When the war ended in 1945, Stephanie was back in London. She worked at various jobs and then obtained work as an apprentice legal secretary at Lewis, Coates and Lucas, a law firm in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. She was happy at her work - it would be the beginning of her long career as a legal secretary and then Notary Public. But her home life was difficult. Her parents were demanding and hard to please - they dictated what she could and couldn’t do, took most of the money she earned and expected her to do much of the work around the house. Stephanie found it hard to push back but eventually she had just had enough. She arranged with her friend Mavis to move in to her family’s home in Bexleyheath, Kent, but they knew enough about Stephanie’s mother to know there would be trouble, so they insisted she sort things out with her mother first.

So, one day while her mother was out, Stephanie packed her bags and went to stay at the home of another friend, Winnie. Her mother was angry and quickly figured out where she had gone. She showed up at Winnie's door, shouting and crying and demanding that Stephanie return home immediately. When Stephanie stood her ground and refused, her mother changed tactics - she stopped shouting and started cajoling and pleading "Come home for my sake, for your little brother Billy's sake..." Stephanie stood tall, breathed deeply and uttered her famous retort "Not for you and not for the King of England!"

This would be a watershed moment for Stephanie - finally she was free to live life on her own terms. It also wouldn’t be the last time she packed her bags and left home when no one was looking.