Linda Carter will go into labour in a dramatic way next week, just as she is challenged by Jack Branning, according to EastEnders.
When Linda (Kellie Bright) found out she was pregnant earlier this year, it was apparent that the father of her child was her ex-boyfriend Max Branning (Jake Wood), not her husband Mick Carter (Danny Dyer).
Linda and Mick have chosen to pretend that the baby is Mick’s in order to keep Max from showing up and interfering with their life again, but their charade is unravelling as Max’s brother Jack (Scott Maslen) and ex-wife Rainie Highway (Tanya Franks) begin to believe that Linda is concealing something.
Last month, Jack’s suspicions were aroused when he overheard Linda inform a police officer that she was 36 weeks pregnant, and he immediately realised that she would have been pregnant while still with Max.
Jack storms into the Queen Vic, having waited on the knowledge for a while, to face Linda and Mick, and he won’t let the topic go.
Unfortunately for Linda, she is having contractions when Jack arrives at her house to interrogate her about the baby’s parentage.
Linda insists that Max is the baby’s father when Jack asks her again, but her waters rupture soon after. Will she be able to preserve her secret while preparing for the arrival of her child?
The Carters must be careful of not just Jack, but also Rainie, who is on their tail.
Rainie decides to investigate after Violet Highway (Gwen Taylor) points out to her that Linda appears to be rather large for how far advanced in her pregnancy she claims to be. She gets to have a good look into Linda’s hospital bag while looking for evidence.
Rainie is anxious to return Max to the Square after he vanished with his granddaughter Abi, whom Rainie had planned to raise, putting Linda and Mick in a hazardous situation.
EastEnders head Jon Sen recently suggested that the Carters would not be able to keep up their baby deception for much longer, adding that Rainie in particular “is bent on finding out the truth,” and with the baby’s arrival on the horizon, things are only going to grow more problematic for the Carters.