“Have a seat. Emily is your name?”
“Yes. Emily Mason. But I don’t see why I should have a second interview when I’m hired and working already.”
“It’s not that kind of interview.” Emily’s legs began to shake. It was a nervous tick. Like biting her nails when she felt uncomfortable. “You’re interviewing for a chance to marry your employer.”
“What? Why would I consider marrying my employer, and why would I want to marry an old man?”
“Do you know who you’re working for?”
“Not really. I’ve been working for a day and I haven’t seen anyone but the butler. He said that Mr. Robert Samsa owned the house.”
“Then you don’t know Mr. Samsa?”
“I think I served him at a mansion where I previously worked. But his name is Harper Samsa and he’s twenty-one or twenty-two years old.”
“The butler is not completely correct. It is Robert Samsa’s home but he’s dead and now it belongs to Harper Samsa and he’s the one you are interviewing for a chance to marry him.”
“For a chance to marry him? You make it sound like a game show. This is ridiculous. It is ridiculous isn’t it?”
“As you can see I’m not laughing.” Michael sat with a stone face. He had been very serious about finding Harper a wife. He had interviewed ten women in the course of one day and none were as naïve and uninformed about the world as Emily. She is perfect, he thought.
The others were savvy and ready to sign on the dotted line. They would say anything and do anything to marry Harper. He never disclosed to them who the rich man was, but nonetheless they hesitated at the idea of having children, and that was foremost on Michael’s mind when he stared at Emily.
Harper had said he wanted children from the marriage.
“You’re a beautiful girl. I’m sure you could have any man you want and you probably have a few boyfriends.”
“No I don’t have a boyfriend. I’ve never had any. I have a father who never let me date and now I have too much responsibilities to date anyone or marry. There is the matter of completing my college education and taking care of my father.”
“If you enter into this agreement with Mr. Samsa...” Emily interrupted Michael.
“Why would he want to marry me? I thought he would marry Elisabeth. Isn’t she more in his class?”
“There are no class systems in America.”
“Tell that to my father. And look at me.”
“But if you marry him, you will have everything you need.”
“I don’t need anything but a job. Don’t tell me that if I don’t agree to this shit you have on this paper that I will lose my job.”
“No you won’t. Then tell Mr. Samsa that I don’t want to marry him. If he wants to marry me, then he should ask me himself, and not send you to do his work.” She stood. “What kind of man sends his lawyer to interview for a wife?” Emily said annoyed and upset.
She walked to the door and then turned, “I’m going to work now.”
When Emily left, Michael called Harper. “What do you think about Nevada?” Michael said.
“My father was right. I’m staying. Tomorrow I’m looking at an architect to build my ranch. I can have horses and dogs and I don’t have to worry about anything but finding someone to marry me. I’m content now with who I am.”
“That’s why I called. I found someone. But she said if you wanted to marry her, you would have to ask her yourself.”
“When I build this house, then I’ll ask her.”
“Don’t you need to see a picture of her?”
“Not really. Any woman who demands that a man ask her for her hand in marriage is the woman I want to marry. I don’t care what she looks like. If she can take me being a werewolf I can certainly accept her faults.”
“Well, I didn’t exactly tell her about the werewolf thing.” A long silence ensued.
“What exactly did you tell her?”
“That you were rich. One good thing came out of this. She assumed you were an old man and she told me to get lost.”
“I like a woman with spirit.”
“She appeared pissed over me interviewing her. I think the whole idea that you weren’t there turned her off.”
“Did you at least say it was because I was away?”
“That would have brought on more complications and I didn’t want her to ask any more questions. This situation with you being a werewolf and wanting to acknowledge this right away could have ramifications you don’t need.”
“What I don’t need is starting out a marriage or engagement with someone and then they discover that I’m not what I say I am. I’m no longer a man in a sense. I’m a man but a wolf too. What she sees before her is not what she’ll get.”
“I think you’re judging yourself too harshly and undercutting yourself. If she sees the true you then she’s the right woman for you. But if you show her that animal you showed me, then there is no way you will find the right woman.”
Thoughts of what a woman would do if she saw the real Harper raced through his head and he only imagined someone running and screaming into the night when he makes love to her.
“Did she at least have a man before me?”
“Now that’s a delicate matter. I don’t think this young woman is the type to ask her if she’s a virgin. But I think she’s a virgin.”
“I don’t want a virgin,” Harper said. His voice hard and cold.
“Then you should go back to Elisabeth.” Harper didn’t answer because he knew Michael was trying his best.
“Michael, I’ve decided to move to Nevada and I’m planning on buying extra land. I’m in negotiations now. I’ll be back in San Francisco within a week. Find me a woman that’s not a virgin. Do I have to spell it out for you? I need someone I can have sex with. I need her pregnant right away. I don’t want her to have second thoughts about me.”
“I’ll try,” Michael said. He sat behind his desk. Looked out the window and wondered what to do next. Emily was his last resort and she was perfect for Harper. He knew she would be good for him if he gave her a chance. Anyone else would be disastrous.
But Harper appeared inflexible about the woman he would marry.