Melvin, now 32, began to think the relationship could last. “She is a very good friend. She’s a very good daughter. And it’s easy to be in love, when you’re 28, 29, 30, but when you’re 60, 65, that’s when it’s tested,” he says. “And she’s the kind of person that I could see changing a diaper — mine!”

In March of this year, they spent a long weekend in Miami, and he chartered a late-afternoon sailboat. On the water, he asked her to be his wife.

Both knew when they got engaged that their contracts with NBC4 would be up in a few months. Each loved the station and felt like part of a family there, but they decided to move on to grow in their careers. In May, Czarniak got an offer to become an anchor for ESPN; a few weeks later, Melvin was hired by MSNBC.

They live in Westport, Conn., and commute about an hour a day (she to Bristol, Conn., and he to New York City). “It was very stressful because [working at NBC 4] wasn’t just a job, it was a lifestyle and a family for both of us,” she says. “But it’s been amazing. Because we are both in similar situations in different places, so that we can both support each other.”