Oceans of Us: An Age Gap Forbidden Romance

Four Years Later…

AUGUST 2021

My sweet girl’s been waiting for the Tooth Fairy to come visit for the past six weeks. Ever since I told her that epic tale during bedtime and said the Fairy wears a frilly pink gown, glittery crown, and magical wand, my little girl’s been trying to wiggle out her perfectly firm teeth, eats a bunch of raw carrots, and sleeps with her cute little hands under her pillow just so she can ‘know when the Fairy is coming’…

My sweet girl definitely got the attitude from her daddy.

Paisley and I have explained to our sweet girl numerous times that at three years old she’s still a little too young to worry about that Fairy, but Lily Lisconti isn’t taking in. She’s adamant. Fierce. Unstoppable. Just like her mommy and daddy. Lily used to wake up sobbing that the Fairy didn’t come… so my beautiful wife and I came up with an idea. Once every two weeks we secretly put a one-dollar bill under our daughter’s pillow and tell her the Fairy must have heard her cries and felt bad, so she came as a way of saying she’ll officially be visiting when Lily’s older, but for now the one-dollar bills are just a lead-up.

There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing the bright grin on Lily’s face whenever she wakes up early and skips to our bed with a one-dollar bill in hand. Nothing.

When my family’s happy, I’m happy. And we’ve been happy. Beyond happy.

I love being the husband of the most beautiful woman in the entire world, Paisley.

Love being the daddy to our two children, Lily and a little boy, Harley, who’s four months.

Love being the creator of my charity, Silent Hearts, and the owner of a shelter so close to my heart that assists sufferers of mental health, homelessness, and domestic violence.

Paisley and I got married four months after we moved to Seattle four years ago. It didn’t matter that she was only eighteen. All she wanted was for us to officially be each other’s worlds and fuck, how much I wanted that too. Lily came along a year later, while we welcomed Harley into our lives just over four months ago now. Life couldn’t be any better for us right now.

It’s been a dream.

It’s crazy how much our lives have changed in four years, but it’s been the best four years of my life. Our lives. The best years because she is in it.

In these past years, Paisley and I have become so close to her half-sister, Alexis, and Alexis’s step-uncle, Alejandro. The distance between California and Washington State did nothing to our strong bond. We still meet up regularly and Paisley and Alexis chat daily, whether it be a text, phone call, or FaceTime video call. I love that even though we went through hell and back for years, Paisley gained a half-sister that she cherishes so much. Alexis is the missing piece. It brings me peace to see the girl I knew at three years old doesn’t hold any grudges toward me and understands everything that happened with her mom, Lea. Alexis doesn’t hold any resentment toward me, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted—that giraffe obsessed little girl to still be there.

In these past years and with the help of therapy on both of our behalves, Paisley and I have also made peace with Lea’s actions. It’s finally closure. That chapter of our lives is over now. Forever. It’s all in the past now, and damn how much I’m loving our future after the ruthless storm.

Paisley and Maralyn still speak almost every day, and I’ve just recently re-connected with Nico and Leo. It took a while and I was beginning to not give a shit about them as I’ve got a family I love, protect, and provide for now, but then they apologized, and I caved. They both said they overstepped and should have never taken it all so personally, because hurting them was never my intention. I appreciated it. With us being states away, I don’t see them as much as before, but we always try to keep in touch.

I’m just glad I have my boys back.

As for Paisley’s father, Alaric… we invited him to our wedding four years ago, but he never replied to the RSVP, and we didn’t push it. That’s when the trying stopped on our end. He’s missed huge milestones in his daughter’s life in these past years. Paisley beginning college, opening the wellness shelter, our marriage, our first little girl, birthdays, Paisley graduating college, our little boy, my fortieth earlier, Paisley starting her dream job at Notti Designs as a landscape architect a month ago.

A part of me still feels sadness on Paisley’s behalf because she deserved more, but two weeks ago when we were in Sacramento for the weekend to visit Alexis and Alejandro, the wildest thing happened. We were at a park having a picnic, when a familiar man jogged by with a red-haired woman who seemed in her early forties.

Alaric.

It was Alaric.

The moment our eyes met, my breath halted in my throat. Then his eyes moved to Paisley, and he stopped jogging. The second he scanned our little kids his eyes started getting all glassy. Paisley stood up and within seconds they were running to each other and holding on to each other for dear life. It brought fuckin’ tears to my eyes because I love seeing my wildflower happy, and I knew the distance with her father was really hurting her. It wasn’t long before Alaric apologized for all the shit he caused us. He said he never reached out because he was ashamed of the way he acted and even apologized to me too. I think it made him smile knowing I’m taking care of his girl so well.

Alaric couldn’t believe we had two little children—Lily and Harley—and said they looked like the perfect combination of us. I couldn’t agree more. They’re so beautifully cute. Now, Paisley and her father have been talking. It warms my soul because I know what it feels like to be beaten down, and fuck, how good it is to thrive now. There isn’t a part of me that isn’t thrilled that their relationship is getting better, as is mine with Alaric too. My former best friend and I don’t talk daily like we used to, but something is better than nothing, I guess.

He’s going to get remarried soon and asked me to be the best man and his fiancée asked Paisley to be one of the bridesmaids. We said yes because life isn’t about holding grudges, it’s about forgiveness, and I so desperately want to repatch what we had. I may not be able to get back my friendship with Nico and Leo, but Alaric, Alaric is the most important one because he’s Paisley’s father and my sweet girl and little boy’s grandfather. They deserve the best family in the universe.

Now, as the glorious sun begins to rise outside the bedroom window, I smile to myself as I roll over in the bed, snuggling into Paisley. This is how I usually wake up, counting my blessings. Thanking God. Appreciating life. Mornings also usually consist of Lily sneaking into our bed as the sun comes up. It always happens around this time, and I can’t help but chuckle every time she climbs into the bed and peacefully lies between Paisley and me.

I love Lily with all my heart, but God, she’s the biggest cockblocker to ever exist.

It’s rendered Paisley and me to devour each other late at night instead, whenever the kids are distracted with something, or date night when my cousin, Enrico, takes care of the kids for us. Nevertheless, Paisley and I can’t go without having sex a few times a day. I just adore Paisley too much to not make love to her like she deserves.

Enrico recently returned to Seattle and it’s so nice having him living in the same city as me for the first time since we were kids. It feels like the good old times again. Plus, I love that Lily and Harley have a cousin—Enrico’s little son, Hugo, to play with.

I love seeing Paisley as a mom. Love how graceful and selfless she is. Always putting them first and making sure our kids are okay. Some of my favorite nights are when I’m working late doing some admin work at home and Paisley helps Lily fall asleep after a nightmare. Moments later when I step into Lily’s bedroom to help, I always find Paisley dozed off in Lily’s bed and still holding our daughter’s hand; who’s also fast asleep. It happens more times than I can count and it’s the most beautiful snapshot of my beautiful family complete. A family of my own. I always find myself smiling at them peacefully sleeping like that, and cross arms and lean against the doorframe and watch on, because it brings so much warmth to my chest and feeds my soul seeing my wildflower and sweet little girl like that.

I love kissing Lily’s forehead and whispering good night in Italian before carrying Paisley, my forever girl, in my arms and softly bringing her back to our bedroom to sleep. We’re often not lying down in the bed for even an hour before Harley cries out, wanting to be fed by his momma.

My wildflower works so hard; just graduated college a couple of months ago when Harley was only six weeks old. Paisley’s spent the past three months at home since he was born, but one month ago started working as a landscape architect at her dream job—the successful and award-winning architecture and interior design company, Notti Designs, after highly impressing the CEO & founder Giulio Giannotti with her knowledge and integrity.

Paisley even told me that Giulio joked about giving her the job the second she stepped into his office in regard to that hilarious FaceTime call we had with him years ago when he was slightly drunk and really, really loving his wife, Valencia, after date night.

Giulio’s one of those humble kinds of bosses and allows her to bring Harley along whenever she needs to and even designated a private pump room for her. Her first day a month ago was super hectic for her. I was going to take care of the kids since I didn’t need to go to the shelter that day. Paisley was so frazzled and nervous; kissing Lily’s and Harley’s foreheads a million times, kissing me a billion times, stressing as she rechecked her bag a trillion times to ensure she had everything. Just before she was about to leave for work, she couldn’t find the keys to the Range Rover I bought her as a surprise for her twenty-second birthday. My wildflower was absolutely losing it. My poor tesoro.

She called me crying during her lunch break, saying it was all so overwhelming, how much she missed me and the kids. Then, she told me how during her first meeting with clients they were staring down at her breasts, and it wasn’t until she glanced down and realized her nipples were leaking breastmilk through her silk blouse that she grasped she forgot to put on the nursing breast pads she uses to stop any possible leaks because she’s breastfeeding Harley.

Thankfully, Enrico was able to swing by our Madison Park house and take care of the kids during a gap in his meetings. I met Paisley in her downtown office and kissed her better, told her how proud I was of her and how capable she is at this job before handing her a new box of nursing breast pads that she can keep in her office in case she forgets again. She couldn’t stop grinning with teary eyes after that at how ‘sweet’ I was. Anything for my beautiful wife, I told her because I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

Paisley working at Notti Designs meant all the sleekest designs and gadgets around their offices. My wildflower was feeling a lot better after my pep talk and she frosted the glass in her office and I made love to her on her desk, making sure she knew just how much I loved her, how beautiful she is, and told her that whenever she feels frazzled at work again, to remember this moment. Ever since that day, she’s been killing it at work, just like I always knew she would.

Right now, as I rake my fingers through Paisley’s dark wavy hair as she sleeps beside me, I can’t help but kiss her forehead. She’s such a natural beauty. My hot twenty-two-year-old wife is the best thing that happened to me. My life changed forever the day I stepped on her rare blue tiger lilies. I may not have known it then, but I do now. Paisley made my black and white mind turn to color. Made me turn into a better man. I know perfection isn’t real, but I’m trying to be the best husband…

Best father.

Best business owner.

Really trying from the bottom of my heart.

Whenever I’m at work at the shelter and find myself listening to people’s heartbreaking stories, I always encourage them to continue the transformation to being their best selves. To never give up. To see that light at the end of the tunnel because as much as they don’t believe it’s there, I’m living proof that there is that light. And once you see it, fuck how much it shines…

Paisley’s my light.

My savior.

My everything.

I wouldn’t know where I’d be without her. Without our two cute little kids. Without this stunning house overlooking Lake Washington. Life in Seattle was a challenge for both of us to adapt to at first, but a challenge we gladly faced. I could handle the coldness and cloudiness of Seattle. The chilly, colder breeze. The emerald city. And now, we love calling this place home. I also love how Paisley and I still spend some of the summers between Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and Stinson Beach. My mom and nonna are always so thrilled when we visit. I ended up selling my house in Sacramento when we moved to Seattle, but still have the beach house near Stinson Beach. It’s our oasis.

“Santo?”

I blink, and Paisley’s bright grin is all I see.

“Good morning, wildflower,” I murmur with a matching grin.

She’s mine. Forever.

“Morning, baby. What were you thinking about?”

I pull Paisley close, wrapping my arms around her warmth. Warmth I’ll never get sick of. I glance into her pretty honey browns, adoring the devotion shining in them. “Life. Us. Everything that’s happened in these past few years… Past few months. Just in awe of you really.”

“Is my blue-eyed boy getting sentimental?” Paisley teases.

“Damn right he is.” I wink and brush my lips against hers. “Just so glad you exist, tesoro. I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

“I love you more more.”

And then I press my lips on Paisley’s and kiss her with everything I have. It’s one of those slow kisses, as if I’m making love to her with such sensual passion and affection. She cups my jaw, running her fingers along my short dark beard, and moans against my lips with a smile as our tongues swirl in a dance, and I kiss her even more hungrily with possession as my cock stirs in my boxer briefs. The desire to fuck is so damn high, and I know she feels it too with the way her hand runs down my chest, toned abs, and then teasingly slowing at the band of my boxer briefs. Mmhmmm, baby.

I’ll never get tired of loving Paisley Lisconti.

Of kissing her soft skin and worshiping every second she chooses to spend alongside me.

Of treating her like a queen ’cause that’s exactly what she is to me—the queen of my heart.

We pull away, softly panting with bright grins.

Paisley lets out a giggle, smoothing the pad of her fingertips through my full man bun. “Gosh, I love your hair like this so much!”

I smirk. “Is this a ‘compliment to the chef’ kind of morning, hmm, babydoll?”

I love how Paisley scrunches up her nose and begins laughing out of control. I can’t help but chuckle too, feeling the warmth in my chest only expand across my entire body. Just like it always does whenever I’m with her. Every day. Every day I feel this way. It’s my remedy. Seeing Paisley laugh is such a damn turn-on. But I’m just in awe of her and grateful. Grateful that this brave, strong woman with the most beautiful honey-brown eyes, light freckles on her cheeks, and most angelic smile is mine.

Always mine.

When we settle down, I take Paisley’s left hand and kiss her diamond wedding ring. It’s a habit I repeat every morning, thanking God her soul led me to her. Catch myself smiling down at my own wedding band countless times a day. This life with her… it’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more.

“It’s Saturday,” Paisley says after a few seconds of us softly caressing each other’s skin. “Lily has dance in a few hours, so we should get up.”

“Five more minutes.” I grin, and she dramatically rolls her eyes before kissing me hard, her tongue swiping through my lips. The kiss is so fuckin’ electric.

Mid-kiss, I pull the sheets over us, my fingers rushing under her white satin and lace negligee, brushing over the tattoo on her left ribcage. It’s a gorgeous flower stem with thorns that leads to four gorgeously shaded roses with a little red in them, one representing each of our family. It was the happiest day of my life when she surprised me with the outline of the tattoo she had drawn up. It’s only a small tattoo, but something about my wildflower having a tattoo—especially considering it matches the sleeve tattoo I have for her filled with all different types of flowers and things that remind me of us—it makes me feel so special. Like I’m the luckiest man in the entire world.

“FAIRYYYYYY! MOMMY! DADDY! FAIRYYYYYY!”

Lily.

It’s Lily.

Paisley and I pull away, and I glance at her with a playful groan as the bright sunlight floods through the white sheets, glowing Paisley’s entire face and body… and goddamn that negligee she has on. It takes my breath away… but now I’ve got to abort mission because I can hear our daughter’s frantic footsteps thumping closer and closer to our bedroom suite. It takes Paisley one good look at my devastated face for her to pull the sheets back down and throw her head into the pillow, laughing at me.

I smirk. “Yeah, keep laughing. You just wait until you’re wearing that negligee tonight and what I’m going to do to you, Mrs. Lisconti.”

“I look forward to it, Mr. Lisconti.” Paisley smirks right back as she reaches toward the end of the bed and picks up her wine red satin nightgown and my silk navy sleep pants. Sitting up in the bed, I grin at the sight of her bent over, that stunning ass of hers aching to be revealed as the negligee rises higher up.

Fuckkk. I can’t believe our daughter is cockblocking us AGAIN because of this FAIRY.

I shake my head to myself with a chuckle, crazy to admit I wouldn’t want it any other way. Paisley quickly puts on her nightgown and ties the fabric belt around her petite frame. She’s quick to throw me my pants and I catch them with one hand, my eyes still on her. It has us sharing a devilish smirk as I slip them on and she rejoins me in the bed, just in time for Lily to bolt through our bedroom door and climb up onto our kind-sized bed.

Our three-year-old daughter is so cute with her wavy dark hair in a high bun to match mine and those bright pink pajamas with llamas all over them. They’re obviously her favorite pajamas. Without warning, she begins jumping up and down on the bed with the biggest dimpled grin, her piercing blue eyes meeting ours in excitement as she waves in the air the one-dollar bill that the apparent Fairy brought her.

“Look, Mommy! Daddy! I got one dollar! I got one dollar!” Lily squeals. “YAYYYYYY!”

Paisley and I can’t stop laughing and grinning with her.

“That’s amazing! You’re going to fall off the bed, baby. Come here to Daddy.”

“Noooo!” Our sweet little girl laughs, jumping higher and higher. “I WANT MOREEEE!”

“Baby, be careful.” Paisley giggles as she sits up on the bed beside me. “No boo boos.”

Lily continues jumping on our bed with a bright big grin, having the time of her life. My cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. I love seeing my baby girl happy. Lily begins jumping too high, missing our legs for inches and all of a sudden, she bounces a little too much to the right and I can already foresee she’s going to fall off the bed when she comes down, so I dart up and out of the bed, catching her in my arms before she hits the floor. Jesus. My heart is in my throat. Thank God, my sweet girl.

“Oh, Lily, you scared Daddy so much. You should feel my heart.” I smile down at her, feeling my heart rate racing out of control at the near miss. She’s going to be trouble when she’s older. I just know it.

Lily presses her adorable little hand to my bare chest, right on the tattoo Paisley wrote her name on four years ago, right under the ‘Oceans of Us’ poetry piece she wrote me. It’s my favorite tattoo and after I surprised Paisley by buying and restoring an original 1940s olive-colored Olivetti typewriter I bought her on our first wedding anniversary, she retyped the poetry piece and blew it up and now we have it framed across from our bed, so we can wake up every morning to the words she wrote about us. I knew Paisley would love the typewriter as I remembered she once mentioned always wanting one. She’s been using it religiously for writing poetry ever since while sitting on the porch and overlooking our pier and beautiful Lake Washington.

Still wrapped in my arms, Lily takes one look at me and starts giggling. It turns into squeals as I grin and begin tickling her sides. I playfully put her into bed right between her mama and me as I slip into the bed too and pull the sheets higher. All that’s missing is Harley, who’s sleeping in the nursery.

Lily’s still giggling as she shoves the one-dollar bill in our faces, glancing between us as if it’s a tennis match. “Look, Mommy! Look, Daddy! Fairy was here.”

“She sure was, dear. And you know why?” Paisley smiles down at our daughter so lovingly.

“Tell me! Tell MEEEEEE!”

“Because you’ve been such a good girl and have been eating all of your vegetables!”

Lily gasps with a grin. “Tooth Fairy can see me? Like Santa?”

Smirking, I nod and cutely bop her nose. “That’s right, sweet girl. That’s why it’s important you always listen to Mommy and me.”

“Not always…” Paisley smirks over at me, and I know exactly what she’s referring to. Her own father, Alaric. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t rebel a little.

Touché, baby, touché.

I wink over at Paisley and glance down at Lily. “Mommy didn’t mean that. All the time.”

“Okayyy!” Lily shuts her eyes with a grin and then opens them up all wide as she starts moving around, dancing while still lying down on the bed between us. “I wanna llama!”

“Oh no, not this again!” Paisley groans with a giggle. “Baby, Daddy hired llamas for your birthday at the farm just a few months ago, remember?”

“Yes, but I want a llama FOREVERRR!”

Paisley smiles over at me and I know exactly what she’s thinking… We both love how her favorite animal has become our daughter’s too.

I press a kiss on Lily’s forehead. “One day, baby, one day.”

Lily hands the one-dollar bill over to me. “Here, buy with this!”

I smirk. “Pretty sure it’s going to take more than one dollar, sweet girl.”

Lily hums and scrunches her face up cutely as if she’s deep in thought before she claps her hands and happily screams, “YOU BUY FOR ME!”

We all burst out in laughter and I agree that one day she’ll get a pet llama like she always wanted. We’re out of the bed in a few minutes and I join Lily out in our backyard and start playing outside with our adventurous Golden Retriever puppy, while Paisley heads to wake up little Harley in the nursery.

It’s a warm sunny morning in Seattle. It’s summer and my favorite season. The smile doesn’t fall from my lips as I watch Lily happily running around our huge backyard with our puppy, Fruity.

Yes, Fruity…

Fruity Pebbles is one of Lily’s favorite cereals, so when we got our puppy only a few weeks ago and allowed Lily to name it, she went for the obvious choice and called it Fruity. I’m chuckling just thinking about it because life couldn’t be more perfect. I’ve been through so much shit but am so happy to finally have stability in my life. Stability, happiness, and purpose.

It gives me comfort that my father would be proud. So proud of me. Of how I’ve turned my life around… How Paisley turned it around with me.

I love our yard. Part of it overlooks Lake Washington and a private pier that leads to the stunning ocean water glistening in the sunshine every day and twinkling in stars every night. On the other side of the yard is a well-kept lawn and we have a firepit, swing set, and vegetable garden that the kids help us with (well, Harley will when he’s older). The entire perimeter of the yard is full of all kinds of vivid flowers such as roses, germaniums, and infamous lilies, as well as lemon trees and fruit trees such as apple, apricot, and pear.

This holistic smell of flowers and sweet fruits makes my heart beat wildly. I love that flowers will forever remind me of Paisley. That now I plant and water them with her. That in the end they were the thing that brought us together. That our children’s names—Lily and Harley—are the perfect combination of all that Paisley and I are.

The cute little coos behind me make me take my eyes off Lily and turn around to see my beautiful wife with our four-month-old son, Harley, in her arms and swaying from side to side. Pressed up against her chest, Harley cutely smiles, his adorable face stealing my heart as I rush up to them and press a kiss to his chubby cheeks.

“Ciao, bello.” I grin, rubbing a hand on his little back, loving that he’s wearing a white baby bodysuit with small black motorcycles and ‘Daddy’s Harley buddy’ printed all over it.

“Go over to Daddy!” Paisley smiles, handing me our son while blowing raspberries on his stomach that have him belly laughing so sweetly.

I hold Harley close to my bare chest with a hand behind his neck, unable to wipe the grin off my face and the best part is I don’t want to. Harley is such a happy baby with my bright blue eyes and his mother’s gorgeous nose and mouth. Our children are both such perfect blends of us.

I glance at Paisley in pure awe that all our past challenges of being together have resulted in our beautifully growing family. All the darkness was worth it, because now we’re on the other side and our souls will forever be made for each other. We once were two broken souls attempting to fix each other’s flaws, and now today, as I stand beside my wife and our children, I finally know we’re healed. Our love will never fade because it’s written in the stars above.

I’m so grateful this is my life.

That they are my life. All mine.

That nobody can take this away from me. Ever.

Paisley Lisconti is my forever girl. She always was and she always will be.

“I’m so proud of you, Pais,” I murmur, stepping closer to her with Harley in my arms. “For giving me this entire world and more. For being my forever girl.”

Grinning, Paisley parts her lip and is about to say something when a loud squeal followed by loud laughter breaks our train of thought and has us glancing around toward the garden. It takes two seconds to observe what’s happened before I burst out in laughter, but Paisley, on the other hand… she doesn’t see the funny side at all at first.

“Oh, NO! OH MY GOD!” Paisley gasps beside me, brushing her hands through her long waves in pure shock. “NOOOO! MY LILIES!”

While running around and chasing after each other, Lily and our puppy, Fruity, must have crashed, because right now they’re both lying right on top of the rare blue tiger lilies, crushing them all underneath them, and Lily can’t stop laughing as the puppy licks her face, as if nothing happened.

Paisley simply stands beside me with her jaw dropped and eyes wide, so obviously distraught and in shock at what just happened. Her lilies… they’re crushed. Again! It’s history repeating itself all over again. I try to settle down, but I can’t and continue laughing so hard that little Harley glances up at me in my arms and starts laughing and squealing too.

Paisley glances over at me frazzled and all I can do is laugh harder. This is just too good.

I shoot her a slow, sexy smirk. “Well, I guess it runs in the family…”

It’s all Paisley needs to burst out into laughter with me. We laugh so hard and it’s just too funny because there’s so much irony in the fact that we met when I trampled all her lilies with my feet, and now years later we’re beginning our forever with our daughter crushing lilies again!

When the laughter finally eases, Paisley wipes the happy tears from her eyes. “That’s such a move Santo Lisconti’s daughter would do…”

“Our daughter, tesoro,” I say. “Our daughter.”

Paisley grins. “I still can’t believe she’s our little girl, and Harley. Can you believe it?”

“Every time I look into your eyes, I believe it, wildflower.”

“Awww, Santo.” She grins, and my entire body melts as we kiss so passionately wild.

It confirms everything I’ve known to be true. Life is short. Ever since the day I fell in love with Paisley, I’ve learned I need to make the most of life while I still can, when the ones closest to my heart are still on this earth. Because if we don’t, we may just miss out on the best thing that could ever happen to us…

Just like Paisley, Lily, Harley, and Fruity are the best things that ever happened to me.