.

Rory needs to tell Liam that he and Ellen are considering this possibility. I am looking for insight about the kinds of emotions and reactions that Liam might experience and how he might express them. I'm sure that Liam's feelings would be mixed, but what kind of mixed? What emotions might be strongest? What might Liam do or say to his uncle, to his mother?

I would appreciate insight and comments from anyone out there with experience in something like this, who

1) as an early teen (in this case, a boy's perspective would be better), lost his father and whose widowed mother remarried,

2) married a widow with a teenage son, or

3) is a professional who counsels families in similiar situations.

Thank you!

[Steven]

May depend on how strong Liam and Aidan's father/son bond was. You indicate the boy was devastated, and yet as described he seems to have a closer bond with his uncle than father. Was the father not around much and thus their bond was tenuous? Either way I think the circumstances suggest Liam is gonna go through a rebelling/ devil-may- care phase before he grows into full acceptance of Rory as a father, not just a "pal". Thus there is plenty of room there for some "acting out" on Liam's part before he truly bonds with Rory as a father (and thus, an authoritarian figure rather than buddy). I was a social worker for 32 years, but not a marriage and family counselor per se, mostly in hospital settings. 13 is a tender age to deal with loss of father, so despite "counseling" there is likely to be a period of volatile or depressive/ withdrawing reaction and even some lashing out at mom. I suspect such a transition would be quite confusing to a 13 year old. Just my assumption; have never experienced this scenario personally..

[Sally]

Good points, Steven. It will be interesting to see what other comments I get from others. In the story, the father/son bond is very strong. The uncle/nephew bond is strong, too, but as pals. (I have had this kind of strong bond with one of my nephews from when he was a toddler, so that part was easy to write.) Obviously, the dynamics are far different in a parenting role. Then let's throw a few raging hormones in for good measure...

So there is a lot of room for confusion on Liam's part. This will probably be the trickiest scene for me to write in the whole book, and this one has had some real development challenges. (I have one of those weird little feelings: "I didn't know it couldn't be written, so I wrote it.")

Thank you for your thoughtful comments.