Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale's Vanessa Woodfield left Charity Dingle devastated tonight when she asked her friend and veterinary clinic colleague Rhona Goskirk to be her son Johnny's guardian should she pass away.
During a recent discussion about her ongoing battle with stage-three bowel cancer, Vanessa (Michelle Hardwick) accused her fiancée Charity (Emma Atkins) of not wanting to look after Johnny if Vanessa dies.
Then, still stewing from the bust-up, the former posed the important question to Rhona (Zoe Henry) in tonight's episode (Monday, April 27).
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"She doesn't wanna be lumbered with Johnny when I'm gone," Vanessa explained to Rhona as she questioned Vanessa's seemingly snappy decision.
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"I have to be realistic and plan for the future."
"Did she say that?" Rhona clapped back, to which Vanessa said: "Well, no, not in so many words but I could see it in her eyes. I just need to make sure that Johnny will be okay when I'm gone. I want everything in place, and I think you'd be ideal."
"And what do you think Charity is going to feel about that?" Rhona said quietly. "She's your fiancée."
"I've known you a lot longer," Vanessa answered, adding that she's noticed how well Rhona cares for her own son Leo and that she'd want someone like that to take care of Johnny. "Please, you'd do that for me, wouldn't ya?"
Backing down, Rhona ultimately said that she would be Johnny's guardian if it came to that – but she added that Vanessa needed to chat to Charity about it before she would give her a final decision.
Conveniently, Vanessa and Charity later ran into one another on the street and it wasn't long before the couple confronted the issue hanging over them.
"We need to talk about Johnny," Charity stated.
"I've been talking to Rhona about him," Vanessa sheepishly replied. "I've asked her to be his guardian. She said we should discuss it."
"No point," Charity shot back. "I had a moment's thought. I didn't realise hesitating was a crime. But, of course, Rhona's way smarter than me and she came right in with a 'yeah'."
Vanessa then explained Rhona's conditions to Charity and told her partner that she's just trying to do the right thing for Johnny.
"How you feel matters to me. I love you, Charity," Vanessa said, but Charity was having none of it.
"You've got a funny way of showing it sometimes," she replied. "It's alright, I'll get over it. It's the obvious, sensible decision. Sorted."
With the issue still left unresolved between them, will the couple ever manage to come back from this?
Emmerdale currently airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7pm on ITV.
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