Here's What Ben's Return To 'The Bachelorette' Could Mean For The Season Finale

Whenever any Bachelorette gets down to the final few guys, she's usually faced with a tough decision. After all, if a guy made it far enough in the process to get to hometown dates, that's a pretty good sign the Bachelorette is serious about him. Last week, Tayshia Adams made the very tough decision to eliminate one of her final four guys, Ben Smith. But the two left a lot of things unsaid during their goodbye, and it turns out, Ben needed to say more, so he returned to the show in the Dec. 21 episode. With the episode ending on a cliffhanger ahead of the Dec. 22 finale, fans are left wondering: Does Tayshia pick Ben on The Bachelorette?

During his time on The Bachelorette, Ben had trouble stepping up to express his feelings to Tayshia. During one of the first cocktail parties with Tayshia, he was in no rush to get some alone time with her, since he wanted to be the last guy of the night to spend time with her. But that plan backfired for him since the date ended before he had a chance to talk to her, and Tayshia was upset that he didn't take the initiative to pull her aside.

A similar problem occurred during Ben's hometown date last week. He realized he was in love with Tayshia, but decided to wait to tell her. This time, him waiting to confess his true feelings had an even bigger impact; Tayshia send Ben home.

During the Dec. 21 episode, Tayshia had two happy Fantasy Suite dates with Ivan Hall and Zac Clark. But her date with Brendan Morais didn't go quite so well. When Brendan realized he wasn't fully ready to make a commitment to Tayshia, he decided to eliminate himself. That left Tayshia with her final two guys, but she also was still thinking about Ben. When former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay stopped by to talk it all over with Tayshia, Tayshia admitted that saying goodbye to Ben was really hard and that she wished he'd opened up more.

While Tayshia was talking things over with Rachel, Ben showed up to chat with Chris Harrison. "The last interaction [I had with Tayshia] was so not like the relationship I had with her, Ben told Chris. "I don't even know if I'm asking to be back in her life. I just need to express myself."

Just as Tayshia was about to head to her rose ceremony with Zac and Ivan (during which both were in line to get roses), Ben knocked on her door. He told Tayshia he was completely caught off guard by their break-up and that he's been beating himself up over how he left things. Then he dropped the bombshell: "I'm in love with you," Ben told her. "I have been in love with you. I blew it by not telling you in the moment."

Ben started to go on to say that he sees a life with her, but Tayshia interrupted him. She was overwhelmed and took a minute to collect her thoughts.

"I just want to cry," Tayshia told a producer. "I don't know what to do. There's a rose ceremony. What do I do with that?"

Fans will just have to tune in to the finale to see what Tayshia decides about her future with Ben.

Season 16 of The Bachelorette continues on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.