EastEnders’ Bernadette Taylor might not have planned to become pregnant at 15, but she certainly embraced the prospect of becoming a mum.
But after losing her baby, the teenager is devastated.
Mum Karen is desperate to keep the family together and support her daughter, but when a shock decision sends Bernie over the edge, can they recover from this?
Read more: EastEnders heartbreak for Bernadette as she loses her baby
Bernadette pleads with her mum to take her to the hospital so she can say goodbye to the baby properly.
But Karen isn’t happy about the idea, thinking it will only bring her little girl more pain and suffering.
Determined to protect her, Karen insists she’s going to visit the baby herself – and she’s going alone. Bernie is absolutely distraught at her mum’s decision.
Feeling hurt and betrayed, Bernie is in pieces, but still determined to get her own way, so goes to the hospital on her own, and against her mother’s wishes, the next day.
It turns out Karen was right about it being tough and finding it much harder than she thought, a devastated Bernie returns home with a small box of mementos of her baby.
Desperate to help her daughter, Karen turns to Shirley Carter for advice and eventually decides to hold a memorial service for the little one.
“Karen makes a big speech and gets the family together for a touching tribute,” actress Lorraine Stanley has revealed to Inside Soap.
“In that moment you see her at her most vulnerable.”
Read more: EastEnders SPOILER: Someone else is set to die next week
But Bernadette inadvertently arranges to meet her baby’s father, Callum, at the same time and place as the ceremony.
Until now she’s kept the lad’s identity a secret from her family, apart from big brother Keanu, but it doesn’t take long for Karen and Keegan to work out what Callum’s connection is.
Will their reaction to him make everything worse for Bernadette? Can she find a way to grieve for the loss of her baby? And can she reconnect with her mum to help her move forward?