The Astoni family is no stranger to suffering and heartbreak. But just when we thought the once tight-knit clan was facing a brighter future, the storm clouds gathered overhead yet again.
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After Maggie (Kestie Morassi) dropped the biggest of bombshells on her husband Ben (Rohan Nichol) – that two decades ago she slept with his blackmailing brother Marco (Tim Walter) – the family has been at breaking point. And now they could be torn apart forever.
But while Ziggy’s (Sophie Dillman) paternity results are now in – revealing that Ziggy’s biological father is in fact Ben – Maggie and Ben remain at a stalemate.
“Maggie’s night with Marco all those years ago when she and Ben had temporarily broken up meant nothing to Maggie,” says Kestie.
“Ben has always been her number one, and she knows that she has made a terrible mistake by being with Marco that one time and not telling her husband about it. She just wants to move on, but now she may never be able to do so.”
Maggie is trying to repair her relationship.
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Indeed, while Maggie does all she can to try and repair her deeply fractured marriage, Ben is in no mood to listen.
“As far as Ben is concerned, it’s not so much the act itself – it’s not the fact that Maggie spent the night with his brother 20 years ago – but more that she kept it from him all this time,” says Kestie. “Ben now feels that their entire marriage has been a lie.
“Maggie, on the other hand, certainly doesn’t view it this way. While she couldn’t regret her actions more – and wishes she had been upfront with Ben from the beginning – she wants nothing more than for Ben to understand that everything they have shared has been real.
“But he just can’t seem to get past it.” And neither, it seems, can their daughter, Ziggy. “This continues to be a huge trial for Ziggy and her family to go through,” says Sophie. “Everything could fall apart.”
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