As the saying goes 'Patience was a virtue' and Hiram had yet to come across another being who had his level of patience, although he was far from a virtuous man.
His wasn't the classic patience of a saint it was the patience of an assured man, someone who knew it was only a matter of time before his plans came to fruition.
For sixteen years Hiram had waited, he had joined and built his family business to an even greater height and all he wanted, all he asked for was the chance to be a father to the child he abandoned.
While the town had been all so busy panicking and dealing with the shooting of one Moose Manson, Hiram had been more focused on the life of a particular teenage girl, he had briefly visited the boy parents in the hospital and had offered to pay for half of all medical cost as it was never too soon to introduce yourself to the members of a community and gather some good will along the way.
He had Andre staying in the motel gathering information on the town, the people, the infrastructure, on everything, now that he was back in Riverdale his plans were to be adapted and updated.
Andre had been ordered to find all that he could on his daughter through any means whether it be bribing, blackmailing or basic threats; everything was acceptable if it gave Hiram the information he wanted.
It had all paid off as he now had a copy of her birth certificate, the adoption papers Pop signed to gain custody of Isabelle, Sharon's death certificate and even the medical examiners autopsy report.
Everything from Isabelle's birth to her current school report was contained in the manila folder that sat on the corner of his desk in easy reach for him to look over at anytime.
Looking at Sharon's autopsy report had been… hard, knowing she had died because of a hit and run of all things had made Hiram want to scream, how could someone like her die in such a way.
So painfully and senselessly with Isabelle watching as she struggled to live, Hiram had even thought about hiring a private investigator to look into the case before dismissing it; too much time had passed and truthfully if by some miracle he ever uncovered who had killed Sharon Hiram knew he wouldn't stop until that person died an equally slow and painful death.
Somethings just had to remain in the past for everyone's own good, plus Hiram had too much planned for the future such as getting to know Isabelle Amelia Tate.
He could feel the same smile on his face now as the one he worn the day he had found out Isabelle's full name. He was glad that despite everything he had done to her that Sharon had still thought about him, when it came to naming their daughter; making Isabelle's middle name Amelia was such a small gesture but it meant the world to Hiram.
He knew that Sharon would never have given Isabelle his last name nor did she even acknowledge him as Isabelle's father on the birth certificate; not after the way he had left but she had at least named her Amelia because of Hiram's fascination with Amelia Earhart and his own aunt Amalia who had been there for him for most of his life.
What he felt for Sharon would never fully go away, not even with her death, she would always hold a place in his heart just like how the thought of their child had always held a special place in his heart.
Staring at the candid shots that Andre had gotten of Isabelle throughout the week Hiram couldn't help but marvel over how perfect she looked; Isabelle had managed to look like a perfect blend of Sharon and himself, she had his eyes, but Sharon's smile, Hiram would even swear that her hair looked just like his Aunt when she wore it down.
All report showed her to be a caring and thoughtful young lady, she clearly had a strong presence in the Riverdale community even volunteering her Friday evening visiting the local old people's home, maybe as a way of seeing her own great grand-mother but either way Isabelle was very much loved and involved in the town of Riverdale.
From all the news article Andre had acquired Hiram could also see her achievements; there was even an interesting article about how she had won a beauty contest which surprised Hiram, he didn't think someone with a four point five GPA would also be the type of person to partake in such a brainless scheme but he had to remind himself that he knew nothing about his daughter so he couldn't really judge her choices; plus the important thing was that she won.
He had all the facts about her that could possibly be gathered but he still didn't know who she was.
He would need to make a move soon in getting to know his daughter but as much as he wanted to just introduce himself to Isabelle he knew he couldn't, not without some more information as to what her reaction might be.
Was she friendly, hot tempered, did she take after Sharon or after him?
Would it be better for her to have Sharon's explosive temper or was it better for her to have his stead fast patience when dealing with things; one was volcanic and burnt almost everything in it's path, the other was a slow burning that never quite let up no matter how much time had passed.
Would Isabelle even be willing to get to know him or would she just spit in his face?
None of these questions really mattered in the long run because Hiram was prepared to do whatever it took to get to know his first born child.
By this time next year he promised himself that he would have Isabelle living with him at the Pembrooke.
He had done his part in the family business, this was his reward, after so many years of keeping away he could finally get to know her.
The most difficult task apart from the way Isabelle might handle the information was to get past Noah and his hatred for all things Hiram, and while he might have already told Isabelle all about who her dad was Hiram was fairly confident he wouldn't have, if only to save himself from having to acknowledge that Hiram even existed let alone played some part in Sharon's life and by extension was the reason Isabelle was born.
Therefore, before he approached Noah Tate about getting to know his own daughter Hiram would need a bargaining chip to help ease the tension; maybe he should look into acquiring the land next to the diner.
x.x.x.x
Betty had no idea what was going on. Something was off with between her and Jughead, what that thing was she couldn't put her finger on it.
This afternoon was the worse yet, no matter what the topic was it seemed to cause an argument between the two of them. Every thing was good between them last week; they had spent their Sunday afternoon talking and laughing with each other.
At first she thought the problem was not spending too much time with Jughead and maybe it was, but she had spent most of last Sunday with him and they had a good time they had even gone to the bijou and watched three movies back to back.
The problem was that Jughead had a whole new life that Betty wasn't a part of. He now spent most of his week in the south side and only came around on the weekend.
"What do you think about this" Veronica asked walking out of the changing room showing off deep red silk pyjama set which was just on this side of being decent maybe she could wear it for the next time she went around to Archie's.
"Well I see Archie will love his Christmas gift" Betty said confidently, Veronica looked amazing in that.
"So what are you getting for Jughead"
"I haven't thought of it yet. It's our first Christmas together and after everything else that's happened this year with Polly leaving and FP being arrested I want this Christmas to be great for the both of us" Betty confessed eyeing the night wear section herself.
Maybe she should be thinking along the lines of Veronica when it came to Jughead's Christmas gift, they had been interrupted the last time and Jughead did have the trailer all to himself this year.
"Maybe you can ask Izzy for advice she has know Jughead for a long time I'm sure she can help you figure out what to get him"
"I could just ask Archie" Betty countered remembering the argument that she had just had an hour ago about Jughead keeping his clothes at Izzy's house, she wasn't in the mood to go asking her for favours.
"I thought you two got on last week" Veronica spoke through the curtains as she walked back in to change into her normal clothes. "Plus no offence to Archie he will probably suggest getting Jughead a video game."
"Yeah we got on," Betty admitted it had been a fun afternoon and she could see how Jughead and Izzy's friendship had lasted so long. "It's just that I had a go at Jughead about how strange it was that he kept clothes at her house so it would feel kinda hypocritical if I went and asked her for help"
"Well you have a few weeks to think about it, maybe you can find a gift before then".
As they were leaving Veronica couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering her all afternoon."Can I ask what brought about all this arguing this afternoon, things may not be so harmonious at home but I refuse for them to also be disharmonious between our friendship group."
"I just feel like there is a whole side of him that I am not a part of anymore, he's at the Southside most of the week, he has now running a newspaper and he investigating the shooting with Izzy- and he hasn't even asked for my help with that. I just feel like since he's gone to that school we haven't been talking the way we used to. I brought this all up last Sunday and he promised to be better at staying in touch with me but there hasn't been a single call or text all week. Plus it's not like the Southside is miles away it's literally on the other side of town."
"Betty, you and Jughead have only been dating for a couple of months now, you are both still getting to know each other, so he's being a little inattentive right now so why don't you call him instead. I think you are putting too much pressure on yourself and him, going to a new school doesn't change the fact that he loves you or that he wants to be with you."
"You're right" Betty admitted, she was probably blowing this whole thing out of proportion.
"I am always right, why don't we go grab some food from Pop's those ice cream may have been a good shout but they have no nutritional value and we've haven't nearly done enough shopping for today"
Although Betty knew Veronica had just given her some good advice she wasn't ready to just walk back into Pop's there was the slightest possibility that she would run into Jug as he had mentioned something about keeping Izzy company during her shift."How about I treat us to the Italian restaurant instead, I am feeling like having some pasta."
x.x.x.x
Writer's comments:
Okay, hands up who feels sorry for Hiram or kinda maybe gets where he is coming from and who is thinking so what? You are the parent you decided to leave so deal with it.
Plus dude had barely been in town for a week or so and he is already planning on Izzy living with him i mean talk about ambitions.
What do you think of Betty, Ronnie and the rest. I will really like to hear your thoughts on Hiram is he a bad guy with good intentions or a good guy who will do bad things in order to be with his family