Innocence Lost – Becoming Myra McQueen

by Reynsi

Myra, matriarch of the McQueen family, hasn't always been the feisty woman she is today. This fic follows her life from her late teens until she arrives on the screen in the autumn of 2006. Feel free to comment!

4. Chapter 4

4) An Adult Child

Mr Simons, the head teacher, was very disappointed that morning when Myra told him about the pregnancy and how she wouldn't be returning to school for the next school year. When he noticed how upset she was, he told her that she would always be welcome back while he was in charge and that if she'd need anything, he'd try his best to help.

And it wasn't only her life at school she was about to leave. Her father had managed to persuade Mr Thompson, Michael's father, that Myra and Michael had to get married before her pregnancy would be obvious to everybody. The wedding was set for early summer after which Myra was not only supposed to become a Thompson by name, she was also to move in with her husband's family. Mr Thompson had even agreed that the young couple should live with him and his family for the first few years, until they were old enough to and financially capable of living on their own.

Myra didn't really know the Thompson family at all, had only visited their house a few times and now she was supposed to move in with them. Even her husband was virtually a stranger, though he had always been very kind and sweet towards her. It had, of course, been a great shock to him to find out that he was to become a father at the age of nineteen, but he seemed to really like Myra and tried his best to be supportive.

Myra would never forget the fear she felt when she went down to the Thompson family breakfast table the morning after their wedding night. But her fear soon turned out to be unnecessary and she was surprised by how welcome the Thompson's made her feel on her first day in their household and she soon settled in.

Even if she'd moved houses, she still saw her mother almost every day of her pregnancy, at first mostly in her old home but as she felt increasingly tired and immobile, her mother would come to see her at the Thompson's. The night she went into labour, Myra asked for her mother to be in the room with her as she didn't really want Michael there. Back then, Myra didn't understand her reasons for wanting her mum there instead of her husband, but later in life, she understood that this was the moment when she would be leaving the last traces of childhood behind, and that she wanted to feel her mother's love and support, and just to be her little girl for that little bit longer.