You don’t have to have a pistol grip on a shotgun for home defense. A shotgun with a short barrel is the ticket. If you don’t want to just get a short barrel for the Benelli, I’d suggest a Mossberg 500. If the wife has no trouble with a 12 gauge recoil, get a 12. If she(or you) likes a 20 gauge better, that will do the trick too. I wouldn’t worry too much about a silencer, either, I’ve fired a short barrel shotgun inside a small dirt floor barn a number of times and unless you do it all the time, about the most you will experience is a slight ringing in your ears for a minute. If you are having to use a self defense shotgun indoors often enough to ruin your hearing, you are living in the wrong neighborhood....IMHO They will pretty much all work, the short barrel being the most important asset for a gun to be used in tight spaces. I kept a short double barrel shotgun by my bed for many years.
yes it needs to be shorter for easy handling... not anything fancy, just shorter and always goes bang.