Wuthering Heights Question

Wuthering heights question?

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights for the first time. I really, really enjoyed it, and I think it’s become one of my favorite novels. I didn’t have very much former knowledge of the story before reading (except the Kate Bush song), and to be honest I was expecting the majority of the book to be about the romance between the two leads. I was the most surprised at the ambiguity of their relationship, and that is what I have questions about.

Because the story is told from the perspective of Nelly we aren’t given a first person point of view of what Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship is like, at least until Catherine professes to Nelly she loves Heathcliff but has decided to marry Edward for material assets instead. My question is, was Nelly aware that Heathcliff and Catherine were in love before this point? Was anyone aware? Were Catherine and Heathcliff aware that they both loved each other, or was it unspoken? Were they separated by Hindley because he knew about their romantic relationship, or did he just want her to not be “friends” with a “servant”. Was marriage between them something that anyone including themselves had even considered a possibility? I guess the main question I’m asking is, what was their relationship meant to actually be before Heathcliff leaves?

I understand that intimacy between characters was often subtextual in the seventeenth century, but since it is so blatantly obvious when Heathcliff returns, does this mean that neither Catherine or he made it obvious to anyone before then?