SEA-TAC — He’s coming.
Kari Darby paces the airport, holding the daughter her husband has never met.
The older girls — two blonds with ribbons and dresses, and brown-haired Megan in jeans and sneakers — race around baggage claim.
“When’s Daddy going to come?” asks Hannah, 7.
“We don’t know,” Kari says.
“I want him to come now,” Hannah says, pouting.
The plane is late.
They have to wait.
The Darbys are well-practiced, like all military families.
They have been waiting since August, when he disappeared in an army of camouflage marching toward Iraq.
They shared three days in October — a blur — before he disappeared again.
He’s missed so much.
Megan learned cursive. She turned 9 and had a roller skating party.
Hannah started reading books — “Horton Hears a Who!” and “Green Eggs and Ham.” Her birthday was at Chuck E. Cheese.
Klara turned 3 with her own pizza party.
Kari feared her youngest would forget her dad, but Klara asks about him every day. Whenever she eats candy, she saves a piece for Daddy. Piles of candy are everywhere.
And he’s missed all of Sophia: big blue eyes, gurgling smile, born Dec. 30.
Others coached Kari through labor. Usually, that’s his job. So is giving the baby her first bath. He’s the first to hold her and always insists they spend an hour alone, getting acquainted — just mom, dad and baby.
The phone rings.
“Where are you?!”
The girls sprint toward the escalator, ribbons flying.
Kari puts on lipstick, then straightens Sophia’s red dress.
They wait. A woman in fatigues tells them Staff Sgt. Craig Darby is coming soon.
“There he is!”
“Daddy! Daddy!” three girls yell. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
Kari stops them from running up the escalator.
They jump into his arms, knocking his baggage from Iraq to the floor. Hannah and Megan squeeze more.
Klara stands back, watching.
“Come here, baby,” he says. “Do you know who I am?”
He goes to Kari and lifts their baby from her arms. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” he whispers, gently rocking.
All six Darbys, together at last.
As husband and wife kiss, their heads bend together, a canopy over Sophia.
Staff Sgt. Craig Darby returned home Friday for a two-week vacation from his tour in Iraq with an Everett-based National Guard troop. Darby, 38, of Everett, is in charge of organizing supplies and equipment for the 81st Brigade Combat Team. His tour is expected to end sometime this summer.
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292; kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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