During those three years, she knew the girl in his heart was Maggie Spencer.
During those three years, she had inquired about Maggie Spencer and knew that she had gone far away.
She clearly knew that Maggie Spencer left Yat Nation because she couldn't bear the shock of seeing her lover sleep with another woman, and Flynn Taylor must have felt guilty and had been waiting for Maggie. Therefore, even though she lived under the same roof with him, he remained chaste for Maggie's sake and didn't touch Ave Carlisle at all.
In essence, those three years were ones where she was ignored by him, and they were also the years when she envied and felt jealous of Maggie Spencer.
It was only in the fourth year when he became ill, and she took care of him, that he must have been touched, and as a result, he had sex took her.
But, being touched is not the same as love.
