Dawn Fletcher and Joe Tate are engaged, but their relationship has been rattled by the fallout from his blackmail scheme and by the fact that he and Graham Foster already knew she was plotting against him. On Wednesday, May 20, Graham returned to Home Farm and found Dawn unconscious at the bottom of the stairs, before doctors said she had fainted because of low iron levels.

The drama had been building for months. Dawn and Joe began an affair early last year behind Billy Fletcher’s back, and the pair later became engaged. The trouble deepened when Dawn learned Joe had filmed Victoria Sugden killing John Sugden shortly after the Corriedale crash, then used the footage to blackmail Robert Sugden into planting illegal documents at Butler’s Farm. Moira Dingle was then wrongfully imprisoned after Joe’s scheme.

That led Dawn to begin plotting against Joe with help from Moira and Cain Dingle after she realised he was responsible for Moira’s incarceration. But on Tuesday, May 19, she told Moira she could not face leaving Joe. By then, Joe and Graham already knew about her betrayal. The following day, Graham urged Joe to act, warning him not to let it drag on any further. Joe said it was all in hand, and later Graham made his blunt position clear when he told him, “Don’t wait too long. We can’t let this go on any further. We need to deal with Dawn, [and] put a stop to her and Moira’s little game for good.”

After the hospital visit, Dawn returned home and told Joe she had got to tell him something. Instead, she declared her love for him and the pair shared a passionate kiss. It was a sharp turn from the covert alliance she had been building against him, and it leaves the question of who exposed her plan in the first place. The source has not revealed exactly how Joe and Graham found out, though some viewers have speculated online that Sam Dingle may have seen Dawn coming and going at the Wishing Well cottage. On one Facebook fan page, one viewer asked, “How the hell has Joe found out what Dawn is up to?” Another replied, “I think Sam overheard Dawn and Moira discussing it,” while a third suggested, “Maybe Sam said something to Joe,”

What is clear is that Dawn is now caught between the man she tried to bring down and the family she was trying to protect. The engagement is still standing, but the trust around it looks far more fragile than the couple’s kiss suggested.