Whispers from the Future (Mayflower Mysteries Book 2)

A Leap Through Time, A Battle for Love and Life

In the quiet town of Mayflower, 1932, newly minted doctor Henrietta Hinchcliffe stumbles upon a box of magical jelly beans — and into a future she could never have imagined. Thrust decades ahead, Henrietta discovers that her unborn nephew’s life in the past is in peril. With time slipping away, she must unravel a medical mystery, navigate a modern world, and rely on the reluctant help of the enigmatic Dr. Joshua Bingham. What begins as a desperate mission quickly entwines with a timeless love, challenging Henrietta to defy fate itself.

A story of courage, hope, and the enduring power of family, Whispers from the Future captures the heart with its rich characters and the poignant question: how far would you go to save someone you love?

Step into an unforgettable journey where time bends, love defies the odds, and destiny is yours to rewrite.

Excerpt from the book

1932

Henrietta Hinchcliffe picked up a dry, soft brush and swept it over the edges of the clouds on her painting to create shadows. She took a step back to examine her latest work—a portrait she’d painted from memory in conjunction with a photo her father, Charles, had taken at the park. In the painting, her brother Henry, his wife, Bella, in her eighth month of pregnancy and their children, Stella, aged five, and James, aged two, sat together on a blanket beneath a budding dogwood tree.

A wistful sigh escaped Henrietta’s lips. She longed for the kind of love and happiness Henry and Bella had found together. And the companionship of a man she loved to grow old with while they filled their home with rambunctious children.

Since she’d passed the State Boards and completed her residency at the Mayflower General Hospital a few weeks ago, maybe she’d have time for a social life. She no longer needed to spend all her time reading medical volumes while dealing with misogynistic male doctors who hadn’t wanted her to graduate.

The hospital would have kept her on staff if she pursued a surgical rotation, but they didn’t have room for any more general practitioners. Blood didn’t make her squeamish, but the high stress level involved in cutting a patient open, not to mention the extra scrutiny she’d face as a female, turned her off. She’d be much happier at a medical clinic.

Finding a position would be a challenge with certain members of society still believing women shouldn’t be doctors. But Henrietta was determined to be a pioneer and pave the way for women in her field.

Little girls should be able to dream of any occupation they desired. She was thankful her family shared the same views. Her father had placed an article in their newspaper, the Mayflower Gazette, celebrating her graduation in hopes it would generate a job.

The doorbell buzzed, interrupting her train of thought. She dunked her paintbrush in the vase filled with vinegar, alongside the other brushes that would need to be cleaned after they soaked.

Her mother’s voice carried up the staircase to her room. “Henrietta, come down for tea. There’s a guest here to see you.”

“I’ll be right there, Mother.”

Guests stopped by all the time, but they normally came to visit her mother who had an active social calendar and participated on every committee in town. Henrietta had friends, but while she was away at Stanford in medical school, they’d married and gotten swept up in their own lives. The only two women around her age that she maintained close relationships with were Bella and Bella’s sister, Stella.

Ironically, both Bella and Stella were from the future and had been brought to the past by a magic box of jelly beans to rescue Hinchcliffe men. Bella had saved Henry by preventing a fire at his business, The Mayflower Jelly Bean Factory, and they’d fallen in love.

Three years later, Stella arrived. Exactly five months after that, she yanked Henrietta’s cousin Michael from the path of an out-of-control car during an unusually early winter storm in September of 1929. And they too had fallen in love and married.

Henrietta removed her apron and hung it on a peg in her adjoining bathroom, then washed the paint off her hands and dried them. She smoothed the skirt of her yellow dress and adjusted her sleeves in the mirror, so the puff sat evenly on both sides. A curly lock of her dark-brown hair had escaped her updo. She adjusted her bobby pin to tuck it back in place.