Caleb Miligan (William Ash) is a worried man at the moment in Emmerdale, as he’s keeping a secret that could possibly blow his marriage apart. He got Ruby (Beth Cordingly)’s dying mother, Helen (Sharon Maughan), to put £100,000 in his account before she died and he said in return he would try and get Ruby to visit her.
He had no intention of doing this, as Helen behaved very cruelly to Ruby when she was younger by cutting her off from the family because of her relationship with Caleb. What Caleb didn’t envisage was Ruby’s distraught reaction when she discovered her mother’s death, and realised she would never get to talk to her about why she made those decisions in the past.
‘He’s very apprehensive, because he’s taken £100,000 from Helen before she died and put it in his account and he’s pretty certain that that is going to be uncovered by Helen’s solicitor,’ William Ash explained.
‘He’s really, really worried that that is going to be uncovered. He’s thinking on his feet about how he can maybe bury it and hide it away from being discovered by Ruby.’
Caleb ‘knows he’s made a huge mistake,’ according to William.
‘When he initially went to see Helen in the hospital he went there to protect Ruby, really, because Helen had been so vicious and brutal with Ruby and she’d discarded her and cut her out from her life, so he was going there to protect her. So when Ruby is completely devastated by her mum’s death it’s something he’s not expecting at all.
‘When she explains to him about how she feels about losing her mum, that she didn’t get a chance to have any kind of closure, and the fact that her mum wanted to see her just before she died, she feels like maybe her mum wanted to apologise for everything she’s done. Caleb can see that and he feels very guilty about it.’
Ruby’s strong reaction to Helen’s death shocked Caleb, and makes him fear the worst should she ever find out that he saw Helen, and about the money.
‘I think the unknown is more terrifying than anything because he’s been taken by surprise about how she reacted over her mother’s death.’ William admitted. ‘If she discovers that he was involved and met up with her mum before she died, I think he’s quietly terrified. It could spell the end of their relationship.
‘Quite easily at this point she could just totally walk out on him and go and live with Nicky (Lewis Cope) in San Francisco or wherever he is travelling around the world, because she could see Caleb as toxic and somebody she doesn’t actually want to be with. So I think it’s really precarious, the position that he’s in.’
Even if Helen’s solicitor fails to question where the £100,000 went, William insisted that Caleb wouldn’t be able to rest easy, knowing that the secret could be exposed at any moment.
‘There is a feeling that it could be in the post, it’s something that’s going to be overhanging him. He knows that this could reappear at any time. It’s almost torturous, that, I think. He can’t ever feel content because it’s always going to be there, that secret. It might just come back and get him.’
We’ve seen how close the relationship between Caleb and Ruby is, and William said that Caleb will go to any lengths to keep his marriage.
‘I think he’s realised now how important she is in his life, how much he needs her. She’s been the one that’s been there for him when he had nobody when he was 14, 15. She became his family and they’ve been co-dependent on each other.
‘To lose her would be devastating for him. Even though he’s found a family with Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and the rest of the Dingles and he does feel a massive sense of kinship with them.
‘But Ruby is his pillar, really. He’d be devastated by it and I think he’d be prepared to do anything for her.’
