Her Housekeeper

1910
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Her Housekeeper
B-

The title character courts a widowed young actress, but this house is being kept (both owned and operated) by a real-estate man.  She has no desire to marry again, and lists the reasons why.  He has a rebuttal to all of them and wins her over, partly by winning over her small son.  (I like the detail of "making country" with clay and bits of looking-glass.)  Points for the discreet reference to orgasm in the last line:  " 'I never had any idea,' she ventured after a while, 'that it could be-- like this.' "  (OK, they may just be kissing, but there is a skipped line after they talk about kissing.)  In any case, they're the first believably happy couple in this Gilman collection.