The village of Emmerdale is in turmoil over Charity Dingle’s latest pregnancy scandal – a truly shocking twist.

It was thought she was just a surrogate mother for Sarah Sugden, but it turns out the baby in Charity’s womb doesn’t belong to either of the couple she promised to help, but is the result of a fateful night with Ross Barton.

From the beginning, Charity remained calm, even playing the role of a compassionate woman when she agreed to help Sarah – who once considered her mother.

But everything began to fall apart when Vanessa Woodfield, Charity’s ex-girlfriend, noticed unusual signs.

An averted gaze, a shaky voice, a hastily hidden test result in a drawer… All of this was enough for Vanessa to suspect that the truth was even deeper than the old scar Charity had been concealing.

The scene of Charity going for an ultrasound in the middle of Christmas is one of the most emotionally charged moments: she forces a smile at the doctor, but her hands tremble as if they want to drop her. When the image of the baby appears on the screen, Charity’s eyes well up – not with happiness, but with the fear that if this secret is revealed, she will lose everything.

The drama intensifies when Ross Barton – her one-night stand – begins appearing more frequently in the village. He approaches Mackenzie Boyd, Charity’s husband, with an unpredictable friendliness. Mackenzie initially doesn’t suspect anything, but Ross’s gaze each time he looks at Charity’s belly makes everything clearer. At the New Year’s party, when Ross jokingly says, “I hope the baby has eyes like mine,” the entire table falls silent.