He shook his head. ‘I’m happy as I am, thank you very much.’ Adding in the privacy of his head, Although I’ll be a lot happier when you’re on the train back to Plymouth.

She raised her arms before flapping them down by her sides. ‘So that’s it? You expect me to live in a poky flat with no prospects?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m not stopping you from joining up.’

She shot him a withering glance. ‘I’m not like you, Edward. I know where my place is, and it’s not running around taking orders from others.’

He shrugged. ‘That’s your prerogative, but I think you should know that since coming back to Liverpool I find myself reluctant to return to Plymouth. It was never my intention to leave Liverpool the first time around, and now that I’m back I’ve decided that this is where I’d like to raise my family.’

She spluttered in disbelief. ‘Me? Have children, in this hellhole? I don’t think so.’

He pulled his lips into a grimace. ‘Well, I’m not going back to Plymouth, so we’ll have to live here, besides, Plymouth is full of Navy, and when the war ends I intend to remain in the RAF.’

She stared around her, aghast. ‘If you think I’d move up here, then you’ve lost your mind!’ She shook her head. ‘You either come back to Plymouth and join your father’s business or …’

Ted raised an eyebrow. ‘Or what?’

She ignored his question. ‘I should never have agreed to marry you, only I thought you’d change, and that I could make you see your worth, but fat chance of that! I was foolish to think I could change you.’

Ted wrinkled his brow. ‘What are you saying?’

She drew a deep breath. ‘I’m saying that if you don’t change and start putting me first, then I shall have no choice but to file for a divorce.’

He eyed her incredulously. Surely she couldn’t be serious? She must be calling his bluff, hoping to bully him into doing what she wanted him to do – well, it wouldn’t work, not this time. ‘I can’t change, and you shouldn’t want me to, so I guess the ball’s in your court.’

Isobel’s eyes widened with shock before narrowing in anger. ‘Fine! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

Ted stuffed his hands into his pockets in an unyielding manner. ‘You have to do what you think best.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘You’re seriously choosing this … this … cesspit over me?’

He shrugged. ‘You’re the one handing out ultimatums, not me.’

She shook her head. ‘My mother always did say you can’t polish a turd.’

Ted roared with laughter, which infuriated Isobel. ‘Stop it! Stop laughing at me!’ she demanded, her voice turning shrill.