Bella decides not to clarify what she meant to Alice; he didn't exactly misunderstand her, and he's enjoying taking the quote out of context, so she may as well let him.

[I'm not yet certain I can't change it. Or mitigate the downside potential, or cut the chances,] she says instead.

Why not?

Bella is getting the creeping suspicion that Chris's niece isn't just Chris's niece. Lazarus knows enough to make him nervous, and what he knows isn't much.

She emails Bridget.

Have you met her niece?

She'll assume that Bridget knows there's only one mutually salient "her" with a niece worth asking about.