Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) has been hit by numerous family revelations recently on Emmerdale, beginning with her son Nicky (Lewis Cope) leaving the Dales for a new life abroad with his partner Suni (Shannon Brahmdeo Ramana).
Soon after that she discovered that her mum, Helen (Sharon Maughan), had died in hospital and she would now have no chance to get answers about why her family disowned her when she was younger.
That bereavement turned her mind to her and Caleb (William Ash)’s daughter Steph (Georgia Jay), who they hadn’t seen for years.
But when Steph appeared in the village, it wasn’t the joyful reunion they might have hoped for as she was clearly still furious with her parents for sending her away to boarding school as a teen.
Initial conversations between Steph and Ruby went badly when Steph claimed her mother never cared about her and, pushed to her limit, Ruby slapped her. Caleb tried to build bridges and offered Steph a job at the depot, hoping that eventually she and Ruby would make peace with each other.
Ruby was further unsettled when her father, Anthony (Nicholas Day), turned up – a move set up by Steph. Ruby couldn’t face seeing Anthony and fled, although once again Caleb stepped in to try and smooth things over. The situation with Anthony was further complicated by the revelation that he has cancer.
In upcoming episodes Ruby reluctantly accepts that Anthony is telling the truth about being ill. Steph and Caleb try to convince her to make peace with her father for the sake of a happy family unit.
Ruby does try, but she soon has to distance herself from Anthony, who admits to Steph that it doesn’t seem likely that he and his daughter will ever be on good terms. He asks Steph to leave the village with him and support him.
Caleb realises that Steph is on the verge of leaving again and knows that he has to try to keep her in their lives. He pleads with Ruby not to risk them losing their daughter all over again. She tries to make an effort and is optimistic when her relationship with her daughter shows tentative signs of being on the mend.
All of that is thrown into doubt again, however, when a chance remark from Brenda makes Anthony aware of Caleb’s previous affair with Tracy Shankley (Amy Walsh). Anthony questions Ruby about this and she’s forced to defend her husband’s actions.
But it’s clear that this revelation has brought up something in Ruby’s past that Anthony keeps alluding to, making her uneasy.
And a special flashback episode takes us back into Ruby’s teenage years and a moment from her past that might change everything about the present.
