What's in a Name?

Chapter 2

Jacqueline sat there stunned as her horse continued its walk down the road. 'Just promise me you won't name our son…' Our son. Our son? What does this guy do, spend all his nights planning our life together? Hasn't he anything better to do? Coming out of her daze, she looked up the road. How long had she been sitting here thinking? Looking as far as she could ahead of her, she couldn't see him anymore in the darkness. Oh great, she thought. He did this on purpose. Anything to change the subject. Well, it was not going to work!

Kicking her heels into the horse's sides, she galloped after him. He can't be that far ahead of her. Their route didn't take them off this road for a couple miles yet. But how could she get him to tell her? Just asking him clearly didn't work. Maybe she could find a way to trick it out of him. If she could find him, that is.

About a minute later she finally saw him. As she rode up on him, she yelled, "D'Artagnan! Wait!"

Hearing her, he slowed his horse back to a walk, allowing her to catch up with him. "I already told you…."

"But that's not fair. You already know everything about me."

Raising his eyebrows but refusing to look at her, he answered, "I'd like to think that I don't know ALL your secrets yet…."

Ignoring this, she continued, "And you're avoiding the question."

"Question? What question? I don't remember any question." Patting his horse on the neck and acting as though he was speaking to it, he asked, "Do you remember a question?" Looking over at Jacqueline he said, matter-of-factly, "Nope, we don't remember any question."

"Alright! But I don't see what the big deal about it is. I mean, it's just your name. It's not like I'm asking you to tell me some deep, dark family secret or anything," she said.

"Now a deep, dark family secret I could probably be enticed to tell you," he answered.

Frustrated again, she sat there quietly, seeming to be lost in thought.

D'Artagnan grinned to himself. Perhaps this was the end of it. Why was she so obsessed with knowing his name anyway? No one else seemed to care that they didn't know it. He decided it must be a 'woman' thing. Women were funny that way. They wanted to know every little detail, and then would find some way to use it against the man. He decided he'd just not bother her again until they got back to the garrison.

"Unless….."

Oh no. Here she was on round 2, or was it now round 3? Ok, he could play along. Sooner or later she'd have to get tired of the game.

"There has to be some reason you don't want your name known. It must be something really awful. Something like…..Octavius! Octavius D'Artagnan." Making a face, she said, "Eww, no parent in their right mind would name you that."

D'Artagnan couldn't help but laugh at this. So this was what she wanted to play. Ok, he was game.

"Maybe it's Reginald. Reginald D'Artagnan."

"Jacqueline D'Artagnan."

Looking quickly over at him, then turning back to stare into the darkness again, she decided to ignore it. He was just trying to get her mind off her quest again. "Augustus D'Artagnan."

"Jacqueline Roget-D'Artagnan."

"Philippe D'Artagnan. That's not bad."

Feigning a look of interest D'Artagnan said, casually, "Nah. I wouldn't name our son any of those. What do you think I should call you? My darling? My darling Jacqueline?"

Crossing her brows, Jacqueline stammered, "First you insist that we're going to be married, which is totally out of the question! Then you insinuate that we're going to have a son? Aren't you putting the carriage in front of the horse?"

"Ahh, you are right! It might just be a daughter first. Maybe you better think of some girl's names while you're at it."

"You enjoy driving me insane, don't you?" she asked him, wondering what her next ploy should be.

"Why do you rise to the occasion so easily then…..if you don't enjoy it?" he asked, eyeing her curiously.

"Because you're just so….just so….."

"Flamboyant? Handsome? Irresistible? Would you like me to continue?"

"No, that's enough, thank you! I just have to admit that I don't think I've ever met a man as conceited as you are," she said, giving up on her quest for now. It wasn't fair. There had to be a way to find the answer. Then maybe she could use it as blackmail the next time he even thought of discussing children, or even marriage.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said as they were coming back into Paris toward the garrison.

"You would!" she said, glad that their patrol was nearly at its end. The time had actually gone fast for her, between all her thinking and the bantering going on with D'Artagnan. But she was tired and would be very glad to crawl into her nice soft bed again. She let out a big yawn as they neared the stables.

"Are you going to have sweet dreams of me?" D'Artagnan asked, partly out of curiosity, partly out of the wish he had that she would dream of him.

"No!" She had almost yelled the answer to him. The problem was that she was afraid he would enter her dreams as he tended to do much more than she liked.

"I'm going to have sweet dreams about you," he said, mainly to see what reaction it would get from her. He was really hoping she would invade his dreams. It's about the only time that he gets to see her in a dress, her long hair falling…..no, he wouldn't think about it. Perhaps he would be better off if he could just forget that she was a woman and think of her only as his comrade. As much as he wanted it, it hurt that much more that she didn't.

"Well then," she told him as she put her saddle away, "I will wish you a very good night. Or day as it is. Anyways, sleep well D'Artagnan."

"You too, Jacques."