ABC/MATT KLITSCHERThe 13th season of The Bachelor ended how we knew it would—with a proposal. But that was only the beginning.
Whether it was Molly Malaney or Melissa Rycroft who found herself betrothed upon the culmination of the rejuvenated Bachelor, featuring oh-so-eligible single dad and once-blindsided Bachelorette castoff Jason Mesnick, remains to be seen (after the jump). But there were a slew of emotional hurdles to jump over first. For everyone involved.
From the importance of the ladies' connection with his 3-year-old son, Ty, to the reemergence of lost love DeAnna Pappas, Jason had a lot to consider. You know, looking for someone to be with forever and stuff.
"How in the world do you actually fall in love with two people at the same time?" Jason mused before the final rose ceremony.
If you're Jason, you get to have it both ways.
"I have found the one. I am in love, without a doubt," he told People recently of his fiancée. "I do see her as the one I want to marry and spend the rest of my life with."
But after one of the sweeter proposals in Bachelor history, replete with Melissa's shrieks of delight, the appearance of a tuxedoed Ty and a fully clothed celebratory dip in the pool...
Jason ultimately opted to break up with the 25-year-old sales rep from Dallas six weeks later during the After the Final Rose special, all monitored by host Chris Harrison, who always seems to be on the verge of laughing, no matter how dashed the hopes of the couple sitting in front of him.
And whether Melissa knew what was going to happen when she sat down in front of the cameras, she had to know the solemn, slightly nauseous look on Jason's face couldn't bode well for her matrimonial future.
"I came here to find somebody to spend the rest of my life with… and we're not right for each other," Jason said to the woman who won his heart not long ago.
"I don't know what you want me to say when you sit here and say that—because I don't believe you," Melissa protested. "I mean, I thought things were perfect!"
"You have every right to be irritated," Jason offered feebly as his ex-fiancée returned the 1.94-carat marquise-cut Neil Lane diamond he presented her with in New Zealand six weeks before.
So what of the other woman, 24-year old department-store buyer Molly, who, on the day she was ceremoniously dumped, promised Jason he was making a huge mistake?
Sorry, Mother Mesnick, but the career gal you were concerned about had a hold on your son that Melissa, in all her glory, couldn't compete with.
Well, after being forced to watch her and Jason's initial breakup over again, including how he sobbed after she walked off the scene, she was obviously pretty ready for some good news.
"So much of what I've been looking for, and I didn't even know it, was right in front of my face," Jason told her.
"I was hoping we could have a shot, see if we could go out for coffee or a drink and see where things..." he trailed off.
"I'm very confused," Molly said haltingly after the commercial break. "I think we still have a lot to talk about. But my feelings never went away. What I was feeling for you from the day I left New Zealand until today—those feelings never went away. I think we can…see where things go?"
"That's all I'm asking," Jason replied.
"I don't think we could end on a better note," Harrison said as the reunited couple shared a kiss. "That's as good as it's going to get."