?Chapter 2977:


    Colleen felt a touch bewildered.


    Brady just left? He had even cautioned her against mentioning him in her mother’s presence, honoring the family’s unspoken lines. What could possibly be swirling in his mind?


    Hadley slipped in ahead of Louise. She had vowed to deliver breakfast, so she arrived a bit earlier this morning.


    “Colleen, good morning.” Hadley swept in with the meal and set it gracefully on the table.


    “Good morning,” Colleen murmured. “No need to fuss—I’ve already eaten.”


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    “You’ve eaten?” Hadley’s brows arched in mild surprise. Her gaze then drifted to the bags on the table.


    Someone had paid a visit before her?


    The answer dawned on her instantly. “Was it… Brady?”


    Colleen hesitated a beat before nodding. “Yes.”


    Hadley felt a rush of excitement, nearly bursting out in a cheer. Yet she reined it in with poise.


    Eric’s nudge had clearly borne fruit. They had finally crossed paths! It seemed Brady hadn’t retreated after all.


    She glided to the bedside. “Brady came to see you? He even whipped up something for you? What did the two of you talk about?”


    “Nothing,” Colleen said, shaking her head with a faint crease in her brow. “He simply stopped by, dropped the food, and then slipped away.”


    Hadley blinked, struggling to process the news. “That’s all?”


    “Yes. That’s the whole of it.”


    This wasn’t how things should unfold.


    Hadley fretted inwardly. Yet some knots were beyond an outsider’s untangling.


    Later, Louise and Ronald arrived.


    “You’re blooming already,” Louise said, her fingers brushing Colleen’s cheek with tender relief. “Your brothers are pacing the corridor, itching to see you. Your father and I will step out shortly, and then they cane in.”


    Hospital rules capped the number of visitors, so the room couldn’t host a crowd at once.


    “Fine,” Colleen answered with a soft smile and a nod. “I’m steady now. Dad and the boys are swamped—they needn’te here daily.”


    Her recovery didn’t demand a constant vigil. Discharge loomed in a few days; what she truly needed was steady, gentle, long-term care.


    “But you’re family, and they insist.”


    Louise straightened a few items and spotted the stack of thermal containers on the side table. She exhaled softly.


    “Hadley brought in all these?”


    Of course not—Brady had contributed his share.


    “Yes,” Colleen said, a twinge of guilt tightening her chest.


    “Goodness,” Louise marveled. “Hadley is a gem. Friends like her are rarer than hen’s teeth.”


    She added, “Tell her to ease up next time. You can’t polish off a mountain alone, and it’s such a waste.”


    “Alright.” Colleen’s unease deepened.


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