My AH would always "buy his way out" whenever he pushed me too far. Cards, gifts, a night out, whatever. And it worked for awhile. But, as Anvil pointed out, those things do no make a relationship.
Come to think of it, the man I'm dating now has never bought me flowers. But, he is always present when we talk, he's always honest with me, he never plays games or puts me down. We work through whatever differences we have with neither of us feeling like a "winner" or a "loser." There is no power struggle, no mind games, to attempts to control. Just mutual respect, honesty, and appreciation. How I lived without those basics for so long, I'll never know.
L