The Bachelorette alum Clare Crawley and boyfriend Ryan Dawkins are engaged only one month after going Instagram official with their relationship.

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"I am over the moon!" Clare told People. "This was the last thing I expected right now, especially coming from where I was a year ago. It's just been a serious journey, and Ryan has been by my side since the very beginning."

"Really what he's in it for is my heart, and he is so consistent and so vocal about how much he loves me. It is something I have never experienced... It's been such a gift having him in my life."

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Clare, who starred on the first half of The Bachelorette's sixteenth season in Fall 2020, and Ryan, the Mascot Sports CEO, got engaged this past weekend in Las Vegas, NV, according to press reports.

Ryan, 45, reportedly proposed marriage during the RiSE festival lantern release.

"He proposed to Clare and she said yes right away, she was very excited," a source told Daily Mail. "Her smile lit up the night sky, it was very sweet."

People subsequently confirmed the report, and Clare made an official announcement about their engagement shortly afterward.

"He has held me in my darkness, loves me through my healing, and we now celebrate the light together! The easiest YES of my life," she captioned an Instagram posting of a photo showing Ryan proposing.

Earlier on Monday, Clare hinted she may have found her happily ever after when she wrote on Instagram Stories, "Behind every healed person is the story of how they courageously walked through their darkness and found their light."

The hairstylist also uploaded an inspirational post to her account, writing, "I could have stayed right there on my dark bathroom floor. As a matter of fact... I did for longer than I'd like to admit. I shut out the world, because even the sunshine from the window hurt like hell somehow."

She continued, "I wanted to give up. But I didn't. I promised myself I'd stay long enough to see another sunrise. And one sunrise became 10. And before long, my steps became a run and my tears became belly laughs. You never know what is on the other side of those dark nights. Don't give up."

Clare posted a photo of herself traveling to Las Vegas several days ago, and she appeared very happy in the picture.

Clare shared last month on Instagram how she actually met Ryan the same month her engagement to The Bachelorette 16 winner Dale Moss ended.

"He asked me to dinner. I didn't have an appetite. (Stressed & depressed) But I said yes to tea and a walk. Ended up laughing and smiling more than I did the entire last year combined," Clare revealed on Instagram Stories, according to Us Weekly.

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Clare accepted a marriage proposal from Dale on The Bachelorette 16 finale in 2020 but they briefly split in January 2021.

Clare and Dale began going on dates again in February 2021, and then Dale confirmed they were back together in early April of last year by posting a selfie with Clare on Instagram.

Once they reconciled, Dale's representative announced the former pro athlete's split from Clare -- once and for all -- in early October 2021, although they had reportedly already broken up one month earlier.

Clare therefore quietly began seeing Ryan in late 2021, but she didn't go Instagram official with their relationship until September 2022.

"Him," Clare captioned an Instagram video of the pair singing in the car at the time, along with a red-heart emoji.

Clare did not unveil her boyfriend's identity in the post, but she called him "my perfect match" on Instagram Stories and posted footage of them kissing each other.

Fans immediately speculated the man was Ryan, and she later uploaded the following quote, "One day, when you least expect it, you are going to crash into someone who is going to be so soft and gentle with your heart, and you are going to be so glad you kept it open. You are going to be so glad that you continued to fight for it -- that you chose to believe it [that you] deserved more."

Clare hinted she had been dating Ryan for a while already when she pinned a comment to her Instagram account that read, "Babyyyyy!! Finally. A year later and y'all still so f-cking cute."

Season 17 The Bachelorette star Katie Thurston also wrote in the comments, "The secret is out."

And when one fan wrote about how Clare had finally found a "real man," Clare replied, "100 percent."

A source told Us last month of Clare, "She wanted to keep it private until she was ready to debut him as her new boyfriend. Close friends and family have known about it for a few months now, but it was her secret to tell."

Clare and Ryan reportedly "built a real solid foundation" before going public with their romance.

"He's mature, career-driven and a good father," an insider previously told the magazine. "He isn't in it for fame, which is what makes him different from her past relationships."

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Clare was last linked to The Bachelorette alum Blake Monar. They sparked dating rumors in January when they spent a fun-filled weekend together in Indiana, but a source told Us in late August that they were "never officially dating" and had only hung out "a few times."

The source explained how Clare was "still healing from her very public, painful breakup" with Dale when she was spending time with Blake at the beginning of the year.

But the source said Clare eventually turned a corner and continued her "search for The One."

Clare appeared devastated when she and Dale ended their engagement and relationship.

Multiple sources described Dale as a "fame-seeker" and partyboy in New York City while Clare had been very clear from the start about her intentions to get married, settle down and have children in the near future.

Reports also swirled at the time Dale had cheated on Clare, although Dale firmly denied the cheating allegations.

Clare allegedly blocked Dale after he had flown to her home in Sacramento, CA, on September 28 but left the following day for "a work obligation," which turned out to be a fitness event with The Bachelorette alum Tyler Cameron.

Clare apparently needed Dale by her side as her mother's condition with dementia and Alzheimer's worsened. (Clare's mom was later placed in hospice care).

Following their breakup, Clare threw major shade at Dale on more than one occasion. She ultimately thought he was fake and had put on a performance during their romance so he could achieve fame and boost his acting and modeling career.

Clare previously told Jana Kramer in an October 2021 episode of the "Whine Down" podcast her "biggest regret" from The Bachelorette is "trusting a man," People reported.

"I trusted somebody, I believed somebody that they were who they said they were or that they would hold up to the promises that they make when they get down on one knee... [But] I don't regret that I loved loving him," Clare said at the time.

Rumors Dale and Abigail Heringer hooked up also swirled before Abigail appeared on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season last year, and Clare acknowledged breakups "can get very messy and very icky." (Dale denied the rumors, saying he never even kissed Abigail).

Clare, on the other hand, told Jana that she knows what "happens behind closed doors."

"When you know the truth... I don't care for my side of the story, to be honest, to even be out there, even if I have receipts and proof, everything I need to show that I could really put it out there," Clare shared, according to People.

Not only was Clare dealing with a broken heart and her mother's health crisis in Fall 2021, but she was also still recovering from having her breast implants removed.

"There was a lot on my plate... It all came crashing down at once," Clare noted.

Clare also said it was "painful" that she and Dale never talked things out or found closure at the end of their hot-and-cold romance.

"The one that gets me is, how do you say goodbye to somebody you never wanted to walk away from?" Clare reportedly said through tears.

"Like I would have never walked... You're having to say goodbye to somebody you don't want to be saying goodbye to, you have to walk away from somebody you don't want to walk away from. It's hard, it's painful."

As for Dale's current love life, he is reportedly dating home designer Galey Alix after casually dating Argentinian model and soccer player Florencia Galarza this past winter.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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