The Children of the House
Copyright© 2026 by AjnViper
Chapter 3: Elias and Mara
The doctor arrived shortly after eleven in a grey car that Willem disliked because it had tinted rear windows.
“They are factory glass,” Mara told him.
“Factory glass can still hide a man.”
“It is a hatchback.”
“I still need to check it,” Willem said. He looked at Mara, apparently realised that was not helping, and went back to the gate camera.
Mara looked at Elias. “Do something.”
“Willem,” Elias said, “allow the doctor to enter before the child finishes school.”
Willem stepped away from the gate controls. “I was allowing her.”
The doctor, when she finally reached the sitting room, was in her fifties and unimpressed by wealth. Mara liked her at once. She introduced herself as Dr Naidoo, asked Elias to leave for part of the examination, and ignored the fact that he did not immediately move.
“Mr Venter, we’ll call you when we’re ready.” Dr Naidoo waited beside the door until he went through it. Mara almost smiled at how little explanation had been required.
He waited in the library with a book open on his knee. When he reached the bottom of the page he went back to the top. He had done it three times by the time Abram came in.
Abram stopped beside the empty chair. He had changed his shirt since breakfast but not improved his hair.
“May I?”
Elias moved his foot. Abram sat opposite him and rested his tablet on his knee.
“The domestic protocol is being rebuilt,” he said. “Hard separation. No semantic feed from private rooms. Emergency detection will run locally.”
“Good.”
“The dark room objected to one thing.”
Elias looked up.
“Objected is too strong. It pointed out that without language it may not distinguish an argument from distress.”
“Then it will sometimes be uncertain.”
Abram nodded. “I told it that.”
“And?”
“It said uncertainty acknowledged.”
“Did you enjoy that?”
“No.” Abram scratched at his beard. “A little.”
They sat in silence. Elias looked at the clock.
Abram said, “She will be all right.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.” Abram picked at a loose thread on his cuff. “I thought it might help.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Right. Sorry.”
Elias closed the book. Abram looked at the clock too, although he could not have known what time the examination had started.
“I’ll go back downstairs,” Abram said. “Unless you want— No. I’ll be downstairs.”
“Abram.”
He paused at the door.
“Thank you.”
Abram looked briefly uncomfortable. “Yes. Fine.”
Dr Naidoo came to the library twenty minutes later to collect her bag. Elias stood and asked how Mara was.
“She’s coming to speak to you.”
“I’m only asking whether—”
“I know what you’re asking.”
Mara joined them before he could explain himself further. With her permission, Dr Naidoo discussed the next appointment and the early pregnancy. She left the decisions addressed to Mara even when Elias answered first.
Willem appeared before she left with questions about routes, records and emergency access.
Dr Naidoo listened to the first three.
“I can give you the hospital contact details,” Dr Naidoo said. “Mara will decide who receives her records.”
“I wasn’t asking for those.” Willem checked the list in his hand. “Not the medical part.”
“Then we agree.” She waited while he crossed something out.
After the doctor left, Mara went upstairs to dress. Lena was waiting outside her room with the cardigan Mara had left in the sitting room.
“How was she?” Lena asked.
“Good. Sensible. I liked her.” Mara took the cardigan but stayed in the doorway. “I forgot half the things I wanted to ask.”
“You can ring her.”
“I know. I just thought I’d be better at the appointment.”
“You’ve only had one.”
Mara laughed a little. “Would you find my grey dress? The loose one. I don’t want to think about clothes today.”
While Lena went to the wardrobe, Mara pulled the door almost closed. Neither had touched the room control; the speaker was dark. She still preferred the smaller gap.
Downstairs, Elias returned to the library and did nothing useful. There were decisions he could make at once. He could place Dr Naidoo under a permanent retainer. He could arrange private testing, transport, records and emergency access. He could have a room converted before nightfall and three others prepared in case the first proved unsuitable.
He did none of it. Mara had asked for one doctor and one day without a department.
At two, she entered wearing a charcoal dress and low heels. The pyjamas were gone. Her composure had returned, though it sat differently on her now. Elias could see the effort holding it in place.
“You waited,” she said.
“I was instructed.”
“That has never stopped you before.”
“I am capable of growth.”
“Well, keep doing it.” Mara set her bag down. “Today, at least.”
She sat on the sofa near the windows. Elias joined her, leaving more space than usual.
Mara looked at the gap. “What is that?”
“Caution.”
“It looks like a place for another person.”
He moved closer. For a while they watched two gardeners working near the lower path. One pushed a wheelbarrow. The other stopped to inspect a young tree that had not taken well to the last cold spell.
Mara said, “I don’t know how to feel yet.”
“You don’t need to decide today.”
“I am happy.”
“So am I.”
“And terrified.”
“Yes.”
She turned to him. “That was quick.”
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