For the first twenty four years of her life, Rayna had no idea who her father was. All she knew was that she was the result of a summer fling that her mother had that had caused her to fall pregnant. Rayna's grandparents, ever the conservative types, were horrified that their daughter was about to have a child out of wedlock as she had no interest in tracking down the father of her unborn child. Abortion wasn't on the table and neither was adoption. Lillian Defarge was up the creek without a paddle and knew she would be on her own from day one. Rayna Rose Defarge was born on a chilly day in February - Valentine's Day to be exact in Springfield. Rayna's grandparents offered no support as Lillian refused to play by their rules and expectations. Unfortunately, this was the start of what would be a relationship filled with resentment towards mother and daughter - Lillian saw Rayna as the embodiment of her mistakes and misfortune while Rayna saw Lillian as someone who hated her for merely existing.

It was no surprise that Rayna was pawned off on various neighbors and friends of Lillian's while Lillian did god knows what with god knows who. When her mother was around, she often was in the company of men - Rayna would later find out that her mom often sold her own body and was a low level drug dealer in order to keep the cash flowing in when Rayna's grandparents wouldn't let her borrow any money and minimum wage jobs weren't cutting it. It was at an early age that Rayna learned about self preservation, that one had to do whatever it took to survive. Her mother was quite savvy and street smart, often using Rayna in some of her cons and the young girl took to it. Rayna was cute and sympathetic looking with a petite stature and a lazy eye that caused her to be the victim of bullying until it was later corrected. Rayna learned the cons and started getting her power back at school by scheming against her classmates. It had been instilled on her early on that good behavior got a person nowhere but a good con often did. Following in the footsteps of her mother appeared to be the only thing that pleased her mother.

Sly and rebellious, Rayna was a handful in her teens. When she edged towards puberty, Rayna now had a new asset to use against people: her looks. Doe eyed but still good looking, Rayna could sweet talk her way out of almost any situation and she was becoming more adept at conning people than her mother was. It was when one of Lillian's boyfriends paid a little too much attention to Rayna despite Rayna thwarting his advances that Lillian kicked the young girl out of the house at the ripe age of sixteen. With her maternal grandparents having passed away, Rayna had nowhere to go but with the "friends" she had made and this led to a whirlwind of even more bad behavior as she couch surfed around the Springfield area. History appeared to be repeating itself as Rayna got involved with all of the wrong people as she tried to charm her way through life and out of trouble.

It was when Rayna was twenty two that she got popped for possession and solicitation while living on the outskirts of Boston. It was the first time that Rayna had actually gotten caught and her legal aid could get her off if she had someone to stay with. Remembering the summers she had spent shipped off to the Madison family in Boston, Rayna tried to pull a hail mary and it worked. The family sympathized for the girl who had ended up on the wrong side of the tracks after they heard about how her mother had kicked her out and she had no choice but to survive on her own. Rayna was sentenced to probation as long as she kept her nose clean and the Madison family promised to let her stay as long as she could keep a job and obtain her GED. She took the first god awful minimum wage job that she could get.

Rayna eventually went to community college on financial aid, earning herself a paralegal studies associates degree, but her past still haunted her. Haley Madison, the matriarch of the Madison family, had been best friends with Rayna's mother when they were younger and wondered if Rayna knew about her father. Whenever Rayna had brought the subject up to her mother, she had always been shut down and saying that her father never wanted her to keep Rayna quiet. Haley insisted that this wasn't true, as she was sure that Rayna's father didn't have a clue she existed. Haley contacted Lillian and got the name "Nathan Wilson" from her, something Rayna had never been able to do. As Rayna worked on getting her life on track, Haley said that whenever she was ready, she and her husband would pay the fee for a private investigator to find her father. In 2015, Rayna finally took the plunge and told them to hire the private investigator and found her father and his family consisting of a grandfather and "adopted uncle" that she had never known existed. Rayna was hesitant but wanted to try to make an effort, as she figured it couldn't be any worse than the estranged relationship that she held with her mother.

Like everything else in Rayna's life, it's a work in progress.