When I was out with Mandy this morning we bumped into one of her ex boyfriends and he said some mean things to her and they got in a big fight. I was going to intervene but Mandy just snapped before I could and she started beating him up. I couldn’t hold her back from him and she just kept hitting him and kicking him until he was on the ground and he had a bleeding nose. I eventually got her to stop and she just cried and I hugged her for a while before we fled from the scene.

It was lucky there were no police around or she might have been charged. I am worried about her and I don’t know what I can do to help her. This is not the first time I’ve seen Mandy have a violent outburst and I’ll admit they do scare me at times but it doesn’t change the way I feel about her. The first time was the day I lost my old job. A few of the blokes I had worked with were asking a number of personal questions about Mandy and if I had sex with her. At the time I hadn’t and I told her I hadn’t and one of them said “if that hot ***** was mine” they would be “****ing her every night.” I felt like smashing the cup he had on the bench over his head but I kept my cool.

A few of the blokes saw Mandy because she would come to my work at lunch to spend time with me and drove me to and from work some days. I got in an argument with the same bloke a few days later and I humiliated him to the point where he threw some things on ground and walked away while everybody was laughing at him. He later came up to me when I was having lunch with Mandy wanting to have a fight and he pushed me on the ground. Before I could get up Mandy got in his face and called him some names and she beat him up. I' had only seen a girl do that on TV and I had no idea she was that strong. I ended up getting the sack and wanting to protect Mandy I said it was me.

Mandy said I was too good for the place anyway and I could easily find a better job with my talents. She also said what she did was wrong but she couldn't stand seeing me get hurt. Not that I couldn't deal with him myself but I was really surprised. Mandy is usually really king and caring. She’s small and she doesn’t look like she would hurt a fly but she is very strong. This never really bothered me though until today. I can’t say that I’m a saint because I did some horrible things to people when I was younger too but when I did I was drunk or using cocaine.

I talked to Mandy about the guy and she said he was very abusive to her when they went out. He’d punch her and often leave marks on her body and she was scared of him. After she got away from him she did some self defence classes and one of her brother’s friends (a boxer) taught her how to do some things too. Mandy also told me she had been in two other abusive relationships and while my cousin never hit her he walked over her and treated her like dirt. She then said I was the first boyfriend who was really sweet to her and she loved me.

I love her and I definitely still want to marry her but I want to help her with this because she has already done so much to help me. Do you guys have any suggestions on how I should handle this situation? It's strange because Mandy is one of the kindest women I have met. She’s caring, funny and down to earth and that’s what made me fall in love with her but then there is just this other side of her which I saw today that has so much anger and I think she needs to see someone about it.