When we first met Paul in his late teens, he and Danny Romalotti were waiters and best friends. Paul was having a fling with Nikki Reed. Both were quite promiscuous, and Paul ended up giving Nikki a venereal disease. Nevertheless, Nikki and Paul have remained close friends through the years. When Nikki decided to clean up her act in order to land Greg Foster, Paul had a fling with April Stevens. April got pregnant and Paul tried to talk her into having an abortion. She refused to tell her parents who the father was, and they pressured April by telling her she had a twin sister that was given up for adoption at birth because her parents couldn't handle both. April refused the abortion, and Paul turned his back on her. Paul escaped the pressure by joining the New World Commune with Nikki, which turned out to be a scam that Paul helped his reporter brother Steve and Peggy Brooks to expose. After they escaped the cult, Greg Foster fell for April but when Heather fell gravely ill, he encouraged Paul to do the right thing and marry April. They were married and they lived in a shabby apartment. Heather recovered but was a colicky baby and cried all the time. Parental responsibility proved too much for Paul and they mutually decided to divorce. April went home to live with her parents in New York City. Paul began the first step in his detective career by finding April's twin sister Barbara Conway and reuniting her with her family.

In 1993 April showed up in Genoa City again to visit Paul's mother Mary with 13-year-old Heather. April was badly bruised, supposedly from a car accident. But when Paul asked to be part of Heather's life, April refused, and said they were happy in New York City with her dentist husband Robert Lynch. Robert had adopted Heather, and Heather did not know that Robert was not her real father. After April returned to her family in New York City, Robert beat her, accusing her of sleeping with Paul. Paul and Chris discovered that April was a battered wife, went to New York City, and got her into a support group, but could not convince her to leave Robert.

April returned to Genoa City a year later after again being beaten by Robert over the holidays. Although April was still attracted to Paul, he gently turned her down. Concerned for Heather, whom she left behind, April returned to Robert. When he tried to keep April in line by threatening Heather, April fatally stabbed him with a letter opener, and was charged with murder. To April's relief, Christine Blair and John Silva volunteered to represent her in court. Christine and Silva's dynamic representation won April a suspended sentence due to self-defense. After being reunited with Heather, April told Paul she wanted to begin a new life away from Genoa City. April and Heather returned to New York, much to Paul and Mary's disappointment. They went to live with her sister Barbara who was rich and ended up financing Heather's education at a college in New York where her roommate Macy was murdered-the same college where Professor Adrian Korbel taught. Korbel admitted he turned in a fellow professor for having an affair with Macy.

In 2007, Paul was shocked to meet Heather who showed up in Genoa City as the new Assistant D.A. After months of becoming close friends, he pondered with Maggie over whether or not to tell Heather he was her father. He finally called April and decided to do it. Heather reacted with resentment, but she mellowed toward him since April paid them a visit.

In 2011, Heather left Genoa City in disgrace after being fired as an assistant DA, and was said to be going back to New York City to live with her mother, April, for awhile.