Emmerdale – Ryan and Gail’s secret son revealed!

Emmerdale has shocked viewers this evening by revealing that Ryan Stocks (James Moore) and Gail Loman (Rachael Gill-Davies) have a 13-year-old son together.

The revelation came after Gail had received a mysterious phone call in last night’s episode during a romantic meal with Ryan.

Having quickly told the caller that it wasn’t a good time, Gail excused herself from the table and rang the number back, promising to speak to them properly the next day.

In tonight’s episode, Gail arranged to meet up with the lady named Sophie (Martha Cope) in the allotments.

It was clear that it was the first time they had met face to face, with Gail commenting that she probably didn’t look as Sophie expected.

As Gail pointed out that Sophie wasn’t even supposed to know who she was, let alone have her number, Sophie admitted that she’d used social media to track her down out of desperation.

Sitting down together, Sophie explained that her 13-year-old son Oscar had recently been diagnosed with a rare type of aplastic anaemia.

Although the condition is treatable, it requires a bone marrow transplant, but Sophie was devastated to learn that she wasn’t compatible.

It was at this point that Gail realised why Sophie had got in touch—she wanted her to get tested to see if she would be a suitable donor.

“There’s no guarantee you’re a match,” Sophie cautioned her.

“I gave birth to him didn’t I…” Gail replied. “I’ve got to be.”

It was then explained that Sophie had adopted Oscar a few weeks after Gail had given birth to him.

Whilst the hospital treating Oscar are aware that Gail is his biological mother, Sophie has had to bend the truth by stating that they had kept in touch since the birth, knowing that her tracking Gail down after all these years was against the rules.

When conversation later turned to what would happen if Gail wasn’t a suitable donor, Sophie told her that they will also want to test Oscar’s biological father, who Sophie pointed out was named on the birth certificate as Ryan Stocks…

Whilst Sophie told Gail that she hadn’t tried tracing him as yet—she wanted to speak to her first—Gail immediately began to panic. Claiming that she hadn’t kept in touch with Ryan, Gail assured Sophie that trying to contact him wouldn’t be necessary.

She’s sure that she herself will be a match, and will do everything she can to help Oscar.

As Gail left the allotment, questions remained over the reason for her caution in Ryan finding out.

The couple would only have been in their late teens themselves when they conceived, and there’s the possibility that Ryan never even knew about Oscar’s existence.

On the other hand, did Ryan and Gail make a joint decision to put Oscar up for adoption, and Gail doesn’t want to jeopardise their relationship by bringing up their past difficulties? Or was the option taking out of their hands entirely?

All we can say is that Gail’s secret soon comes out, and next week, she and Ryan have to deal with how to move forward following the shock revelation…

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Ryan was of course an adopted child himself, coming to the village in 2018 to meet his birth mother Charity (Emma Atkins), who had previously believed he had died at birth.

With a 14-year-old Charity having fled the hospital following a traumatic delivery—one which left Ryan with cerebral palsy—she hadn’t realised that her son had been revived and later adopted by the midwife in attendance that evening.

Gail made a one-off appearance the following year as an old friend and love interest of Ryan’s, before making a return to Emmerdale back in May.

Ryan was initially suspicious of Gail’s reasons for reappearing in his life after a four year absence, however it didn’t take long for the pair to rekindle the flame and begin a relationship.

But is that all set to crumble now that their past has come back to haunt them?