For the last two weeks, Suffolk News-Herald readers have been intrigued by a romantic mystery playing out on page 3 of each day’s paper.

A hopeless romantic chose advertising in the paper as his means of conveying his love for his wife, but the identity of the happy couple remained a mystery — until today.

Chapter 14 of the love story identifies the mystery pair as Ray and Liz Batton, who are celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Ray Batton said he felt he had to outdo the surprise vow renewal he threw for his wife on their 20th anniversary.

“I had to top that,” he said. “That was the problem.”
Each chapter of the love story revealed a new detail that should have given the object of the advertiser’s affection a new reason to suspect the love story was her own.

Liz Batton said she paused when she read the first advertisement, which referenced the fact the couple met on a summer evening. But the same is true for a lot of couples.

By the third or fourth day, she had a strong suspicion the advertisements were from her husband. On the fifth day, the advertisement referenced the end of the couple’s Navy service after 11 years of marriage.

“I thought, this is just too many coincidences,” she said.

Even so, Liz Batton didn’t want to say anything to her husband.

“What if it isn’t him?” she recalled asking herself. “I’ll feel really stupid.”

She even asked the couple���s 18-year-old daughter, Lauren, who had been in on the secret from the start. But the younger woman played it off.

“Are you crazy?” Lauren Batton recalled responding. “He’s not a romantic.”

But soon, Ray Batton couldn’t stand it anymore and asked his wife if she knew who the advertisements were from.

“He’s always been Mr. Impulse,” she said.

Batton said he didn’t want to let the couple’s 30th anniversary pass without doing something important.

“We all get busy in life,” he said. “I don’t want to regret not doing and saying the things I should have said.”

His wife also acknowledged the importance of taking time to express love.
“You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to tell the ones you love that you love them, because you never know,” she said.

Batton said he has not yet thought about how the couple, now ages 48 and 49, will celebrate their 40th anniversary.

“Probably get matching walkers,” he said.