Surprise is one of my favorite things about doing romantic things for my wife Kathy.  So sometimes I do the unexpected, or do the "expected" in a way to cover for the "unexpected."  And of course timing is always tricky.

The week before Valentine's day I ordered the deluxe dozen roses from the local florist to be delivered on Monday the 13th.  She got the roses delivered to her about mid morning and we had lunch...she thought this was pretty nice, but.... that was all just cover for the "real" Valentines. Roses on Valentine's day is a no brainer (some men have never learned it unfortunately).

Tuesday I surprised her by showing up at her work place just before 11:30 and we went to a tea room near where she works to have lunch.  I picked a nice cozy table a little secluded on the covered patio.

After we sat down and ordered I then brought on the full bore Valentine's surprise!

I reached into each jacket pocket and produced two small brass candle holders, and set them on the table.  Then I reached into my inside jacket pocket and retrieved 2 tall red candles, put them in the holders and then lit the candles.

I then pulled out a card and handed it to her, and reached into my pocket again and got out a little white box that contained a diamond heart necklace. While she was setting there stunned looking at all that I sang a little song I wrote to the tune of the Happy Birthday song.

She was totally amazed and nearly speechless.  But she was loving all of it!   It was a wonderful Valentine's day.