It's the question being dished on blogs, at coffee shops and in ladies' restrooms all over the country:

Who will Lt. Andy Baldwin choose tomorrow night on ABC's "The Bachelor"?

Will it be Bevin Powers, the 28-year-old clinic research coordinator from Palo Alto, Calif., who can't seem to control her emotions around Baldwin?

Or will he pick Tessa Horst, the 26-year-old San Francisco social worker who, until last week, seemed to have no idea what she was doing on the show?

"It got really hard with the last three (women)," said Baldwin during a teleconference with the media last week. "I wasn't acting. There was a reason why those three were the last three. They each had a lot of different qualities I really liked and thought would be compatible with me. That's when it became real, and my emotions were just overwhelmed."

On last week's episode, Baldwin brought the three remaining women — Horst, Powers and 25-year-old Danielle Imwalle — to Hawai'i to spend some alone time with him.

After shooting down ziplines with Horst, hiking with Powers and watching whales with Imwalle on Kaua'i, Baldwin gave roses to the first two women, sending a heartbroken Imwalle back home to Bethel, Conn.

"It came down to Bevin and Tessa," Baldwin said. "They each had something I really adore. That's why the finale day was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And yet it was the greatest thing."

RUMORS RIFE

Despite rumors that a drunk Horst called a radio show and confessed she was the recipient of the final rose — and a marriage proposal that she turned down — Baldwin admitted he did propose to one of the women during the show's finale, which airs tomorrow.

Her answer?

"All I can say is that the woman I proposed to in the end most definitely said yes," Baldwin said. "And we're very happily engaged."

In the two-hour finale, Baldwin takes both women to his hometown of Lancaster, Pa., where they meet his family and see where the 30-year-old Navy doctor grew up.

It's the first time since college that Baldwin has brought any girlfriend home to visit his parents, he said.

And it was payback for the two women, whose families got to interrogate Baldwin in an episode that aired two weeks ago.

"My parents were cautious about passing judgment on either (woman), but my sister, on the other hand, she asked them some tough questions," Baldwin said. "Given the grilling I received at some of the hometowns, I was going to dish it right back. And given what was at stake in the end, my head was spinning and I needed some clarity."

ON ONE KNEE

The threesome jet back to Hawai'i, where Baldwin spends more one-on-one time with each woman before making his choice.

And then dropping to one knee to propose.

"I went on (the show) thinking that maybe there would be a chance that it would end with true love and an engagement," Baldwin said. "That's what happened, and I'm overjoyed that it did."

Baldwin said he's seen his fiancee three times since the show's finale. They talk on the phone for hours every day.

"It's just gotten better and better," Baldwin said about their relationship. "It's wonderful that it's going in this direction and not the other. I think that's why we're so excited and happy to go out in public as a couple and fall in love with each other all over again in the real world."

Baldwin hasn't told anyone whom he picked. Not even his parents know.

"I did what was right for me, and that was the right decision," Baldwin said. "I just can't wait. How many days is it again?"

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.