"I read your book. Mystery solved."
"By the way, I haven't made dinner yet. Can you wait a bit for it?"
"Melanie, I don't expect you to make my meals all the time. Let's just heat up some soup and have a sandwich with it. I expect you are really short on sleep. Why don't you stay over tonight? Go to bed early, and tomorrow morning we'll go catch some fish for the freezer."
"You sure you wouldn't mind? It sounds very tempting."
"No problem. I have some work to do tonight, so I'll stay out of your way."
Melanie did as he suggested and retired early. She slept soundly, now that Mr. Coffee was back where he belonged, stretched out at the bottom of the bed, one paw curled possessively over her ankle.
* * *
Russ didn't really have work to do - just a lot of thinking. He knew he couldn't go on any longer pretending to be just friends. So it was now or never. He took a sheet of paper, spent a few minutes writing on it, and then folded it into a small square. Finding a piece of cord, he made a small hole in the corner of the square and threaded it through. That done, he set it aside ready for the morning.
* * *
Melanie was up early, showered and dressed, and had the coffee and breakfast started, when Russ made his appearance. They ate in companionable silence, Mr. Coffee sitting watching them, waiting for a treat. He wasn't given table scraps but that didn't stop him from trying.
"Let's take our coffee to the living room." Russ rose and picked up the mugs and thermos, taking them into the other room. When Melanie was settled in 'her' chair, he left the room for a moment. When he returned, he was carrying Mr. Coffee. He brought him over and set him on Melanie's lap. That's when she noticed the little square of paper fastened around his neck, her name on the outside of it. She looked at Russ, a question in her eyes.
"Go ahead. Open it."
"You are weird, Russ!" But she did as asked. Untying the cord, and opening the square of paper, she began to read, blushed and then the tears started.
'Melanie, we love you, hearts and souls. Please marry us and make us happy. We want to go to bed with you at night and waken up beside you in the morning. We want to cry with you and laugh with you, go fishing with you and play house with you for real. I want to have babies with you and fill our house with joy and laughter. Please?' By now, Russ was on one knee in front of her, a solitaire diamond ring in his hand. "Please, Melanie, will you marry us?"