Page 21 of Once Upon An Ever After
Dawson chuckled, “Finally caught on that I know it, huh?”
“You said it last night but amid everything else, I forgot. You said my whole name and I was so wrapped up in you telling me that you love me I didn’t even catch it but this.” He held the planner up as proof, “You had it embossed with my initials. My first initial. An L. How? How did you find out?”
“You have to promise not to get mad if I tell you.” Dawson smirked and Beau immediately rolled his eyes.
“Which means it was my brother. Ash told you?”
“Not exactly.” Dawson hedged, “I tricked him.”
“Ash is pretty much a certified genius. Nobody tricks him.”
“Okay fine. I conned him into making it a game. I told him if he gave me three chances to guess and I failed I would never ask again. He agreed because really, he couldn’t have thought I would really get it in only three attempts.”
“You guessed my first name in three tries?” Beau looked doubtful and Dawson felt a warm sense of pride fill his chest.
“Two actually.”
“No fucking way.”
“It’s true.”
“Explain.” Beau rearranged himself on the bed until they were sitting, facing one another. “Tell me how you figured it out.”
“Well, by the time I made the deal with Ash, I already had some important clues.”
“Such as?” Beau prompted.
“Well, there was the mix up with Uncle Roman thinking Ash was a woman when he first started working for him.”
“He thought Ashley had to be a girl’s name. Yeah, I remember.” Beau snorted. “Not the first or the last time my brothers had to deal with that mistake. Did I ever tell you about how he was originally assigned to the girl’s dorm at summer camp? Wait, never mind. Not important. Keep going.”
Dawson chuckled, “I want to hear that story.”
“Some other time.” Beau promised.
“Okay, fine. So, I figured if Ash was short for Ashley then maybe Beau was short for a feminine name too and not just a nickname based on your last name like we all assumed.”
“What did you think Beau was short for?”
“Beatrice?” Dawson cringed and Beau smacked him with his pillow.
“That’s terrible.” He laughed.
“I know. I know. But it was my first instinct and I guessed it as soon as Ash agreed to the game. Needless to say your brother laughed in my face and said I’d never figure it out.”
“Solid assessment from the sound of it.”
“Shut it.” Dawson teased. “I was on the wrong path. I’ll admit that. But then I only had two guesses left so I played it safe and didn’t make any random guesses for a while. In the meantime, Ash started dating Uncle Roman and we started seeing them at all the family gatherings and visits. At some point, I heard the story about how Ash had gotten his name.”
“Fuck.” Beau cringed and Dawson beamed.
“Your mom was obsessed with Gone with the Wind, so much so that she named her first born son Ashley after one of the main characters.”
“Uh huh.” Beau narrowed his eyes, “But that doesn’t explain how the hell you guessed my name. It wasn’t in that movie.”
“No. It wasn’t. But it was the name of the actor that played Ashley and to hear Ash tell it your mom really loved that guy, thought he was way hotter than Clark Gable for some reason.” Dawson chuckled. “So I had the assumption that you hated your name because it was considered too feminine these days since that’s why your brother shortens his name, and I had the Gone with the Wind information.” He shrugged, “I made an educated guess that if Ash was named for the character then maybe you were named for the actor. Hence… Lesley.”
Beau shook his head slowly, looking shocked, “You really took the time to think it through so you could figure it out.”
