“Les and I want to keep King’s Walk in the family, but John is a doctor, and Luther is an attorney, and neither wish to give up satisfying professions to become a rancher. So, we need the best boss in Texas to run the ranch. Dal, we want you to take over King’s Walk. If it should happen that my sister decides Klees might appreciate a theater more than San Francisco, which has plenty of them, and if it should happen that the two of you recognize you belong together and want to live on the ranch, that would make us very happy. Regardless, Dal, if Freddy agrees, we’d like you to take over King’s Walk. Unless, of course, you have your heart set on setting up your own spread in Montana.”
Freddy peered at his face through the starlight. “My God,” she breathed. “Why didn’t we see it. A theater in Klees would be a success before the first curtain ever rose. The closest competition is a hundred miles away.” Her eyes sparkled. “The same people who snubbed me will love me for bringing them a theater, Shakespeare, and some culture!”
He stared back at her. “I could spend a lifetime and not build a ranch as fine as King’s Walk. The minute I saw Joe’s spread, I knew that’s what—”
Freddy jumped on him and kissed him hard on the mouth. “I want you in the front row for the opening night of every new play. And I want to go with you on at least one drive a year.”
Dal pulled her to her feet and swung her in a circle that ended with him crushing her against his chest and kissing her long and deep. “We’re going to build the best damned theater Texas ever saw!”
“And the best damned ranch west of the Mississippi!”
“I believe they have accepted our offer,” Alex said drily.
Laughing, Les released the brake on Alex’s chair, then gripped the handles. “As Freddy would say if she wasn’t kissing and carrying on, I believe it’s time to exit this scene.”
They had almost reached the campsite before Freddy caught up to them. She dragged Les around to the front of Alex’s chair and fiercely hugged them both, laughing and crying. “Thank you! I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t… I love you both so much!”
Caressing their hands, their dear faces, she tried to tell them what knowing them meant to her, and how much she loved them both. “Alex! Promise that you and John will come home at least once a year. And Les, we won’t let anything stand in the way of seeing each other once a week!”
Alex gripped Freddy’s and Les’s hands, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I’m going to miss you both like life itself. As soon as John and I establish our home, you must come—”
“Frederick Roark!” Dal shouted. “Get your fanny back over here. A naked cowboy wants to talk to you about a wedding!”
They looked toward the bedding grounds and laughed. Freddy embraced her sisters, holding each of them next to her heart for a long tearful moment. She kissed them both, then ran into the darkness toward her future and a man she could not live without.
There was no desperation in their lovemaking tonight. There was passion and tenderness and joy and promises and love enough to fill the vast prairies.
The last day dawned hot and bright. Excitement quivered in the air as the last campfire was smothered, the chuck wagon was packed for the last time, and the drovers cinched up their saddles for the final short drive.
Dal cantered around the herd, taking one last count, making sure, then he made a decision he would be proud of for the rest of his life. Smiling, he instructed Grady to saddle another horse and he beckoned a puzzled Freddy and Les to follow him. He trotted to the chuck wagon and reined in beside Alex, who was seated with the mule’s reins in her lap, ready to drive out.
“Ladies, you’ve been shot, gashed, almost trampled. I’ve asked a lot from all of you on this drive, and you’ve never let me down.” He looked at Alex. “I’m about to ask one more thing. You told me you used to ride. Can you do it again? Do you think you can stay on a horse for two and a half miles?”
“Mr. Frisco,” Alex said softly, and with obvious affection, “by now you should know that my sisters and I left the words ‘I can’t’ way behind us. We can do anything.”
“Here’s what I want you to do…”
Freddy listened, and tears sprang into her eyes. She would love him for the rest of her life, but she couldn’t imagine ever loving him more than she did this minute.
Alex’s face lit in a radiant smile. “Thank you, Dal. I’ll always be grateful for this.”
The outfit waited while John helped her mount, then Dal shouted to his drovers.
“Caleb and Bill, you ride swing. Drinkwater and Charlie and Peach, you take the flanks. Dan and James, pick up the drag.” He waved his hat and pointed it north. “Let’s move this herd.”
“Who’s taking the point, boss?” Grady called with a grin that said he knew.
“Joe Roark’s daughters will take ’em in.”
Dal held his hat against his chest as the drovers cheered. There wasn’t a man in the outfit who didn’t recognize that Joe’s daughters had earned the right to take the point, not a man who didn’t remove his hat in respect as Freddy, Les, and Alex cantered to the front of the herd.
Riding abreast, tall and proud in their saddles, the Roark sisters led two thousand Texas longhorns into Abilene, Kansas, and down the main street. No one who saw them that day ever forgot them.