Could she not put two and two together?

We’ve all heard stories of historical figures or family members who lived with their «best friend» of the same gender for decades and decades throughout the 19th or 20th century. I’m not saying every single one of these best friend life-partnerships are secretly gay couples. Still, a great deal of them are, and they’re using the facade of being besties to avoid homophobia, either within their families or in society at large or both. In many families where an auntie and her «best friend» come to Thanksgiving every year, there’s an understanding among most family members that they’re more than best friends, but this is never discussed. Sometimes, the best friends are insistent enough about their relationship being strictly platonic that the family is split over whether they’re actually just friends. Still, if two people of the same gender have lived together for forty years, I’d put the house on the theory that they aren’t just incredibly compatible roommates. You don’t have to have a finely tuned gaydar to figure that out, and you’d think that people would understand their own siblings well enough to tell if they’re gay or not.