A "buttah-cup" by any other name...Part 3

I'm not quite sure how it started. Perhaps it was the way I always greeted him, somewhat quirkily, "what's up buttercup?". Perhaps he really loved those little yellow flowers. Perhaps his love of lobst-uh and the little cup of butter that came with it really moved him. Nonetheless, very early in our relationship, Mr. Wonderful christened me "Buttercup". Oh he calls me lots of other things. "Sexypants". "Prettypants". "Baby". "Beautiful". But it always rolls right on back around to "Buttercup". He says it lovingly as he touches my face or buries his face in my neck. He says it laughingly when we're both being silly and ridiculous and over the top. He says it seriously when he wants me to really hear him as he says "I love you". In short he uses the name he's given me much the way I use his given name.

I asked him once, this sexy Northeastern city boy, if he even KNEW what a buttercup was. Before he could answer I said "it's a dainty, yellow flower". Without missing a beat, he quipped, "of course I do buttah-cup, it's the cup of buttah you dip your lobst-uh into and nothing you say will convince me otherwise. I ain't buyin' your redneck propaganda". Did I mention I love that man?

Growing up I never had much of a nickname. The name "Erica" doesn't lend itself to many nicknames (although my parents hoped people would call me Ricki Sue). As I grew into teenager-hood my friends started calling me Eri and that sorta stuck. Now most people call me Eri or Eri Sue. But there's only one I'll ever let me call me Buttah-cup.