Clayton Echard knew his latest rose ceremony wouldn't be easy, but there's no way he was expecting this.
During the March 14 episode of The Bachelor, Clayton was in emotional turmoil after the surprising exit of Susie Evans. Left to pick up the pieces, Clayton expressed unease in meeting with the final two contestants, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.
"I'm really in a bad spot right now," Clayton confessed to host Jesse Palmer. "Now I have to go face Rachel and Gabby. I love both of these women. And tonight, I owe it to them to tell them everything that's happened and where I'm at. The scary part is...I don't even know at this point. I'm just trying to prepare for the worst. But this could be the night that I fail in trying to find love."
A Bachelor at a crossroads!
However, the inevitable could not be avoided. Standing in front of both Gabby and Rachel, he broke the news about what happened with Susie, who was nowhere to be found.
Clayton began his explanation by saying "it is not going to be easy to hear."
Well, that's for sure. "Yesterday, Susie told me that if I had told either of you that I was in love or if I had been intimate with either of you," Clayton said, "that she could not continue with this journey and that she felt like it was over for us."
Clayton told Gabby and Rachel that the entire ordeal made him question Susie's intentions and motives and then, in a bold move, decided to use her as a cautionary tale.
"I was in love with her," Clayton confessed. "And I was in love with each of you two. I am in love with both of you. I also was intimate with both of you. I know it's not easy to hear."
Clayton went on to say that he believes there's a future standing in front of him, but he's not sure who it's with. However, undeterred, he urged both Gabby and Rachel to ask him whatever lingering questions they had, however hard they might be.
Gabby immediately broke down, walked away and said she was "heartbroken." When Clayton eventually sat down with her, Gabby asked about Susie and called her absence "concerning."
Clayton explained the dramatic tale to Gabby, and argued that he simply allowed himself to "explore the relationships fully."
That didn't sit well with Gabby, who almost instantly put her guard up and questioned Clayton's authenticity.
"I don't think he's being fair right now," she contended. "I don't think you tell multiple women that you love them thinking that there would be no consequences knowing that there's steps along the way that we have to get through. For him to say that 'the woman I walk out with is the woman I love the most?' Like, wrong f--king answer."
Rachel, meanwhile, was no less disheveled.
"I feel really heartbroken," she said through tears. "I literally never thought there could be a chance he could be in love with three of us. In love! It feels like it meant nothing. I'm just supposed to get my heart broken for the chance that he might love me a little bit more than others?"
Well, this is The Bachelor...
Clayton eventually sat down with Rachel, as well, in an attempt to clarify the situation.
"The love that I feel for you is not the love that I feel for Gabby. It's different," he said. "That's all I can say. I know it doesn't make sense. But it's different. It's not the same. You are two different people. I have different feelings in different ways."
Somehow this is only getting more confusing.
With Rachel's heart on the floor, Clayton vowed that he was still in love with her and—surprise!—he wanted her to meet his family, who was waiting nearby.
Finally, it was time for the rose ceremony itself. Rachel was up first, who accepted Clayton's rose with nary a second thought. Up next, of course, was Gabby. When Clayton asked if she accepted the rose, she said "I can't, I'm sorry" and walked out.
*cue the screams of Bachelor Nation*
Clayton followed Gabby outside, where she began to explain her decision. "I came here tonight thinking it could be you and I at the end," she said. "That we do have something very special and very unique. My trust in you and us is what carried me forward."
Yet, the reality of the situation became too much.
"I'm not in the business of competing with anyone for love," Gabby said firmly. In an attempt to convince her to stay, Clayton laid it on thick. "There's more than one way to fall in love," he said, "and that's what I found out."
Against all odds, Clayton offered Gabby the rose again and she accepted.
"Not that he changed my mind, but he allowed space for me to feel what I'm feeling," Gabby said. "He acknowledged that what we have is special and unique and I can trust that moving forward. I really love him. But I could kick myself next week."
Oh, the perils of a Bachelor contestant!
And even after all of that and introducing Gabby and Rachel to his parents, Clayton found himself thinking about Susie, and ultimately chose to reach out to her for a reunion.