Ryan Lavery: Incredible Dreamer 

            Sexy.  Charming. Alluring.  1000 watt smile.  The biggest biceps in daytime.  All of these things add up to Cameron Mathison, the portrayer of alter ego Ryan Lavery, the purveyor of every female soap fan's fantasies at one point or another.  Ryan Lavery, since hitting Pine Valley, has led a charmed life, well, most of the time, anyway.   

            He's the golden boy, the rags to riches tale we can truly believe and root for.  When Ryan came into Pine Valley's hospital and took advantage of a bus accident to garner the affection and attention of nurse Gloria Marsh, we knew that there was more to his boyish good lucks, and unending charm--there was mystery, magic, and sheer sex appeal.  Which Pine Valley vixen would reap the obvious benefits? Ask us if it would have been Gillian Andrassy, and we would have said--"I never thought of that."  We never thought of it, but the writers did, and it was a match made in soap opera heaven. "Written in the stars," "star-crossed," "meant to be," "fated."  All these terms are appropriate to describe the magic and chemistry that oozed from the screen, the moment Ryan and Gillian met, the moment they were married, we could tell that they would be in each other's lives, always. 

            So what was it about Ryan Lavery that charmed the socks off of wife Gillian, made Hayley forget for a moment about Mateo, and inspire Greenlee to buy him his own yacht? He even managed to avoid prosecution from Liza, I'm convinced, because of that hypnotic smile.  One would say it is his bronzed muscles, his caring and sensitive nature when it comes to the women in his life, but I believe it's none of these things that move women, when it comes to mister Lavery.  It is, rather, his heart. Cliched? Perhaps. True? Definitely. Ryan has worn his heart on his sleeve, perhaps to his detriment, since he came to Pine Valley.  Locking his heart away made Gillian fall even deeper for him. The need to protect him forced Gillian in bed with the devil, David Hayward, just to keep Ryan from prison, because she knew it would kill him to go. Yes, he inspires women to go above and beyond the call of duty, Hayley even spent weeks in jail to keep the police off of his trail--but it isn't as though he doesn't deserve their loyalty.  Ryan beat the rap on his own, but it served to put doubt in the back of his mind. Doubt so strong, it ended his relationship with Gillian. Without the love of his life, what would Ryan do? Life was about to take him down an unforgettable path. 

            Ever the manipulator, the smooth operator, con-artist extraordinaire, if Ryan Lavery wants something, he knows how to go and get it.  The end of his relationship with Gillian was heartbreaking, but the moment he realized that his wife would always have his heart, he began a one man crusade to get her back. Weddings, custody trials, and signed divorce papers be damned, Gillian was Ryan's wife, and he made it clear to anyone who would listen.  Being abused as a child, Ryan had shielded his heart from everyone except Gillian, and to lose her now, would have been unbearable, unthinkable. So he went to his lady love before her wedding to Jake, and begged her not to go through with it. He came close to convincing her, but they were interrupted. Ryan even crashed the wedding to get to Gillian, but it was to no avail. No matter how much he loved Gillian, he wouldn't force her, so he watched her make the decision to begin a life without him.  Not one to be outdone, Ryan decided, as he had when he was a child, to lock his heart away again, and focus on work.  He chose the appropriate role model, that's for sure, in Adam Chandler. One can count on Ryan when he's going to do something, to do it right.   

            His "princess" was never far from his mind, however, even with the "incredible" success of his company,  IncredibleDreams.com.  Ryan couldn't have his dream, a life with Gillian, so he became determined to make possible the dreams of everyone else on earth--an ambitious goal for an ambitious young man. There was just one problem--he chose as his partner the worst possible person, Greenlee Smythe.  Ryan began a loveless fling with Greenlee, in a statement to Gillian, who had broken his heart. He wanted to show her, as well as Hayley who'd gone back to Mateo, that relationships weren't the important thing in life--money was. He couldn't have been more wrong, and he soon found that out. Greenlee's machinations on his life reached a fever pitch, and when the door was opened to a renewed relationship with Gillian, Ryan dropped Greenlee like the proverbial hot potato. Greenlee didn't appreciate it, and started a one woman mission of her own, to destroy Ryan.  But try as she might, it was to no avail. Ryan had the love of his life back in his life, and nothing could or would come between them, ever again. 

            So now Ryan has everything he wants, and like the adage says, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched."  Ryan got the night of his life when Gillian publicly left her husband Jake, and spent the night on the yacht with Ryan, telling Jake he could go home alone.  Ryan and Gillian reveled in their love, a dream come true, and then woke up to a nightmare.  Ryan's company and reputation had been ruined due to a public relations catastrophe in which he was blamed for poisoning all the guests of his party with a powerful drug, that caused a ripple effect to nearly every citizen in town.  Ryan was heartbroken once again, to watch his dream go up in smoke.  He had his princess though, and that was all that mattered.  They say pride goes before the fall, but Ryan held on to his until the end. Humiliated, he begged investors not to pull their monies from his company, and he tried desperately to convince reporters that he was not responsible for the poisoning.  It was to no avail, so Ryan went with his hat in his hand, figuratively speaking, to Adam Chandler, and sold his company, to avoid declaring bankruptcy.  Pride is all this man has left, and he would do anything to give his now fiancée Gillian the life she deserves.  But is taking up with Adam Chandler and the overly ambitious Leo duPres the way to go? Only time will tell.  Not one to take things lying down, Ryan's already working on getting out from under Adam's thumb, and Leo might be his way to achieving that goal. Whatever happens to Ryan's company, he's got one thing that many soap men never get, and that's the girl.  But then again, was there ever any doubt?  After all, he is Pine Valley's golden boy.