The last pledge M a r t h a r a d c l i f f e Martha Radcliffe Ovi ebooks are available in Ovi/Ovi eBookshelves pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: ovimagazine@yahoo.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C The last pledge The last pledge Martha Radcliffe Martha Radcliffe An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C The last pledge T he village of Ashford was a place where time seemed to linger longer than in other corners of the world. Its cobblestone streets wound through rows of age-old cottages, their chimneys curling smoke into the clear air, while the gentle breeze stirred the wild brambles and ivy that crept over the stone walls. To the casual observer, Ashford was a tranquil village, untouched by the sharp edges of the world beyond. Yet within its heart, there were stories ...old, tangled stories that never quite left, no matter how much the years swept over them like the soft winds of summer. Among these stories were the lives of two young women, Isabella and Evelyn, whose once unshakable friendship had been torn asunder by a single betrayal. Time, which had passed with relentless certainty, had done little to soothe the ache between them. The memories of their shared days of laughter in Martha Radcliffe the meadows, whispered secrets beneath the stars, and promises that had seemed as eternal as the hills themselves, still clung to them both, though they had not spoken in years. It was on a summer evening, as the sun cast its golden glow over the village, that they were reunited. Isabella sat on the garden bench at the edge of her family’s estate, her posture still and composed, her hands folded neatly in her lap as if she had spent countless hours waiting for this moment. The world around her was peaceful, as it always had been, yet her heart was a tumult of conflicting emotions. She had not expected to see Evelyn again, not after all this time. But now, as the silence stretched between them, she could not deny the heavy weight of it. There was so much to say and yet, so little that could ever be said. Evelyn stood a few paces away, her figure tall and upright against the fading light, her posture betraying the tension that gripped her. Her fingers twitched by her side, as though they longed to reach out, to break the distance between them, yet she remained still. The years had not been kind to her in this moment. Beneath her calm exterior, there was a storm raging, a tempest that threatened to tear her apart. The last pledge At last, it was Evelyn who spoke, her voice soft, but laden with an emotion that had not been voiced in years. “You promised,” she said, the words almost trembling with their weight. Isabella did not answer at once. Her gaze remained fixed on the winding garden path, as if the earth could offer her some solace, some reprieve from the burden she had carried for so long. Her chest tightened, and she pressed her lips together, knowing full well what was being asked of her, though she dreaded the answer. How could she explain? How could she speak the truth when the cost of that truth was so high? “I know,” Isabella murmured at last, her voice scarcely above a whisper, as if the admission itself were a sin. “No,” Evelyn snapped, her words cutting through the air like a sharp blade. She turned toward Isabella, her usually serene eyes now flashing with a hurt that threatened to consume her. “No, you do not know. You don’t know what it is to be betrayed by someone you loved more than your own soul.” Evelyn’s voice faltered for the briefest of moments before she continued, her anger mounting. “I trusted you. I trusted you with everything. And you... you destroyed it. All of it.” Martha Radcliffe Isabella’s breath caught in her throat, the words lodged there like stones. She wanted to speak, to explain, to apologize, but the words refused to come. They were there, hanging on the edge of her consciousness, but she could not bring herself to utter them. What could she possibly say to make it right? The truth was too much, too painful. She had made a choice that had torn their lives apart, she knew that now, as surely as she knew the sun would set on this day. “You left me,” Evelyn’s voice was breaking now, the dam of years of frustration and sorrow threatening to spill over. “You left me without a word. I was your friend, your closest confidante. You promised me, Isabella! And yet, you walked away without a single explanation.” Isabella’s eyes welled with unshed tears, her heart aching with the unbearable weight of her actions. “I never wanted to hurt you,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “I never meant to. But I...” She faltered, trying to find the words. “I made a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. And I have carried it with me every day since.” Evelyn’s eyes hardened, the pain still raw but now edged with something else, darker, more resolute. “I The last pledge don’t know if I can forgive you,” she said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her heart. “What you did, it’s not something that can be undone. We were everything to each other, Isabella. And you...” She stopped, her chest heaving as if the words themselves were too heavy to bear. A single tear escaped Evelyn’s eye, rolling down her cheek like a quiet admission of what they had both been too proud to say. It was the first tear either of them had shed in years, and it spoke more than any words ever could. “You have broken something irreparable,” Evelyn whispered. Isabella’s heart broke in that moment. She had known this would come, but to hear it from Evelyn, whom she had once held so dear, was more than she could endure. She reached out a hand, as if to comfort her, but Evelyn stepped back, shaking her head. “No,” Evelyn said softly. “Do not touch me. Not now. Not after everything.” The silence that fell between them was deafening. It was not the comfortable silence of old, when they had sat side by side, sharing their hopes and dreams, but a chasm that had opened up between them, one that could not be crossed by mere words or gestures. Martha Radcliffe They were two souls, once intertwined, now fractured beyond repair. Isabella sat back against the bench, her hands trembling in her lap as she looked at Evelyn, her eyes filled with regret and sorrow. She had no excuse, no justification for what she had done. Only the knowledge that the woman before her, once the center of her world, was now a stranger, perhaps forever. Evelyn, for her part, stood rooted to the spot, her gaze hard and unyielding. She had lost something precious, and she knew it. They had shared everything once, everything except the truth. And now, it was too late for truths. Too late for promises. “You should go,” Evelyn said, her voice cold, the words as final as a closing door. Isabella opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came. She rose slowly, her body stiff, as though her limbs had forgotten how to move. Her eyes flickered once more to Evelyn’s face, searching for something, anything that might hint at the possibility of forgiveness, but there was nothing there. Only the remnants of the girl she had once known, now hidden beneath layers of hurt and anger. The last pledge With a final, almost imperceptible nod, Isabella turned and walked away, her heart heavy with the knowledge that the woman she had once loved more than anyone else in the world would never again be hers to hold. And so, the years passed, each one carrying with it the weight of unspoken words and broken promises. Isabella and Evelyn, once inseparable, now moved through the world as if they had never known each other at all. Their hearts, once intertwined, now lay in tatters, fragments of what had once been. But in the quiet moments of their separate lives, they both carried the memory of that day. The day when a promise was broken, and the world as they knew it shattered. Little did they know, the true test of their friendship had not yet come. Martha Radcliffe I The sun had barely begun to set on that warm afternoon when Isabella and Evelyn found themselves once again by the riverbank, a place that had long been a sanctuary for them both. It was a secluded spot, framed by weeping willows whose branches swayed gently in the breeze, casting long, dappled shadows upon the water. The river itself flowed with a languid ease, its surface catching the light of the fading sun in soft ripples. It was a place where time seemed to slow, where the burdens of the world could be momentarily forgotten. Isabella, with her dark hair pulled back in a simple knot and her eyes shining with the enthusiasm of youth, had always found a peculiar peace in these moments spent with Evelyn. The two of them had known each other from childhood, their lives woven The last pledge together by the same threads of laughter, sorrow, and dreams. They had grown up side by side, their hearts intertwined in a bond that felt unbreakable, as though no force in the world could sever it. As they walked along the river, the grass crunching softly beneath their boots, Evelyn, the quieter of the two, let her gaze linger on the water, her thoughts clearly far away. Isabella, ever the more outspoken, tilted her head towards her friend with a mischievous smile. “Is something troubling you, Evelyn?” Isabella asked, her voice light and teasing. “You seem to be lost in thought today.” Evelyn blinked, startled from her reverie, and smiled softly. “I suppose I was just reflecting,” she said, her voice serene but carrying an underlying depth that Isabella, ever perceptive, was quick to notice. “Reflecting on what?” Isabella asked, her tone shifting slightly, more curious now than playful. “You know you can always tell me anything.” Evelyn hesitated, her fingers trailing along the edge of the river, stirring the water in absent- Martha Radcliffe minded circles. After a moment, she spoke, her voice softer still. “I wonder, sometimes, whether we truly understand the weight of the promises we make.” She looked up at Isabella, her gaze earnest. “I wonder if we can really keep them.” Isabella stopped walking, her expression thoughtful as she turned to face her friend. “What do you mean?” she asked, though a strange fluttering in her chest warned her that Evelyn’s words held something deeper than the casual musings of a young woman contemplating her future. Evelyn paused, biting her lower lip as she looked down at her hands. “I mean... life changes, Isabella. We make promises when we are young, but how often do we truly know what those promises mean?” Her voice faltered for just a moment, as though she had already seen the path ahead, uncertain and fraught with obstacles. “I sometimes wonder if I am destined to disappoint those who trust me.” Isabella’s brow furrowed with concern, her hand gently brushing Evelyn’s arm in a gesture of comfort. “You could never disappoint me,” she said softly, her voice filled with certainty. “You are my truest friend, Evelyn. There is nothing you could do to change that.” The last pledge A faint smile curved Evelyn’s lips, but it was a smile tinged with sadness, the faintest hint of doubt lingering in her eyes. “You say that now, Isabella,” she replied, her voice a whisper as though the very air around them could hear. “But what if we are forced to choose? What if our hearts must choose between the promises we make and the ones we love?” The question hung in the air between them, more a statement than a query. Isabella’s heart quickened, her chest tightening as though the wind had suddenly turned cold. She could feel the weight of Evelyn’s words pressing down upon her, an unspoken truth they had both sensed but never dared to voice aloud. “Evelyn,” Isabella began, her voice strong but laced with the first inkling of hesitation, “you and I have always promised that no matter what comes, we will never be parted. You know that. Nothing ...nothing in this world could ever make me break that vow.” Evelyn turned to her, her eyes meeting Isabella’s with an intensity that made Isabella’s heart race. “Do you truly believe that, Isabella?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you truly think you could never be torn between the promise to me and the pull of your own desires?” Martha Radcliffe Isabella’s chest constricted. She had never known Evelyn to speak in such a way, and the implications of her words hit Isabella like a sudden storm. For the first time in their friendship, Isabella wondered if Evelyn, with her quiet wisdom, saw something that Isabella had yet to confront in herself. Something about the promise they had made, something that had seemed so simple and so sure, was beginning to feel more fragile than she had ever imagined. But she could not, would not, believe that. She loved Evelyn too dearly. They had grown up together, after all. They had shared everything, their dreams, their laughter, their deepest fears. How could anything, even love, tear them apart? “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, Evelyn,” Isabella replied, though her voice wavered slightly, betraying the unease she felt deep within. “But you must know that my heart is yours. It always will be.” Evelyn smiled sadly, her gaze falling to the ground as she bent to pluck a wildflower from the bank. She held it for a moment, turning it between her fingers before casting it into the river, watching as the current carried it away. “I suppose we will see, won’t we?” she said quietly. The last pledge “But sometimes... promises are not enough, no matter how we try.” The weight of her words settled over them both like a heavy fog, and for a long moment, neither spoke. The sun had begun to sink lower in the sky, casting an amber light across the water, and the silence stretched out before them like a long road that neither of them was quite ready to travel. Isabella could not understand what was happening. She could not fathom a future where their friendship, their bond, might fray and snap. But something in Evelyn’s expression, in her quiet resignation, planted a seed of doubt that would not easily be ignored. They sat together in the gathering twilight, their shoulders brushing occasionally as they sat side by side, each lost in their own thoughts. The peace of the moment had been shattered, but neither spoke of it. There were no words to fix what had already begun to break. Later that evening, as they stood to leave, Evelyn turned to Isabella, her face unreadable. “We may not be able to control what life throws our way,” she said, her voice firm now, with a quiet resolve. “But we can choose how we respond to it.” Martha Radcliffe Isabella nodded, though she could not shake the feeling that the world had shifted somehow, that something had irrevocably changed. “And whatever happens,” she said, with a newfound determination, “I will never forget the promises we’ve made, Evelyn. Never.” Evelyn smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. “I hope not,” she said softly. “I truly hope not.” As the two of them walked back toward the village, their hearts full of unspoken emotions, neither knew that the years to come would test them in ways they could never have imagined. Isabella would soon find herself at a crossroads, torn between two loves: the deep and steadfast bond she shared with Evelyn, and the intense, consuming love she had found with George. And when the time came for her to choose, she would make a decision that would change everything. The promise that had once bound them would be broken and it would be a wound neither of them could easily heal. The last pledge II. Years had passed since that fateful day by the river, and in that time, the distance between Isabella and Evelyn had only grown. Though both women had once shared a bond so deep it seemed impervious to time and circumstance, life had a way of testing the strength of even the most steadfast of relationships. It was with this quiet inevitability that their friendship, once a beautiful tapestry of shared secrets and dreams, unraveled. Isabella had married George, a man whose affection for her was as clear as the day was long, and though the union was filled with love, it was also burdened by the demands of life. Their marriage was a constant dance between affection and responsibility, and while Isabella’s heart was full of tenderness for her husband, a part of her never ceased to ache for what she had lost. Martha Radcliffe Evelyn, on the other hand, had retreated to a small village nearby, seeking peace in solitude. Her new life, though quiet and uneventful, was a refuge from the turmoil she had endured. She spent her days in the routine of simple tasks, reading, gardening, and the occasional visit to the market but there was an emptiness beneath it all. She never spoke of Isabella. Never spoke of the promise that had been broken. And yet, in the stillness of her nights, when the moonlight would seep through the cracks of the curtains and cast shadows on the walls, the silence would become unbearable. Her heart would begin to stir with thoughts of the past, of Isabella, and the pain of betrayal. She could not shake the memory of how it had all fallen apart. One evening, as the fire crackled softly in the hearth, Evelyn sat in her small parlour, a cup of tea in hand. The room was dimly lit, save for the glow of the flames, and the only sound that filled the space was the occasional crackling of the wood. She had spent the better part of the day tending to her garden, but as the sun dipped below the horizon, her thoughts turned inward. It had been two years since Isabella’s wedding, two long years since their last words had been exchanged,