Welcome, Rayna!

j - mooniightborne - tessa rae marek

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Rayna Leigh Blackburn came into this world with a howl and in a hurry. Born a month and a half premature, she was just as Shakespeare described: little, but fierce, a fighter through and through, and before long she was exactly where she was supposed to be health wise, allowing her family to breathe a sigh of relief. Due to complications from the birth, Ray would have no siblings in her future and it was those findings that fueled her folks' decision to name their only child after the both of them. Being a little girl, Rayna would grow up with dolls, tea parties, and playing dress up with her mom, but her dad's desire for a son would have him teaching her a thing or two about cars, sports and weapons as well. It should have brought them closer together as a family, but as she got older, she only got prettier, and before long, she was turning heads. All that 'knowledge' just made her that much more appealing to the men in town and one such admirer was Cash Winston. Thirteen years older than Rayna and from the wrong side of the proverbial tracks, he'd been someone her parents hadn't approved of, but there was just no telling her what to do and he did, indeed, become smitten with the young thing. Ruled by her emotions, Rayna was no stranger to following her heart and the more anyone tried to keep them apart, the closer they became until there were a whole lot of firsts (for Rayna, at least) between them. Eventually, she fell in love and by the time she was sixteen, the promise of bigger and better things had her dropping out of school and running off to the West Coast with him, looking to escape Kentucky. They settled in Southern California, were married soon after, and it was during their honeymoon in Mexico that he offered her the choice to remain human or have him give her the bite that would bring her into his world completely. Despite the bond they shared, their relationship would come to what seemed to be an untimely end.

Cash disappeared one day without a trace and by her twenty-first birthday, not only did Rayna receive her GED, but she would receive legal advice as well, looking to see if she could divorce him. With age came wisdom and she finally realized her parents may have been right about a lot of things, including him, but by then it was too late. Rayna had barely reconnected with them when she got the call that they were killed in a car accident, making the reunion she hoped for impossible. Instead, she returned to a double funeral and to find herself with a decision to make: Should she stick around and call Harlan home again, or should she sell everything that had been left to her and take the money and run?

Rayna wouldn't make up her mind for nearly six months -- not until her past rolled into town on the back of a Harley she remembered all too well, though it was the man riding it she'd never forget. As soon as he was back in her life she knew exactly what she had to do and that was put the house and business on the market, hoping to make the most she could off them. Not the Mustang, though. Hell no! That old '69 of her dad's belonged to her now and when she and Cash took off for Colorado, she was going to be behind the wheel. Yes, they were back together. Sure, she initially wanted to punch him when she saw him standing there on the porch of her parents' place, but once she opened the screen door, the only thing she was throwing was her arms around his neck. Luckily for her, he never signed the divorce papers she'd left for him back in Los Angeles -- she was still his Old Lady. He loved her, and hard as she tried not to, she still loved him, too, hence why she was willing to hear him out regarding the events that led to them parting ways and why, now that the trouble he had was out in the open, a second chance was on the table. A second chance that deserved a fresh start -- one they'd hopefully find in Denver. Together.

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