Emily gives Arie closure after he reveals the crazy way he tried to get her back, she and Jef Holm watch their proposal for the first time while on camera, and the happy couple reveals their plans for the future! Read on for details!

It’s official: Jef Holm is the winner of The Bachelorette! On the July 22 finale, he got down on one knee and proposed to Emily Maynard — and she accepted!

The Bachelorette: After The Final Rose opened with a triumphant Emily – looking gorgeous in purple – taking a seat with host, Chris Harrison. Emily immediately admits, “I’m nervous.” But when Chris notes that she looks “in love,” she gushes, “I am.”

When Chris presses her on what she loves about Jef so much, she says, “I mean, more than anything, I could talk all day long about all the wonderful qualities that he has, but he brings something out in me.” She continues to say that she feels more confident in herself than ever before and notes how much he makes her laugh.

Chris quickly turns to the subject of Arie Luyendyk, Jr., saying that he’s waiting to come out. Emily admits that her stomach hurts and says of Arie, “A part of your heart is always going to be with that person…I didn’t give him much closure in Curacao and I feel guilty for that. He’s somebody I cared about a lot then and I still care about now.”

When Arie comes out, the two hug and he immediately explains to Emily that watching the show helped him to better understand why things happened the way they did. He admits, “I think in that moment, when you’re so in love and you have this whole future planned out…you can’t really see an end to the relationship.”

He’s very quick to say, “I still have nothing but love for you and I’m glad you’re happy,” but admits that her decisions took him by surprise. “That day, it was really shocking to me…I was shocked and I just had so many questions and I felt like you couldn’t express your feelings [for Jef] to me. I didn’t have that closure and that was tough for me.”

Emily apologizes to Jef, “More than anything, I want you to know that I’m sorry, I’m still sorry and it was really hard for me to watch that. It put me right back in that moment. You’re everything that I had looked for and you made me laugh and everything. I’ve learned that I need to be more direct and say things, even if it will hurt in the moment. In the end, I just had more confidence in what Jef and I had.”

Then, things got weird, when Arie admitted what he did once he was home from the show. “I knew I couldn’t go out in public and fake it. I booked a flght and I…I flew to Charlotte because I just couldn’t deal. I really thought I wanted closure or I wanted a beginning and I wanted it to be off camera,” he says.

He came to his senseS once he got there, saying, “I got there and I have a lot of respect for Jeff, my best friend on the show, and I have a lot of respect for Ricki, and I really thought better of it when I got there and it didn’t feel right. I called her and we talked, and I just told her that I would leave my journal and she could read about my experience.”

Emily pulls out the journal and admits that she never read it, out of respect for Arie and Jef. “I felt like it wouldn’t help anything and these are his memories,” she says.

Arie explains his motivation behind leaving the journal, saying that he hopes it would show how genuinely he acted during his time on the show. Emily tells him that just by keeping a journal, she knew he was genuine. “I never questioned how you felt about me. Had Jef not been there, it would be Arie and I sitting here, so happy. At the end of the day, I didn’t have the same long-term confidence. Forever? I didn’t know.”

Arie tells her that he wished she would have just explained that to him on the phone and Emily owns up to her inability to be completely honest. “You’re so right. You deserve that more than anybody. I felt that mentioning Jef’s name and saying ‘I’m happy with Jef’ was like pouring salt in the wound,” she explained.

Arie leaves, but not before explaining that it was actually Jef who helped him get to a good place, speaking to him on the phone.

After Arie leaves, Chris asks Emily if it was hard for Jef to see Arie keep trying. Emily says that it was, but that he saw how she was struggling, so he took it upon himself to call Arie and give him the closure she couldn’t, like a true gentleman. She says that Jef never felt threatened and was always aware of everything that was going on.

At this point, Chris decides that it’s time to stop talking about Jef and start talking to him, so he’s brought out on stage. The audience loves him and the applause goes on for quite a while.

It’s very clear, just from their body language that this is a couple truly in love. Emily explains that it never felt like they were on a show, saying “It just felt like everything was so normal.” Jef agrees, saying “It just felt like we met out and about, not on a show.” Emily jokingly adds, “I dated some of his friend.”

When Chris asks Jef what he loves about Emily, Jef gushes, “She’s the most amazing girl in world, so perfect for me, so funny. I wish they showed more of that. Shes so witty and caring and smart and the best mom. She’s so gorgeous. We just fit perfectly together.” Could he be any sweeter? Emily jokes after, “I’m going to pay him later.”

The two talk about how they’ve been spending time together as a family with Ricki. Every weekend, they would be “shipped” off to secret places. Jef says that Ricki has come on some and they show the audience some adorable pictures of a trip all three were on together.

Chris asks Jef if there have been any missteps in developing a relationship with Ricki. He says no, but admits that while it’s very different, “Ricki is Emily’s universe and she’s very quickly becoming my universe. It’s way more than what I expected and better” Aww!

Chris tells the audience that Emily and Jef haven’t seen the footage of his proposal to her yet, so we got the pleasure of watching them as they watched. Emily keeps her head on Jef’s shoulder the entire time they watch. It’s so adorable.

Emily says she’s never had anybody say such sweet things about her heart rather than her looks. Chris grills her on why she took so long to respond and she says that she has a fear of being “that girl who keeps getting engaged,” but that “in that moment, I just said ‘Yeah, let’s do this!’”

Chris asks them about their future and what the first thing they’d like to do now that they’re engagement is public. Jef says, “We’ve been keeping this secret for so long. This is the first thing I want to do,” before turning and kissing her. It is such an adorable moment! After, he says that Emily told him she always wanted to do a humanitarian trip to Africa, so they’re going to go there with his company and help digging wells.

Chris asks where they plan to live, who’s moving where. Jef says that they’ve gone back and forth about it and they’ve decided that the best thing is for him to move to Charlotte for Ricki. He says that she shouldn’t have to be uprooted from her school, friends, and family. It’s such a sweet and selfless decision to make.

He says that once they’re married, they’ll figure out where they want to be as a family. Chris jumps at the mention of a wedding and asks if there are plans yet. Emily says that there have been discussions, but they don’t want to be that “cliche couple” who come out and talk about a wedding that never happens. She does say that they’re planning on Charleston for the wedding, but there is no time frame. “We don’t want to set anything in stone because the countdown starts, but I would love a spring wedding,” she admits.

With that, Chris wishes the couple well and another season of The Bachelorette comes to a close.

What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Are you satisfied with the outcome of the season? Do you think Emily and Jef are the perfect couple?

– Billy Nilles

More Bachelorette:

1. Arie Luyendyk, Jr. Reveals: What I Did To Get Emily Maynard Back
2. ‘Bachelorette’ Emily Maynard Engaged — Find Out Who Proposed
3. ‘Bachelorette’ Finale Recap — Emily Maynard Is Engaged