On June 21, Nicki Micheaux of ABC Family’s family drama “Lincoln Heights” had a little family drama of her own, as she and her husband welcomed a son named Aiden. He joins a 4z-year-old sister, Symone.

But back on a Saturday in May, as Micheaux and “Lincoln” co-star Russell Hornsby sit down for an interview, Micheaux is still very pregnant. She stands and leans over to stretch her back, causing concerned looks from those nearby.

“Just calm down,” Micheaux says. “Everybody freaks out. Your muscles cramp up.”

Micheaux’s pregnancy is not part of the hourlong show’s fourth season, which launches at 8 p. m. Monday on ABC Family.

“No, there is no new addition,” Micheaux says. “We’re hiding the new addition. Thank God large handbags are in.”

Micheaux plays nurse practitioner Jenn Sutton, who left her privileged upbringing behind to move with her husband, police officer Eddie Sutton (Hornsby), back to the troubled Southern California neighborhood where he grew up, in hopes of making a difference.

The Suttons have two teenage daughters, Cassie and Lizzie (Erica Hubbard, Rhyon Nicole Brown), and a son, Tay (Mishon Ratliff). In the extended family are Eddie’s alcoholic father, Spencer (Michael Warren), and Nate Ray Woods (Chadwick Boseman), Eddie’s older son by an old flame.

This season, the family and the neighborhood look to rebuild after a devastating earthquake, and the Suttons cope with another kind of disruption when a large amount of money comes their way.

One thing’s for sure: Eddie and Jenn will shepherd their family and their community through these difficulties together. A solid, functional marriage is a rare thing on television, and that comes home to Micheaux when she runs into fans on the street.

“They say, ‘I wish I could grow up and be a wife like you,’ ” she says, “which is really amazing, and a little daunting, because young people are watching the show, and people who are going through their own marital problems. Marriage is really tough. This couple’s been together for 19 years; I’ve been married for 10 years.

“I love portraying a married couple that communicates about the things that are bugging them and are allowing each other to grow and be different. This man is not afraid to be vulnerable in front of his wife. That’s really difficult for men—it was difficult for my husband, at least.

“It’s great to see it. Those are the things that help make a couple strong. It’s daunting when someone comes up to you and says that you’re the role model for them, or that the show is, but it’s great.”

Hornsby relates a similar experience, when a group of about 10 girls came up to him at a Hofstra women’s basketball game and asked for autographs and pictures.

“There’s a joy that these young kids are getting from, I believe, seeing this father on television,” Hornsby says, “a solid citizen, a quote, unquote, man of the people, if you will, his commitment to his community.

“That warms my heart, to be honest with you.”

While some intimate scenes were toned down during Micheaux’s pregnancy, Hornsby insists the relationship is not.

“Jenn is very much a woman,” he says, “very much a mother and very much a contributor to society and to the community, but at the same time, she doesn’t try to encroach or usurp her husband’s duties. That’s very important.”

On the cover from left: Nicki Micheaux, Russell Hornsby, Mishon Ratliff, Rhyon Nicole Brown and Erica Hubbard star in “Lincoln Heights.”