Emmerdale spoilers: Rhona Goskirk plays with Marlon Dingle’s heart as she tells a lie to him

Baby Ivy might be tiny, but she’s made a huge impact on Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry), Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and their family since her arrival in Emmerdale.

Ivy is biologically Rhona’s child after being conceived from one of the embryos that Rhona and her ex husband Gus (Alan McKenna) had frozen many years ago. After Gus used the embryos without Rhona’s consent, his wife Lucy became pregnant but sadly died shortly after the baby was born.

When Mary (Louise Jameson) discovered that Gus wasn’t coping with looking after a new baby amid his own grief for his wife she brought father and baby home to spend Christmas with the family.

Gus subsequently disappeared, leaving Rhona and Marlon to look after little Ivy.

A worrying development

Of course this has had a huge effect on the family and Rhona and Marlon constantly worry about the effect on their son Leo (Harvey Rogerson), who needs a stable routine. Marlon also worried about Rhona as he knew she was bonding with the baby and as time went on would find it harder and harder to say goodbye to her when Gus returned.

Rhona has no legal claim on the baby, so the most likely scenario is that Gus will come back when he feels better and Ivy will go off to live with him.

But that’s not what Rhona wants, as Zoe Henry explained to us.

‘I think the dream would be for Ivy to live with her and for Gus to disappear in a puff of smoke but that’s not going to happen, is it?’ she pondered. ‘It’s one of those things where she doesn’t really want to say it out loud. But that’s the dream.’

In upcoming episodes Rhona’s behaviour is becoming increasingly focused on a future where Ivy stays as part of their family. Worryingly, she starts lying to Marlon. Although she feels guilty about misleading him, she wants to make every moment with Ivy last for as long as possible.

Marlon and Rhona are one of the soap’s strongest couples, but can they get through this increasingly emotionally complex situation?

‘It does impact their relationship and their marriage,’ Zoe admitted.

‘I could sit here and say, “They can get through anything,” but it’s soap, so… no.’