Given up at birth, Moira seemed to hit the proverbial jackpot once Domnall came to Aberdeen with his wife, looking to adopt. After several failed attempts of trying to conceive a biological heir on their own, the couple finally decided it was time to give in and adopt at Domnall's home country – Scotland. Coming with little to no expectation with whom they would be leaving the orphanage with, they would have initially agreed to take in a slightly older child but as soon as Maria set her sights on Maura, it didn't take her any longer than a week to convince Domnall to fill the proper paperwork and take her back home instead. It was a far stretch at the time, seeing how Domnall insisted on a son to carry on his multi-billionaire legacy but after a few days alone with Maura, he warmed up to the idea considerably. Not long after that, she would have him, her mother, and the family's domestic wrapped around her little finger for future years to come.

For the first few years of her life, Moira lived an idyllic life in her father's inherited estate. Anything and everything she wanted was (usually) within her grasp, and despite how devoted of a mother Maria was, there was very little Moira remembered about her after her untimely death. An unfortunate burden that would come back and haunt her psyche once she reached her late teens. Soon after her mother's death, Domnall would have seen to them relocating to the States and thrown himself into his work while he left Moira alone with a plethora of nannies and his AE Centurion card. Granted, it wasn't morally the best method of raising a grieving child, but between him not being properly equipped to grapple with an unruly child and having certain difficulty to adjusting to his widowed status; he continually opted for the easy way out when it came to terms with Maura and how she was brought up. As long as she was happy, he was content.

So, instead of insisting on therapy, he spoiled Moira even more. Going as far as to bestow her unrestricted freedom at a young age; a liberty that's never too good for any child reaching puberty but did it's part on making sure Moira's tantrums were kept at bay. A catalyst that left a string of frustrated nannies and disgruntled housekeepers in his place to deal with his spoiled, unruly daughter as soon as he left the room. Needless to say, she was a bit of a princess and a trademark terror in her own right when her father wasn't around, but she was mild compared to her later teens. By the time she turned fourteen, two things had happened. The first one being he re-married, and the second one being she had a new little sister that came in tow; both new additions to the Ainsley family he hoped would fill in certain voids for Maura, feeling guilty about his frequent trips out of town while she was home alone.

Whatever his original plan was at the time, it didn't work. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect once Jocelyn and Leila entered the fold and competed for his attention as well, prompting Moira act out more and end up with less than favorable results. After fifteen years of not being familiar with her father's version of tough love, Moira then began to undergo through the usual staples of teenage rebellion; staying out late, partying, mercurial mood swings, and experimenting with drugs was just the tip of the iceberg when it came down to her rebellious stage at the time.

With all the hedonism New York City had to offer to the young, rich, impressionable girl with an addictive personality, it made certain for will-o-wisp credibility between her and her father. One that eventually bled into a patterned tug-of-war before it curbed (roughly) around the sentient age of 23, the same year he finally came to terms with his substandard parenting and threatened to cut her off if she didn't clean up her act. A foreboding presage she didn't heed on time before she was evicted out of her lofty Chelsea apartment and into her possessive ex-fiance's flat to realize she was too deep in her world of addiction and struggled with her own demons to stay afloat. If it hadn't been for the certain key individuals in her life and their timely intervention to help her stand on her own two feet, there's no telling where she would have ended up.

After a brief stay in rehab and following up with dedicated support groups under the radar with a different moniker, Moira picked up where she left off after college and worked her way up from general manager at another resort in Miami before transferring over to the family's resort stationed in Maui. Favoring the fair weather and simplistic lifestyle there while aiming to slide herself back into her father's good graces again by working in the family business.