It’s surprising to learn that Emmerdale’s Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) has a heart, but she does, it’s just buried under umpteen layers of ice.

But that ice has been thawing, ever since her estranged mother came back on seen – although she died before Ruby could have the last word. And now Ruby’s facing some news that will cut right through that frozen interior.

It’s been a trying few weeks for the mildly unstable mother of two, who was crushed to learn that Caleb (Will Ash) had kept a cruel secret that her dying mother had reached out to her on her death bed.

The next shocker was to learn that her estranged mother had been in touch with her estranged daughter Steph all this time, not a comfortable discovery at all.

A press shot of Anthony, Stephanie, Ruby and Caleb Miligan in Emmerdale, posing in a garden in front of a house

The last thing Ruby wants is to see her father (Picture: ITV)

The third painful surprise revealed itself when her daughter Steph showed up in the village and confronted her mum about her awful childhood, only to receive a slap instead of a reconciliation.

It’s a difficult time for Ruby and it’s not about to get easier. Steph (Georgia Jay) had arrived with an agenda – to get Ruby and her dad Anthony (Nicholas Day) talking again, the absolute last thing she wants.

When Anthony appears in the village, Caleb stops and has a chat with him on Ruby’s behalf, but instead of giving Anthony what for, he’s taken by his sincerity, meaning that Caleb is on board with Steph to help bring the two back together.

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But there’s bad news on the horizon, for Steph at least. She learns the devastating truth that her grandfather has cancer.

Steph is stunned and saddened, but pledges to stick by him when he needs support the most. Steph sees an advantage in this dire situation – she’ll be able to use it to emotionally blackmail her mother into accepting Anthony back into her life.

But how sympathetic will Ruby be to the man who abandoned her? Surely having both of her parents dead is just what she wants. Or will it be the push she needs after missing out on the chance of a final word with her mum?