Bachelor Andy Rings Up Tessa

Tessa Horst impressed Lieutenant Andy Baldwin at Pearl Harbor, and now she has a diamond to show for it.

The 26-year-old social worker won the heart of the titular Officer and Gentleman on the 10th season of The Bachelor, with Monday's episode culminating in a proposal for the spirited yet "so refined" San Francisco resident.

A week after ABC's hit social experiment had Baldwin, 30, and three prospective mates testing the waters in Hawaii, where the U.S. Navy surgeon lives, his family in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, helped him narrow the field down to one.

"I don't think you can make a wrong decision at this point," Baldwin's father Roy told him. Gee, thanks for the help, Dad.

After 23 other women had fallen by the wayside, Horst beat out 28-year-old Bevin Nicole Powers, a tattooed divorcée and clinical researcher who Baldwin was fiercely attracted to but who, in the end, was a little too out there for the conservative military man's tastes.

"I want you to know that this is not a rejection at all, but there is somebody who has touched my heart deeper," Baldwin told an obviously devastated Powers. "Is there anything you want to say? Anything at all?"

Of course, but you can't say those sorts of things on broadcast television.

"I never imagined that the day I proposed to a woman I'd also have to say goodbye and break a woman's heart," Baldwin mused.

Well, such is reality television.

"I will never, ever forget you," he told Powers. (And we suggest he edit that part out if Tessa ever gets a hold of this episode.)

Showing that playing hard to get (after volunteering to be on The Bachelor, that is) can be a smart move, Horst and her "baby steps" approach to building a relationship proved irresistible for the family-oriented triathlete, deep sea diver and charity organizer, who said on last week's island-hopping episode that he could definitely picture being a husband and father with Horst by his side.

"I had to really work," Baldwin remarked. When he made the trip to visit Horst's family in Washington D.C., for instance, he told her that he had been praying for her to tell him how she really felt. Way to keep the guy guessing, Tessa.

Horst had admitted earlier in the competition that the fear of rejection and her increasingly catty cast mates were preventing her from really opening up around Baldwin—at one point making her doubt whether she even wanted to get another rose—but she said that spending the day with him in Hawaii really "hit home" for her, and that she could envision building a life with him.

"That makes me so scared and jittery and nervous—and excited—all at the same time," she said.

"You took the risk of keeping me here even if I wasn't totally opening up right away," Horst told Baldwin on their last date together before the final Rose Ceremony. "This experience has been about taking that step, taking that risk, not knowing and going for it…I'm in love with you, and I want to be here."

With that date also falling on Baldwin's 30th birthday, Horst presented him with a homemade collage of mementos from their time together.

"I freakin' love you, you know that?!" a misty-eyed Baldwin exclaimed.

While tonight's proposal was only the second time the question has been popped in the last seven seasons, giving the finale a little something extra (not to mention some sparkly eye candy), the Bachelor himself revealed back in March during an interview on The View that he had proffered marriage to this season's winner.

"I'm so glad I did it because I am so in love," Baldwin said on the morning chat fest. "It worked. I'm smitten...I can't get her out of my mind. I met the love of my life and I'm so happy."

And Horst realized that getting another rose wasn't so bad after all.