It's no longer only a tease: Bret Michaels asked his on-off girlfriend of 16 years, Kristi Gibson, to marry him on Monday night's finale of his VH1 reality show, Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It – and she said yes!

The first thing they did afterwards? They went home to tell their daughters, Raine, 10, and Jorja, 5, the great news, Michaels tells our friends over @PEOPLE.

The rock star told them, "I did it! We'll all be together forever! Family hug!"

When he got down on his knee, Michaels, 47, asked Gibson, 39, "to be my wife. Please say yes or the rejection will kill me right now."

Gibson said she never thought this day would come. Michaels, who survived a near-fatal brain hemorrhage in April, also said that after all they've been through, who's still standing with him?

"Kristi – she's the one who put up with me all these years."