A Carroll family reunion

A LONG-AWAITED REUNION: After 12 weeks of captivity, a day of debriefing, and a long journey from Baghdad, Jill Carroll finally reached the embrace of her family. MELANIE STETSON FREEMAN - STAFF

Finally free Stories 04/04/06 A Carroll family reunion Videos 04/02/06 Jill Carroll arrives home 04/01/06 Jill Carroll statement 03/31/06 Jill Carroll forced to make propaganda video 03/31/06 Jill Carroll: finally free 03/31/06 Timeline: Almost three months of captivity 03/31/06 Helping Jill interpret Iraq Latest updates Readers write: support for Jill Carroll Full coverage Commentary 03/31/06 What it took from the hearts of many people to free Jill Carroll Slideshows: Homecoming 1, Homecoming 2, Efforts to free her, Reactions to her release A Spiritual Perspective 03/31/06 Singing for Jill, and all

On a table in their apartment, twin sister Katie set up a laptop computer showing rotating pictures of Jill's cat, Squeaky. Jill had rescued the stray while living and working as a journalist in Jordan in 2002.

The TV set was tuned to Fox News, then to local news channels. News helicopters hovered over the airport, their cameras tracking the white 747 and then Jill's limo as it left the airport.

As Jill and her Monitor colleagues emerged from the airport tunnel under Boston Harbor, Jill called Katie's cellphone. She spoke first to Katie, then to each parent. Her mother was the last to speak to her: "Jillyjuicey!" she said in delight, using a childhood nickname.

"I-love-yous" were exchanged before hanging up. Jill teetered on the verge of emotional overload.

Jim Carroll had the video camera running when an unmarked van pulled up. At first, the Carroll family wasn't sure if it was Jill or not.

They crowded around an open window and yelled another of Jill's nicknames, "Zippy," and waved wildly.

Seconds later, she came through the door and the family, coming down the hallway, met her in a single embrace.

Jill wept, and said, "I'm sorry."

Between the hugs and tears and tender touches, Jill began to share snippets of her ordeal. To ward off boredom while in captivity in Iraq, she sang to herself. "I sang, "way out West where the bad men are...."

Everyone laughed. "They didn't know what I was saying," she giggled.

Even grimmer topics evoked relief. Jill said her Muslim kidnappers assumed that all American journalists were Jewish. To persuade them that she was Christian, she recited the Lord's Prayer and shared Christian stories from the Bible. She thanked her mom for her Roman Catholic upbringing. Even after her captors were persuaded that she was Christian, Jill said, they kept trying to convert her.

Jill said she talked quite a bit with the kidnappers. "Well, at least your Arabic will have improved," Mary Beth, her mom, remarked.

Mary Beth asked if Jill could exercise in captivity. "I walked a lot" around the room, which was eight paces long, Jill told her family, and did squats to keep in shape.